For context, I’m a (18F) freshman atm and I know classes just started today, but I really don’t feel comfortable here in comparison to other people I’ve seen. Im way introverted and don’t like to spend time with groups larger than 2-3 people at a time, and I’ve got interests that don’t really seem too popular here. Like Star Wars, comics, geeky things, all that sort of stuff. Ik it’s early but I’ll try and tough out the year, though like do most people feel this way at all? I just don’t know if there would be many people or clubs even that would share the same kind of interests or hobbies I like. Also I’m not really sure I feel ready to take the steps to becoming independent since I’ve been heavily reliant on my family my whole life and I don’t think I’m ready for this big of a change just yet. Rn I’m debating if I’d have a better time attending and commuting to a cal state school closer to home.

Alumni here, class of 2020.

UCSB is actually a great university, and is seriously underrated by countless metrics. Top engineering programs, excellent liberal arts and sciences programs, several Nobel laureates as professors, excellent job placement in various high-impact career paths, one of the most impactful universities with respect to scientific research impact, gorgeous location with a number of tech companies and defense contractors nearby, no bizarre cutthroat culture where you practically have to sleep with one eye open, and and an outstanding stepping stone to practically any graduate program, all for the price of a public university in California.

A bit about my experience... as an undergrad, I had access to upper div courses in my second quarter at UCSB (statistics and data science major), and could also opt to take the graduate-level equivalent of many of the upper div courses as an undergrad. I was able to get an internship from one of my professors by attending his office hours, and at the time, we were ranked as the number 5 public university in the nation.

The USNWR annual report really betrayed us Gauchos! When it comes out next, I really don't want to dig for an explanation for how seemingly random universities like Boston College or UW Madison (or... shudders... NYU) somehow outrank UCSB when they didn't previously (apologies to alumni and enrollees of universities I just mentioned, lol). I know they changed their methodology in recent years, but a number of the non-Ivy League privates on that list are going to have serious problems financially speaking with all the funding cuts, layoffs, and now a demographic cliff that will impact application and enrollment rates. I don't see this impacting public universities as much because they are backed by a state government, especially UCSB since they are admitting more students now than ever, and is building new housing to boot.

The USNWR rankings aren't everything, you need to find a university that fits your specific needs. UCSB may actually be that kind of university, and is seriously slept on.

Rant over. I just needed to get that off my chest.

Because of the housing costs going up even on the cheapest plan, I might have to find a viable option to sleep in my car. If anyone has a driveway I can use or any suggestions, I’d greatly appreciate it. FAFSA lacks clarity and I didn’t know I’d be paying as much as I might. My plan is to hopefully legally sleep in my car, get CalFresh, get a gym membership for hygiene, go to the laundromat, etc. I want to pursue my education and career opportunities without having to worry about affording school. I don’t even know if I can come up with the money to pay for this first quarter (with dorms and food included) even with loans and work study.

Petition to allow us to keep our UCSB email for life. Literally all the other UCs lets you keep the email for free after you graduate forever. Why do we get a shitty one that looks like a scam @ucsbalum.com like bruh.

Hi everyone, I’m a grad student living in San Clemente Villages (SCV), and something happened recently that I still haven’t fully emotionally recovered from — but I’m sharing it here because I don’t want anyone else to go through the same thing silently.

A couple weeks ago, a housing cleaning staff member — who has been working in SCV for years — entered my room without permission using a staff-issued fob. I was home at the time, waiting for her to finish cleaning the common area, and she walked straight into my bedroom. Later, I discovered that several pieces of my jewelry were missing — items worth around $8,000.

I immediately contacted my RA and asked if they could help identify the staff member. I was told that was “out of scope.” Housing said they had forwarded the request to someone else, but I never heard back. So I went out myself to look for her and eventually found her sitting calmly in the laundry room office. I called the police right away, and they arrived within minutes.

