University of California-Santa Barbara Top Questions

Absolutly NOT! -Party school/not very smart stereotype: First of all, every school is a "party school". I have visited many schools (of varying academic levels and settings...including University of Oregon, Emerson, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, & Yale) and they all have students that "party". It is inevitable. UCSB gets the reputation because its students live in Isla Vista, which is a square mile with approx 12,000 students living in it. Such a living situation is bound to be social because students live in such close proximity to each other and they can easily get around by biking or walking. I think of UCSB as an active school. Students are out and about all time, in part because the weather is for the most part great, and also because there are a lot of things going on (sports, clubs, events in IV, etc.) In fact, 85{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of students participate in an extracurricular activity, which is 2x the national average. In regards to the "partying" going on, I believe it is actually safer than most other schools because all social activities are close by (and for the over 21 year olds who go out downtown there is an inexpensive bus, Bills Bus, that takes everyone there and back), which minimizes drunk driving. Second, people completely overlook the fact that UCSB is a tough school to get in to and very strong academically. We are ranked in the top 15 for public research universities, and have 5 nobel prize winners on staff. Just to illustrate the quality of students at UCSB...the average GPA for admitted students for the freshman class entering in 2007 was 3.98 and the average GPA for students who enrolled was 3.76. The students are smart and balanced. They have fun, and also are smart and hard-working. -Diversity: According to UCSB press release about applicants to the freshman class of 2008, "52.7 percent of all applicants for the UCSB freshman class are members of a racial or ethnic minority group." This seems like diversity to me.

To some degree--we definitely have an active social life (especially in Isla Vista) but school always comes first. We know how to have a good time but we also understand the importance of the great education we are getting here and that comes first.