University of California-Santa Cruz Top Questions

NO DIVERSITY!!!!!! as a school u guys really need to work on that.

UCSC is a very accepting environment, one in which I would imagine most people would feel welcome. It is a predominantly left leaning campus, with the students being very politically aware.

Everyone can fit in here, except conservatives and Republicans. Conservative Republican? Keep that stigma off your forehead and stay in the political closet.

I think this is a really comfortable, safe environment to come out of your shell. Really conservative people would definitely feel out of place, but the nature of most people here is to live and let live, so as long as you don't impose your opinions on others most people don't bother you about stuff. There's a culture of weird here, people love to be different and weird and unique. I've seen a lot of girls with mowhawks. You tend to find out someone is gay within five minutes of meeting them because they're that upfront about it. Students wear everything from the latest fall fashion to wrinkled sweats around here, it's really nothing to stress over. There are some cool thrift stores around town that I like to shop at to find super cheap-but-cute threads. The school is separated into different 'colleges' which creates a sense of community, but it also means that it's easier to never branch out and meet people across campus. People definitely interact a lot, but on average proximity and lifestyle can really account for a lot of the friends you'll make on campus, so make sure you put a little thought in where you live on campus your freshman year. I lived at Porter, which is the crazy kids/art/drug college, but there's a different theme and core class for each college, so make sure you pick the one that best fits you or you might be dissatisfied with the atmosphere at your college.

The one thing me and all my friends have always said is that you can get away with wearing anything in santa cruz; a paper bag, overalls, even dressed as some sort of animal or plant; except wearing high heels. Because our campus is hilly this really makes sense but those preppy girly girls would probably be the only ones anyone would look twice at. That said, I'm in a sorority and I own 4 pairs of heels and get plenty of chances to wear them, just not anywhere on campus. There is a very casual bohemian feel to the average students wardrobe, but the spectrum is still pretty large. All different types of students mingle together and even though most people have a very distinctive style of their own they are all open minded for the most part and willing to broaden their mind. Tables of people in the dining hall will generally be completely random. I have a group of generally girly girl friends and sometimes we eat with the gangster hyphy crowd. That said, there are cliques and people are pretty close to their little group, but also very open to getting to know others. Almost all UC students in general are from california, and santa cruz is no exception. I would say about 60{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} are from northern california and 40{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} from socal, and about 85{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} are white. It is the most liberal school ever, so much to the point where you know that one kid in your building who is a republican. Everyone votes, in election years there are tables all over campus with flyers and information on different candidates. Money is not as important, and its not a common topic. It seems that normal for most college students, we are all relatively broke, and even though there is a spoiled kid here and there it is considered "uncool" to brag about that kind of thing.