<p>Recently, my mom told me that it wouldn't be wise to go to UCSB (as opposed to UCI, which is where I live), because after college, there's nothing to do in Santa Barbara, and I'd have to move somewhere else anyways (such as to Orange County or LA). Additionally, she said Santa Barbara is an expensive place to live, and housing and food would cost too much.</p>
<p>Originally, I wanted to go to UCSB because it's been reputed that accounting firms like to recruit there, but where are these employment opportunities actually situated? In Santa Barbara, or somewhere else? Does it make sense to "live" in Santa Barbara? My mom tells me that I'd just have to move back to Irvine after college anyways, because there isn't as much in Santa Barbara.</p>
<p>Moreover, what happens to the friendships you build in college? My plan has always been to stay in the area I went to college, so that I'd be with some familiar faces, but it seems like the scenario is that after college, everyone goes their separate ways, and it's like you might as well have never built all these friendships in the first place.</p>
<p>I’m an 2008 grad, so I just went through this recently. To answer your question, yes, few people stay in Santa Barbara after graduating. Housing is expensive and the job market there is not really conducive to recent college graduates. Accounting firms do heavily recruit in UCSB as you’ve heard, and most of those job offers are in the Los Angeles area (with some in the San Francisco Area). </p>
<p>As far as friendships after college, that can be kind of tough. I actually broke up with my girlfriend because I moved back home to San Francisco (she was still in school and originally from LA) and seeing each other once every 3 months wasn’t cutting it… You’re right, the time after college is similar to graduating high schools, people go their separate ways, and many of my friends moved around California and some even out of state. Luckily these days there are a lot of ways to keep in touch.</p>
<p>That being said, the experience was still really worth it. College is a time to explore and grow, and what better way to do that than to move out of your comfort zone and explore a new area? If, like your mom says, you’re going to live in boring Irvine (I kid, I kid :))for the rest of your life, that sounds like a great reason to spend four years at UCSB! Also, the Isla Vista culture is extremely unique. What other opportunity in your life will you have to live in an active community made up of mostly students with social opportunities abound? As a recent grad, I miss Isla Vista very much… the late night food places, all your friends being less than half a mile away, biking to class, and yes even partying </p>
<p>So I say take that opportunity while you have it. Like I mentioned before, you have the rest of your entire life to live a “normal” life in a cookie cutter city. Also, since you plan to get into accounting, you’ll have a ton of people from SB to accounting firms so I’m sure you’ll end up close to a lot of your friends anyway.</p>
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