Tell me about UC-Santa Barbara

[Anonymous]

I am especially interested to hear perspectives from out of state students/families. Is it harder/easier if you're from the east coast to get in/fit in? What's student body/vibe like?

[Anonymous]

Huge party school.

[Anonymous]

Nearly ALL Californians. Huge party school in a gorgeous location. The area of town where all the students live is *disgusting*. I cannot reiterate enough how much of a party school UCSB is... Even if your kid is serious about getting an education, that won't last long at UCSB. I would not send my kid there. (Californian who went to Cal and loved it and had many FUN, drunken weekends with high school friends at SB.)

[Anonymous]

Best halloween party in S Cal!

[Anonymous]

Yeah, it is a weird choice for an out-of-state UC. Unless your kid is really into the outdoors and the beach - then it is a good choice. But if they just want a good UC why not Davis, Irvine, even Santa Cruz?

[Anonymous]

UCSC is not a good UC school. Cal and UCLA are. Davis and Irvine are ok, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UCSC is not a good UC school. Cal and UCLA are. Davis and Irvine are ok, too.

My understanding was that Silicon Valley recruited pretty heavily from UC Santa Cruz unless that's changed recently

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UCSC is not a good UC school. Cal and UCLA are. Davis and Irvine are ok, too.

My understanding was that Silicon Valley recruited pretty heavily from UC Santa Cruz unless that's changed recently

I'm not sure why SV would recruit heavily from UCSC when they have Stanford and Cal right there, and they could have just about anyone from a top school. But think UCSC has a guaranteed transfer program with the other UC schools if you can't get into those other schools. Are you perhaps thinking of Santa Clara University?

[Anonymous]

NP here. I heard it was called University of Sex and Beer. I always wondered why with such a party school reputation it is ranked so well in the USNWR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UCSC is not a good UC school. Cal and UCLA are. Davis and Irvine are ok, too.

Santa Cruz is a good school - not the top prestige school like Cal or UCLA, but still a solid public university. I know plenty of really smart and successful people who went there. Nobody bats an eye at Santa Cruz grads except for to assume they have a strong hippy streak. And anyway, my point was that it is on par with Santa Barbara, but a more sensible choice for an out of stater (unless they have a specific reason to want to be in Santa Barbara.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UCSC is not a good UC school. Cal and UCLA are. Davis and Irvine are ok, too.

My understanding was that Silicon Valley recruited pretty heavily from UC Santa Cruz unless that's changed recently

I'm not sure why SV would recruit heavily from UCSC when they have Stanford and Cal right there, and they could have just about anyone from a top school. But think UCSC has a guaranteed transfer program with the other UC schools if you can't get into those other schools. Are you perhaps thinking of Santa Clara University?

Santa Cruz is strong in science and engineering - why wouldn't Silicon Valley recruit there?

[Anonymous]

I've heard that's it's easier to get into OOS that in years past, but it's still more difficult than it would be in you were a native Californian. There's also UC San Diego, although the cost for out of staters at UC schools is now pushing 50k a year so you might want to consider some private universities as well.

[Anonymous]

The top 3 UCs Silicon Valley recruits from are Berkeley, UCSD & Davis.

Re: UC Santa Barbara - yes, it's a major party school, but my friends who went there 20 years ago are all doing well in their careers (an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer, university professor). Unless your child is super uptight, I think they'd fit in just fine there.

[Anonymous]

When you are in Santa Cruz it is hard to tell the homeless from the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UCSC is not a good UC school. Cal and UCLA are. Davis and Irvine are ok, too.

My understanding was that Silicon Valley recruited pretty heavily from UC Santa Cruz unless that's changed recently

I'm not sure why SV would recruit heavily from UCSC when they have Stanford and Cal right there, and they could have just about anyone from a top school. But think UCSC has a guaranteed transfer program with the other UC schools if you can't get into those other schools. Are you perhaps thinking of Santa Clara University?

Santa Cruz is strong in science and engineering - why wouldn't Silicon Valley recruit there?

Which science and engineering fields?