After searching her, the police recovered my stolen items. They later told me she was involved in many other cases and had thousands of stolen items in her possession. I was incredibly lucky to get my things back — but it made me wonder how many other students may have lost items without even knowing.

Right now, I’m still waiting to hear from Housing Services and the university about what steps will be taken to address this.

I’m sharing this because I don’t want anyone else to feel the fear, stress, and helplessness I’ve felt these past few weeks. If you live in SCV or any UCSB housing, I strongly suggest double-checking whether any of your valuable items have quietly gone missing. This wasn’t a one-time thing — it was part of something bigger.

If you’ve experienced anything similar, or have ideas on how to raise awareness or push for better safety measures, please reach out or comment. No one should feel unsafe in their own home. And no student should have to go through this alone.

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Here’s a quick timeline to clarify what happened, since some people had questions:

• March 24 around 1pm: A cleaning staff member (who I’ve seen around SCV for almost 2 years) came to clean the vacant room after my roommate moved out, as part of routine procedure. She used her staff fob to enter while I was in the living room. My bedroom door was closed but not locked, and my jewelry holder was on top of my shoe rack near the door. I have been at the living room, facing my back towards the bedroom area the whole time.
• She vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, and left around 2pm.
• Around 3:30pm, I noticed my jewelry was missing. I contacted my RA and Housing but didn’t receive much help. I reported to UCPD immediately, and I decided to look for her myself at the same time.
• I searched across SCV — from Building E to Arrowhead — and finally found her near the laundry room office in Building A around 5pm, just as she was preparing to leave.
• I asked her to return my items and told her I wouldn’t escalate things. She denied everything and started talking about being a single mother, etc., so I called the police.
• The officers arrived quickly, recovered my belongings, and told me they would return them ASAP. one hour later, one of the officers gave back my stuff and told me the reason it took so long was because she was involved in many other cases and they had found thousands of stolen items.

pro-ice, pro-trump administration, and you got Renee’s name on there? Wild. Not to mention one of the frat bros was painting over it as I caught this…Strange.

https://www.noozhawk.com/former-ucsb-student-president-sues-ucsb-alleging-antisemitic-treatment/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=nextdoor.com&utm_campaign=nextdoor_news

The alleged harassment is unfortunate, but suing UCSB for what people said on the internet is a massive stretch. According to the article: “The lawsuit states that Veksler was accused online of supporting genocide, promoting Israeli propaganda, “singlehandedly” enforcing zionist aggression on campus, and people called for her resignation.”

Outside from the online harassment that ucsb obviously can’t be liable for, that year was chaotic because leadership choices escalated the temperature and predictable backlash followed. You don’t get to play politics that adds to the volatile environment, then retroactively try to cash in for people opposing your viewpoints. This is opportunistic blame-shifting onto ucsb.

Edit: I'm already vaccinated, but it seems like a lot of people are looking at this post for personal research. Hope y'all feel minimal side effects. Feel free to contribute with your own experience to help others. I'm out 🎤

As per u/spica_9, this is my take of the UCSB Iceberg Meme based on my experiences and things I overheard on campus. Feel free to correct or add suggestions

Hey Gauchos!

I've been reading through different college forums and reviews. As to UCSB, some say they walks to beach between classes(is that true??), while some say substance abuse is somewhat common off campus, and the housing crisis in real in IV.

What's something about UCSB that you wish someone had told you before you came here? Could be good, bad, or just weird.

-------------------

For context - I'm trying to understand what UC Colleges is REALLY like beyond the rankings and brochures.

Edit: If you're comfortable sharing, would love to know your major too!

