Give me the "low down" on UCSD

rc251
Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:44:15 +0000

It’s probably the most similar in vibe to UCSB, although it’s better ranked than both campuses.

I would say UCSD is much more like Davis. I’ve lived in Isla Vista and Davis and visited the UCSD campus a few times. UCSD and Davis are similar in that most of the students hanging out during the day do so on campus, while at UCSB most hang out in the adjacent Isla Vista. UCSD is surrounded by a very wealthy neighborhood, which is one of the reasons student life is more lacking and those residents do not like student activity. Davis has about a even mix between permanent residents, while Isla Vista is 75% students, so students run that town.

In my own anecdotal evidence, almost no one left for the weekends in Isla Vista, and the town is active every weekend. In Davis, a few people go home back to the Bay Area and Sac and Russel and downtown Davis bars are the hot spots. At UCSD, a fair amount of people left campus for the weekend and the surrounding areas were generally very quiet. My friend was a CSO on campus and I followed him around one weekend night and it seemed a lot more tame than UCSB.

I’d say most of the differences in atmospheres are caused by the locations of where the universities are located. Santa Barbara is small and fairly isolated but since it is a wealthy tourist town, there is a disproportionate amount of things to do for a town it’s size. UCSB is unique in that it’s the only school out of the 3 where off campus students have a pretty defined exclusive area all for themselves where things like noise laws are relaxed. Davis is a small, vibrant town with a students mixed throughout the permanent residents but there’s lots to do and trips to Sac can solve the feelings of smallness in Davis. At UCSD, the university is set among a rich area which tend to look down on any kind of student activity (similar to Irvine), and most students live farther from campus and commute by shuttle rather than by bikes like in Davis and UCSB. However, you have the great city of San Diego just a stone’s throw away.