University of California-San Diego Top Questions

they study hard and they party hard

Some of them are true. Many students do spent a significant amount of time in the library, but that's because we are serious about our studies. We don't have a frat row and we don't have a lot of parties, but people knew that when they came to this school, so they have to figure out a way to deal with it.

yes

They are. Without hitting up the greek life, its hard to find a good party.

There are fun things to do if you look for them, but parties won't find you if you stay at your house.

There's a lot of cramming in the library no doubt, and campus can be dead on weekends, but if you make the effort to look and get involved- there's plenty to do.

No, not in the least bit. Every UC has these types of people but UCSD students do not fit any one stereotype. While this is not like UCSB, UCSD offers a great social scene to those who wish to participate. It's all about how much of an effort you as an individual want to make in order to have a good time -- no one is going to come grab you out of your dorm and drag you to parties. The past four years have been the best four years of my life. I have made friends that will last a lifetime. UCSD is full of every type of personality.

It is not much of a party school. However it does tend to be hard to make friends when you do not live on campus.

hmm.. it's true that there's alot of asian. but totally not true that no one parties. there's always parties going on, you just gotta find the right people to hang out with. obviously if you hang out in your room all day playing wow or doing your homework (::COUGHHLOSERSCOUGH::), you're not going to find any parties or know about them.

Of course they have kernels of truth, but shouldn't be applied to every student you meet.

some yes, some not at all. i don't think the majority of the students are socially awkward at all. i think that these students probably aren't too different from any other students at other universities. the majority of the student body are white and asian, and lots of them are nerdy, but hey, that's how they got here! the campus is pretty socially dead although there are events that try to prevent that from happening, and the weather isn't always beachy weather all the time as some might misconstrue

To some degree.

People here are smart but they are not all nerdy. Sure some are both nerdy and socially awkward but not all. If you want a good social life just find people who want one too and you will find one. And most people don't major in engineering or the sciences (well not more than in other colleges) It's just that this school has a good reputation in those areas.

There are no good looking people on campus (true to the students, but not visitors - it's called triton-eye.) Nerds of the nerds - probably true, our libraries are always full, but it's probablt true for any UC campus Political campus (False.) most people don't care.

Absolutely not. Just like any university or any setting, if you surround yourself with nerds, than clearly you will have a difficult time having fun. However if you take the initiative to go out and meet people, you will quickly realize that a lot of students here just want to have fun and enjoy being in college. Most of the people I know just skip class to hang out with friends or go to the beach, which I'm not advising, but it says something about the fact that UCSD students definitely enjoy life outside of the classroom. With regards to major distribution, there is such a wide variety of majors here that no one or two can be said to be dominant. I believe (though I'm not positive) that ECON is the most prevalent, yet the media's focus on UCSD's amazing achievements in science and engineering places the public focus on those majors.

unfortunately, yes.

From my experience, yes.

I think that it is true if you don't find the right outlet for yourself. You can't expect things from UCSD without putting effort into it yourself. Basically, social life isn't handed to you, you need to earn it. So yes, they would be accurate if you didn't do anything.

For the most part yes, they are correct. The college system at UCSD doesn't promote a sense of UCSD unity - it only segregates the students into their prospective colleges. UCSD has absolutely no school spirit even though the sports teams do fairly well. There is a huge science focus at UCSD which draws a certain type of people - put all of them together and you get the very anti-social atmosphere. HOWEVER - I LOVE UCSD, I found my niche in my sorority and was able to get the fantastic education which was balanced with the extracirricular activities provided by the sorority.

The all Asian one is

not really. being on the quarter system can actually be more stressful because three weeks in you start midterms and they don't really end until finals begin.

I believe that 95{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the stereotypes are true!

yes

No they aren't. There are those people who only care about their schoolwork, but I would say that the majority of students realize the importance of social, personal, and professional development in addition to academic development. Seven percent of the student population affiliate with a fraternity or sorority, and many others are part of the many other non-Greek student organizations.

It all depends! Yes there are plenty of people that go home on weekends and sit in their room their entire day, but there of plenty of people that love to hang out, have fun, and do whatever. As long as you find the right group of people, its anything but boring.

