We live in SF, surf and have family in Capitola, thus spend a lot of time in the area and on the campus. It is unique, and uniquely beautiful. Our close cousin attends and is enjoying his education immensely after transferring from community college/covid, taking full advantage of the outdoors programming. (He’s majoring in and taking classes in various social sciences/humanities). Quite a few of my daughter’s friends from high school attend (she went to a public arts magnet and UCSC’s film major’s reputation is rising quickly, so knows a handful of students who turned down other film schools for UCSC’s more production-oriented program). Early in their tenure, I dropped my daughter (Cal class of 25) off for a visit, and I was struck by how at-home all our UCSC friends seemed to feel after just a few months. One of our close friends there is a regent/chancellor scholar, which has secured four years of housing in an otherwise tight market. Sometimes, true urbanites don’t like the wooded, decentralized feel of the campus…and just as many folks are thrilled with the sense of peace and open space. Overall, from my seat, top issues are: housing shortage/competition for off-campus housing with SC residents; UCSC’s slightly less good fiscal solvency rating relative to other UCs (not sure why this is so, and can’t find the document presently, but will look for it); no single central gathering area on campus (maybe some don’t care, but I always liked a plaza; UCSC has multiple). Plusses: dorm food quality vs. other UCs (except UCLA, which is also good), easy bus service to beach and town (my daughter has gone with friends several times and says it’s effortless, even with a board!), instruction equal to any other UC, some unique and interesting majors, internship and other opportunities in nearby Silicon Valley, nice participatory intramural and recreational culture. Also: I know dozens of adult graduates from my era (80s) and to a person they all loved their college years and love UCSC. Good luck in your search!
That’s great info, thank you. He loves the beach and that’s one of the big draws for him. I was wondering how easy it would be to get there without a car.
Great post; thanks. It seems like UCSC of all the UCs appears to be at the bottom for price and worse even availability of non-university student housing (bad enough at almost all the UCs). I hope for the students’ sake that the town relents a bit soon and allows more housing to be built for the students.
My DS got into their robotics program. Any one has insight into that program?
My son did too and would love to know about it.
Visited UCSC last week. I am a UCSB grad but had never been to the Santa Cruz campus. It is unlike any university campus I have ever been on. Before committing, please visit the campus. It is extraordinarily beautiful and unique but definitely not going to be a fit for every student. It is like being in a tree house. They did not clear space in the forest to build a typical university, they placed buildings amongst the trees and built paths through the forest to connect the buildings. Lots of walking and hills. Housing is apparently a huge problem. During the tour, there were students yelling down from their windows “Do Not Go Here, the housing is terrible, the transportation is terrible” The beach town of Santa Cruz is not adjacent to the university like Isla Vista is to UCSB. The town is several miles away. There is really no parking at the university. The tour guide must have told us 5 times “we like trees more than parking lots” Well, that’s great but when you are forced to live off campus because there is not enough on-campus housing, then you need to get to classes. If the buses take you an hour to get there, that’s gonna be a major PITA to many. We spoke to several students who confirmed, that it’s a whole different level of chill that you must adapt to deal with the housing and transportation issues. We were mesmerized by the natural beauty of the campus but my daughter didn’t think she could find enough zen to navigate those kinds of day-to-day inconveniences and inefficiencies. She also thought that the forest might creep her out at night. She’s a suburban kid with minimal outdoorsy experience. You’d have to walk through the trees on a small-lit path to get to the library or dining commons at night. We saw deer, turkeys, and of course banana slugs in the wild. Hope this helps someone, it is not my intent to be negative and many many things about UCSC were impressive but it’s not the kind of school that every student will be drawn to.
Thank you for your review; very much appreciated.
Great review! One caveat would be that if fewer freshman matriculate, there will be more housing available to current students (which might have motivated the yelling warnings). Ironically once people are accepted and start attending, they sometimes say “they need to let in fewer people!”
My son takes the buses and I haven’t heard complaints, but he also likes the campus. There is a UCSC forum on Reddit which periodically has kids venting about housing/bus (and other issues). While anecdote does not equal data, it is an interesting read.
I wholeheartedly agree. We had the same experience. The other kind of odd thing is that the town and the college are not at all aligned. We visited Santa Cruz many times for the boardwalk, etc. and, if you didn’t know of UCSC’s existence, you wouldn’t have a clue that a major university exists there. It’s strange.
I’m wondering if anyone knows how many of the undergrad Engineering classes are taught by grad students. Also, whether the disgruntlement re pay, housing, etc amongst the grad students is affecting the vibe/culture in those classes - Ie. if they aren’t happy with the university, does that attitude spill over into their classes?
Did everyone receive a FA package? We are still waiting since they requested verification documents for my daughter. We responded as soon as we got the email but the portal still has no aid package. It just says that her documents were received.
It’s been like this for over a week.
A post was merged into an existing topic: UC Santa Cruz Fall 2023 Transfer Thread
Very few are taught by graduate students (PhD ), a vast majority are by professors or visiting/adjunct professors.
Yes we have received ours.
I am becoming impatient to see the package. lol
My daughter got a really good package from UCR but SC is her top school now that she decided University of Oregon would be more expensive than medical school.
On the waiting list for Banana Slug Day. Do we have a chance of going? It’s hard to plan a visit… either going for Slug Day or after for an official visit.
Did you have to accept admission in order to see the full package?
We haven’t accepted yet. It’s just an estimate at the moment.
We just checked the portal and she will be emailing the FInAid office. The cost of attendance assigned to her account now (it changed ) is 73K which is a OOS rate. Previously it had the correct COA. We submitted the citizenship proof and they confirmed they received both documents. I believe it’s a human error since residency docs show she’s a CA student. We had no trouble getting the FA package from UCR that listed all of her CA and institutional grants. UCR did not have trouble matching her citizenship thought the SSA office.
I hope people who decide not to go actually do cancel so that those on the waitlist get a chance to attend.
It was the same 4 years ago when we toured for my oldest daughter. We just got lucky and signed up early. I didn’t find out until afterwards there was a possibility that there might not be space.
This year I signed up as soon as we got my daughter’s acceptance based solely on the knowledge that they run out of space. I hope you get a spot!