University of California, Santa Cruz

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Majors: Cognitive Science and Philosophy Double Major
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: African-American Heterosexual Female

Summary

I participated in Mock Trial for all four years. I’m part of the satire newspaper, The Fishrap. I also used to volunteer with The Cove, which is a substance-free space on campus for people who have addiction or family with addiction.

Background

Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: African-American
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

High School Experience: Public school in the Bay Area, CA with a graduating class of about 200 students. There was somewhat of a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: Yes
Majors: Cognitive Science and Philosophy Double Major
Minor: None

Extracurricular Activities: I participated in Mock Trial for all four years. I’m part of the satire newspaper, The Fishrap. I also used to volunteer with The Cove, which is a substance-free space on campus for people who have addiction or family with addiction.
Have any of your extracurricular activities had a particularly big impact on your experience?
Mock Trial definitely has because you get to travel all over the state competing and it’s a big time commitment. It’s also where I made some of my friends.

Academic Experience

Can you describe your weekly coursework for your majors?
It depends on the major. For Cognitive Science, it’s mostly tests. It’s all about learning in the lectures and then getting ready to take the test. We do not have much week to week work for Cognitive Science. We had some work for the lower-division classes you have to take before you declare the major, like math and programming classes. For Philosophy, it’s a lot of reading and writing. Instead of taking a test on what we’re learning, we turn in essays.
Is there anything you feel that your majors’ departments do especially well or poorly?
The Cognitive Science department has really great professors and graduate instructors. They explain really complicated things very well. One bad thing is the Psychology majors are within the Cognitive Science department and they are an impacted major so it’s really hard to get into classes. I’ve been on the waitlist for almost every upper-division class I’ve enrolled in. For Philosophy, there are not that many students, so professors have a lot of availability. But, I feel that the courses are not that interesting and mostly just preparing you to go to graduate school. I wish more Philosophy classes were interesting and applicable to me now.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
I wouldn’t say it’s competitive. It’s pretty laid back. Some classes are collaborative, but it’s mostly individual learning. You can study in a group if you want. It’s not competitive, at least within my departments.
How accessible are your professors?
They’re pretty accessible, especially over email. I have no problem emailing professors. They also have office hours, but I usually don’t go to office hours because I live off-campus and it’s a hassle to get on campus.
Why did you pick your majors? Are you happy with your choice?
I actually took a psychology class in high school so I knew I wanted to be some sort of a Psychology major. UC-Santa Cruz offers a Cognitive Science major, which is a little bit more interdisciplinary so you don’t have to just focus on Psychology. I took some Philosophy courses, and after taking some courses, I decided to double major. I’m really happy with my choices.
How do you like the quarter system? How has it impacted your academic experience?
I personally really like the quarter system because it goes really fast but it’s enough time to learn one subject. When I was a freshman, I had to take classes I didn’t like, like calculus, and if I was in a semester program, I would have definitely gotten bored and out of touch with what we’re learning. Since it’s only 10-weeks, the professors have to pack in what are the important parts. I feel that the speed of the quarter system helps me learn a lot more than if it were the semester system.
How was transitioning academically as a first-generation college student? Were there any resources available that helped you adapt?
There were resources on campus, but I’m a very independent person and I just figured it out on the way. The first year wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, so it was easy for me personally.
In what ways do you feel that the academics at UC Santa Cruz have prepared you for life after college?
I’m right now in a master’s program for psychology and I feel like they have prepared me for what the program is teaching, but I think they haven’t prepared me enough for the mathematical side of psychology. There is not a lot of emphasis on statistics or research methods. I feel like they have prepared me 95% of the way, but the other 5% I’ve had to teach myself.

Reasons to Attend

1) It’s an absolutely beautiful campus.
2) I think it has great academics. I can only speak for my departments, but I feel that the professors are trying their best and they are good at what they do.
3) It’s not a place where people are trying to one-up each other. If you want a laid back but still rigorous academic culture, I would say UC Santa Cruz is a great place to be.
4) The people are awesome here. It’s big enough that you will meet people you like and do not like, but you will find your niche.

