University of California-Riverside Top Questions

What's the most frustrating thing about your school?

Veronica

I found getting adjusted to school to be the most frustrating. Coming from a high school where i received mostly good grades and had around a 3.8 GPA, and ending my first quarter at UCR with a 1.923 was extremely frustrating for me knowing that half a letter grade would have saved my GPA. Although this is a setback, i consider it a minor one because it will only help me learn what I need to do better and be ready for next quarter.

Alexus

The lack of school spirit with sports and no football team. That is about it

Adriana

Temperature, it's pretty hot in Riverside when Spring and Summer start, if you dont' have an air conditioner at home or in your car, you will be in a lot of trouble. Then again, AC at school works great, and people stay indoors all the time to study.

Corinne

Everything at UC Riverside is uphill--or, at least, it feels that way. It's a beautiful campus, right up against the Box Springs Mountains, with citrus trees planted all over and around the property, but no matter where you need to go on campus, it's always uphill from where you are. I have mobility problems, and I put in quite a bit of effort into getting around this university. Still, I'm in better shape than ever with the amount of walking I do here! And the hills are worth it for the sunsets and warm weather.

Janice

getting financial aid assistance may be a hassel, if your gpa drops low you are kicked out of your major and you are to choose another.

Fernando

The most fustrating thing about my school are the teacher assistants. Some have a hard time to speaking English. They are trying hard to explain the topic to the students but just can't seem to find the proper English terms to explain it in.

Alejandro

The frustrating thing is how much I have to walk from where I park because I parking permits are expensive and I cannot afford it, so I have to park off campus and it's a long walk from where I park to the destination that I have to get to, whether it be the library or class.

Lilliette

The most frustrating thing about this school is that there is not enought rooms in the libraries to study, especially during finals week.

Jamiel

There are very few night classes and too many restrictions on classes.

Whitney

The most frustrating is the location. There aren't any grocery stores near-by in which to buy food or supplies in general without a car.

Kimberly

Sometimes the people are rude.

Cathleen

The most frustrating thing about my campus is that there are not enough classes available during registration. They have a tendency to not inform the students of how much limited space they have at the school until, you have paid your hard earned $200 for the orientation. With the high rate of tuition, students should have classes available to them. Instead we are getting ripped for our money. Tuition right now is almost at $30,000, and at that price students cannot find classes that will benefit them towards their major. My school does not care about the students.

Tina

The most frustrating thing about my school is the transportation. I commute and the parking is always a hassle than already living there on campus. As for the parking goes, the food there is very expesive compared to the restauraunts located outside of school.

Sarah

It was hard to get classes sometimes depending on the order you were assigned to sign up for them.

Jennifer

It is hard to get involved being a commuter.

Alyssa

The Most frustating thing about my school is that there is not enough professors and there are too many sudents in one class.

Joseph

During the 2009-2010 academic year, the financial aid office failed to offer adequat aid based on the estimated cost of atteding.

Florie

Something that made this quarter a bit difficult was the low number of classes available because of budget cuts. It was a bit challenging to get the classes I needed for the quarter since so many students were also trying to do the same and there were only a limited number of seats. At the end I was able to get all the classes I needed but it was indeed frustrating.

Camaron

I think that one of the most frustratin things is getting different answers from different offices, it makes things difficult.

Jennifer

There isn't much around. Students need a car to get anywhere, and areas like the Riverside Plaza and other shopping areas require taking the freeway.

Lih

The most frustrating thing about my school is the fact that its students believe that the school they attend defines how successful they will be in the future. Since UCR is not the most recognized school, its students naturally believe that they themselves must not add up to anything, so they count themselves out of the game even before they get in. Even though the students here have tons of potential, they undermine themselves just because of the univeristy they attend, which frustrates me very much.

Jasmin

The most frustrating thing for me was trying to figure out my major. I got to college anfd became interested in everything, I just wanted to learn everything and anything. It took me a while to really figure out what I wanted to do with my life. The faculty and advisors helped me out a lot and now I really love what I am studying.

Jazmine

Picking classes

Brittney-Chanae

In my opinion, the most frustrating thing is adjusting to the teaching style of each professor becuase depending on the course each professor has his/her own way of presenting the lecture material, preparing exams, and his/her own grading system.

