<p>Everytime I see someone saying that UCSC is a slacker school kind of makes me mad… Because statistically, sooooooooooooooooooo many people did NOT get in who were qualified that I know from my community college classes! From the people I know, over half got rejected by UCSC and only got into Cal States. For example, my friend had a 3.3… got some A’s in hardcore science classes (general chemistry), and she got rejected. Also, my other friend with a 3.5 got rejected as an environmental sciences major. I got in with a 3.5 as a biological sciences major, among other schools. I am glad I chose UCSC, too, because biological sciences is not impacted at SC, and that means less competition for classes. My friend who just got into UCLA for psychology just went for orientation recently and did not get any psychology classes!</p>
<p>Anyway…</p>
<p>From what I know, my friends who have transferred to out of state universities, UC’s, and CSU’s have used the SAME books I have used at a community college… So, people at those “higher ranked” schools are using the same textbooks as COMMUNITY colleges are! Also, in high school I went to a LOT of UCLA parties and people were doing HARDcore drugs (like cocain and ecstasy). I heard that people at UCSC mostly smoke weed, and although hard drugs are there, weed is prevalent. Drugs in general are prevalent all over universities nation-wide. This cannot be a way to judge UCSC because pot is their main drug.</p>
<p>I am actually finding it hard to understand why some colleges are considered “better”? Maybe because UCSC is not associated with any hospitals? UCSC is the home of the freakin Human Genome Project and also DISCOVERED a new planet recently (hello???!?!? that is AWESOME stuff!). I think people give it a bad rap because students actually can approach their teachers because they are more laid back at UCSC. As far as an employer is concerned, they just care if you took the class, know your stuff and are personable. I know someone would hire someone from UCSC who worked hard and got good grades, is personable, easy to work with and has common sense versus some UCLA or UCB person who got straight A’s but is socially awkward and no life experience except for studying.</p>
<p>So yeah, why is it considered lower tier???</p>
<p>I apologize about the scatter brained-ness of my post. I just got off work and am tired.</p>
<p>So why is it considered low “tier”? Possibly because the student population is happier and the classes are smaller?</p>
<p>Considered lower tier by whom and relative to what other schools? What you said is certainly true - there are smart and academically competent students at every school and there are dullards at every school. If you’re happy and are doing meaningful, stimulating work among and under people whose company you enjoy and whose minds engage yours, what else really matters? </p>
<p>The fish bowls never end - you have no idea how many times I have been told Penn was a lower-tiered Ivy or reminded that Georgetown Law is at the bottom of the T14 (or how much I take to heart such statements, however irrationally). There’s always a bigger fish bowl or new pi*sing contest to be won. If it’s not schools, it’s salaries or trophy wives or expensive cars - be accountable to yourself and decide on a more meaningful metric to assess the value of your school and education than lay prestige.</p>
<p>By everyone in the UC system, I guess. If you look at all the threads concerning UC’s, people ALWAYS talk a lot of crap about UCSC, especially when comparing it to another school with higher prestige. I always get kind of mad, because as far as I heard, you are basically learning the SAME stuff for every major at every school.</p>
<p>I think any reputable school is good really due to this line of reasoning… unless of course the professors are passing people like they do in high school. If you are learning the same stuff at UCSC that you are at UCLA, why would UCLA be considered a “better” school? Personally, I turned down UCSD (I think its ranked like 3 in the nation for public schools or something) for UCSC because I absolutely hated the school (not the city) when I visited. And you are right, I agree with this " If you’re happy and are doing meaningful, stimulating work among and under people whose company you enjoy and whose minds engage yours, what else really matters?"</p>
<p>I personally think people get too hung up on the school’s name and put down all others schools to make themselves feel higher. All in all, where ever you go for undergrad and graduate should not really matter for employers because it should be about what you KNOW and how you apply it vs the name of the school.</p>
