What’d you think? What did you really like? What concerns do you have? Have you made any decisions?
I attended with my son, who has been accepted in Bio-engineering, and his friend, who was accepted for Geology.
We had a great time and found the experience very valuable. We had already toured the campus and BCE, but this gave us a chance to connect with faculty and current students. Lots of student organizations had displays and were happy to share information. I highly recommend attendance to this event for any parent and child who are seriously considering UCR.
I took my son and it was valuable. We’re not too far and also visited earlier in the week because he wanted to see how the university looks during a regular day. Highlander Day provides a lot of information and all the clubs and departments are out (we had a interesting conversation with someone who studies earthquakes) – but the place is a lot different during the week, and my son was very glad he got to see it without a lot of visitors walking around. It has more of a mellow feel during the week.
I have come to believe that UCR puts more energy into undergraduate education than some other UCs. Their engineering (not my son’s major) seems to be top of the line.
My son has narrowed it down between UCR and San Francisco State but is having trouble deciding…
So, we went too. (I’m the OP, didn’t mean to be unclear.) We were really impressed…almost forgot about the admissions portal snafus. LOL The campus is beautiful, the academic departments seemed great, and we like the housing options.
We are struggling with two things…well three We are concerned as we heard over and over, when asking where the students were, that they were probably home, because it was the weekend. We are hoping for our son to have a rich college life in addition to great academics, and neither the idea of him sitting around all weekend by himself, nor wanting to come home every weekend (we are in driving distance) thrill us.
We also haven’t gotten anything from financial aid yet, and I’m worried about cost. I wonder if we will be offered any (non-loan) aid at all even though the FAFSA suggests we don’t have any need. Trust me, we do.
Finally, I personally struggle because I’ve always told my kids I want their college years to give them a very different experience from where they grew up. I want them to go somewhere new and different. For me going far away from home to a very different type of place was almost as educational as what I learned in the college. I hope the diversity at UCR will be offer enough change to make it ok that he is only an hour and half from home.
@bookguy, we looked at SFSU also, and our son liked it, but was leaning more toward SJSU until seeing UCR. He is wanting to put in the housing deposit at UCR, but not pushing the other final button yet. Are you SoCal or NorCal? Is your son having issues with proximity to/distance from home?
@PescadoPaul, has your son decided?
@jesse’sgirl I also had the same thoughts, but I have a few friends that are current UCR students. They told me it you live on campus, that statement will probably not be true. They also told me more than a handful of NorCal people go to UCR, so definitely not everyone who lives on campus will be able to just go home every weekend.
I believe it really comes down to the people your son meets and makes friends with. Some people who attend UCR do go home for the weekend, according to my current friends, but not everyone does.
I also live about an hour and half away from UCR, and I’m currently deciding between SJSU or UCR. I definitely agree with and understand what you’re saying about wanting your son to have a different college experience from where they grew up in.
This is why I’m leaning more towards SJSU at the moment, but I haven’t toured UCR yet.
I went to Admitted Spartans Day on Saturday and was really impressed by the campus, the housing, and the general vibe of the city. Initially, I had low hopes for SJSU mostly because people have told me it’s a commuter school, and that some parts of Downtown San Jose gets a little sketch.
I also get homesick really easily though, so I believe UCR is a good distance for me. If I do go to UCR, I don’t necessarily believe I’ll be going home every weekend. Maybe twice or a month or so.
I definitely liked my little road trip to the Bay Area. I’ve only lived in SoCal my whole life and have never been on a plane before to travel, so visiting the Bay Area gave me an entire different sense of environment from the one I was always used to being in. I think this is the main conflict in me not being able to decide where I want to go for college just yet.
In the very end, I think the decision is up to your son and what he wants. Everybody is different. I have friends who are going OOS to have that typical American college experience, and I also have friends who would rather commute to save money and not deal with roommates and privacy issues. So it really just depends on each person. I believe that your son, wherever he ends up going, will have the best time of his life if he utilizes his school’s resources like clubs and other organizations well. It’s definitely nice to have a wide group of friends so he won’t be entirely alone for the weekends in his dorm.
My son has decided to attend UCR, unless he gets accepted to UCSD or UCI. He is currently wait listed at those two schools.
I also believe that college should be an overall enriching experience. Having lived his whole life in Carlsbad, there is no question that Riverside will be different for him. I also share your concern about most students going home for weekends. That is why I was hoping he would choose U of AZ.
We went there yesterday and received a lot of information. It was well organized and people were very helpful. We like the campus, also found many restaurants, cafe, tea station, and a big theater not too far from the campus. Only thing is that freshman is not allowed to bring car, unless pay a lot of $$ for parking, like $600 per quarter. Also, they might over admitted students since there was a lot of admitted students.
@jesse’sgirl - My son really likes both UCR and SFSU. We are in SoCal within an hour of UCR and he has heard a lot of positive things from friends who go there. He feels very comfortable at SFSU and likes the vibe so this is more of a matter that he’s not sure which place he likes better. I think he originally wanted to go to the Bay Area, but has heard so many positive things about UCR that now the choice is difficult. Interestingly, he is not crazy about living on campus at UCR but it’s too far to commute. SFSU, despite the distance, feels more comfortable to him (smaller campus, more manageable, housing not too far from academic buildings). He thinks UCR would be more of a challenge, but I’m not sure he is right about that.
My daughter is a student there. She dormed her first year and had a fantastic experience. The second year, her suite mates and her rented an off campus apartment right next to campus. A lot of kids do this because, thankfully, there are very good choices that are cheaper than on campus accommodations. The kids are still around, just not on campus. The University Village area is basically all UCR students. And yes, it is true that So Cal students have it easier to go home on weekends, some do, but that doesn’t mean they all go every weekend. We live an hour and a half and we see our daughter home only every now and then. She has a pretty good social life so not too often. There are Nor Cal students and also international students.
