UCSB's Pros and Cons?

TJW · 05-04-2008, 03:55 PM

Would someone (preferrably a current or former student) mind telling me the pros and cons of University of California Santa Barbara?

tr1p7s · 05-04-2008, 09:38 PM

okay, i'm not a current or former student but when i went to visit, i didnt see alot of the emergency call things, the ones with the blue tower with the light on top. i only saw one, which may be a good or a bad thing depending on your situation.

beachboy · 05-05-2008, 01:15 AM

Asking for cons of ucsb is like asking what's wrong with chocolate cake.

17dinosaurs · 05-05-2008, 01:47 AM

I'm a sophomore at UCSB, but I am transferring next year. So pros: obviously it's in a beautiful location, the campus is great, people are friendly, the professors are awesome. Cons: it's sorta isolated, of the two good dorms, one is a mile away from campus and the other is impossible to get in to, the dining commons food sucks, and when I was visiting my senior year of high school, people told me that greek life wasn't big, but I've found that to be untrue. And it is a party school, I don't know whether that's a pro or con for you, but partying in IV is pretty much all there is to do on weekends. I found that it got old pretty fast, but maybe that's just me. The IV culture is pretty dominant, so if it's not for you, then UCSB probably isn't for you either.

dragondawg · 05-05-2008, 05:31 AM

there seems to be a lot of people transfeering out to SB to go to like mostly UCSD and even UCLA, could be be cause there's nothing to do besides partying and it gets old? UCSB was the only UC i got in for fall, got into UCR and UCSC last winter, think SB is the best out of all of them so yeah. Not much of a partier but heard there are another things you can do or people to hang out with that don't party? is the dorm impossible to get into Manzanita?

17dinosaurs · 05-06-2008, 01:54 PM

yeah Manzanita is pretty hard to get into, I think they give priority to athletes and scholarship kids. As far as nightlife goes, there are other options. They have movies and comedy improv in IV on friday nights. There are lectures, concerts and documentaries on campus almost every weekend. There's also downtown SB, but if you're not 21 yet, I'd doubt it would be any fun. So there are other things to do, problem is that almost no one does them.

dragondawg · 05-06-2008, 06:29 PM

any good movie theaters like amc? i'll be almost 22 when fall rolls around so downtown is not a problem

igbyslocumb · 05-08-2008, 08:32 PM

Wow, I didn't know that about Manzanitta! That's not fair! lol
Comedy improv sounds cool, are they actually any good? I don't know anyone at SB at all, so I hope to find some people who aren't into partying all the time. Now your post got me all worried! haha

What's there to do in downtown SB?

mtnmagic · 05-10-2008, 01:42 AM

I'm a parent of an UCSB freshman student. He applied to ten colleges and was accepted at all 10. (including UCLA and UCB.) After checking them all out UCSB was the best fit for him.

Some of the reasons why included the incredible assistance offered by their financial aid office. It was easy to obtain information for all kinds of aid we didn't realize. People were personal and friendly to him. The day after visiting their EOP Prorgam, one of the directors stopped him, recognized him by face and asked if he could be of any assistance.

This year he lives at the Tropicana which has a contract arrangement with UCSB. They were more then willing to wait until all funding....grants/scholarships/loans have gone through and had been disbursed to be paid. That says a lot.

He was also informed about a loan program to be able to purchase a new computer. This was information that we would have never known about, had
the financial aid office not informed us of it.

Yes, there is a huge reputation there as a party school. I'm not saying my son is perfect, but he has found other outlets to enjoy and learn in his new environment. He was born and raised in Tahoe and has been a skier, snowboarder since he was tiny. He transfered that love to surfing and uses it as an outlet to learn something new and reduce stress from all the transistion to moving away from home and being in a totally different environment. He is currently taking up wind surfing.

He has met some really neat people. He brought a friend home (from Chicago) for Spring Break. Really a delight to have around.

He was admitted undeclared and is trying to make up his mind about his major. He is taking some pretty tough classes and considering the engineering program. He was admitted to the CalPoly SLO engineering program.
Since they want you to declare, and he wasn't quite sure yet, again UCSB
was a better fit for him.

Also there really is an economic mix at UCSB. From what I have seen there is an acceptance level for who you are, not what you have, or your financial worth.

So just some rambling thoughts from a proud UCSB mom. If I can give more information, just let me know.

collegemom16 · 05-14-2008, 06:44 PM

Athletes at UCSB room in Tropicana not Manzanita.