University of California-Santa Cruz Top Questions

i don't know

Some of the professors kinda suck but others are great, like anything else it's the luck of the draw

Academics are great, the professors are always trying to help you in anyway possible, There are many opportunities to help you in any subject. There are free tutors and programs to help. We should really be taking advantage of that.

As long as a student puts a concerted effort into his or her academics at UCSC, the rewards are paramount. While many of the introduction classes taken during the first two years of undergraduate contain upwards of 300 students, professors still make a point to learn as many student's names as possible. For example, in an introductory film class I took my freshman year, I sat in a different seat during each lecture. However, because I participated during lecture the professor remembered my name out of a class of 350. Later that professor encouraged me to continue studying film. As one's degree progresses the class sizes generally shrink to a more personable setting. At UCSC there are many opportunities for field study classes that give students hands on experience with research and a very close relationship with teaching assistants and professors. One of the greatest classes I have taken at UCSC is Scientific SCUBA Diving Methods, in which I spent 16 days with my instructor, 4 of which included camping with the entire class. Life between students is often productively competitive. My fellow classmates and I regularly study together, pushing each other to gain a better understanding of the course material. Outside of class I often find my fellow marine biology students and I discussing current issues in science or making corny science jokes. The thing I like most about the Marine Biology major at UCSC is that it gives you a solid basis of understanding of various disciplines in marine science while emphasizing the importance of thinking in a research context. It is important to note that while my experience with the academics at UCSC have been very personal and had a great influence in the sort of student I have become, this may not be the case for everyone. At UCSC, the experiences you gain through academics is directly related to how much you participate as a student.

The academics are excellent at UCSC. We have a great Linguistics program, as well as Astrophysics. My professors have made a effort to learn my name in most of my classes. I've had a few who haven't been helpful in office hours, or terrible lecturers, but who doesn't get that once in a while? This quarter I have an amazing professor, Jody Greene, teaching the Spiritual Epic, a literature course, and she is great. She has so much information, is passionate and funny. I have some great T.A.s too, who have written me letters of recommendation and spent time going over my essays with me. Students are competitive, especially in upper division classes, and the y have intellectual conversations out side of class. My housemate and I read each other's papers and discuss our thesis's together.

The academics are UC Santa Cruz are great. You get out of it as much effort as you put in. UCSC possesses a unique teaching style where students not only attend a lecture for their classes, but also can attend discussion sections where smaller groups of students can ask questions and learn in a more conducive atmosphere with a T.A. UCSC is very advanced at the sciences and are well-known for their research in astronomy. Students study a lot and the library is pretty packed. Some majors are more difficult or require more studying than others, for example: bioengineering vs. theater. Students are very friendly and definitely communicate outside of class. UCSC is very unique in that it offers some very interesting classes; the most interesting class I took was called Muppet Magic, where we learned about the Muppets and the work of Jim Henson. I know some of my friends have taken the Natural History of Dinosaurs, a class on Disney, analyzing Star Wars, etc. The professors make themselves available for communication outside of class and always list their office hours on the syllabus' so students are aware of when they are available to meet. I am an Intensive Psychology major and I absolutely love it. The teachers are so passionate about what they teach and helpful for the students. Psychology is one of the most impacted majors on this campus, so it can be difficult to get into classes, but the department always makes sure you are taking at least one class you need each quarter. The education here is geared toward getting a job as well as functioning in the world outside of college. They employ many resources to help students prepare for post-graduation plans.

Most of the General Ed classes are in big lecture halls. Then you sign up for discussions for each lecture class in order to help you out. Some classes require, others let it be an option. The most help you will get is from your discussions with the help of Teacher assistants. You will be find yourself very motivated on campus due to the students striving for their education.

The academics are well organized. The teachers are well qualified and are available to help. Most classes will have an accompanying section for additional instruction and questions as well as office hours to cover any further questions. Study groups often form naturally in class as well.I am pursuing a Business Management Economics Bachelors degree and a Theatre arts minor. Both departments provide helpful advisors. For majors with more students, like Business Management Economy, class tend to bigger. My favorite class is Marketing research because it provided me with hands on experience in my foeld of interest.

