University: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA
City: Santa Barbara
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: Accounting and controlling, communication sciences, political science, philosophy, environmental management
Study type: semester abroad
I had a great year in Santa Barbara. Actually, I only wanted to study two quarters there, but because I liked it so much, I even extended it by one quarter. Basically, I would recommend staying at least two quarters. Here are a few notes that may help you during your time there. See toppharmacyschools for University of Technology Sydney Study Abroad.
Housing
The Santa Barbara housing market is extremely competitive, so expect rental rates of between $400-$800 for a shared room, depending on location and luck. There are basically three areas where you can live. On the one hand in the Isla Vista district, which is right next to the university and on the beach. 20,000 UCSB undergraduates live here, so it’s the pure college atmosphere and I would definitely recommend finding a room here because of this and because you live right next to the beach and the university. You can then easily reach everything by skateboard or bicycle. Otherwise, many live in the Mexican-influenced small town of Goleta, which is about 15-30 minutes by bike from the university and the beach, or in Santa Barbara itself. But then you have to take the free MTD city bus to the university and to IV, which only runs every hour until 10 p.m. (you can check the connections on Google Transit). Otherwise, just take a look at the areas on Google Maps and Street View to get a better impression. Housing searches are still mainly done via Craigslist.com. In any case, take care of it from Germany between May and July! Just write to us and skype, it works like with us on WG-Gesucht. The university has no idea about this and is also no help with their housing office. Only I would not transfer money to private persons before arrival. Otherwise there are also the co-ops in Isla Vista (IV), slightly alternative flat-sharing communities that share food, for example. Cool people who also give out rooms and have their own website that you can find via Google.
Locomotion
In IV, as I said, bicycles and skateboards and otherwise the city buses. The Vistabus.com also goes to the neighboring cities of Ventura and Santa Paula for three dollars. Hitchhiking, ridesharing (zimride.com, ridesharing.com) or your own car are recommended for travel. More on that below under Travel. There is a $50 bus from LA Airport, just google it. Alternatively, there’s the Amtrak.com train or the long-distance bus at Greyhound.com. But both are quite expensive. Renting cars is also very expensive as insurance is very high for drivers under 25. But I heard that budget.com is the cheapest provider. Of course you can also buy a car, but I know from friends that you pay between 2000-4000 dollars that way. Craigslist is the cheapest again, but have the car checked in a workshop beforehand.
Mobile
There are the three big providers Verizon, ATT and Telekom. Verizon has the best network coverage, so if you want to be reachable at all times, even in the national parks, that’s recommended. ATT isn’t bad either, only had real problems with it in Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. If you’re more of a city person, Telekom or Sprint should do the same. Just go to one of the shops and get advice. You can either get real contracts or prepaid, which means you buy some free minutes, internet and sms on a monthly basis. The benefit of ATT is that you can switch each month between offerings for the bare minimum for $10 and better ones, like a 1GB flat rate for about $40.
Studies
The course went well for me and in the end I always got all the courses I wanted. I took a colorful mix of Accounting, Marketing, Political Science, Philosophy, Global Studies, Communication Sciences and Environmental Science and Management. Just go to the first lecture and then clarify with the professor. If you want to be on the safe side, you can go to the professor’s office before the first lecture and ask him for permission to lecture. But for economics and a few other subjects, it can also go through the department. On the professor’s personal webpage you can often find the syllabus with requirements and more detailed content for the lecture. If not, you can also simply write an e-mail to each professor, most reply quickly and nicely and then send you the syllabus. This can be particularly helpful for a preliminary decision if you can only attend one of several first lectures because they take place at the same time. You can find the contact details of each professor on the respective department page under People, simply google it.
In terms of quality, the immersion classes are often pretty good, especially the lectures, but you also have to do more than in extension classes. But I often found the extension classes very boring. Nevertheless, if you work a little a week on the often quite simple homework and 1-2 – approx. 4-page papers per quarter in a course, you can easily enjoy the weekend from Friday. I’ve never actually been to Santa Barbara on weekends. And the grades are still good to very good, it’s definitely easier to get good grades than in Germany.
Compulsory attendance is always threatened as a prerequisite for the visa, but it is not that strict. They would only withdraw your visa if you failed a course because you were not present, the extension also tells you if you ask. As long as you exist, you can miss many hours. However, attendance at extension classes and the tutorials of the immersion classes counts towards the grade and is often checked. Attendance in larger lectures in immersion classes, on the other hand, is not checked at all, so you can decide for yourself, as in Germany, whether it’s worth it.
