University of California-Santa Barbara Top Questions

The best thing about ucsb is the sense of community. everyone is a part of the school, everyone has an identity of some sort, everyone is pretty familiar with what sb has to offer. That being said, the isla vista community breeds a love hate relationship with ucsb students.people love the proximity to the beach, to each other,etc. It is rare that so many students live so so close to each other. Complaints are the noise, the landlords, the trash on the weekends, and the somewhat redundancy of the isla vista party scene. However, I believe that there is nowwhere like it and as an alum looking back in retrospect, it was an extremely unique place to live.the size is just right and I have always (without fail) found the administration helpful and friendly. I never felt treated like a number as ucsb once!school pride is inconsistent..it comes out when we are succeeding, I.e when we won the national soccer championships! However, if you do have a lot of school spirit, there"s a lot available to you (teams, gaucholocos,etc).as far as unusual elements, the setup of the ideal college town strikes some as unusual.one thing I really love about ucsb is that there are always familiar faces everywhere. You really have a lot of opportunity to get to know the members of your class. The option of living in downtown santa barbara is great as well.

The best thing about UCSB is that its right on the beach. The internet does not always work and that needs to be fixed.The school is pretty small. When i tell people that i go to UCSB they just look at me and say "oh thats a party school!" I spent most of my time in the library. Most of the administration are nice. There is some pride but not much.

ucsb was like paradise for college students. everyone just wanders around iv like it's their own private little utopia. it was such a fun place to go to school, but i can see how all the partying would distract people from their studies. the best part is being able to go to the beach between classes spring quarter.

The ability to have a complete college experience of academics and fun. More diverse. Too large. They say "oh, party school". My dorm room. College town. Friendly administration. Police force at anti-war rally. YES! No. Gunther concert. High university fees.

The best thing is that it is a great school in an awesome location with really good professors and opportunities. I'd probably update some of the buildings, its not fun having class in the old military temporary buildings. The school is just the right size. People tend to react with, "oh, party school" but then move on to remarking how it is a good school and how many good things they've heard about it. (and the number of people they know who go there or have gone there). I spend most of my time at the UCen or on the UCen lawn. I like that IV is a college town, and it is so very much. I don't really have much of an opinion on the UCSB admin. We dont really have a lot of controversy on campus, the only thing i can think of is the anti-war protest they had a couple weeks ago. I don't know anyone who doesn't love UCSB, so yes, there is a lot of school pride. Its probably unusual how well students are able to balance work and partying. Students complain mostly about big lectures like the ones in Campbell hall and the old classrooms.

The best thing about ucsb is the beautiful campus. Something about the laid back great atmosphere makes it easier to relax and get your work done. If I had to change anything it would be that the beach was cleaner right near the campus. Our school is a good size because the big classroom and small discussion atmosphere allows for both learning styles to get what they need. People usually think I am an alcoholic when I tell them I go to UCSB but alot of the people I know back home know that the school is a great research school for science majors. On campus I spend most of my time at the library. Ucsb has a definite college town, it makes it alot easier to get involved.

The location! people would study more. just right. they say, "oh, it's beautiful there." the ucen. "what college town" dont know much about the administration. ? not much school pride. it's on the beach. awesome runs on the beach. ?

The best thing about UCSB is the sophistication/intellectual strength of the institution being coupled with its proximity to the sea-side student community of Isla Vista (being a square mile of apartments; 95{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of which are occupied by students). This dynamic of an excellent institution being readily available to a town that is exclusive to the preferences of college-age people, (all the while looking over the Pacific!), is what truly makes University of California, Santa Barbara like no other institution of higher learning in the world. I would change the distance that UCSB's campus is from downtown Santa Barbara. Isla Vista is relatively isolated from the rest of the world, often making partying and drinking the seemingly sole choices of recreation in the evenings. Being closer to downtown would provide more options for recreation and leisure to the students. UCSB's size is just right. The way someone responds to finding out where I go to school depends on what kind of person is asking. If it is some snob from Cal, he will probably think that I didn't get into his grungy school and am only attending SB as a last resort: WRONG: I got into Cal, and like many fellow students, chose SB over it.\ On campus, I spend most of my time in class or at the library. Go figure, huh? UCSB's administration is a bunch of older people with scholarly credentials that consider the welfare of students next to the importance of the vitality of their pensions; just like every administration at every campus. The most recent controversy on campus was the UCPD excercising excessive force on a group of students protesting at a nuclear weapons conference held on campus. There is school pride, but it is not grounded in our sports teams. It is pride in the best thing about UCSB, which I already explained. I will always remember the UCSB Gaucho Men's Soccer Team winning the NCAA D-1 national championship over UCLA. The community was electric and the soccer goal was thrown off the cliffs and into the ocean! There was dancing, laughter, and even nudity in the streets.

I think the best thing about UCSB is the combination of a great location, great people, and a great academic institution. The weather is pretty moderate all year round, I live on the beach, and there's nothing quite like Isla Vista. You have all of your best friends within walking distance, and there's always something going on. I think that they size of UCSB is just right, not too big and not too small. Friends I have the visit me here are always like, "I could NEVER go to school here! How do you do it?" UCSB kids do party pretty hard, and everyone knows it. The library is great to study at, most kids go to the fourth floor. I really only go on campus to get studying done or to go to class. Isla Vista defines 'college town'. All the local businesses rely on student, and cater to them accordingly. Lots of food specials, happy hours, etc. The administration is alright, I can't complain. Nothing major has gone wrong with my experience here with the admin., but of course you have your shitty professors here and there. I'm not personally into the school pride thing, but there are a lot of people who are. You can for sure get into it if you choose to. Unique things about UCSB- Our campus is literally on the beach, lots of construction going on in IV and on campus, which tells me the school is really growing.

The best experience I have had at UCSB was freshman summer start program. With a limited number of people in the dorms, everyone knew each other- it was a real bonding experience and the summer here is awesome. It was a great way to ease into the school. The only problem was fitting in once the real year began, because you just want to stick with summer start friends, and not meet people on your new floor. It's a big population in a small area, but there are plenty of ways that it gets divided up so it's easy to make a lot of connections. Frats and sororities are not necessary to meet people and party-there are parties no matter what and you don't need to be confined by the Greek system. It's a college town, definetly, so there are no restrictions holding you back from experiencing anything-granted there is a sturdy police system, so don't do anything dumb in the streets, but there is plenty of freedom and leeway in the community. On campus, I spend the most time in classrooms or outside. There are plenty of beautiful places to sit outside and read, relax, and enjoy the beach weather. Biggest recent controversy on campus was the war strike-very interesting. A few people got arrested. They are trying to bring back the hippie movement, but there's not really a big portion of people like that here, so it seemed a little rediculous. School pride is a high school thing, I think we're past that here, plus it's too big a community to have a lot in common with everyone who shares the school, so it's hard to be proud together. The most frequent student complaint I hear is "I can't study"- this is because there is often a conflict of interest with partying. I say take a couple of quarters easy, get it out of your system, and then sink into some real school work once you know what you're interested in. You can avoid the party scene if you want, but it's one way to get to know yourself and unleash your wild side.