<p>I game a lot ( mostly on the PC with MMO's), but am also pretty social. I like to get out on the weekends. I havent partied at all in High School but want to get into it. So basically I want to be with computer nerds that still have fun in the real world! I dont care whatsover about diversity or culture or reaching out to the community. I also prefer a core class with a lot less writing and english.</p>
<p>Crown. Just avoid the gaming house.</p>
<p>You’ll find nerds scattered around UCSC. But there is a strong community in Crown. Too strong at times, which is why I say avoid the gaming house, which requires a separate application anyhow. The other houses have a good mix of hardcore nerds, slightly geeky people, and just plain “normal” people. If you want to get out and do stuff, it’s just a matter of finding the more social nerds and befriending them. They’re not as uncommon as you think.</p>
<p>I speak this all from experience. Second year at Crown. 
So ask away if you want to know more about it.</p>
<p>The other thing I ought to mention is that the party scene (assuming you mean the alcohol + loud music kind) on campus is not prominent at all. Most of the parties happen off-campus. If you’re just looking for a way to be social, a lot of UCSC students tend to be a bit quirky on that end. Blanket fort nerf war, anyone? </p>
<p>You’re not going to find a core class with a curriculum that has less writing and english. 
That’s all that core class is for. If you’re lucky you’ll pick a section where the professor requires less reading, but that’s all you can hope for.</p>
<p>thank you so much for the info, can you just explain what the gaming house is? ( And how often these nerf wars happen!!!)</p>
<p>The gaming house is a themed house aimed toward people in the game design major. They get first priority for entrance, followed by film, computer science, creative writing, electronic music, and art majors. It’s meant as a way for game design students to have a community of people with similar interests but different talents, for the sake of collaboration. There have organized gaming tournaments plus trips to gaming conferences, too. </p>
<p>It sounds pretty awesome, but from the times I’ve been in there, it’s not so great if you want to be social. It entrapped a lot of the people with gaming addictions of sorts. It’s pretty amusing to see people lugging their desktop computers into the lounge for TF2 or Starcraft lan parties. </p>
<p>Nerf wars are sometimes organized, but often not. They’re related to the Humans vs Zombies games that happens at Crown about twice a quarter. It’s pretty much what it sounds like, humans get nerf guns, zombies get infinite respawn (out of sight and at a fair distance, of course) and infect humans on two-hand touch. So on account of that, many students own nerf guns. And thus, nerf wars erupt quite often in the hallways due to boredom. :P</p>
<p>that sounds incredible! I think SC just became my favorite school!!!</p>
<p>Only the first floor of the gaming house are who I’d say fit your description, Liesel. They’ll bring their computers into the lounge and play games together. There are actually a decent number of people in Harvey who don’t play games at all, at least for a house that’s gaming themed. I know more than a couple people in Harvey who didn’t choose to be here–there are bioengineering, pre-med, psychology, MCD, and physics majors here. Don’t know about the other floors, but on the second floor there are maybe 4 people who aren’t really social; the other 17 people all know each other, talk to each other, etc. During finals week there was so little studying going on, at least on second floor. Quiet hours? Pfft. It’s kinda funny. My friend said it was dead silent over at one of the dorms in College Nine, and people over in that particular dorm smoke weed and drink/are the partying type.</p>
<p>Well then that’s just depressing. My roommate last year (in game design) wanted to get into the gaming house, but there was no room left for her. The hell is the point of such a community if you put in a bunch of people who don’t want to be there? Sigh. </p>
<p>I am in fact friends with a psychology major and a physics major at Harvey. But they’re both gamers of sorts. Also very true about the quiet hours…I’m in Maxwell. There are times I want to go over to the Harvey lounge and tell people to stuff it.</p>
<p>If you like to game a lot you should probably go to Crown. But put schooling as your priority, one of my hall-mates withdrew from all his classes this quarter because he was failing all of them. All he did was play video games all-night. He would play till 4AM. He even missed a midterm due to paying video games. He’s coming back next quarter but he wasted a lot of money for no reason and is behind a quarter now. </p>
<p>Another thing, there’s not much partying in UCSC. And the few parties that there are, you have to have connections to get in them or actually join the frat throwing the party. During welcome week, I went to a few frat parties and they were lame. College parties are definitely not like how they are envisioned in the movies and TV.</p>
<p>all the colleges have people who play video games though…just preference with core classes or if it will benefit your major (ie Porter with the arts/film).</p>
<p>Picking preference by core class is a bad idea. It’s one quarter. Generally, the people I know who picked Crown for the core course ended up unhappy with their decision.</p>