Hi everyone. I was wondering if you could describe the on-campus housing at UC Davis. I know there is Segundo, Tercero, and Cuarto. What would you say are the pros/cons of these dorms?
Also, will submitting my Housing Application sooner make it more likely that I will be housed in my preferred option?
This is based off of when my oldest enrolled in 2017. Submitting earlier will not make a difference. If you find a roommate both of you must submit the exact same options for all of your choices in order to be matched as roommates. They don’t guarantee you your first choice of dorms so make sure you list a second and third choice as well. For example, choice 1: Tercero, double, co-ed, no LLC 2. Tercero, triple, co-ed, no LLC 3. Segundo double, co-ed, no LLC. There are limited doubles and limited space in the halls that are not co-ed. If you don’t care, you are more likely to get your choice of dorms if you choose a triple on a co-ed floor. Please confirm with housing to make sure that it hasn’t changed.
There are lots of Aggie Abodes videos on You Tube that you might find helpful. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZKLGIIxIFSYhbw4EgKMW8m57L74hVnVT
Tercero - Two dining commons - one just opened last month. Newer dorm and tends to be cleaner than Segundo. Brighter rooms. Closer to science/STEM buildings. Near cows which can be a pro or a con.
Segundo - traditional long hall style dorms. Dining common is less busy so tends to have a little better food and bigger servings. Closer to the ARC (rec center) and Trader Joes. Closer to fraternities.
Cuarto - Brand new dorm opened this year. Suite style rooms. Best dining common food. Next to Trader Joes.
Tagging an old thread here for future reference: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/22373452
@lkg4answers wow! This is very helpful. Thank you so much for the info!
My daughter also started in Fall 2017. She ended up in Tercero which is the biggest dorm complex. All the buildings are newer and there is a fantastic DC in the area, in addition to a newer option, which from what I understand is more of a restaurant. Keep in mind you can go to any of the DCs anytime (which all have great, tasty, healthy and farm-to-table options.)
Daughter went with a double room on a mixed gender floor, lottery for roommate. The girl she was matched with was very much like her–didn’t want to have to choose a roommate based solely on a facebook post. And the room was huge. I think they were designed to all be triples in the future. She chose Tercero mainly because she’s on the swim team and it’s the closest to the aquatic center, but like I mentioned, it’s the biggest so most freshmen will end up there.
She says Segundo is also pretty nice, but not as new. It’s a smaller community and feels more intimate as a result. Same DC info as what @lkg4answers said.
Cuarto is all new, built from the ground up. You really can’t go wrong at any of them. You’ll have a bike, of course, so will be able to get anywhere you need relatively quickly. Feel free to shoot more questions my way about UCD–my daughter loves it there!
From what I remember, the doubles and triples are the same size. Mine was also in a double in Tercero.
Exactly!
@kikiob Thank you for the info! Much appreciated.
Our daughter lived in Currant Hall (Honors dorm) in Tercero her freshman year 2017-2018. Great experience. Newer dorm. Tercero has multiple buildings with a common
DC which serves healthy multi-cultural food. Nearby Segundo Hall has updated older style dorms, the DC also serves good food. Segundo DC reputation may even be better than Tercero, may be less crowded. Cuarto is newly renovated and people say it is nice. I wouldn’t think you could go wrong with any of these dorm options. Tercero and Segundo are on the campus side of Russell, a main street. Cuarto is across Russell and near Trader Joe’s, but not far from campus. If Davis is using Room Sync, it’s a great resource for finding a dorm roommate. Our daughter and her freshman roommate connected on Room Sync before freshman year started, and are still friends and roommates, living in a house off campus with four other Tercero friends. Davis has good freshman housing and DC food options.
One thing that is different about Davis dining commons is that they don’t use a swipe system meaning you don’t buy a certain number of meals. Instead, you pay by the day so that you can go in and out of the dining commons and eat as little or as much as you like all day long. For example, if you have an early class, you can grab a banana and run to class (well… bike to class) and then come back after class to eat a meal. You can eat dinner and, if a friend gets out of class late, you can go back and sit with them while they eat. Or you can eat again if you want. 
Options are 7 days a week or 5 days a week. We started off with 7 days a week and then cut back to 5 days a week the second quarter.
Just to correct two of the above posts, Cuarto is not new, it’s just being heavily remodeled. What is now Yosemite Hall used to be Webster Hall when I was a student there 9 years ago (wow I can’t believe it’s already been that long lol), what is now Tahoe Hall used to be Thoreau Hall, and what will eventually be Shasta Hall used to be Emerson Hall.
Wow, do you know when they changed this? I was a student from 2011-2014 and back then we still had the swipe system. Very interesting that they no longer have this system for current students!
I believe they changed it three years ago. Don’t quote me on that. They said that it cuts down on wasted food. They want it to be used as if it were your kitchen at home where you can grab a snack in between meals and not over eat three times a day. The plans can be found here: https://housing.ucdavis.edu/dining/meal-plans/residential/
The meal plans also come with Aggie Cash. Aggie Cash can be used at the different eating places on campus as well as the mini-marts near the dorms. More info on Aggie Cash can be found here. https://housing.ucdavis.edu/dining/aggie-cash/
This isn’t related to the dorms but I’ll put it here so that new students are aware of it.
All students are required to have medical insurance. UC Student Health Insurance Plan (UC SHIP) is included in your calculated expenses. If you are covered under your parents insurance and there is a provider in Davis (ex. Kaiser), you can opt out of UC SHIP and save approximately $874/quarter. You can find the waiver here: https://shcs.ucdavis.edu/insurance/waiver The deadline to submit your waiver is in early September but I wouldn’t wait until the last minute.
If you opt out of UCSHIP, you can still use student health services on campus and pay a minimal fee ($15/visit)
https://shcs.ucdavis.edu/about/about-SHCS
fees: https://shcs.ucdavis.edu/about/common-fees
There is a Rite Aid with a pharmacy across the street from Segundo and Cuarto. If you are seen in Student Health and you need a prescription, the Student Health pharmacy will tell you if it is cheaper to go through your private insurance.
The closest hospital to campus is Sutter Hospital. UC Davis Medical Center is in Sacramento. There is a Kaiser satellite clinic in Davis and a Kaiser hospital in Vacaville.
@calcollegemom This doesn’t apply to the dorms as much, but how was your daughter’s experience with being enrolled in the honors program? Are classes harder and more stressful? Did she have time or opportunities to have classes with non-honor students? Any insight would be appreciated!
Hi! I’m her daughter, the one in the university honors program.
I have really enjoyed being a part of UHP!
UHP has a 4-year curriculum that includes honors courses, individually designed projects, research education, community service, and a capstone project. Freshmen and sophomore year you take 1 honors course per quarter. I really enjoyed my honors courses - they are capped at 25 students (I had one that was just 5 students once!), taught by great professors, and include both honors sections of regular classes and unique courses that are taught only in UHP (like a class on race and the media).
If you want to learn more, you can look here: https://honors.ucdavis.edu/curriculum.
As far as the rigor of the courses, honors courses are pretty similar to non-honors courses - sometimes they are easier! However, there is the occasional course that is more stressful (some of my friends didn’t love their BIS 2A honors class freshmen year).
In terms of taking classes with non-honors students, like I noted above, you only take 1 honors course per quarter during freshmen and sophomore year, so the majority of your courses are regular classes.
Hope this helps!
@nervouspretzel ^^^