<p>Hi everyone, I'm a graduate of the 2010 class and am taking questions for new admits. </p>
<p>Two things:
1) I was a political science major and am a current law student (experiencing a surprising lull in my coursework this week). I apologize if I can't answer any engineering/hard sciences questions.
2) Please note that this will be a very honest thread, so don't expect sugar-coating or chancing. However, if this is what you're looking for, I'd be happy to answer what I can.</p>
<p>What is so bad about sixth college? I feel like i made the wrong choice picking it now… Everyone says it’s the suckiest college</p>
<p>How are the dorms? and how easy or the GE’s compared to the rest of the colleges?
Is this the right college for me if I’m a bio major?</p>
<p>Are the dorms really small? Tiny? Comfy?</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with Sixth College. The dorms are not the newest or most aesthetically pleasing, but I enjoyed the fact it was tucked a little further away from the rest of the campus. It felt a little like a small home away from home. I thought Camp Snoopy was cozy and allowed for a more tight-knit community among Sixthers. I was placed in a rate-saver, which was a double and had loft beds. I thought things were a little cramped at first, but many rooms had triples, which was cramped even more so.
The CAT sequence is far easier than, say, the likes of MMW. CAT 1-3, however, can get a little obscure. Sixth College is being used as a “frontier” for a new academic experience, it seems. It should not be difficult for any major at all; the only people I knew who had problems with CAT were those that never went to class. The material is not always easy to grasp, sometimes a little too philosophical for my taste, but I thought the reward came at the end.
Sixth’s College’s final requirement is the CAT Practicum, usually taken your junior or senior year of college. It requires some sort of academic internship (many science majors use their current lab job for this and it usually qualifies). This allowed me to intern in a field I was interested in and earn school credit for it. I ended up at a law firm in downtown San Diego and loved it. Hence, I’m a law student now.
The practicum includes a second semester, which felt like a load of BS at first. However, in hindsight, I realized that the second semester is a huge self-reflection. I put more effort into it than I planned, and I learned a lot about myself and how much I changed in college (for the better). </p>
<p>Overall, Sixth College may not seem impressive on its face, but beneath that, it’s still an enriching experience. Should you still find that you dislike it, it’s not worth transferring. By your sophomore year, it becomes irrelevant what college anyone is in because of all the intermixing and off-campus housing experiences.</p>
<p>My friend and possible future roomate applied and was accepted as a Neuroscience major in the Bio department, though I’m not familiar with its name. She wants to switch to Microbiology now. Would it be easier for her to switch because she won’t change departments even though both majors are impacted? Is there any way for her to guarantee a switch? Otherwise she may have to go to UCI because of the issue with her major. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Oh, another question. Forgot to ask. What is up with the reshalls? From what I gather, its 10 people on each floor for a total of 20 people [one floor for guys and one for girls]. There is a break room, a study room, and what appears to be a kitchenette with a sink and microwave [but no stove, rats]. Is there one of these set ups on each floor? Like a guys break room, study room, kitchenette and one for the girls? </p>
<p>Also, if it is “two” suites, on a floor, how does it divide up among what I perceive to be five rooms? And the bathrooms appear to have 4 toilet stalls and 4 shower stalls… to be shared among 10 people? </p>
<p>Could use some clarification for my nitpicky details, haha :P</p>
<p>What is the policy about appliances at Sixth dorms/UCSD?</p>
<p>and… Your dining recommendations?</p>
<p>I apologize for the long post you’ll have to make. But thank you so much >.<</p>
<p>@Heartarrow:
I’ve never had any of my friends had any difficulty switching their majors when it was within the same department. However, as I disclosed earlier, I personally am not familiar with the hard sciences departments, so I’m not the best source for that type of information.</p>
<p>The res halls are set up in a square surrounding a grassy field. There are 10 res halls total and each had two floors. On each floor, there are two suites, making four suites total per res hall (usually one floor for girls and another for guys. In my class, there were more males accepted than females, so a few res halls had three suites for guys). My class was a little cramped, so we had more than 10 people per suite. Because they’re accepting fewer people now, I assume that each suite will have around 10 people, making it approximately 20 people per floor. There are bathrooms on each floor with the correct number you stated. It doesn’t seem like four showers is a lot, but I didn’t have too much trouble because I’m a night-showerer. A lot of people just get around it by showering either early in the morning or just waiting until the afternoon. That’s just a part of dorm life you have to get used to.
The kitchen is in the lower floor, which separates the two suites on either side (door access is on both sides of the kitchen). The upper suites are separated by a study area, which is good if you need to get homework done once in awhile, but not a great place for intense studying; Giesel library is a better place for that past the fourth floor.
Sixth College is pretty close to the medical campus. If you get tired of Foodworx for lunch (the nearest dining hall), you can venture over to Club Med, on the medical campus (open for lunch only). If you want something else for dinner, you could always go to Price Center, but then you’d have to spent cash. Otherwise, the nearest dining hall would be in Warren. Warren also has Earl’s Place, which is a mini-grocery store/coffee shop where you buy snacks/cereal/milk or just chill with friends.