Reasons Not to Attend

1) It’s expensive tuition-wise and also housing-wise. Living off campus is expensive and living on campus is expensive. There is also a housing crisis. [See City on a Hill Press article, “Realities of the Housing Crisis” and article, “Students and Housing: Not So Simple.”]
2) The transportation is bad because there are so many people here.
3) Although Santa Cruz is beautiful, I think it is really difficult to navigate if you have a disability because there are so many hills that people have to go up and down.

Around Campus

On and Around Campus
Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman: College Nine in a triple with two roommates
Sophomore: International Living Center apartments
Junior: I studied abroad all year
Senior: I’m living in an apartment downtown in Santa Cruz
How was transitioning from your hometown to Santa Cruz, CA in terms of location?
I’m only about a 45-minute drive away, so it wasn’t super daunting to come to Santa Cruz because I knew if I needed anything, my parents could just drop stuff off.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
It’s a huge campus, and it’s a pretty far distance from the actual town, so the people you see on campus are mostly students, staff, and other people that belong there. If you see someone who doesn’t belong there, it’s pretty obvious.

Social Opportunities

What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
When I was on campus, we would have forest parties. Now that I’m 21 and I live off-campus, we go to a couple of the bars in downtown Santa Cruz. We don’t have any clubs in Santa Cruz, but we have bars. Thursday night a bunch of places offer student discounts so that that is a popular night. Then Friday and Saturday nights are also popular.
What is the impact of Greek life on the weekend options at UC Santa Cruz?
I think Greek life is fairly non-existent at Santa Cruz. There are parties they throw, but it’s mostly for people who can’t go to the bars. That’s just my personal opinion.
What is an alternative to going to a party or a bar that you like for a night out?
I like staying in and watching TV. Going home and not interacting with people sometimes is the best end of the night for me.
How happy are you with the weekend activities or nightlife at your school? Is there anything you would change if you could?
I would have a dancing bar. Everything is more of a sit-down place. I wish there was a big club in Santa Cruz.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
Through housing. My closest friends now are the people I lived with freshman year. After freshman year, I went to live in the International Living Center, which was about half foreign exchange students and half domestic students, and that was a really tight-knit community. When I went to study abroad, I visited those people in their home countries. I think housing is a really great place to meet people. Mock Trial and The Fishrap have also helped me meet people, so clubs are a good way to meet people too.
How would you describe the overall social scene at UCSC?
Because we have a really big campus with a lot of people, it’s hard to just meet someone from your class. There are just too many people in your class and too many people on campus. I think a lot of people make their friends from clubs and housing, just places where you will talk on a daily basis. Also, UC-Santa Cruz doesn’t have big sports, so there’s not a lot of campus pride. Everyone just has their own little thing that they do instead of the entire campus coming together.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
I think they mix. All of my friends are pretty diverse. It just depends on who you meet and there aren’t any cliques or anything like that, so people are pretty cool with each other on campus.
How would you describe the Black community on campus? How strong is it?
There are a bunch of different clubs. There’s the big club, the Black Student Union, and then a bunch of smaller clubs that are subgroups. I feel like they have a pretty decent grounding and place to meet, so I think it’s pretty strong.
How do you like the size of UCSC? How has that impacted your experience? [UCSC has about 18,000 undergraduates.]
Oh my gosh, it’s way too big. There are too many people on campus. I didn’t realize this until I went abroad and I went to a really small school. The biggest impact the size has had on me is transportation. I don’t have a car, so I need to take the bus. When I’m living off campus, there are two buses that I have to work with, one bus that goes to campus and another that cycles off campus, and they’re both always packed. I sometimes have two or three buses pass me by before I could get on the right one to get home.

Careers

Careers
Have you learned any computer programs or languages that will be helpful to you professionally?
I learned Python for my Cognitive Science major during my freshman year. I’m relearning it again so I can brush up on it because I think it’s going to be really helpful with pretty much any job.

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, how easy is the office to get in touch with?
Yes, it’s pretty hard to get in contact with them depending on when in the quarter it is. At the beginning of the quarter, it’s super hard to reach because everyone’s trying to reach them. If you go to the office, there will be a long line. As the quarter progresses, they are easier and easier to get in touch with. The most frustrating time I had with them was when I was trying to study abroad and had to get my finances in order, so I was on a time limit. That was really stressful.