Hi guys, I’m a community college student from San Diego that just got accepted to UCSC, and, unless I get accepted to Cal Poly SLO, I’m planning on attending this upcoming fall. It wasn’t my first choice, but it seems like a beautiful campus with a great ecology/biological sciences/evolutionary biology program. I’ve been doing some “research”, aka looking for anecdotal accounts from current banana slugs and UCSC alumni—and there seems to be a LOT of negative discourse around this campus.
Firstly, the housing shortage seems to be a huge issue. I do plan on finding an apartment in the area, hopefully with at least one roommate, but even then, people say the rent is insanely high. On top of that, there is allegedly black mold in pretty much every living space? … I don’t want to pay upwards of $1000 in rent just to get sick from a moldy apartment :(
Secondly, I hear a lot of complaints about transportation. Because I’m a junior, I’m going to bring my car. I’m hoping that will relieve the bus fatigue before it starts. Many students have said biking is very useful. Additionally, I hear a lot of cons about the surrounding location: no good food, stores are way too far, going to any surrounding area takes forever (?) I’ve also heard plenty of people say that there is “nothing to do”, and that most restaurants close at like 6 pm.
I am told the social life is pretty much what you make of it, but it’s not a huge party school.
What I haven’t heard too much in-depth about is the professors, the quality of the classes, etc.—it seems to all be overshadowed by the downsides that I mentioned previously.
I feel like a lot of these things are issues students could face at any campus. Like, for example, walking to classes at SDSU takes forever, parking is expensive, traffic is horrible if you commute, and rent in surrounding housing is also expensive. I don’t hear nearly as many bad things about it SDSU. Does it just come down to the location?
I’m already sad about moving out of SD, so I really need something to look forward to—please help me out!!