Janet

There are times when I am not sure which classes I am supposed to take, the advising center is always busy and some of the counselors are unfriendly.

Lily

It is located in the middle of the desert and there aren't much to do around here. I can't go anywhere without a car and it's dangerous to be out at night after sun down. There aren't enough securities provided by the school.

Kristina

All advising services, though accesible enough to students, are generally not helpful. Outreach to incoming freshmen seems limited to students in the honors program. A great amount of students feel like they are on their own in seeking advisement about their degrees. They must search and determine the requirements that they must complete on their own. Overall, the university seems to take a "hands-off" approach, which does indeed foster independence, but leaves many students feeling lost at the same time.

mai

The most frustrating thing about the University of California, Riverside was its parking situation. All the parking lots were always congested.

Michael

The most frustrating thing about University of California, Riverside is the weather. The fluctuation of the weather in Riverside is amazing. During the Fall and Spring seasons, the temperature can reach up to 115 degrees fahrenheit. The scorching temperature makes it extremely hard to leave our air conditioned dorms and apartments and walk to class, which we eventually drag ourselves to do. During the Winter season, the temperature can hit below 25 degrees fahrenheit. But I can't complain, after all, California gets a little bit of every thing which can be very pleasant.

Vang

The most frustrating thing about my school is that it does not have a lot extracurricular activities for all the diverse people of majors to enjoy. The extracurricular activities alway have to aim for a specific major . Extracurricular activities like for examples IEEE are aim for engineering, computer science and information majors, American Medical Student Association is aim for medical students that are majoring in this field, and Business Career Conference is aim for business majors. Another downside to this is that some of the extracurricular activities are not base on the student's schedule, which unable them to attend.

Jose

The lack of a football team and activites on campus during the weekends. This is also exacerbated by the lack of a Greek row of housing, thusly fraternities and sororities plan parties during the weekdays and at scatterred venues throughout the area.

Sandra

I believe that every school has its pros and cons, but for Riverside, the most frustrating thing about this school is the way that people look towards this school. It frustrates me when people tend to think of UCR as not a very academic school compared to UCLA. It is obvious that UCLA has much more resources and is a bigger campus, but UCR does have standards, and I believe is a better school to attend rather than junior colleges. Riverside is not a horrible school in general. It is a University and a place to receive your degree.

David

The neighborhood around campus is not the best; lots of friends had things stolen from their homes.

Nicole

The excess amount of commuters. Everyone leaves on the weekends and this makes it difficult to arrange a study group or even check out a party with a friend from class! Not to mention you need a car to get around, the closest clubs/good bars are in L.A. which is an hour and a half drive from here (in no traffic).

charlie

The recreation center is a joke compared to other UC campuses.

Melanie

Certain professors, some intro classes are very large

Sharon

UCR hires the worst TAs. They don't even speak correct english and have heavy accents. Facilities are run down. Some teacher are just plain rude and unhelpful and no one ever either understands them or learns anything from the class. Tests aren't even from the lectures or books read. Terrible.

Michael

The crowds during construction. So many people trying to get through small areas, and then you get the people who are too busy doing something else to realize they are moving too slow.

Taywanna

The most frustrating thing about my school are the prices for book, they are expensive. And there is no beach. The closest beach is Newport. So that means you need a car.

Oscar

The most frustrating thing about my school is its location, I wish it was closer to my hometown

yie

The most frustrating thing about my school is the lack of a connection between the sudents here. People on campus and in classes don't seem to connect on a social scale. The diversity here from student to student is to the point where alot of the students find it hard to find people they connect with. When i say diversity, i dont mean race, religon, or any others things mentioned on this survey. I refer to the student's preferences such as music, hobbies, and activities they like to do.

Matt

The weather because when it's hot its scorching, and when it's cold it's time to bunlde up. I feel as though it prepares some students for fields on study abroad in the Antarctica and the Sahara Desert. I think that the weather shows a great deal in showing a separation between those who want to take advantage of their education regardless of the weather or conditions. It shows that simply participating and attendance in school is one of the keys to a successful start in life and career choices.

Shu

The most frustrating thing about my school is dealing with housing and all the miscellaneous documents requested by the financial aid office every year. In addition, I have been noticing that I get lesser and lesser financial aid as the year progresses at my school to the point my parents or I cannot afford to pay off the tuition anymore.