UC Santa Cruz vs. CU Boulder

T

thenick

Member
I'm trying to pick which school to go to and i can't decide for the life of me. I know CU has better skiing party scene ect.. but how bout actual people, are they interesting,how bout academics and also stuff to do in Santa Cruz and Boulder respectively.

Im from Boston if that helps and went to a really small high school. I am interested in either environmental engineering or environmental science, but not too sure.

Does anyone on here go to Santa Cruz, and how often do you ski?
 
I live in San Francisco, which is pretty close to Santa Cruz. Probably around a 3 hour drive up to the mountains, depending on traffic, where you go etc. Leaving early is fine, coming home after skiing there is usually a bunch of traffic, but it all depends on the weekend etc.

I think Boulder would probably have a lot bigger "skiing crowd", not really sure though.

 
ucsc is in the mountains north of town. you have to hike through the woods to get to class. parkings a bitch. their rugby team is fairly decent. but theres so many hippies at that school if you go down to the boardwalk wearing your UCSC shirt westsiders will yell "banana slug go home".....but if you venture down to the eastside wearing your UCSC shirt your friends will find your body hanging from a tree in seascape the next morning. plus the chancellor (kinda like a dean) jumped off a building in san francisco when it was discovered she was paying her lesbian partner rent or something with school funds.

i think cody townsend is the only pro skier to come out of santa cruz.
 
UCSC is not bad, but if you wanna ski CU is better. If you want to surf all the time SC is where its at for sure. Come to think of it, SC is just like Boulder but a surf version. They both have great weed (sc a little better, it comes from Humboldt, CA the BEST shit ever), and at both schools A LOT of people smoke.
 
i don't like the ski scene in boulder. i met too many fake kids who think they're johnny badass.... but it's still way fun, and there are plenty of cool peopl too.
 
its sounds like your pretty set on your choices, but if your still open to suggestions, you should look at univ. of utah (huge school, huge ski scene, alright party scene) or westminster in slc (small ass school, dedicated to winter sports, same party scene as the u of u.)... not to mention the u of u cost a fraction compared to westminster and the 2 schools you picked..
 
hahaha fact.

I grew up in Mid Town SC. I highly recommend you go to Boulder if you want to ski. Tahoe is not a close drive and with gas prices, shittttt. But then again, you get to ski tahoe so it might be worth it. if you DO end up at UCSC please please please respect the ways of the water. don't get all upset when the locals get territorial on you and don't be an ass and snake peoples waves. be patient and you'll get your waves. and don't paddle out if you can't handle it!

ps Hey Cody.
 
First I find it amazing that you can afford to pay out of state tutition for either of those schools. I got into both living in Northern California and still did not decide to go to either.

Advantages of UCSC: Good surf at Steamer's lane, pleasure point, and 27th ave. Almost everyone smokes weed and it is very good weed for the most part. Bomb Mexican food, perfect after a surf session. Lots of good bands play in town. The weather is nice for the most part except when the fogs roll in.

Disadvantages of UCSC: Surf is crowded so unless you know what you're doing don't expect to catch too much. Locals will fuck you up if you get in their way, (I had one purposefully crash into me while trying to snake me because apparently "I did not have claim to shit" at the hook, which is fucked since I am a decent surfer). The water is cold so you need a wetsuit. The campus is up in the hills away from town. The campus looks like a giant arboretum and there's no parking so either get used to walking or riding a bike. The surf is close but not biking distance. It takes about 4 hrs without traffic to get to Tahoe. Your school mascot is the banana slug.

Personally I'd say go to CU Boulder, the ski scene is more chill than the surf scene anyway. I only truly enjoy myself surfing nowadays on the uncrowded Costa Rican waves.

 
There's a large number of bros and hippies at each school. Boulder you have to deal with I-70 and SC you have to drive 4 hours. SC has a beach and good waves. Boulder has...
 
hahaha there's no such thing as too warm. You have to know which spots to surf but when the swell is small the only places it breaks can get crowded.
 
I go to school in Boulder but grew up in South Lake Tahoe. I love going to CU, i met amazing friends and I skied 60 days or so this season while being a full time student. Knowing people who have a car, or having a car with you at school will get you to the mountains when you want to go. With gas prices, going up and staying there is probably the smartest move, so you'd want to meet people who have condos or something up in summit county. What i miss more than anything though are slushy, warm, blue bird days in Tahoe. I miss massive storms that bring in rediculous amounts of snow and some of the best powder skiing ever (i don't care what you say...colorado---well, summit county isn't as much fun). The parks are nice, but in Tahoe you can have fun and not be a pro skier in the park and people won't judge you. I love skiing in Tahoe, in summit county it's kinda just something to do. The drive takes an hour and half without traffic to get to breck, hour and five to get to keystone. keystone has night skiing which can be fun though.
Party scene is there in Boulder if you want it, and you'll meet lots of people who are either extreme outdoor enthusiasts or really good park skiers. Boulder's a huge school, you can't really go wrong. One of my closest friends went to SC and ended up back in tahoe maybe 3 times.
Can't really give you any advice on where to go for the evironmental studies, but I'm sure boulder's program is pretty good.
 
