<p>can someone please tell me how my experience at santa cruz would be different than UCSB or davis or sandiego state?</p>
<p>The UCSC campus is far prettier than that of any other UC or, for that matter, any college or university in the state. Only Westmont comes close, and its campus is tiny compared to UCSC's.</p>
<p>The second major difference is that UCSC has almost no adjunct faculty - this is a major, major difference from the other UC campuses. UCSC undergraduates have much closer contact with faculty than at any other UC. There are far fewer teaching assistants per capita at UCSC.</p>
<p>US Santa Cruz retains the emphasis on undergraduates that it has had for its entire existence. This is true in every field that I know of. It is most marked in the performing arts, where underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) have speaking rolls in major theater productions (including the Shakespeare program), solo performances in music, etc.</p>
<p>UCSC is the best of the UC's for freshmen and sophomores in just about any field. This is especially true in the sciences, mathematics and performing arts.</p>
<p>The community of the City of Santa Cruz is not merely strange, but outright weird in many ways. The UCSC student body used to be that way too, but it has become much closer to that of a normal UC student body as competition for entry has increased - the UCSC student body is actually getting homogenous, if not generic.</p>
<p>Finally, there are lots and lots of critters on campus - notably deer and squirrels. The place is a mix of forest and meadows. The ban of dogs on campus has led to the return of the normal forest fauna. This is most definitely something you won't find at any other UC. Not to mention that mountain lions (cougar) have followed the deer onto campus.</p>
<p>how are the girls?</p>
<p>AFAIK, the female students are no different from those of any other UC or state college - just the normal variation overall between campuses based on high school grades and test scores.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that there is a dramatic difference between UC campuses and state colleges (you mentioned San Diego State) in terms of adjunct faculty (non-tenure track - faculty hired to teach a single course for a single term). About 60% of the state college/university (CSU) faculty are adjunct faculty. AFAIK, about 10-20% of the UC faculty overall are adjunct. UC Santa Cruz had all of three (3) adjunct faculty for the 1999-2000 school year, and I don't believe that has changed much.</p>
<p>CSU's heavy emphasis on adjunct faculty pretty much minimizes continuity between courses and contact between faculty and students. It also means much greater reliance on teaching assistants.</p>
<p>The result is that undergraduate instruction in almost any subject at most any UC campus is considerably to vastly superior to that at most any CSU campus. The only CSU campus which is an exception to this is Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo - it is at least the equal of any UC for undergraduate instruction, and better than UC Irvine or UC Riverside. UC San Diego is the next best of the CSU's, but Cal Poly is clearly superior to it. Between UC Santa Cruz and San Diego State, go to UC Santa Cruz, with one exception noted below.</p>
<p>UCSC is close to, or at the top, of the UC system for undergraduate instruction in many if not most fields. I know of two major exceptions to this - my UCSC children inform me that the Politics/Government program at UCSC is awful compared to that of other UC's, and English Literature is at best mediocre. San Diego State is better than UCSC for the Politics/Government major.</p>
<p>^ Um. No. There are numerous errors with what you just said in the last two paragraphs.</p>
<p>Tell us about Politics/Government at CSU San Diego.</p>
<p>"The UCSC campus is far prettier than that of any other UC or, for that matter, any college or university in the state."</p>
<p>"UCSC is the best of the UC's for freshmen and sophomores in just about any field. This is especially true in the sciences, mathematics and performing arts."</p>
<p>"The result is that undergraduate instruction in almost any subject at most any UC campus is considerably to vastly superior to that at most any CSU campus."</p>
<p>"The only CSU campus which is an exception to this is Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo - it is at least the equal of any UC for undergraduate instruction, and better than UC Irvine or UC Riverside. UC San Diego is the next best of the CSU's, but Cal Poly is clearly superior to it."</p>
<p>"UCSC is close to, or at the top, of the UC system for undergraduate instruction in many if not most fields."</p>
<p>I don't understand these statements.</p>
<p>I thought the undergrad programs in general were of the same quality in all UC's. Berkely and LA only get their prestige because of the graduate programs.</p>
<p>smells like a lot of opinion/bias from a UCSC alum/parent.</p>
<p>Tell us about Politics/Government at CSU San Diego.</p>
<p>There is no CSU San Diego. It's still San Diego State University; drove by the sign this afternoon.</p>
<p>"The UCSC campus is far prettier than that of any other UC or, for that matter, any college or university in the state."</p>
<p>"UCSC is the best of the UC's for freshmen and sophomores in just about any field. This is especially true in the sciences, mathematics and performing arts."</p>
<p>"The result is that undergraduate instruction in almost any subject at most any UC campus is considerably to vastly superior to that at most any CSU campus."</p>
<p>"The only CSU campus which is an exception to this is Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo - it is at least the equal of any UC for undergraduate instruction, and better than UC Irvine or UC Riverside. UC San Diego is the next best of the CSU's, but Cal Poly is clearly superior to it."</p>
<p>"UCSC is close to, or at the top, of the UC system for undergraduate instruction in many if not most fields."</p>
<p>I don't understand these statements.</p>
<p>And these statements are your opinion or from you got them from some publication? Do you mind providing the source?
I have done so much research on the UC system and have never heard anywhere, including published reports from UCSC claiming "they are the best in just about any field."</p>
<p>Where did you read that Cal Poly SLO is a better institution than UCSD? UCSD just became he #1 Science school in the nation! And Cal Poly is ??</p>
<p>Where did the information on the instruction level at Cal Poly vs UCI and UCR come from? Look at the on-line stats for the instructors and the professors!</p>
<p>UCSC is close to or at the top of the UC System?????????? Really????<br>
Top of what??</p>
<p>I quoted that from one of the above posters.</p>
<p>"Look at the on-line stats for the instructors and the professors!"</p>
<p>What stats do you mean?</p>
<p>Gospy's statement that he does not understand my comment about the natural beauty of the UCSC campus shows the weight to be given his posts.</p>
<p>he, like many other people, is wondering where you're getting your facts, or your opinions you pass off as facts and then when confronted about them you try to discredit the person who asked them. nice.</p>
<p>"Look at the on-line stats for the instructors and the professors!"</p>
<p>I am not attempting to discredit anyones statements made. But take a look at the credentials the UC's publish on each of their websites about the faculty. Also, there is information on Princeton Review, US News and College Board.
UCSC is one of the most beautiful UC campus' in the system. Academically though it doesn't compare to the higher level UC's like UCLA, Berkeley, UCSD or even Irvine.
Just like Adcoms use applicants GPA's and SAT scores for the Admissions screening process, applicants use the rankings of schools when evaluating their acceptances. Nationwide UCB is #20, UCLA is #25, UCSD is #35, UCI is #40 and UCSC is #74.
Please don't take this as an attempt to demean UCSC or anyone's decision to attend UCSC. Californian's should be extremely proud of the stats that all of the UC's are Nationally ranked in the top 100. And those students accepted into any UC should be truly proud of the fact they have been accepted and get educated in a top 100 University.
It is something to be proud of and brag about!</p>