Santa Barbara City College

"Private university level staff and strong student support and great views and nothing else. Primarily dysfunctional student body with large amount of disgusting substance abuse issues and atypical unacceptable California behaviour . Santa Barbara, despite wealth, is your typical half baked dysfunctional, artsy, superficial dump which plagues that entire part of county with limited exceptions. Attend with intension to transfer elsewhere ie: take classes and move on both from College and part of the country and do not admit to as most former students wisely do."

"*UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM - 09/20/23* Quite possibly the worst academic counseling staff I have ever had the displeasure of interacting with. I can't speak for all the counselors, but the person I talked to didn't even seem like she was trying to help me map out a plan for my academic career. The meeting felt very rushed, like she wanted to be doing literally anything else with her life. Find another job if you're that bothered by taking time to help students who need guidance. Also, she fought me on what I wanted to major in?? I told her my passions and goals, and she completely disregarded me and tried to get me to sign up for classes that didn't involve my passions. And then she argued with me about my choice in major. It was incredibly bizarre and extremely irritating. And then she had me go through a ton of trouble to find some information to send to her, but then never responded or used the information to help me like she said she would. That was months ago. So I sent her a follow-up email that was ignored and then sent another email after that to see what happened with the information, and I still have not received an answer to any of the emails as of yet. Also, I had a lot of trouble signing up for a class that SHE recommended, and when I reached out to her for help, I was completely ignored. Absolutely unacceptable. I don't know what the rest of the academic counseling staff are like, but my experience was horrendous and I would recommend to anyone looking to go to SBCC to think of another community college to go to, because I GUARANTEE you'll find better and more supportive staff than the person I had to interact with. Sure, it was only one awful interaction, but it was so incredibly aggravating and terrible that I am not even looking forward to attending this college anymore, like I was previously. UPDATE - 9/20: Turns out this counselor REALLY screwed me over BIG TIME. She screwed me over so bad that I won't be able to transfer to the UC school I was planning on transferring to. I will not have enough credits by the time I'm supposed to transfer, and by the time I do have those credits, I will be a senior, which the UC will not accept. She screwed up the entire trajectory of my academic career, and I am devastated. I spoke to another counselor who was absolutely amazing, but they had to break the news to me that I would not be able to go to my dream UC. There are no words to describe how crestfallen and irate I am at the situation. This could have been completely avoided if the first counselor had communicated with me, but she didn't, so here we are. Again, if you're planning on coming here as a stepping stone to transfer to a UC or a CSU, PLEASE do yourself a favor and go somewhere else, because I guarantee you'll get better communication and better help elsewhere. I don't know what to do with myself now. To anyone reading this, if you still decide to go to SBCC, hopefully your experience is better than mine."

"I have had a great experience going here. I am currently finishing up my first semester here (3rd semester of college) after moving up from La Jolla. Three professors are great and the ocean view can’t be beat!"

"First of all, the view is amazing. You can literally see the ocean in the campus. The professors are really enthusiastic and professional. Also, the school provides lots of helpful services for students, such as stress relief, job internships and etc. I really recommend taking Summer classes for quick credits and studying. Also, there is a free bike shop in the campus, where SBCC students can fix their bike for free. It's called BiCi Centro. They learn how to fix their bikes."