The classes at most UC campuses are huge, and UCSC is no exception. The high impact classes such as Chemistry, Math, and Psych can get up to 400 people large. The discussions for those classes, however, are much smaller and get up to 40 people. Since the classes are so large, it is hard for professors to get to know students on a one on one basis, but going to office hours helps the professor know you. The TA's, though, do get to know their students fairly well, and are good at remembering everyones name. The smaller classes, such as our core class, are a lot smaller and get to only 20 students. The professors for these classes really do make an effort to help you understand the material and help you improve your writing. Despite the "lack of academics" stereotype UCSC has, students really do focus on academics and spend a lot of time studying. On most nights, you'll definitely find the libraries full, and have a hard time finding a spot to sit. Outside of class, I've noticed that students do have intellectual conversations, but like most young people, they have unintellectual conversations as well. The science program at UCSC is by far the best out of all the departments, especially the marine biology program, since we have the Monterey bay near us. As a whole, academics at UCSC are pretty strong.

The academics at UCSC are fantastic! My first two years, my classes were large (about 200 students in most classes) but as I got further into the requirements for my major, class sizes decreased to about 30 students. This was fantastic because professors knew my name and were able to give me more personal feedback about my work. In classes both large and small, professors and teaching assistants are always available for office hours and also happy to answer questions via email. UCSC offers free tutoring for many classes and small, weekly sections led by the teaching assistants. Tutoring and TA sections are a great place to ask questions, work on homework, and meet other students in the class. Although I am a Business Management Economics major, I had the chance to take classes in all different fields. In fact, I took French all of last year and greatly enjoyed it. Most students at UCSC are like me, interested in many different subjects and points of view. Students take academics seriously, as can be proven by the crowds of students studying in the main libraries on campus at all times. UCSC also offers resources such as a career center and academic advising both within each residential college and within each major to do all they can to help students.

One of the best things at UCSC is the academic conversations you get into inside and outside of class. In classes teachers hold discussions which allows for a better flow of ideas, solutions and conversation. Intellectual thoughts are taken in, debated and edited for a wonderful outcome. Class participation for me is a MUST in college classes. You get more out of class everyday and feel like an academic when you participate and share ideas. I try to take at least one different class each quarter in order to broaden my knowledge on subjects outside my major. Interestingly during my last quarter I took a Afro-Latino class which discussed issues, legislation and the history of Afro-Latina/os. I would have never learned about this topic at all and been so awe struck had I not been able to enroll in such a class.

Academic life varies by department. The J. Baskin School of Engineering is pretty amazing, and has state of the art facilities. We just added a new major in robotics engineering, all all those majors are supposed to be very strong. Science, particularly astronomy and astrophysics is phenomenal here - a UCSC astronomy recently led a team that was responsible for discovering a new planet, which is a major point of pride for the university. Psychology is great here as well, but it's by far the biggest major, which means getting into classes can be problematic to say the least. As for social sciences and humanities, it is a mixed bag. UCSC is funneling a lot of its money to research in the sciences, which means less money for other departments. This year the school cut the American Studies department due to lack of funding. It's very possible the school will be cutting more of these kinds of majors. Professors are generally accessible, though you have to go see them - they're not going to seek you out, nor should they have to. In my first year here, I've had some amazing professors, as well as some very lackluster ones. Definitely read reviews of the professors before signing up for the classes - in my experience, the quality of an instructor can make or break the course. And even though UCSC is not the most prestigious UC, a lot of the professors are leaders in the field, many of whom attended Ivy Leagues before coming here.

It's easy to get a research position with a professor as an undergrad. That is a huge plus of coming to UCSC. Professors here love undergrads (for the most part) and enjoy teaching them and hearing them talk in class. It's not uncommon to meet a professor at a coffee shop to discuss an assignment or more peripheral material.