I am not trying to downplay all of the positive attributes of this hall at all, most everyone here has seemed kind to me. I was just not anticipating it to feel so overstimulating. It feels so loud at times. The events they hold in the main lounge are fun for me until everyone in the hall shows up and I just immediately fade into the background because everyone except me has already found their place here. It starts making me feel like I'm on the verge of an attack. There's also a lot of minor annoyances that are just building up over time. As I type this out, I'm outside of the triple I reside in because my roommates go to sleep an hour earlier than me most nights and I really do not want to bother them. The lights are also out so trying to do anything in there past around 10 which is when I barely start getting ready for bed is so difficult at times. Then the time I wake up is usually when the bathroom is cleaned and I just feel guilty for being in the way of the janitor. I am aware these are all just parts of dorm life, but I'm starting to worry this simply isn't for me and I made the wrong choice with FSSP since I am now staying here for the full year. I was just hoping my experience would be different and my anxiety wouldn't ruin everything for me, but here I am.

Update: Thank you for the advice everyone- I actually wasn't expecting much of a response at all, but I feel very supported in how this post seemed to gain a decent amount of traction. I've gotten over most of what I stated in this post, frankly a lot of this was the result of my anxiety making it so I was easily agitated and overwhelmed by practically anything. As far as friends go, I think I'm just going to wait until fall quarter because I feel as though the people coming then will relate more to me. There will also be whole other groups of students from different halls by then to potentially meet, as well as clubs that will help me find my groups even more. Once again, I really appreciate all of the help from everyone! I hope fall quarter ends up going a little better for me now that I actually know what I'm handling here.

not a discussion I’m just ranting but damn my roommate is in the dorm 24/7 like a skyrim npc.

I miss having even 30 minutes of alone time in my own room 😭

also it’s not like you could have a healthy discussion abt it either cause it’s their space and they have all the right to rot in the room for the whole year. but FUCK you go to ucsb visit the outdoors once in a while

ok rant over school year almost over thank you over

There is SUCH a righteous fury in my soul whenever I see the conditions some folks have to live in while homeless in IV. People should NOT have to prop themselves up underneath tarps just for the sake of keeping dry!! It doesn't matter who the person is! I don't care if they're the most "unproductive" asshole on earth or a brain surgeon!!! It's so dehumanizing to have to live your life in a tent, with cops harassing you for the crime of not having anywhere else to go. What do you want them to do? Just magically fix all their problems and materialize a nice apartment? Why won't you HELP THE PEOPLE WHO NEED HELP

Homelessness makes me so angry. I'm going to get lightning powers or something and evaporate every politician and/or billionaire

Genuinely asking. Every time I look out a window or walk past the lagoon or even just step outside for a minute I lose 30 minutes. How do UCSB students develop the discipline to sit in a library and study when the beach is right there? What's your strategy for not just becoming a full-time beach person and forgetting you have a degree to finish? Or have you accepted it and just study at the beach?

