Student Profile
Anonymous
- Class: Junior
- Major: Business
- Gender: F
- High School: El Molino High School
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
Hands down the best thing about UCSB is the location. We're right next to the ocean, many students live on the cliffs overlooking the beach. Some dorms even have ocean views. There's also some mountains that are lovely to hike in and plenty of other beautiful sights to see. Campus is located right next to a little square mile town chock full of college students called Isla Vista. This is where it all goes down. House parties, greek houses, tons of burritos, Del Playa Drive, even the bums are known by all. Isla Vista is the ultimate college town. It's nice to be able to party all night and not have to worry about how you're getting home since everything is at most a mile away. Also, its close proximity to campus allows for the most popular mode of transportation: bikes. Everyone has a bike. Cruisers, fixies, mountain bikes, even a few random unicycles, people are biking everywhere and there are special bike paths on campus. Most people have been in a bike accident (I've been in plenty) and a lot of bikes get stolen, but that's all part of the UCSB experience.
Academic Life
Being a Business Economics major most of my classes have been huge lectures with a weekly section with a TA. I never go to office hours, but I've heard it helps... I personally like the large lectures because I hate when participation is a part of my grade. If I'm interested in a subject then I will elect to participate in the smaller classes, but it sucks knowing the professor is just going to put a mark next to your name because you said any useless idea. A few of my housemates and friends are science majors (bio, chem, bio-chem) or engineering majors and they have to study a lot. For me and my other sociology, comm, or bus/econ friends, life is a little easier. It seems for the most part we're only studying the week of midterms and finals, but those few weeks are hell. The library is a hot spot to study during these times. I try to stay away from the lib the week before finals because it seems like everyone there is either super stressed or just there to people watch. The weather puts us students in the biggest predicament. If it's warm and sunny out, we'd rather be at the beach laying out or playing frisbee. If it's raining we definitely don't want to go to class for fear of getting the "freshman stripe" on our backs from the back tire of the bike not having a fender. Some days the sun is shining but wind is like a forcefield and it's super hard to bike in. But hey, do you really need to go to lecture when attendance isn't taken and the professor puts the slide online? While UCSB students get a bad rep for being partiers, my experience has been that most people are just good at getting stuff done when they need to. Most people know when work needs to be done, they do it, and then they rage after.
Student Body
One thing I've noticed about UCSB is that there is a freakishly high number of good looking people. I always think to myself that I'm glad I don't have self esteem issues because if I did this would be a bad choice of campus. It might just be that I work at the Recreation Center and see fit sweaty students working out all day, but walking around campus it's really hard not to notice the amount of people who are easy on the eyes. This makes people watching pretty fun... UCSB is very accepting of all races, religions, sexual orientations, etc. I think there is a place for everyone here. People come from all financial backgrounds. Most people are from California, but there are also out-of-staters to be met. I think there may be slightly more left leaning students when it comes to politics, but you can definitely find the right wingers too. As for classroom attire, most people wear flip flops year round except for about the two weeks in winter when it rains and rubber boots are sold out all over town. Most students are casual.
The Best Things
Location and People
The Worst Things
Stereotypes