OVT has the best food selection by far. It’s a long trek from Sixth, but I always used to go there and it gave me a chance to get me oriented with the campus. (I also heard it isn’t open late anymore, which is a huge shame.)
I should note UCSD undergrads can also use the biomed library for studying, which I liked better than Giesel b/c it was quieter and had more natural light.</p>
<p>Do remember that, because Sixth is separated from a lot of the campus, you will do a lot of walking. Be prepared for that; a lot of Sixthers would get lazy after they would come home from one class and not want to go to another class after. If you want to be lazy and or if you’re injured, you can take campus loop. Just plan your schedule accordingly, and besides, it’s always good to have some exercise. I actually miss all the walking I did around campus because law school doesn’t really provide that.</p>
<p>Was it easy to make friends with your dorm mates?</p>
<p>How much co-ed interaction is there? And pretty much same question as above, are all the girls and guys in your dorm close? Bonding time…etc…</p>
<p>Firstly, to keep this an honest thread, I admit I hated UCSD at first. This was largely my fault because I had never visited the school before I went (long story short – I applied to mostly east coast schools, my family came up against sudden financial hardship, I was forced to stay local and UCSD offered the most money). I hated it because it wasn’t the “traditional” college experience I expected, parties seemed easier to come by in high school, and a lot of socal residents would go home on the weekends.
I applied to transfer to USC after my freshman year and was accepted. However, two of my best friends at UCSD convinced me to stay, and I’m glad I did. I met one of my best friends in the world and my current boyfriend there. Also, I ended up loving the political science program and my study abroad experience.
My purpose for this thread is so that you guys truly understand what you are getting into, unlike me. Most of you I’m sure know much more than I did already. If you do decide to attend, with the right expectations and the right attitude, I think you will like it here (if not love it).</p>
<p>Purplet1ger: it’s easy to make friends with your dorm mates, yes. In the beginning, almost everyone knows no one, so each person is eager to meet others. Like I said, there seems to be a lot more cohesion in in Sixth. As it turns out, I ended up meeting my best friends in Sixth from a different res hall than the one I was in, but that’s not to say that the people in my res hall weren’t friendly. We just didn’t click, and I ended up spending more time in the other res halls as a result.</p>
<p>divination: there is generally a lot of co-ed interaction in college, I’d presume. I actually had more guy friends than girl friends all throughout college. Looking back, there’s quite a bit of intermingling between the sexes and this is regardless of the college in which you are placed. During orientation and the first few weeks, your R.A.'s will try to set up ice-breakers and all sorts of “fun” group activities. I personally thought orientation was a waste of time and skipped the last day (there were no repercussions). I also dislike ice-breakers, but that’s just me. I was able to meet people on my own through classes, parties, other friends, etc.
By the time I graduated, roughly half of my friends were from Sixth and most of the other half were from ERC/Marshall. But, like I said before, college placement becomes largely irrelevant by the time you move off-campus.</p>
<p>When you go to UCSD, do you go home every weekend? Also, is a car essential? Is it recommended?</p>
<p>No, I’m originally from nor cal, so going home every weekend was not feasible. It took some time, but the friends I ended up having were also from nor cal or other areas that were not driving distance.
Not everyone has a car freshman year; it’s not really recommended or discouraged. By the time I graduated, nearly everyone had a car b/c of the off-campus living situations and b/c people had jobs outside of school. Having a car might be helpful if you’re from so cal and want to visit home once in awhile. But remember that (1) gas prices are volatile and can put a sizable dent in your wallet, and (2) student parking is a *****ing nightmare most of the time.</p>
<p>Okay, thank you so much for your answers! It helped a lot =)</p>
<p>Just to answer heartarrows’ question: once you are in the bio department, you can switch majors at will without having to go through the impacted major process. It’s guaranteed that she will be able to switch to a different biology major.</p>
<p>and restlessuniverse, I’m glad you made this thread! Sixth gets a lot of negative comments flung at it but I was always fond of visiting my friends in Camp Snoopy (and going to Foodworx).</p>
<p>Sixth has the most delicious pizza and salad on campus! But i can imagine them being tired of it after a while. Great thread btw. Sixth is definitely not a bad place to be.</p>
<p>God knows how many breakfast burritos I had at Foodworx to cure a hangover. Worked like a charm.</p>
<p>What is the appliance policy in the dorms?</p>
<p>In Sixth, we were expected to bring our own fridge and microwave. My roommate bought a dorm-sized fridge and we split the cost. Same with the microwave. However, the kitchen does contain a microwave, stoves, and I think an oven.</p>
<p>Sorry I missed that question earlier.</p>
<p>Need detailed description of how dining works at SD. Thanks</p>