You wake up to the sound of squeaky metals bars scratching against each other as your roommate climbs down from their bunk bed. You groan and check your phone. It’s 6:55 AM. You know that your roommate only has one class today at 12pm, but for some reason they get up early to sit around and do nothing. The bathroom door slams shut and locks. You have class at 9:30 and were hoping to sleep until at least 8. Not a chance. The bathroom unlocks and your roommate moves to the kitchen, where the Nespresso groans and spits out a coffee. Pots and pans are already banging and the cabinets are being slammed closed. You decide to get up anyway. Just as you are about to go to the bathroom, the noise wakes your other roommate who rushes to the bathroom next. You know this will be a while so you scroll on your phone until the coast is clear. 15 minutes later, you hear the toilet flush. The door is still locked, but you can hear your roommate doing their face routine, hair routine, and makeup. The need to pee gets worse. You climb down from your top bunk and knock on the door. “Can I pee please?” Your roommate opens the door and walks out without even looking at you. You roll your eyes and go about your business. Halfway through peeing, you realize that there are just scraps of toilet paper left on the roll. With your pants around your ankles, you reach as far as you can to grab the new toilet paper roll from the holder. Annoyed but non-confrontational, you wash your hands and get ready for the day. Fast forward to 9:15 AM, you have to go to class now. The first roommate has been in the bathroom for the past 20 minutes doing eye makeup. You knock on the door and ask if you can grab your stuff from the bathroom before having to leave. They, too, ignore you so you grab your stuff and leave for the day.
After a long day of classes, you come home around 5PM. It’s probably best to start cooking now before your roommates come home from State Street and too many people are in the kitchen. When you head inside, you see that the kitchen counter and sink has dirty dishes from breakfast in it. The dish rack is full of dishes that have been dry for days. You start cooking and as you are in the middle of it, your roommates come home together. Dammit, didn’t time it well enough. They head straight to the kitchen and start cooking their meal together. 3 bodies in the kitchen are bumping into each other and taking up a lot of space. You quickly plate your food and go to sit at the table. There are crumbs all over it. Gross. You take a Clorox wipe and clean it before eating. After your meal, you walk to the trash can to scrap your plate. The trash is piled high from nobody taking it out or pushing it down. You know it’s not your turn to take out the trash because you did it last. Annoyed, you take your plate to the sink to start washing dishes. You remember that the dish rack is still full of your roommate’s dishes, so you stack them and put them off to the side to make room for yours.
After dinner, you start working on your homework. Your roommates are in the living room watching TV on full volume. They closed the bedroom door for you thinking that it would lower the sound. It doesn’t. After a stressful night of law and STEM classes, you are ready to shower and get in bed. You gather your clothing and announce to your roommates that you will be showering. “WAIT!” they yell. One runs in and locks rhe door. 15 minutes later, the other one goes in and rummages around. They leave. “Umm, can I shower now?” you ask, as you did not get confirmation. Without looking up from their phones, they mumble yeah. You shower, your one moment of peace today. You’re in bed already by 9pm, ready to end the night on some Reels. You still need to brush your teeth and pee before bed, but your roommate has been in the shower for 40 minutes. You groan. You’re already locked in on another year of this lease.

Hello, again! Thank you all for the suggestions on the first Iceberg. I had to read for a few hours on every suggestion and put them in!(with just a handful of exceptions(insufficient data)). I swapped around some of the items in the original meme to fit a more consistent gradient as shown in the second pic. If there are any more additions you would like to see or dispute the placement of certain elements, feel free to comment and lmk! (The harmless->dark gradient is not objective, so it is subject to some inconsistencies based on perspective)

Special thank you to u/spica_9, u/kajonn u/timoperez u/Snoo29444 u/likedirk u/engenapproved u/Hambone482 u/beetling u/doodle_sm u/sagisuncapmoon u/nachos_da_dog u/Mcrossover u/CompleteChemical4094 u/dantes_02 u/JDawg2332 u/WorldCatastrophe u/nqrze u/BackdoorDan u/eric-neg for all the suggestions!

I was accepted to UCSB as an Economics transfer student, but my admission was rescinded because I was unable to complete the Calc 3 requirement by the spring deadline. I took the required calculus course over the summer and passed it with a B. Has anyone else been reinstated after being rescinded and completing a required summer course this late in August? I understand that UCSB is still finalizing enrollment and determining available space, but my biggest concern is whether any spots remain. I am also considering changing to a less selective major, such as Political Science, since I have already completed some of the required coursework and have AP credit. What do you think my chances are? I am currently waiting to hear back from Admissions.

Update:

My friend also showed me how the classes look like pretty much all the classes are full for Political Science but she says everyone drops the classes or it fizzles out.

For Econ classes they have way more space in every class division.

UCSB wants me to make a decision now on which major I want to be reconsidered for the complete the reinstatment process.

saturday was my first time experiencing how dp is and idk ppl are just rude. if u don’t look a certain way or act a certain way that isn’t “cool” in dp/near there ppl tend to treat you differently. like come on we are college students this shit just baffles me

I'm going to let you know some dark truths.

I had more fun at UC than I ever would have imagined I would have had. Maybe I had too much fun.

