University of California-San Diego Top Questions

The most frustrating thing about my school is only the distance away from home. This is a similar issue for other people, because it is at the bottom corner of the country as opposed to being in the middle of a variety of cities. However, that also means that the campus is close to a beautiful beach with great weather, so it is understandable why they would put such a beautiful campus in such a beautiful place.

The student body of UCSD is the single most homogenous population I have ever encountered. As a whole, students dismiss the arts in pursuit of STEM interests and are apolitical to the point of ignorance. Whatever small pockets of counterculture have managed to survive on campus are continually challenged by the administration and neglected by students. Although there are, as in most places, many kind and intelligent people here, I am frustrated by the lack of diversity and strong sociopolitical identity at this school.

Depending on your major, class sizes are rather large and grades are based on a curve. With this being said, there's somewhat of a competitive feel to the class, which I didn't like.

Midterms approach really quickly and it can be really esay to fall behind in classes.

The most frustrating thing about my school is that it is so competitive that the majority of the students forget to balance their life between work and play. Although it is extremely important for students to be constantly challenged in order to realize their abilities, it gets to a point where it is extremely cut-throat that people compete to get the best scores among their peers instead of appreciating the materials learned in class. In turn, this leads to limited social activities and a lack of social interactions.

Different departments & colleges require different general education classes. Some classes won;t transfer over if you switch majors or add a minor.

All the work that we have to do and then we are only graded on a small portion of it.

Dealing with parking spots & getting to class on time because there is a lot of (uphill/downhill) walking involved from class to class.

There is no football team. I love football and I wish there was a football team. A football team would bring unity to the school and give the students a sense of pride and school pride. People are trying to get a football program started but people are too worried about the financial side. People don't want to pay for a football program but they still want a program. That doesn't make very much sense to me.

It is very large so it takes awhile to get to classes. Also, everyone lives very far from each other so then I don't see my friends as often as I like.

It's so big that if you have classes all day, you end up walking about 2-3 miles a day.

People were not very social and the professors/ tests were very tricky. I feel like I could study for hours and maybe get a C or not study too much and still get a C, even when I thought I knew the material.

HORRIBLE SOCIAL LIFE. OVERBEARING STUDYING, CUT THROAT COMEPETITION, and did I mention? HORRIBLE SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE. Everyone wants to just study their life away.

The idea that we have to maintain a 2.0 gpa to continue our education here, but at the same time, it motivates me to work hard in my studies and not fall behind.

The most frustrating thing about UCSD is that it provides little opportunity for student interaction.

Lack of school spirit, which leads to a less satisfying experience overall.

Unorganized information, it's hard to find dates of important events unless you make an effort

lack of social oportunities, cost of living, workload

My school lacks school spirit It is wonderful that we are so academically oriented, but students do not support other students doing different activities such as sports, acting, and clubs. By supporting different events around campus, it would create a more unified and encouraging environment. A large increase in school spirit and support for students representing the school would make my experience at UC San Diego so much better.

Boring social life

no black people

The amount of apathy among students and faculty towards social causes. The lack of diversity.

Professorship is research based, so there are some professors that are brilliant researchers, but aren't talented as lecturers, thus making learning somewhat difficult.

There's a lot of pressure to do well in classes. The atmosphere of UCSD is very academic based. That does not mean, however, that you should just get sucked into it all. After all, the whole collge experience is whatever you want to make out of it.

The lack of diversity

I don't feel that there is anything frustrating about my school

The lack of social life is almost unbearable when one first arrives on campus. For some of those on campus, who came to the school simply for academic (i.e., the sciences) pursuits, their personalities quickly adapted to the closed, almost stifling atmosphere on campus. However, for those of us who prefer to interact and become involved with others on a social and intellectual level beyond just the classroom and the monotony of school found that the social life we craved was horribly absent. Fraternities and sororities existed, but bound strictly by the administration and the inhibitive atmosphere bred here.

classes are huge and you have to learn to teach yourself the material. a lot of the buildings are ugly. a majority of students are anti-social and stressed about school

It is very competitive.

Not much social interaction. The six colleges system makes it hard to meet new people. There's no football team, so no football games. Also, not a lot of parties. If you go out of your way though, you can find something.

The lack of Ethnic diversity and the unwillingness to respond to the acvtivism on campus which is oriented to liberalize and progress the campus to a more tolerable and diverse place of safety and willingness to learn.

Competition