These stereotypes are not entirely accurate. UCSD is located in a beach town, so that means you'll see lots of surfers and laid-back people. As long as you take the bus or drive a car, you can easily find fun hangouts in downtown, Pacific Beach, and more. The community of snobby old rich people shouldn't bother you too much, but you'll notice its influence on many places. There are lots of pretty girls and good-looking guys. No, I wouldn't say that I have "triton eye" and that my standards are lowered. UCSD has nerds, if you consider people who study to be "nerds". Realistically, one has to study for midterms and finals. UCSD has an overwhelming number of Asians, but not as heavy as UC Irvine. Many of them are not nerds, but you'll find a few that will reinforce that stereotype.

Not really. Sometimes thay are though.

Yes

I don?t believe that there stereotypes are accurate. You can claim that any UC school is too studious and since UCSD does have a prominent science department, many students here are science majors which tends to lead to a studious atmosphere. As a second year student at UCSD, I happen to think that UCSD has an exciting social life, you just have to active pursue it. At other schools there are parties happening all around, at UCSD you might have to go in search of a party but you will find one. You are what you make of your college experience and I think if you come to UCSD with the mindset that you?re not going to have a good time and you won?t find things to do, then that is exactly what will happen to you.

Although there are certainly some students that fit the stereotypes of our school, I would argue that they are mostly untrue.

I think the people are really friendly, and that the school offers a lot of activities that more people should take advantage of instead of complaining. It's true our spirit is low because all of our sports teams are D2.

See above.

Pretty much except there are lots of parties so it's not totally socially dead.

nope

I think we party just as hard as we study. Of course we have our nerdy, socially awkward students, but what college doesn't?

No, if you find the right people to be with, the experience is extremely fun. As for girls, it's a lie. There are a lot of cute girls here, although there more "meh" girls than good looking ones, there are plenty of them to go around.

I feel like they are; I lived in the dorms freshman year so I definitely had social outlets but my sophomore year I joined a sorority and I'm glad that I did! For the most part, the people I know who aren't involved with a sport, a club, greek life, whatever, don't seem to be as active on campus. Also, there are a lot of people who work very hard academically. That's not to say that they can't have fun, but there's definitely a more academic feel to the campus. It's not overwhelming by any means, not like being at UCLA or someplace, but it's there. I just wish we could have both the social and the academics.

UCSD being a nerd school is pretty accurate, but we do have our party moments. And I'm still undecided about UCSD beer goggles because I think there's a few good catches among the crowd.

mostly, but it's not like the ucsd campus is dead when it comes to parties and such. greek life has its big parties and gatherings every once in awhile each quarter, just so that ucsd has its liveliness brought to them. plus, the associated student body is always planning something happening on campus each quarter - aka fallfest, winterfest, etc.

nope! UCSD parties... but not really.. hahaha

Absolutely

No, NOT. Yes they are.

Well, being a non-science major, clearly, that one is false, and we have a pretty darn good Communications department so were not just good as Science. And i know lots of people who arent just giant nerds, but i do feel that most students on this campus do take their academics pretty seriously. There are a lot of Asians at this school, not that thats a bad thing. Also, the whole ugly thing, not everyone is ugly, but really good looking people are hard to come by, but there are some cuties, you just have to find them.

UCSD is a strong science school, and its school of medicine has moved up in the national rankings over the past few years. Though I think that particular stereotype is exaggerated, I think it has a valid base, considering the strength of this school in the areas of biology, chemistry, and other sciences.

To an extent: there are a large number of "bookworms" at our school that don't have or don't care about a social life. However, there is quite a few social students at UCSD, you just have to find them and be friends with them. The two major outlets for social life is greek life and athletics. And although it is true that there is no football team, the athletics is still pretty strong. There definitely isn't as much school spirit as if we had a football team (and it sucks that school spirit revolves around football), but we still have a lot of great teams and a good number of people that go out and support.

In some ways, yes. Most of us, I think, are very highly motivated because we really care about our future. In some ways, not so accurate. We still have fun in our ways, even if it's not partying all the time.

not for me! maybe for others haha

No

These stereotypes are somewhat accurate, but its really about getting involved on campus to find those individuals who break the mold and to find your niche on a somewhat anti-social campus.

sadly yes, but as far as social life goes, all you have to do is get involved with something and it will make everything so much better! whether it's a club, greek life, or sports, all the student orgs are pretty cool.