Officially, a bachelor’s student is not allowed to take a master’s course. However, I was able to take a Masters course in Life Cycle Assessment at the Bren School for Environmental Sciences and Management as an undergraduate student. I just went to the professor and he gave me the OK, then the extension can’t do anything about it either. By the way, the Bren School is highly recommended. Nice, interesting master’s students and professors and very interesting topics between environmental, political, social and economic sciences.
Outdoor sports
Santa Barbara is the perfect place to do all those outdoor sports you’ve always dreamed of. And the reason for that is solely the Excursion Club (excursionclubucsb.org)!!! Thanks in large part to this club my time in Santa Barbara was amazing! You can become a member there for $60 a year and then rent surfboards, good windsurfing equipment, wetsuits, kayaks, good skiing and snowboarding equipment, climbing and camping equipment or even mountain bikes for free at any time from the club house in IV. In addition, an e-mail is then sent around every week in which the club’s staffers have various trips in Santa Barbara and also to places like Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Mammoth Mountain, Grand Canyon, Colorado River, Utah, Zion National Park, Big Sur or Offer Baja in Mexico on weekends. You should definitely visit all these places! I can especially recommend climbing trips to Joshua Tree with Chandler, I’ve done them four times and it’s the perfect way to learn how to (trad) climb for free;) In general, California and especially Santa Barbara is perfect for outdoor sports because it due to the drought it’s really not raining at all at the moment, I’ve had less than 10 rainy days in California over the whole year. In spring, the waves are just a little lower and it’s a bit foggy and windier, while autumn is warmest, but not so hot that it’s uncomfortable. You can actually walk around comfortably in a T-shirt all year round. In the water you only need a wetsuit. I’ve done it four times and it’s the perfect way to learn how to (trad) climb for free;) In general, California and especially Santa Barbara is perfect for outdoor sports because it’s really hardly raining at the moment due to the drought, I was over year-round under 10 rainy days in California. In spring, the waves are just a little lower and it’s a bit foggy and windier, while autumn is warmest, but not so hot that it’s uncomfortable. You can actually walk around comfortably in a T-shirt all year round. In the water you only need a wetsuit. I’ve done it four times and it’s the perfect way to learn how to (trad) climb for free;) In general, California and especially Santa Barbara is perfect for outdoor sports because it’s really hardly raining at the moment due to the drought, I was over year-round under 10 rainy days in California. In spring, the waves are just a little lower and it’s a bit foggy and windier, while autumn is warmest, but not so hot that it’s uncomfortable. You can actually walk around comfortably in a T-shirt all year round. In the water you only need a wetsuit. I’ve had under 10 rainy days in California all year. In spring, the waves are just a little lower and it’s a bit foggy and windier, while autumn is warmest, but not so hot that it’s uncomfortable. You can actually walk around comfortably in a T-shirt all year round. In the water you only need a wetsuit. I’ve had under 10 rainy days in California all year. In spring, the waves are just a little lower and it’s a bit foggy and windier, while autumn is warmest, but not so hot that it’s uncomfortable. You can actually walk around comfortably in a T-shirt all year round. In the water you only need a wetsuit.
I liked the excursion club so much that I became a staff member myself right at the end of the first quarter (you have to manage trips yourself and do a few volunteer hours in the clubhouse). That was the best decision I could have made! This way you get much better contact with the other staffers and can organize your own trips and have free access to special equipment. I ended up doing incredibly cool trips with the Excursion Club, like five days of beach camping in Baja, Mexico, and found almost all of my friends there too. So, the first thing you should do when you come to IV: Become an Excursionclub member!!!
Travel
Before my studies and after my studies as well as on some weekends and during the holidays I also traveled alone. Before that, two months from Vancouver to Santa Barbara and two months back after graduation. Also to Arizona and Utah on vacation. In between, I camped, hiked and climbed in the various national parks for several weeks. I always hitchhiked, which still works out quite well, for example you can easily hitchhike from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara in one day, or from San Francisco to Portland. You just have to know a little bit how to do it. I am happy to give you tips or read the instructions on hitchwiki.org for the USA. It’s also by no means as dangerous as everyone thinks I’ve had nothing but good experiences without exception and ended up hitchhiking for thousands of miles. By the way, hitchhiking works great in Germany too!
If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me!
And have a super stoked time in Santa Barbara!