<p>Welcome to College Confidential. Ha ha. This is one of the great conundrums of this forum. Colleges are considered better because they have been around longer, have higher admission standards, have lower acceptance rates, have more accomplished professors, and are ranked higher… that’s how they are CONSIDERED better. How do we know if they REALLY are better or not? Many on this forum think they know, but they don’t. To really know one would have to sit through multiple classes from different universities, talk to professors, explore internship and research positions, ect. Obviously this isn’t easy to do. And the people who make rankings don’t do any of that either. </p>
<p>Just to add my two cents, many…many years ago I took 3 classes at Santa Monica College over a summer in between transferring from a 4-year to a 4-year college. All 3 of the professors were from UCLA, using the same text and curriculum as the UCLA class. Funny thing was, I had many friends who were at UCLA at the time and they could not believe I paid basically nothing for the same classes…</p>
<p>One word: Marketing. UCB and UCLA spend more money promoting themselves via trade, education and research venues. Forty years ago a UC unit credit was a UC unit credit regardless of which campus you were on. Back then you applied to UC, not a particular campus and submitted a list of three preferred “home” campuses. Once you were in UC, you were in UC. Not UCB or UCLA or UCSD. You were assigned a “home campus” and you were then allowed to take any class at any campus that had space for you and you had prerequisites for. During the course of your UC career, the only restrictions were that your first quarter of freshman year and your last quarter of senior year had to be spent “in residence” at your home campus. I was at UCLA with a guy I graduated from Exeter with who did just that because he preferred Berkely but was assigned LA. Go figure. </p>
<p>It seems to me that these days Berkely and LA are dragging the rest of UC around with chains attached to nose rings and the entire system has suffered. And last but not least: IT IS NO COINCIDENCE THAT UCB AND UCLA HAVE BIG TIME ATHLETIC PROGRAMS!! But HEY, THAT’S MARKETING BABY!</p>
<p>Specific community college courses are supposed to be equivalent to freshman and sophomore level courses at UCs and CSUs (see [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) ); this is necessary in order to allow the community college to UC or CSU transfer route to work as intended.</p>
<p>This could mean that a student who is not advanced enough to be taking junior or senior level courses as a freshman or sophomore (which can be done at a UC or CSU but not a community college) may find going to community college and then transferring to UC or CSU to be a good way to get a good bachelor’s degree education for less money. This may be especially true for a very undecided student, since four year schools have more institutional and financial pressure on students to decide in their second year.</p>
<p>I’m one of those people who don’t subscribe to pedigree and, frankly, had I had the opportunity and ability to go to UCSC rather than UCLA, I would have done so in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>Not saying I didn’t love UCLA, because I did, and I remain an avid supporter of my alma mater.</p>
<p>BUT . . .</p>
<p>I had to work to support myself and go to college. I didn’t have financial aid or parental assistance. So being brought up in L.A., it was the logical choice.</p>
<p>I have friends who went there back in the day when there were no grades, and children of friends who have attended UCSC and went on to wonderful, great things. I’ve been up there and audited a few classes – particularly during the time when my son was evaluating his options, and I found the professors unbelievably intelligent and interesting.</p>
<p>A great choice, by the way, if you’re interested in continuing on to grad school.</p>
<p>AND FINALLY,</p>
<p>It is the most beautiful campus in the entire UC system. IMO. Not to mention the fact that Santa Cruz has, well, such an incredible vibe.</p>
<p>So who gives a flying . . . as to tier. It only matters if you want it to matter.</p>
<p>Every single UC campus is amazing, as are the faculty. Anyone who denies this is a fool. That being said, the students differ on a LARGE degree. Sure, there are students at UCLA who do hardcore drugs, but i guarantee you that the vast majority do not. Most people spend their time studying very difficultly in addition to attempting to balance their life with work and family. UCSC is largely known as a pot smoker school. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with that, but in general, its students are going to be viewed as less competitive than their other UC student counterparts.</p>
<p>as much as we’d like to deny it, prestige DOES make a difference. A degree from berkeley for example will mean more than one from UCSC, and i would be willing to bet that most employers would take someone from UCLA/Cal over someone from UCSC anyday.</p>
