Neo-Hobo

[blustocking]

Flights to New Orleans are $178.00

Kat, tell me about UCSC.

I wonder how much a train to Seattle is...

Comments

you're sooooo hobo.

[qat.livejournal.com]

:)

Tell you about UCSC?

Hmm, are you thinking of going to school there? :)

If you are, I'll kick your ass! Just as I leave Santa Cruz! DAMMIT!

UCSC has changed a whole hell of a lot since I first came there in 1995. It used to be a really idealistic little place tucked into the redwoods, and was an architectural marvel, as far as univerities went: because it actually tried to build structures which blended into the natural surroundings. The architects wanted to desgin buildings which worked *with* the environment, rather than cut it down and build somethnig ugly and unnecessarily space-consuming. The campus is still beautiful, built in the midst of towering redwoods.... and you can see the ocean full-on from many spots on campus. Deer run wild there, and there are even mountain lion sightings once in a while.... although less deer and mountain lions roam there as the ridiculous building boom continues. You see, UCSC, as a UC campus, must expand with the population needs. So that means more dorms, and bigger facilities. I think this is BS, because the land here really can't accomodate any more people. Santa Cruz can expand neither south nor north, due to Greenbelt reservation policies.... so all these extra students put real pressure on both teh town and the campus. I really hate going up to campus now, and seeing the ugly mini-mall monstrosity of the new Baytree Bookstore and Graduate Commons, and the new faculty parking deck placed smack in th middle of what was once a beautiful old-growth forest.

But it is still a beautiful campus.

Academically.....

UCSC is very, very good in many respects. I think it used to be better. Many professors have lost the ideal upon which UCSC was based, which was to supply a private, liberal arts education at public cost. When I started going there, a lot of the ideals were still in place. But as the campus expanded, a lot of people began to get big heads, and wanted to shed UCSC of its alleged "hippie" image. The first and most unfortunate target of this was the Narrative Evaluation System -- NES. UCSC used to have nothing but the NES, which is a grading system which gives actual writtem detailed evaluations of a student's performance instead of a letter grade. The idea was to give a real analysis of a student's performance, one which weighed *everything*, instead of glossing everything over into A. B, C, D, or F. Show strengths, weaknesses, etc. They insituted optional letter grades in some classes about the time I started there, because a lot of hard science majors were having problems getting into grad school with evals. Okay, fine. But just last year, mandatory grades were instituted..... narrative evals will be up to the professor now. I think this is a huge loss. It kills a lot of the spirit in which UCSC was conceived, and makes it more of a cookie cutter place to be. I went to UCSC because I couldn't afford the small, private liberal arts education I wanted... the kind of close, interpersonal relationship I wanted between professor and student, where your professor thinks of all aspects of your performance and really takes the time to evaluate them. I chose UCSC because I felt it could offer that to me. And it did... I was lucky, I got there before it started to suck.

part 2! Again, I exceeded maximum reply length!

[qat.livejournal.com]

GO ME!

:)

cont'd:

Don't get me wrong. UCSC has a kickass staff of professors. In the Lit department, I was extremely lucky to work with one of the world's leading authoritites in Shakespeare studies, and a number of other amazing people. I got a top-notcch education there. And UCSC still *is* different -- good different. It's an amazing place to be, both ambiance-wise and academically. Great for an undergraduate experience.

If only someone would assasinate Chancellor Greenwood. She actually admitted that she wanted to turn UCSC into "UCSV" -- UC Silicon Valley. She wants to pump out a bunch of tech industry automatons, which is why she tries to allocate the most funding to the engineering and compsci depts., instead of the humanities depts. She is also the reason for a lot of the ridiculous land "developments" (destructions) taking place. Because of her, a number of native species might become extinct soon. Yay.

I loved the time I spent at UCSC. I truly did; it was a fabulous experience. I must admit I am very disappointed with the way it has gone, though.... every university has its problems, but UCSC's recent turns have really disappointed me and pissed me off. Their utter disregard for students as a part of the decision-making community (students supported the maintenance of NES and were totally ignored, even though we pay a lot of the bills and comprise the bulk of the community) really bothers me. If I was thinking about somewhere to go to school, I might not choose UCSC again.

Then again, maybe I would.... and I'm just saying this all cuz I am bitter and jaded. :) Because I know what it was like before.

The UCSC website is at www.ucsc.edu .... if you want to look at what they have to offer. Be wary of their scary Chancellor Greenwood-esque propaganda, and keep in mind that this campus is run, administratively, by a woman who said at the Stevenson graduation a few years back "I know you'll all make great members of the workforce."

O_O

I was there. I heard it firsthand and booed a long with a lot of other people when her address was over.

But do yer research, and ask me any more questions if you have specific ones. I'm your tour guide, baby!

:)

PS -- Something funny about UCSC's separate colleges (UCSC is divided into ten different little colleges, to make the communities a little closer, or something)..... College 8 looks like condoes, and then Oakes College, right below it, looks like big wooden boxes. We all called College 8 "Barbie College," because it looked like Barbie's Town House or something, or what Barbie's college would look like if they manufactured her college... and we called Oakes "The Box It Came In." We were very cheeky monkies. I went to Cowell College, because it was (I felt) in the best location, and had the best damn view of the ocean anywhere :) it was also suppsed to have the highest per capita number of lit majors, but I think that was bullshit. Porter College had the highest number of heroin users. The list goes on and on :)

Thank you!

[blustocking.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to let you know that I did read and appreciate your replies! They helped quite a bit. I don't know though. I was just looking for a way to get out of L.A. and not have to wait another year for residency. Unfortunately, I do like UCLA's list of majors a lot more, but I like UCSC's setting and "feel". The UCLA campus is very big, but not very interesting. I just need to decide: art or writing? or something else perhaps? Gah. I don't know. I have a really good job here, one that I like. I'm just getting bored with my surroundings. I'm feeling dead.

Maybe I just need a vacation, one that's not "home to see the family".

Let me know when you are all settled chica! I will be one of the first to visit! :)