University of California-Santa Cruz Top Questions

A lot of people on campus are really friendly, and the campus is gorgeous. I would want more parking in more convenient locations. The school is really large but the individual colleges make it easier to get to know people. I spend a majority of my time either in class, at the library or visiting friends at college ten. I don't think there is that much school pride probably because our school doesn't have as many large sports teams like other schools. I will always remember getting lost late at night during the first week of school with people i had just met from my college...im still friends with some of them!

Having things in smaller units, that make up bigger units, so that it is easy for everybody to be part of the university. I would make the food on campus better. School size is just right. They say 'oh that's a good school' or 'that's the hippy school right?'. Library or just hanging around, it's a beautiful campus. College town, definitely. Financial aid department is pretty lame, they take a while to get anything done. Before the current issue of putting up more buildings with protests, probably the suicide of the chancellor. There is probably quite a bit of school pride, but I try and distance myself from such fruitless endeavors. We try and stay strange. Being able to go and talk my way out of a C to an A- by saying how inappropriate the assessment was in the course. Lots of 'sporty people' complain about there not being enough school and sport pride, and lack of campus support for sports, but we don't really care about that, now do we?

UCSC is a very out-doorsy school. If you do not like trees, hiking, the ocean, or deer, do not come here. On sunny days it is a magical campus, an incredible ocean view through giant redwood trees. It is a huge campus- very spread out, so be prepared to walk. It is also detached from the rest of civilization (or the small town of Santa Cruz), but fortunately UCSC is a little city in of itself. Busses will take you into town, although kind of a hassle sometimes. The town is not particularly spirited when it comes to the university. Most Santa Cruz locals are not super stoked on "Slugs", although this is possibly because most of my interaction with locals is with surfers, who do not like Slugs at all. However without the university Santa Cruz would be a little red-neck hick town in the trees with amazing surf.

This school is based on a college system that has no unity through the school. It fosters community based ideals, which is quite nice. It's hard to get involved in student life because of it though.

best thing = mindset: liberalism, alternative living, unconventionalality. I would change the administration's attitude towards students regarding a variety of things: protests, graffiti in bathrooms, BEAURACRACY, school = good size, I was once asked (phone interview for a job) if I regularly wore shoes when I told them I was from UCSC, most of my time is spent in my apartment, "what college town", ADMINISTRATION needs to get back in touch with the principles this college was founded on, biggest recent controversy = Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) protest starting Nov. 7th 2007 with tree-sitters currently still in trees. I have photos from the protest. administration practically called the national guard out. not soooo much pride... who needs mob mentality? Unusual: 4:20, First Rain, Tree 9... Experience: protest, COMPLAINTS: beauracracy, overfilled classes, $$$ hikes

The best thing about UCSC is easily the beautiful campus. To be able to attend college classes in the middle of a redwood forest, bridges linking the many facilities across the forest's deep ravines. Sometimes the fog rolls in and blurs the campus, the only markers are the many orange globes of the street lamps. UCSC is completely overcrowded. 90{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the upper classmen were pushed off campus by the enormous influx of freshmen who spend every weekend screaming in the quad and trying to burn the building down. Finding parking is an hour-long commitment that may eventually lead you to park on the opposite side of campus than the one that would have been necessary. Most of the campus' chaotic issues could be solved by somehow lowering the freshman population, but I know that it is only going to get worse. The most recent controversies spawn from the more liberal students vehemently disagreeing with the proposed LRDP plans, especially with regard to the science hill construction, which would lead to more facilities assisting with bio-engineering. The most note-worthy expression of this dissatisfaction was the protest on science hill wherein the liberal student presence lived in the science hill redwood trees in the hopes that the new building construction would be abandoned

The best thing about UCSC is that it is located in the forest and is away from the city. It seems more like a little town. I think that my school is just the right size. It has enough people where i meet new people every day and it is small enough where i dont feel like i am getting lost. I wish we had better places to eat on campus, that is one thing i would change. When i tell people i go to ucsc they usually think i am a hippie or very liberal. I spend most of my time on campus at college ten because that is where i live. this is not a college town, the town likes to be separate from the school as much as possible. I think its administration needs some changes but that it good be great one day. The biggest controversy is the LRDP and all the people living in the trees. A lot of people like this school but there isnt much school pride because ucsc is not very competitive. Something unusual is that there are deer all over campuss. I'll always remember walking to class through the trees and seeing all the wildlife. Most frequent complaints are that there are a lot of hills.

