Indecisivenessss-UCSC, UCSB, UCB---------

Smooth_Jerome
Sat, 31 Mar 2007 20:29:44 +0000

I am frustrated and confused. I don?t know what decision to make, and I have lately been so obsessed with websites like this one that I think my vision is going bad. So I need some feedback to give me some peace of mind.

I love UC Santa Cruz?s campus. It?s amazing, and that really attracts me. I am also fond of their ten residential college system, where dorm life is broken up into smaller social settings. The school is smaller than other UCs and therefore class sizes are also small, which is another plus.

What bothers me about UC Santa Cruz is its bohemia stoner character- and it?s one of the easiest UCs to get into and therefore does not have the best reputation. I actually don?t so much mind the stoner atmosphere of UC Santa Cruz; I am just worried I would be surrounded by a lot of kids that are not so bright.

I have not visited UCSB, but I have read a lot about it. The campus also looks amazing. What attracts me about UCSB is the social aspect of it. Throughout high school I studied very hard and never had the greatest social life, and I know if I would go to an environment like UCSB I would be more social and have a lot of fun, which I think is very important when going off to college.

The thing is, however, I have heard stories from people I know of the debauchery that goes down in UCSB. My brother told me once when he was down there, that this guy drunk out of his mind was just yelling and screaming at this party and punched a hole in the wall- then my brother walked in on another party where this other drunk was running around with his pants pulled down letting it all hang out. I wouldn?t want to be in a school with just a bunch of stumbling drunks out to party constantly, but I don?t know how much truth there is to UCSB?s part scene.

Lastly, there is UC Berkeley, which I was accepted for the spring 2008 semester, which I guess is OK since I can attend the fall program for freshman. I am just concerned I won?t have the traditional freshman college experience if I do FPF. Also, I am worried about the cut-throat competition in Berkeley. For 3 years in high school I was constantly stressed about schoolwork and all that stuff. I don?t know if I want to go through that high steroid stress action again in Berkeley where I will have no time for fun. That?s why the laid back setting of SC and SB attracts me.

Of course the positive of UC Berkeley is its prestige and cool college town, although I still like UCSC?s campus better.

Sites like studentsreview.com haven?t helped me either, a lot of people trash talk there school, and a lot of students are bias toward there school- I know this is no life or death decision, I am just really stressed out and indecisive. I just don?t know what to do.