California College of the Arts Top Questions

There are not popular groups, I honestly could not name one. That is really something that CCA lacks. Because we have such a small amount of students, there are no clubs. The dorm life is very specific to which dorm you live in. There are three. Irwin Hall, Cliftin, and the Avenue Apartments. Students that live in Irwin tend to bond and only hangout with each other their freshman year. The dorm is small, only one floor with a long hallway. Cliftin is three floors and each floor has its own group of friends. The floor I was on was an all girls floor and no one left their doors open. The other two floors were mixed gender and they all made great friends. There are NO athletic events. There is no gym and there are no athletic clubs. This is something CCA is really lacking. People don't really date here. It seems like everyone is either single or in a serious relationship. I think that is because people here are very compatible naturally. I met my closest friends working in the Metal studio. My sophomore year the work load got a little crazy and I was always in the studio with my classmates. We are generally in there in the middle of the night working, school days and weekends. One thing I love about CCA is that there are always students working in the studios. Im talking until 5 am in every studio. I've met a lot of cool people working on my projects at night on the weekends. Some people party but the scene is not very large. Once people turn 21 they don't go to house parties anymore and just go out. Oakland and San Francisco are great bar/lounge/club cities.

I think the most popular student groups on campus are Chimera Council, The Asian students association and The Students Of Color Coalition. There are separate groups within the departments and many more smaller student organizations on campus. I am a a part of Chimera Council which is the undergraduate student body representative council - basically, like a student government for CCA. Chimera council is very much involved in the orientation process for incoming students. We facilitate most of the activities and act as both peer support and a resource to students. Orientation is one of the most important experiences I ever had as a student here because it's where I met some of my best friends. My Chimera leaders were the first people I met as an incoming freshman and they were also some of the first friends I made. In fact, one of the Chimera leaders that I met during orientation has turned out to be one of my best friends and it's really nice to know that as part of Chimera Council, I can do the same for other students too. Throughout the year, Chimera Council also facilitate community activities and events on campus such as movie screenings, parties etc. We facilitate these events in hopes to bring our student community closer together and continue CCA's tradition of building community. Besides conducting events on campus and facilitating orientation, we are also advocates of the undergraduate student body and we act as mentors, peer support and resources for the undergraduate student body. I've had some great experiences in Chimera Council. Being a part of facilitating orientation for incoming students was really fun because I really got a chance to interact with them and help them out. One thing I started to realize was that the problems we face when transitioning from High School into college aren't very different and I find that it's great to have a support system of people who have been through the same process you have and who understand what you're going through. It was really nice to be able to be there for students who were going through some of the challenges that I had been through and it was much easier for them because they had us to support them and help them through it. Besides that, Chimera council also organized a group art show this year at one of the on campus galleries and we organized a pumpkin carving competition for halloween and a costume party. It's a great organization to be a part of and we learn alot through the interactions that we have with students. Besides Chimera Council, I am also a student ambassador for the Enrollment Services department. As a student ambassador, I work enrollment events such as Preview days, Admitted Student day and Portfolio Review days. I get a chance to interact with prospective students, parents, high school teachers etc. and relate my experiences as a student here to them. The interactions that I have especially with prospective students is always very meaningful because I think its always nice to hear from another student what life at school is like and they always have so many questions and I love being able to relate my experiences to them. I also give campus tours which is always fun because you get to talk about the campus, it's history etc. but you also get to relate your experiences as part of the tour and that's always a great thing for parents and prospective students who want to get a better feel of the school. I love being involved at school because especially at CCA, I think the key to knowing what's going on and being able to take advantage of all the amazing opportunities that are available, is getting involved. Once you start getting involved, a ton of opportunities just come flying your way and it's really great!

CCA offers a few ways to get involved. One is through residential life, being an RA for the freshmen in the dorms. They have yoga and capaguera (a type of Brazilian dance) sessions on campus. The Chimera Council is a group of student leaders and role models that participate in extracurricular activities with and are always available to incoming freshmen. There are galleries on both campuses as well as reviews so students can see others' artwork and talk to the artists. Located in San Francisco and in the Rockridge, there is always something to do around the town. Both locations offer easy access to concert venues, shopping opportunities, restaurants, as well as bus and BART transportation.