I go to CU and was gonna go into environmental engineering from open option engineering, but then decided that i seriously dont enjoy engineering and am going into the business school. But i got several friends in the the program and CU really does have a great environmental engineering program if your interested in it. As for the party scene u cant help but have a great time. Met some pros up at partys and some really chill people. As for skiing, its there if u have the connections and the time. I sure as fuck dont remember it being 1 hr 5 min to keystone, more like 1 hour 40ish without traffic, which never happens. Ya gotta leave early, real early, to avoid traffic on your way up or your looking at what at times is an hour delay. The delay from traffic on the way back can be more, its taken me about 5 hours to get home from vail. So its really good to find friends with condos, or pile a shiton of kids into a hotel room, makes the weekend alot more enjoyable.
 
well first off, there's hippies at both schools so that sucks. but the best thing about ucsc is the quarter system. i go summer, fall and an occasional spring, taking off the winter to shred-stick Squaw when the snow's flying. it's a good compromise. oh and yes, if you paddle out to the point be prepared to get stomped, it's a whole 'nother world out there. i'm just glad i grew up here so i don't get hassled.

oh and hi the folks that i know...
 
im in the engineering school at cu and for aerospace and it is really really good, but at the same time very challenging. if you are really serious about engineering i would pick cu...and actually if you really want to ski i would pick cu. and if you like beautiful days i would pick cu because boulder is one of the prettiest places anywhere. so go to cu.
 
if you love skiing then go to cu best parks in th world CLAIM not great pow i think cool people def some faimers that are from socal and the east but its a big school you don't have to deal with them... but def look in 2 the u of u too the ski scene out there looks awsome and really laid back...when skiin at like key or breck it sometimes feels ike every one is TRAININg not just havin fun
 
exactly how it feels sometimes. tahoe is pretty much never like that, but i think you'd probably ski a lot more if you went to CU then if you went to SC.
 
i honestly can not figure out why people who are serious about skiing would go to college in colorado instead of Utah. CU is 2 hours from resorts, u of u and westminster are 30 minutes. PC's park is almost as good as keystone/breck and Utah's terrain/snow is way better. the ski scene in colorado seems to be alot more uptight/dick than around slc, people here are nice. if you want to ski and don't care about the "party scene" utah blows colorado out of the water. I really don't understand why people pick CU.
 
i go to santa clara university and its just over the hill from santa cruz, like 35 minutes or so. i went surfing like 30 or 35 times this year just tryin to get the hang of it cause im from idaho .so im not that good or anything but regardless, surfing is so fuckin fun. yea you gotta respect the locals and everything but what do you expect, thats just how things are. i went skiing like 65 days this season and it was a great year, until the last 3 weeks or so i had more pow days than park days under my belt and it was pretty glorious. i took classes on tues/thurs so i could ski 4 day weekend and id carpool with kids from my school's ski club so it was worth it to go every weekend. the drive is about 4 hours but you cant drive during rush hour unless you like banging your head on the steering wheel and smoking entirely too many spliffs cause its like a parking lot out there on the fat freeways sometimes. ive been to boulder and its super chill too but for the powder (and parks) in tahoe and the consistency of the waves in santa cruz , cali wouldnt be a bad call. Tons of good artists roll through the catalyst, i saw Del tha funkee homosapien with devin the dude as well as a sold out atmosphere show and its a good venue. umm other than that id just say its easier to get to the mountains from cali than to the ocean from colorado. but both are prime choices
 
I'm in the bay area as well here. Got in about 45 days last season. Santa Cruz is a bit far from the mountains for sure, but its still super sick, and there are tons of college ski clubs and things that you can get with and shred slopes up there. On the other hand, SC has TOOONS of chill surf spots, and being that it overlooks the ocean is pretty redonkulously awesome. Plus, there are tons of awesome places to hike, and some of the best mountain biking in the world.

As long as you arent taking a shit ton of classes in the winter you could definitely get by with at least 30-40 days a year out of SC, depending on your major and stuff... if you're dedicated anyway.

Dont know too much about CU, but from what I do know, its all skiing, all the time during the winter, and quite a bit of other sick things to do in the mountains. Plus, its a total college town, so thats kinda cool...

So.. its kinda one of those things...

UCSC: Sick town, Sick chill spots, tons of stuff to do, right down the road from SF and culture and things... but relatively far as fuck from skiing.

CU: Another sick town, Sick skiing all the time, but, the closest major city, Denver, isnt quite as sick as SF. Its also nowhere near ocean... if you like that sorta thing.

 
first of all it takes easily an hour and five minutes to get to keystone from CU with no traffic. if there is traffic u can take loveland pass and get there in like an hour and twenty...and as for out of state tuition...just qualify for instate. i came to CU from ohio and started my emancipation right away and now im about to go into my sophomore fall semester as an instate student. it's annoying but worth the 80k you save. PM me if you need some more info on it.
 
because living in utah sucks a fat dick, im so glad to have moved back to CO. i think CO has a lot more to offer all year round. there isnt as much powder in CO but the parks are so much better, the big ass mountains are fun, living here is fun, summer kicks ass, and most of all i think living in SLC just really sucks in general. but, that may be because im not a city person...especially a super messed up religious city type of person.
 
