I'd have to say that there are lots of different types of people at our school, and it may take awhile to find your niche because the school is so big, but if you put yourself out there, you'll find someone. As long as your friendly and good hearted, it's not difficult to find someone you can click with. Overall, I think UCSD is full of pretty chill people. The lifestyle differs from the type that likes to relax and smoke to the type that is constantly biking from class to class because walking is too slow.
I've never really encountered racism here, but maybe it's because I'm part of the majority as an asian. haha. I've also never really had any religious problems here either. However, on library walk, there's this guy that holds a sign telling us to convert to Christianity, and if you're lucky, sometimes there's someone debating with him. I really like it when that happens, and I like to sit in on the conversation between classes. Lots of point of views being thrown around, and it's enlightening to see both sides of the situation.
Sometimes on the shuttle, you hear people talking about the crazy party, the one night stand, boy issues, midterms, exams, and sometimes actual intelligent conversations. I remember one time I was on the shuttle and I heard someone talk about the probability of making a mistake even after practicing a lot. They started talking about the amount of keys on a piano, and then the average amount of keys in a song.... and then the rest kinda just went over my head. I was jealous of their IQ. haha
The school dances on campus are ok, but when it comes to the LGBT dance, almost everyone comes out. It's one of the most popular dance every quarter.
Most students here just wear a sweater, jeans, and sandals. There are also a handful of people that dress really nice. Generally, it's nothing out of the ordinary. What I did notice was that compared to Cal Poly Pomona, we are less alternative, and compared to UCI, we are less urban.
I guess I'm a floater, so I generally hang out with different groups of people all the time. I hang out with super religious people and go to church with them, even though I'm buddhist. I hang out with my bros from my co ed fraternity. I hang out with my tennis friends. I hang out with my nerdy gamer friends. I hang out with basketball friends. I hang out with hip hop dancers. I hang out with people from my dorm freshman year. I hang out with people I meet in my classes. I hang out with people I meet from lab. I hang out with almost everyone! haha
The people at my school are from all walks of life, and I can't say which one is better. I guess it depends on what type of people you like to associate yourself with.