The atmosphere is the best thing about the campus. It lacks a high intensity, stressful environment and thats great to see in a college--especially when there are students going crazy everywhere else. The college SERIOUSLY lacks funding, even though we pay as much as the other UCs. Many student groups are under funded, minority students are NOT helped in the way they should be(as a result MANY LEAVE). I do not believe the administration has our best interest in mind. Whenever a hate/bias report is given, nothing is done. When students need money for enrichment, nothing is offered. The town in Santa Cruz is difficult to explain--or wait rather simple--they love our money but hate the students. They pass city law, parties, at the same time, the fees are unconstitutional for having those parties. Residents complain about students but businesses love us. We bring Santa Cruz 1 Billion dollars in revenue, you would think there would be some sort of student appreciation. Think again.

The best thing about UCSC is the campus. I would like to change the class size. While the school is a good size, I don't think it should get any bigger. When I tell people that I go to UCSC they usually either don't know about the school, or react to the location, rather than the school. I spend most of my time on campus in class. Santa Cruz is definitely a college town (especially the downtown and the Westside). I think the UCSC administration is too far removed from the students themselves. The biggest recent controversy on campus is the tree-sitting going on right now. I would say there is a low to medium amount of school pride. The most unusual think about UCSC is its campus, as well as the way the humanities curriculums are organized: to teach the unconventional, rather than the canon. One experience I'll always remember is riding my bike down the bike path on a beautiful day. The most frequent student complaints have to do with too-large class size and lack of off-campus activities.

The best thing about UCSC is the laid back attitude of most of the people. The campus itself is one the most beautiful places I have ever stayed and I feel lucky to live on such a nice looking campus. the school is also pretty accepting of alternative lifestyles. you might meet people who aren't down with that but most people are totally chill about it. People aren't in such competition for good grades like they are other schools. If you go to class, study and not fall asleep, classes are generally easy to pass. The town is small, which can get a little boring sometimes but it's big enough that if you need to get somewhere it's not too complicated. Public transportation isn't too bad. Most of the bus drivers are friendly and the buses are usually on schedule. One thing I'd change is the college system. It isolates people. You can meet others through classes and through mutual friends but you usually see the same old people everyday. If I owned the university I would totally remodel and do away with the college system, because honestly i think it is shit. especially because each college has a theme and most people choose the college on superficial things aside from the theme, (which is the most important,) in terms of how the college looks or if they know people there. that kills me! i CAN'T STAND when someone says "I chose college ten because it's the newest and i don't wanna live in old dorms. ewww" My freshman year, the size of the school was just right. Now in my junior year I think it is starting to get out of control. Classes are harder to get into as the ones you want to take are already closed by the time your enrollment appointment comes around. The university wants to accept a bunch of students but then not accommodate them. case in point: we used to have lounges on our res hall floors. now, the lounges are dorm rooms. in the apartments, there used to be four and 5 person apts. now they're doing 5 and 6 person ones..wtf?? plus, there is one small gym for all these kids and EVERYONE goes to the gym. When I tell people I go to UCSC they have one of three responses: "wow, that campus is beatiful!", a blank look on their face and "where is that??" or "yeah, aren't all the kids stoners up there?" people either know a lot about the school or nothing at all. the banana slug mascot is often brought up as well when they hear UCSC. I spend most of my time at my college, because I don't really have other reasons to go anywhere else. my job is at the college as my dorm room is as well. I also go to friend's houses off campus when i'm not in my room doing work. UCSC is a college town. not extreme but it's definitely got that feel to it. because there are more students now they have to compete with residents for housing off campus. residents seem to have a love/hate relationship with the college students. many of them are older so they don't like all the loud parties and stuff. Administration, except for a select few, do not care about the students. the university is a business. they do not support diversity or ethnic minorities. too much emphasis and administration is put towards the sciences and research and not to anyone else. it seems like all they really wanna do is act like they care but really they don't. it's really hard to get things done dealing with administration. when students have a problem they are often given the run around are sent in circles through admin because no one knows how to solve problems. biggest recent controversy was definitely the tree sitters in response to the expansion of the campus. there was a massive protest and a lot of people got in trouble. there was also a controversy about a faculty member being targeted/harrassed at his house for using testing animals or something to that effect. People are proud to say that they have a banana slug mascot because it's random and not intimidating at all and that smoking weed is a normal activity, but due to the fact that we don't have a football or good basketball team people don't have the pride like UCLA students do. UCSC is unusual. drugs are plentiful and it's seen as unusual if you don't smoke/drink heavily/do drugs. we hidden caves, an extremely tall tree called tree nine in the middle of the forest that kids climb. the first rain tradition where when it rains for the first time of the year, kids run around the school naked. The most frequent student complaints are that administration needs to get it together and start thinking about the kids. the whole class enrollment system is shit. needs to be overhauled. we need more than one gym..and we need more space for students to live it. DIVERSITY. provide more/better resources for students of color. a lot of students of color aren't attracted to the school because there's nothing here for them. other schools support their minority populations so much better. this may also be due to the fact that many of the people in higher levels of administration are white.