Shewetha Prasad, ‘13, attends UC Santa Cruz, where she is double majoring in chemistry and psychology.
Q: What classes are you taking, and which do you like the best?
A: This quarter I’m taking a literature class, Violence in American Culture, that fulfills a core-class requirement. My chemistry and math class remind me of high-school classes. And another literature class I’m taking is an Introduction to Feminism, which is more of a theory class and very interesting. Plus, I was already interested in feminism.
Q: Are you participating in any extracurricular activities? Greek life?
A: I was interested in joining a sorority, so I might join (one) later on, but I don’t have enough time freshman year.
Q: Academically, how difficult is the transition from high school to college?
A: (UCSC) goes by the quarter system, so it goes by really quickly. We covered the entire year of calculus in eight weeks. And even though we can only pick a maximum of three classes each quarter, it’s difficult because of the time management that we have to do ourselves. Procrastination is kind of a big issue. It’s harder just getting yourself to do (the work), more than the workload itself.
Q: Have you ventured into the town/city surrounding your school? What’s it like?
A: It’s very homey like a community. There are little stores and businesses. There aren’t many commercial stores here. It’s also beautiful here. A lot of animals come onto our campus. We see them all the time when we’re going to our classes. It’s really sunny, and it doesn’t rain that much.
Q: What has disappointed you about UCSC?
A: Because it’s a bigger school, classes fill up really quickly, so I didn’t get some classes that I wanted to. I didn’t get into my second installment of chemistry. My math and chemistry classes both have 400 students each, but we have sections later on that are taught by TAs and they are a lot smaller with about 30 students.
Q: What has delighted you?
A: If you have enough time, you can take later classes (in the evening), which are nice. I like the environment here. Everything is really nice. There’s a lot of stuff to do in town. It’s small but nice.
Q: What surprised you?
A: It’s not that big once you spend some time here. I thought I’d be surprised by the size.
Q: UCSC was voted the most liberal college on College Prowler. Is the student body noticeably liberal?
A: Everyone is who they are. Not a lot of people care what they look like. No one’s preppy here. There are a lot of people in projects to help the environment. There is more of an emphasis on saving the environment and small group projects to help pay for college.
Q: How’s the college system? Are there any stereotypes associated with the colleges?
A: I’m in College Nine. I tried to get information before I chose my college. There were a bunch of stereotypes on the Internet for the colleges, but I found that they weren’t true. I think everyone is their own person. If they party a lot, then they party a lot. It’s not that they live in a college that’s associated with (partying). They do have their own themes, though. College Nine’s theme is “global community.”
Q: How are the dorms?
A: I switched my room because my dorm room was very small. Apparently College Nine is one of the new residence halls. (The dorm) is pretty new. But there are really small ones too. All of my roommates have been very nice, though.
Q: What are sports like?
A: They aren’t a big deal. I don’t even see players around. I’ve only ever seen one player in a volleyball uniform. I wanted to try softball, but I don’t think I can with the classes I’m taking. I might try to seek it out later on, but I don’t think I have enough time. The sports are like Country Day: whoever wants to play can join.
Q: Any advice for the class of ‘14?
A: You should bring your own Wi-Fi. I was sort of naïve. I thought that everyone would have their own. But you should bring your own router if you want Internet. Also, do well senior year because colleges do look at it.