All of the students here share a passion for art. Students go to local gallery shows, and theaters. Students who enjoy some partying go up to Berkeley or other students' homes. A lot hop on BART and head over (under) the bay into SF and enjoy what it has to offer too.

I find that I am usually doing homework, sleeping or just relaxing at home when I have free time.

When students actually get a moment away from work there is many different types of clubs around the school. CCA even has a fraternity although it is not in a traditional sense. There is a lecture hall where many lectures are given from people from all over the world in various fields. Because of the demanding work load there is not much time for partying, etc.

when it comes down to it, most students spend much of their waking life in the studios working on their art projects. Art has a way of consuming your life, time and money... Saturday nights in the studios, Yay!

when it comes down to it, most students spend much of their waking life in the studios working on their art projects. Art has a way of consuming your life, time and money... Saturday nights in the studios, Yay!

As a grad student, I am not involved with groups or clubs. I simply don't have the time. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the trips that my class of graduate students have taken together - they are all wonderful bonding experiences. There's also an excellent lecture series bringing in important contemporary artists, curators, writers, architects, etc. The lecture series is very popular among grad students. As far as a dating scene goes, most grad students are married or involved in long term committed relationships, so there's not many people within the program looking to date. We do all hang out together since many of us came from elsewhere to attend the school. Since we're all in the same set of studio buildings, thats where people meet each other and where our community has really started growing. The students in the graduate program are adults, so we have pretty established personal rhythms in terms of going out, socializing, and "partying." Basically it really varies on an individual basis. There are plenty of events outside of the school that students are involved in in terms of art, which gets us all together and gets us out into the city.

I think the most popular student groups on campus are Chimera Council, The Asian students association and The Students Of Color Coalition. There are separate groups within the departments and many more smaller student organizations on campus. I am a a part of Chimera Council which is the undergraduate student body representative council - basically, like a student government for CCA. Chimera council is very much involved in the orientation process for incoming students. We facilitate most of the activities and act as both peer support and a resource to students. Orientation is one of the most important experiences I ever had as a student here because it's where I met some of my best friends. My Chimera leaders were the first people I met as an incoming freshman and they were also some of the first friends I made. In fact, one of the Chimera leaders that I met during orientation has turned out to be one of my best friends and it's really nice to know that as part of Chimera Council, I can do the same for other students too. Throughout the year, Chimera Council also facilitate community activities and events on campus such as movie screenings, parties etc. We facilitate these events in hopes to bring our student community closer together and continue CCA's tradition of building community. Besides conducting events on campus and facilitating orientation, we are also advocates of the undergraduate student body and we act as mentors, peer support and resources for the undergraduate student body. I've had some great experiences in Chimera Council. Being a part of facilitating orientation for incoming students was really fun because I really got a chance to interact with them and help them out. One thing I started to realize was that the problems we face when transitioning from High School into college aren't very different and I find that it's great to have a support system of people who have been through the same process you have and who understand what you're going through. It was really nice to be able to be there for students who were going through some of the challenges that I had been through and it was much easier for them because they had us to support them and help them through it. Besides that, Chimera council also organized a group art show this year at one of the on campus galleries and we organized a pumpkin carving competition for halloween and a costume party. It's a great organization to be a part of and we learn alot through the interactions that we have with students. Besides Chimera Council, I am also a student ambassador for the Enrollment Services department. As a student ambassador, I work enrollment events such as Preview days, Admitted Student day and Portfolio Review days. I get a chance to interact with prospective students, parents, high school teachers etc. and relate my experiences as a student here to them. The interactions that I have especially with prospective students is always very meaningful because I think its always nice to hear from another student what life at school is like and they always have so many questions and I love being able to relate my experiences to them. I also give campus tours which is always fun because you get to talk about the campus, it's history etc. but you also get to relate your experiences as part of the tour and that's always a great thing for parents and prospective students who want to get a better feel of the school. I love being involved at school because especially at CCA, I think the key to knowing what's going on and being able to take advantage of all the amazing opportunities that are available, is getting involved. Once you start getting involved, a ton of opportunities just come flying your way and it's really great!