Professors will know your name if you take the time to introduce yourself, talk to them after class, and/or go to their office hours (all of which I highly recommend!). There are some really awesome (and incredibly accomplished) professors teaching there. A few of my favorites were Anthony Pratkanis (Social Psychology, he is incradibly intelligent AND entertaining), Bettina Aptheker (Feminist Studies, she was one of the leaders of the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley and has an amazing autobiography called Intimate Politics-its awesome, read it- as well as many other interesting experiences and accomplishments share), and Ralph Quinn (Humanistic/Existential Psychology, EVERYONE loves him, he's an amazing lecturer and a very compassionate person-his class is full every single day b/c no one wants to miss!).....The list goes on but those were a few of my favorites. My favorite classes were Social Influence (Pratkanis), Intro to Feminisms (Aptheker), Intro to Social Psych (Pratkanis), and Child Psychopatology (Saposnik-also another great prof with a lot of really interesting and insightful information to share-and he's entertaining to boot!). The #1 worst class I took was Cultural Psych taught by Per Gjerde, which was my senior seminar! Such a shame for this school b/c somehow he is a tenured faculty member. His work is impressive but his teaching is bad to say the least. I do NOT recommend this class to anyone, it was a complete waste of money and time. I learned more from student projects that from anything he "taught". The second worst class I took was Psychology of Poverty taught by Irma Waugh. This class was a big disappointment for me. It was basically a sociology class (not psych) b/c we didn't really learn anything about how poverty affects people's psychology. The class was very biased to the extreme left and other opinions were avoided. There was a day when I was blatantly ignored during a discussion: she saw my hand in the air, made eye contact with me, and looked to the other side of the class and asked "Does anyone have a comment on this, I thought I saw some heads nodding.." When no one else said anything she excused the class 5 minutes early. This was very upsetting for me b/c I had spent between 30-45 minutes in her office hours talking with her for the last three weeks so she knew me and I think she just didnt want to call on me because I sometimes had a different point of veiw than the one she was trying to endorse. Needless to say, I never tried to contribute in class again for the entire rest of the quarter. She eventually noticed this and also the cfat that I hadn't been to her office hours for a few weeks but had nothing to say about why she thought that was. Overall, though, I'd say we have a very good faculty at UCSC and are privileged to be able to learn from and intereact with many of these people.

As a Business Management Economics major with an emphasis in Accounting, I can say that I've been to handfuls of Business job fairs where many bay area firms and companies from Silicon Valley were eager to meet with me and see what I was all about. Because UCSC is one of the nearest UC's to Silicon Valley, one looking to get into jobs in Business, Economics, Accounting, Technology, Computers or even Natural Sciences after UCSC will find themselves with plenty of opportunity for success.

all of my professors were very good... most were funny, too.

UCSC has very sound academic credentials with some strong teaching degrees

If it's an introductory course, the professor probably won't know your name unless you go to hers/his office hours. But most classes are much smaller and the professor will learn your name. So far, I've loved all my classes for my major and minor. They open up your eyes to a lot of interesting things. But one of my favorite classes has been Psychology 80B: Human Sexuality. It's offered only in Winter. Take it. But I've actually enjoyed all the classed I've taken. All professors and TAs are pretty competent. The only classes I didn't like were Chemistry 1B and Math 3 (Pre-calculus). They were a waste of my time. I thought I was going to major in Chemistry and boy was I wrong! You either don't have a life in that major, or you're under a lot of pressure to do a ton of work and attend a whole bunch of tutoring hours and lab hours, unless you're super-duper smart and have a great memory (then you'll just have a lot of homework to do). Many classes here are not competitive though (unless they're impacted, like psychology and some physical science majors) because many professors want all students to succeed. I really like that because it allows you to do your best by helping out other people instead of just lying to them and mislead them about the answer to a question they don't even understand, for example. The professors all have office hours and TAs who also have office hours, and you can form your own study groups too. So in reality, there's no reason why YOU shouldn't pass any of your classes. I like all the people here that see this as a community in which we all win. Unfortunately though, we sometimes get those weak links that ruin the community spirit. BUt most importantly, there is a lot of out-of-class education here. There are so many chances to learn about SO many things just by attending all those free events that students and faculty plan.

There are a lot of excellent departments and majors. I had a great experience with the Creative Writing Department, and know people who had great experiences with the Politics Department and Computer Science Department. Too many GE's though, I did not get anything out of them. Would have liked a language requirement, because I didn't have time to take any languages because of the pointless GE's. Some majors are competitive, most are not. There are not enough TA's for big classes. The best classes I ever took were with Louis Chude-Sokei and Jody Green (Lit). Smaller majors, such as Creative Writing, will give you better access to your professors. Don't expect to get buddy-buddy with the biology department though. But I think this is true for most schools.

Classes start out large and get smaller as you progress along your major. Students can be competitive, but its not cut throat. There are some very progressive classes, the most interesting one I've taken is Intro to Queer Theory. Learning at UCSC is often geared toward learning for it's own sake (especially in the humanities) but if you love the idea of getting a job, then there are some boring majors available like business or economics.