University of California-Santa Cruz Top Questions

The lack of communication between staff and students. This is mainly because of the misunderstanding between student and teacher and not easy accessibility to them.

The fact that UCSC knows its students consume illegal drugs yet it doesn't do its best to stop it or at least decrease the number of students consuming these substances.

As a multi-racial woman, I was particularly frustrated that the majority of students were Caucasian; relatively few students represented African-American, Asian/Pacific-Islander, Hispanic, and other ethnic groups. A current perusal of UCSC's demographics shows that half the student body remains Caucasian, although far more Asian/Pacific-Islanders have enrolled, as well as some Hispanic students. While the student body was mostly Caucasian when I attended, the tenor of thought was both liberal and inclusive. I never felt rejected by my peers, but I did wish my peers included more people like me.

The lower undergraduate courses offered at UCSC have more than two hundred students and are extremely difficult to get into. Also, many of the popular majors are impacted and extremely difficult to get into core courses for the major.

The most frustrating thing is trying to get around on the weekends or at night, since the school buses don't operate much at night, and not at all on the weekends. This is cumbersome because I like to hang out with friends or go places like the gym over the weekends, and I have to wait a really long time for the metro buses to come instead of the UCSC ones.

The guys are not great aspects to date, date people off campus or from the city.

The most frustrating part about my school is the fact that my peers never want to leave their campus apartments and dorm rooms. I think it is ridiculous how much beauty we are literally surrounded with, and no one ever wants to step outside of their warm, cozy, and comfortable caves. Sure, it may be a little colder, a little less comfortable, and a little more of an effort to step outside for an hour or two a day, but it is frustrating that my peers are not taking advantage of the beautiful scenery around them.

The most frustrating thing about my college is that there are no 24 hour computer labs near my apartment, dinning hall hours on weekends are hard, and it is difficult to find a job on campus.

It's tough to get used to a small city like Santa Cruz if you come from a big city (I come from Long Beach, CA) - even though the school offers a lot of activities and there are things to do downtown. Plus, it's virtually impossible to cancel your on-campus housing during the school year.

There is an over crowding of buses during the day.

I don;t have a girlfriend! sadsadsad :*******(

not alot of nightlife

the lack of good tutors and the fact that everything is a beauracracy including getting what you need from professors

I think the most frustrating thing is the prevalence of pot. While many students abstain, it does have a presence.

The costs that kept going up, and the classes that got cut.

One of the most frustrating things about my school are the hills. UCSC is basically on a mountain, so getting from class to class can sometimes become a short hike through campus.

Very poor psychological services, students should seek help off campus if needed. Poor health center, staff often simply hands out prescriptions rather than writing referals to specialists. Financial aid checks often arrive late. Quarter system is tricky if you fall behind you may fail your class.

As a science major, I would say class size and the lack of jobs in that area. Santa Cruz is a small city with few jobs for science majors. Also, the sciences are very impacted and my smallest class was still 90 people. Other majors, psychology, art, etc., do not have this issue and typically have 20 people to a class.

Parking.

not enough social diversity

It seems like EOP students are somewhat "babied" by having priority enrollment over others even if they do not perform well academically. They are rewarded over others that try harder and get much better scores. That's certainly not "equal" opportunity.

all the people that smoke pot and think they are cool

That it is often designated as a "hippie" or "weed" school, which is inaccurate and disrespectful to the university and its students.

Advising is a dead-end. Nobody knows the answer to your questions. Ever. Your best bet is usually your RA or a graduating senior, rather than staff.

One must jump through lots of bureocratic hoops to get help with some issues (academic, financial etc). There is a huge amount of pot smoking everywhere on campus, which doesn't bother me much, but is frustrating for some.

I hate the fact that most of the classes offered to students include an attendancy of 250+ students. In order to truly get to know your teachers, you must stand out from the pool of students. But even so, a teacher teaches 3-4 classes, some filled with over 200+ students. That's 600-800 students she has to work with. I find it hard to believe a teacher can get to know so many students, especially on a quarter system, in such short time.

The most frustrating thing about my school is that we are trying to build more buldings that will help the prestige of the university evole and help out our science program, but people have been protesting, preventing this from happening. Also, it is pretty frustrating coming from a hard working family, and seeing that the university does not lend out much aid to those who really need it.