<p>if you are on forums whining about boredom at a school and how you made the wrong decision… you probably don’t have many friends and going to UCSB over UCD wouldn’t have made much, if any, difference.</p>
<p>I do think campus culture can be a factor though. I know this isn’t a perfect comparison, but when I was at a community college, I was miserable. Once I transferred to UCSB, in general I was a lot happier, my grades improved, and it sure was a lot easier to make friends than before. </p>
<p>I’ve lived in Davis and Isla Vista, stayed overnight in Santa Cruz and San Diego with friends, and visited every other UC except Riverside. They really do have different campus cultures and I think people may fit in some better than others. For example, while UCSD is in a nice area for adults, I thought it was pretty bad for students. The lack of a tight student community outside campus put UCSD pretty far down my list; I much preferred UC Davis and UCSB which had defined college towns, bicyclers everywhere, etc.</p>