<p>Would appreciate feedback from current students.</p>
<p>My daughter has been told she won't 'fit in' and now isn't sure she even wants to visit. She's a girly girl, cheerleader and was interested in possibly joining a sorority.</p>
<p>And I realize partying happens at all colleges (drinking and some pot) but does Santa Cruz really deserve the 'stoner' reputation?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>UCSC students tend to be liberal to very liberal. I’m a moderate and tend to be in the minority.</p>
<p>It seems that over time some of the Santa Cruz lifestyle has permeated into the campus, in that the student body is pretty laid back and pot is probably more available than in other schools. That being said, drugs are not a problem. If you want it, its there. If you don’t, no one is going to pressure you. Take it from me: i don’t drink, smoke, or do any other drugs and ive never had a problem.</p>
<p>I think you’ll find that there is less partying at UCSC than at other schools, just because of residential college system spreads the student body out throughout the campus and the University’s distance from the rest of the city (the school is located on a hill overlooking Santa Cruz). </p>
<p>I think you guys should consider a visit. I’m sure you’ll love the scenery (we’re literally located inside a redwood forest). Make sure to visit Crown and Merrill colleges as they have the reputation of holding the least amount of parties.</p>
<p>Best of Luck</p>
<p>Too liberal for my taste if you ask me. Our athletic programs are poor, we don’t have a proper football team, and not a major cheerleading program exists here. Our Greek life is laughably poor. And UCSC is the #1 American ‘stoner’ college–you will smell weed from time to time and eventually get sick of it. For your daughter’s sake please don’t come to UCSC, but if it’s a necessity then choose College 9/10 or Stevenson/Cowell.</p>
<p>thanks for taking the time to give your feedback!</p>
<p>I know the campus is gorgeous but it looks like she is leaning toward SDSU for the athletics/greek life :)</p>
<p>socalmother:
Emprise is hugely exaggerating the level of marijuana on campus. Contrary to popular belief: UCSC is not among the worst offenders. It just has the reputation left over from the 60s and people like to think that minor incidents mean something is prevalent across the campus. It all comes down to who you surround yourself with. From my personal experience, I have had more encounters with marijuana at Berkeley’s campus than I have at UCSC.</p>
<p>Our athletics are definitely not there, but that is what I personally love about the campus. More focus can be given to academic achievements rather than who beat who ;). And considering it was a fraternity that killed a rather expensive and much beloved pet koi of Porter’s (one of the ten residential colleges), I have to say that I’m also glad Greek Life isn’t prevalent. Although I do feel bad that even years later those who had nothing to do with it that are facing the consequences of one group’s stupid mistakes.</p>
<p>I’m not saying those things are bad, just that they are not my preference. But as they seem to be your daughter’s, she would definitely be better off at a school that had them if that’s what she enjoys :). SDSU would definitely fit the bill for more focus on athletics and easily a better Greek Life than UCSC.</p>
<p>Good luck to your daughter! She’ll hopefully have a blast at SDSU (or wherever else she chooses to go).</p>
<p>I’m currently a UCSC student originally from SoCal. In high school I was really interested in music, poetry, and drug/counter-culture, but then I was also a jock. I’ve found no problems being exactly who I want to be here. I can’t imagine someone not fitting in at UCSC. I’ve never met such friendly, welcoming, and open-minded people. It’s not as if anyone is excluded for any superficial reason, like the clothes they wear or trends they represent. There are people of all kinds at Santa Cruz. There are jocks, girly-girls, bros, frat guys, straight-laced academics, hippies, computer nerds, politically active idealists, business students, anime fans, eco conservationists (many kinds of people with a vast range of interests and hobbies). You will find people with drug experience who like partying, but Santa Cruz is a large research university, and you will also find many people who abstain from drugs and partying due to the academic rigor they face. You would be likely to find people interested in rock climbing, surfing, trail running, and triathlon participation, but probably not as likely to find people interested in cheerleading and football. It’s not exactly true that Santa Cruz isn’t a good place for people interested in athletics; there is swimming, basketball, tennis, and cross country. There are miles of trails to hike and explore around campus, plenty of people to surf with, as well as a really awesome track, gym and field that are open to students. The student population isn’t that interested in spectating, and that could potentially be an issue depending on the experience you are hoping to have. It’s true that the Greek Life is somewhat deemphasized, and again depending on the experience you are hoping to have that could potentially be a problem. Overall, my experience with Santa Cruz and UCSC has been pretty great, and I wouldn’t let something like a worry about fitting in prevent you from choosing Santa Cruz, especially considering the opportunity that the school offers to meet exceptional people and participate in stellar academic departments (Linguistics, Astro-physics, Computer science, Cognitive science, and video game design- to name a few that are well-recognized).</p>
<p>you should visit so she has her own impression and not let others create their own ideas for her</p>
<p>Emprise’s comments really don’t reflect what I’ve noticed at UCSC. Indeed, UCSC and UCSB probably have the greatest variety of students, allowing everyone to fit in.</p>
It was recently announced ,that what we were told about athletics, has been taken off the table. Our Chancellor has decided that we do not have a guaranteed 2 years of Athletics, as announced earlier. There is an “Opinion Poll” during the student voting period, in 5 weeks, that is essentially a vote on athletics. The Chancellor is saying that if the students don’t vote to support athletics, then next year is the last year and the entire department will be cut-All sports!!! If the opinion poll is positive, then the chancellor will let the students vote on a referendum, next year, that must pass at 66% , which is highly unlikely. We are being set up.
We are beginning to organize, ASAP, to fight this and believe we will win in the long run, but all athletes need to take this into consideration. Two months ago I was very encouraged that we were headed in the right direction, before the Chancellor made this decision.
If UCSC is your first choice, this is what I recommend. You need to keep your options open. Send in your intent to register , “ITR” , to keep you option open to attend UCSC when/if we straighten this mess out, and keep you option open for your second choice. Once we know more you can make your final decision.
It never seems to be easy, but things are at a tipping point and we will know a lot more by the middle of May. I am asking all our recruits to try and hang on until then.
All our coaches are keeping the faith, and once we move forward, we should never have to deal with this again.
@socalmother If your daughter is still deciding, she should rush Gamma Phi Beta or Kappa Kappa Gamma. Plenty of girly girls to be found in them at SC (GPB maybe more so).
Everyone says the party scene is irrelevant yet it made it in the top 20 of playboys list in 2014/2015