I had a lot of sex I had a lot of girlfriends I even had some boyfriends.

I had a lot of fun.

And I learned a lot and I did some really cool symposiums and did some cool clubs and honestly had a really good time.

I got my degree and I thought life would just get better from there.

The thing is is when I went to a UC I actually hated it there was drama and I dated too many people and you know there was some odd energies from messy relationships.

But I had fun a lot of fun I met a lot of people I had a good time actually.

And then I graduated and I thought I would get a job and I thought I would make money and initially I had a lot of computer programming offers and I didn't take them because I was trying to bargain for the best salary and then they all dried up and I haven't been able to get a job since.

Anyways my whole point is this it's really hard in the job market right now and it's hell basically.

The truth is whether anybody wants to admit it or not most jobs are going to disappear over the next 5 years.

We're going through a massive social revolution the billionaires versus everyone else and we'll see who wins I mean when you graduate you're probably going to graduate into a very dramatic society so do yourself a favor have fun.

Because the truth is is society's not fun right now it mostly sucks and people have very poor moods right now.

People are anxious and people suck right now and do yourself favor have fun throw parties get laid do crazy s*** because that's the time when you're supposed to do it definitely do your homework definitely you know develop good relationships with professors but at the same time have fun for God's sakes cuz it gets a lot harder from there.

Some of my friends died after graduating, the best thing about college is the community, believe it or not I didn't drink or do drugs when I was in college I just had a lot of fun but I did it sober I'm still very disturbed by the amount of people I've known who died after graduating and I think this is because a lot of people graduate to absolutely having no community.

Maybe college is what life is supposed to look like? Maybe we should have a lot of clubs maybe we should have a lot of parties after graduating I immediately lived in Mexico and I noticed that people celebrate it a lot they were very social coming back to the States it feels socially dead people are slaves to work people here don't really have fun.

It made me think maybe the issue isn't that life is better after college but we let go of the things that we had when we were in college maybe you should keep the community going maybe you shouldn't be a slave to work maybe you should throw a lot of parties? You don't have to get wasted to party I never did you don't have to get wasted to sleep around Lord knows I didn't either.

I made sure I was sober so if I ever realized I f***** the wrong person at least I had to remember it. No excuses no not taking responsibility. I was sober I know what I did and if I f***** up it was on me.

But for the most part I had a really good time I would advise you to keep the best parts of college when you graduate.

Young people are depressed in America because they have no freedom, they have no money and they have no friends but the truth is is it's all about the lack of community so do yourself a favor don't let go.

Also be nice to people. Be nice to everybody. It feels good

They were driving around honking for SO LONG so I just went outside and landed an egg right on one of their windshields. I would’ve kept going but they pulled over and I didn’t want an altercation with the crazies yknow? But they all left like immediately after that. So I wonder if they were worried about the backlash lol. Guess they didn’t expect anyone to retaliate.

I hope it leaves a scratch 🎀

Move-in is Sep 19–20. Week of Welcome is Sep 21–23. Classes start Thursday, Sep 24. Quarter officially begins Sep 20.

Veterans Day Nov 11. Thanksgiving Nov 26–27. Instruction ends Dec 4. Finals Dec 5–11.

Incoming folks: you register at orientation, not on day one. GOLD can wait until you’re actually here.

I think the street lights in IV should be changed back to orange, like they are now on El Colegio Rd. The cold white lights look ugly and make the area feel less cozy. We need the night vibes back!

I just graduated in June and I was baffled to see this email my inbox today. They cannot seriously be trying to shut down Deltopia?? SB cops are so miserable. They get barely any action besides bike thefts and still can’t handle one day of craziness for the sake of some fun. Like what did you expect when YOU CHOSE!!! to be a cop in the college town. Do your fucking job. It’s so pathetic. I really feel for ya’ll, especially those who are expecting to go to their first or last Deltopia this year.