Bull. There's absolutely nothing to do in Santa Cruz itself besides surf and skate. You get over the downtown quick, and if you don't pick a wussy major, you're working too much to enjoy the perks.
 
Dude, I know you go there and all, but I've got to disagree with you there.

there are so many sick mountain biking places in the mountains by Santa Cruz.. and theres also some of the sickest hiking trails ever up there... all those redwood forests.. so sick.

And hell, even if it was a fact that all you can do there is surf and skate... what in the world is wrong with THAT? there are only a select few campuses in america that you can just take a drive or a short ride down to the break and surf for a few hours... Long Beach, Cal Poly, San Diego, and SF State are the only other ones I can think of in California...

Other than that, theres either Hawaii, which doesnt have any snow, and perhaps a few back on the east coast where the waves arent neary as gnar, and might be even further from skiing than Santa Cruz... (btw.. it snowed in the santa cruz mountains last season... didnt last long, but it was enough to close the highway for sure.. definitely enough to gather for a jib session.)

 
Dude, I know you go there and all, but I've got to disagree with you there.

there are so many sick mountain biking places in the mountains by Santa Cruz.. and theres also some of the sickest hiking trails ever up there... all those redwood forests.. so sick.

And hell, even if it was a fact that all you can do there is surf and skate... what in the world is wrong with THAT? there are only a select few campuses in america that you can just take a drive or a short ride down to the break and surf for a few hours... Long Beach, Cal Poly, San Diego, and SF State are the only other ones I can think of in California...

Other than that, theres either Hawaii, which doesnt have any snow, and perhaps a few back on the east coast where the waves arent neary as gnar, and might be even further from skiing than Santa Cruz... (btw.. it snowed in the santa cruz mountains last season... didnt last long, but it was enough to close the highway for sure.. definitely enough to gather for a jib session.)

 
hell yeah u can ski sooo much at cu i got in 96 days was a full time student and still had a social life...theres plenty of kids with condos to stay at and plenty of people winning to bum it ... u can be a full time student at cu and ski 5 ays a week...and while it does feel that most ppl are traing at keystone which a lot r there are still really good vibes around..granted utah and other plces i feel have better ones
 
OK, true, it's great being close to the Henry Cowell Redwoods.

The one problem is that skateboarding around here is mad bust. You get burned so bad here for skating on campus, or without a helmet or anything, way worse than all the fucking weed and drugs.

The surf is sick, the beaches are amazing. Santa Cruz in the summer is where it's at. In terms of academics and fun though, I guess you can't have both as much as you'd like. You could say I'm bitter.

 
Yeah.. that whole no helmet thing is a total knock. I dont even go to school there and I've gotten busted while just screwing around on a longboard in a parking lot. totally bunk.

but yeah.. any college is hard to do everything you like. I totally understand that. If I wasnt in college, i'd guerantee you i'd be getting a lot more ski days in...
 
hour 40? you must be the slowest driver ever, i've made it to keystone from fort collins in 2 hours flat multiple times.
 
people who say the parks are as good in utah are rail skiers. the jumps at keystone and breck just destroy everywhere i've seen except maybe blackcomb.
 
i know that keystone and breck have killer parks, but still, PC kills it when it comes to park.. they still have perfect, massive jumps (2nd jump in jonseys this year was unbelievable towards the end)... not to mention when it does snow, it is pretty much unrivaled when it comes to terrain, snowfall (3rd snowiest season ever in recorded history for alta, highest ever recorded back to back Dec. Jan. in history as well), and the actual snow we get (champagne).... but hey, go to c.o.... less tracks for me on a pow day..
 
First I'd like to say you've got the right idea by picking 2 good schools. CU and SC both have good programs in what you'd like to study. Don't fuck with utah, yea, their mtn's are great, but if you go to a shitty school you're not gonna make the money you need to ski after you graduate and stop living off of your parents. Everybody knows it's an expensive sport. I went to CU, got almost 100 days every year i was a student, and now have a sick job in denver and still live in boulder and ski all the time off the back of the snowmobile i bought. Whichever school you go to make it count, don't just fuck around for 4 years.
 
people in cali are crazy drivers, people drive 10-15 over the speed limit on the road over to santa cruz. so if youre in the slow lane getting honked at all the time it might take you 45-50 min but if you can keep up and theres no major delays, 35-40 is about right. however, if you are planning on goin north of town itll take longer. if youre just going to 38th, youre good. its about the same distance i had to drive to the mountain back home so it doesnt phase me too bad. and the fear of speeding tickets in cali almost doesnt apply to me cause i drive an old jeep and cant go much above 80. to get a ticket in cali you have to be pullin some seriously fast moves compared to other drivers
 
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