<p>all in all, if you’re very well motivated, you’ll get far in life, no matter wherever you go. People are going to hate on whatever schools they’re going to hate on. UCSC is probably an amazing school, but it’s the students i’d say who are bringing it down.</p>
<p>Also, most classes at SMC aren’t as rigorous as any at UCLA. If they could even compare, it would only be for summer. However those 16 week semesters vs 10 week quarters are no joke. From someone who spent 3 years at CC, and one at UCLA, there’s only one class at my CC which even compared to any class at UCLA (intro. to bio.) the rest were a complete joke in comparison.</p>
<p>I believe that UCSC is a hidden gem and worthy of a second look. My rising senior S just toured it last week with his dad, and they were both impressed very much with what it had to offer. The campus is indeed stunning.</p>
<p>You act as if all an employer does is look at where the applicant graduated from and decides based on that. Sure, if two applicants are literally exactly the same on every level except where they graduated from (same GPA, same work/research experience, virtually identical interviews), then someone from UCLA would have an edge over someone from UCSC. But no, an employer is not going to hire a UCLA grad over a UCSC grad “anyday” (sic) simply because of the name brand of the school. There are a hell of a lot more factors an employer looks at, so I wouldn’t rely on the prestige of your University to land you a job.</p>
<p>I’m looking at the lowest and stoneriest of colleges in California (Humboldt State and UCSC) and I try not to take any of this at heart. Do they have a reputation as hippie stoner schools? Yes.</p>
<p>But they also have a proven track record in excellence in the field I’m interested in (biology, leaning marine) and access to a plethora of research opportunities that are very important to me. </p>
<p>And they are both schools that I can afford to attend and am likely to be accepted to. </p>
<p>So I don’t care if some of the lovely folks here (who seem to have a slightly skewed view of reality) tell me these are lower-tier, useless colleges. I just take that to mean they won’t be applying and I won’t have to deal with their superiority complexes while I’m enjoying my educational experience.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean solely because of the name. But let’s be honest: what percentage of kids who go to UCSC go there because they simply love the campus or because they want to work with some researchers there? i would imagine that it is minute.</p>
<p>i would also imagine when most people see a degree from UCSC, they just think that a person couldn’t work hard enough to get into one of the better ranked schools, although this isn’t necessarily the case.</p>
<p>I REALLY hope you don’t actually think that. I REALLY hope you don’t because I believe that it may not be the most intelligent comment. That’s all I will say about that.</p>
<p>Not to necro a thread, but as a UCSC student the comments by “beyphy” are inaccurate to say the least. I personally maintained a 4.0 gpa throughout all of high school, passed all of my many AP tests, got a 30 on the ACT and picked UCSC BECAUSE I love the campus. </p>
<p>I even visited Berkeley quite a few times and the same people smoking pot all day in SC are in Berkeley, except there they do heroine instead. And to clarify there are two versions of potheads in SC, the type that do horrible in class and the ones who surprise you with their intelligence. I can tell you from experience that there are more of the latter.</p>
<p>It stuns me to this day that UCSC is even considered “lower tier”. </p>
<p>We even had this discussion about “lower tier classifications” in my classes at UCSC (specifically a writing 2 class about the educational system), and there were many students who discussed their reasons for choosing UCSC over Berkely/SD or LA, and how they felt pressured by “prestige” to go against their heart. </p>
<p>If our PHD professors are to be believed at UCSC, the lower tier notion is a stereotype on the school that isn’t accurate at all. If anyone here reads this and is considering UCSC, I hope your fears about “prestige” and “tiers” are somewhat allayed by my post…</p>
<p>It’s popularity, pure and simple. In my day, many years ago, UCSC was the most difficult of all the UC’s for admittance. Several of my friends had to “settle” for Berkeley and UCLA because they were denied admittance to Santa Cruz. Another was denied at Stanford, but picked UCSC over the other UC’s to which she was admitted. Forget about the trends in application popularity. Enjoy your school, and yes, it is most definitely the most beautiful campus, for sure!</p>