Student Profile
Isela
- Class: Freshman
- Major: Literature
- Gender: F
- High School: San Benito High
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
UCSC is a great place to be when you're trying to develop yourself and discover yourself in new ways. You live among a community of (almost totally) extremely open-minded people and it's extremely easy to find a small community of people which share some of your similar values and interests. There are so many things to love about UCSC and to keep you busy and intrigued. I don't think I could ever get bored of living in Santa Cruz--the city is so full of life and culture, and it's life and culture is great for the soul. If you love sun, nature, surfing, vibrant colors, and a wide array of great, genuine people and conversation, UCSC is the place for you.
Academic Life
Although this is only my frist year at UCSC, I have come to greatly respect and even sometimes enjoy the academic culture here; precisely because that's exactly what it is: a culture. I find myself becoming more immersed and actively involved in my education and learning than ever before. Coming from a family filled with educators (namely principals, administrators, and teachers) and growing up around education, I've always considered myself a tougher critic of teachers and curriculums than most students. I have been generally very pleased with the classes I've taken at UCSC and the amount of active interest that UCSC students seem to invest in their learning. In my experience, class sizes vary from very small (maybe 15-20 students) to extremely large (lectures filled with up to 300), but even in the large lecture classes here professors usually make some attempt to get to know their students, asking each student their name before answering their question in class and working hard to seem approachable.
Student Body
The student body at UCSC is one that you would never find in any other university, let alone any other UC. UCSC students are generally (and stereotypically) extremely liberal and opinionated. UCSC students definintely stand up when they believe injustices are present and will fight with all their heart and soul for a cause they believe in. There is an active, strong organization for almost every racial, cultural, and sexual community at UCSC with people who will welcome anyone with open arms. The only kind of student that might feel out of place at UCSC would be an extremely right-wing, conservative, narrow-minded person, as there would probably be many UCSC students who would provoke debates with such a person. Most UCSC students are from somewhere in California--I haven't found there to be many foreign or even out-of-state students, though there are some.
The Best Things
The extremely open-minded and accepting community.
The Worst Things
There tends to be a sort of one-dimensional education; far left.