@InfoQuestMom Do you know or can you ask your daughter for any recommendations for off-campus housing? I’m a transfer student who’s not receiving much FAFSA I’m looking for cheaper housing options. Thanks
@jesse’sgirl @PescadoPaul @bookguy @selfconfidentgal
My son is a current student in BCOE and lives on campus. We live about an hour from UCR. He’s having a great college experience and becoming more independent living on campus. He comes home once a quarter and sometimes more often when he needs to (homesick, errands, see old friends, etc…). We like that he’s in a different city staying at the dorms and becoming more independent but close enough to come home when he wants to. I have friends where their daughter went out of state for college (Penn State) and after one year dropped out, return home to go to a community college and will transfer up to SDSU this year. Another friend who lives in San Diego her son was at UC Berkeley until he dropped out after two semesters. He’s currently attending a community college. They both currently live with their parents. I know everybody’s situation is different and I’m sure there are plenty of success stories. Choose wisely!
Thank you so much, @bighero8 . That’s really helpful. But ugh, now we’re trying to decide if he should maybe just do CC, and then go to UCR or elsewhere. THIS DECISION IS KILLING US…me, I think more than my son. He is really preferring UCR at this point, and we’re ok now with the proximity issue, and the “all the students leave on the weekends” issue. Now we’re at cost and class size. 
(Toured Cal Poly Pomona today.)
@jesse’sgirl
What is his major? Did he get accepted directly or as a pre-major? CPP has one of the lowest graduation rate 56%, why? Overcrowded or something else? Do your research and choose wisely! Regarding cost, you should wait for the financial aid award package.
@bighero8 - Thank you for sharing your experiences.
In case anyone reads this thread in the future…my son committed to UCR, but has now changed his mind. As the summer job was upon him, he realized that he could not make the financial commitment to UCR that he previously thought he could. He really wanted to go there, but we got the financial aid “award” of nothing, and that meant he had to take out unsubsidized loans and work to contribute the cost that is over our budget. Just too much pressure for him, so he is now deciding to go to Community College, something he swore he did not want to do. We think it will be ok, but are bummed that the UC’s are so expensive for middle class families.
@jesse’sgirl If I may ask, what was your EFC on the FAFSA application? Also, was your son audited by the financial aid office to submit documents? My financial aid status (along with many other incoming students) still hasn’t updated and my documents weren’t even reviewed yet. Did you ever use the net cost estimator thing that showed up on the side of the portal?
I’ve been following your son’s journey here and I know how much time, effort, and research you put into this before he made his final decision on UCR. I hope he’s not too disappointed.
That said, I believe things usually happen for a reason. While UCR came out on top for him out of the choices he had, I know you had your reservation about it and I never got the impression he was really excited about it or any of the more affordable CSUs he was accepted to. If he gets good enough grades at CC, he might have many more choices at the end of 2 years as a CC transfer. With only 2 years to go, that should ease the financial burden quite a bit, especially if he keeps working and saving money.
He will need to start thinking about whether he prefers a CSU or a UC pretty quickly though, as they have different transfer requirements and some courses will transfer to one system but not the other. He could try privates too, but some don’t accept many transfers and the cost may still be a factor since the best aid normally goes to freshmen.
You mentioned that you are coastal people and he wanted to stay close to home. I think UCI or UCSB might be great fits for him and both offer TAG (guaranteed admission) for students meeting the requirements. That might help him stay motivated and keep his eye on the ball. He can only apply for TAG at one campus, but can still apply to any others.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/index.html
Wishing him the best of luck!
@selfconfidentgal, so, yes, he was under review, but it was only for his birth certificate. We had to submit that. I was a very squeaky wheel with the financial aid office, and the gal that I talked to there saw that the only thing that needed to be “reviewed” was his birth certificate, so she said she pushed it to the front - no need to wait forever for something that would take 30 seconds.
I never did the calculator…to be honest, I pretty much expected no aid based on our EFC that is greater than the cost of attendance. We were still hoping for something unexpected, though, maybe merit-based, even though we know that was unlikely (he would’ve been awarded that upon acceptance I understand).
I hope that answers your questions. Good luck.
@1Dreamer, thank you for writing! Yes, I intend to write an update in my other threads because people were so kind and helpful in our journey. Can you believe it!? After all that!?!?! Hahaha. But it’s all good. He seems happy, actually, not disappointed. I, on the other hand, oy vey. I was more than ready to spend a lot of money to have him GO and grow up. 
But we are going to find a way to make it work. We’re looking into getting a nice shed for the backyard for him to room in - we have a very small house, and he is a very big personality.
Thank you for the thoughts on community college. We just spent a couple hours last night going over a bunch of articulation agreements with some of the UC’s he’d like to go to - aiming for the top ones so as to hopefully do enough for any, and for some private schools, as well. I familiarized him with assist.org and IGETC and how to look at transfer requirements for different majors, etc… He knows about tag, and has been interested in UCSB for a while, so would likely choose that, depending, though, on what he ultimately decides to major in. Personally I’d like him to choose something out of state, maybe private. I prefer for him to spread his wings widely, and hope some time at cc will give him the confidence to do that…but if not the UC’s will be fine choices. Regarding cost, because he’ll be doing cc and working some, our budget will allow him to choose some higher-priced schools upon transfer. That should open up some options. Of course, he has to make the grade(s). As I write, he is working on pre-calc, and saying “This homework is fricking up my brain.”
Thank you, again, for your reply and your thoughts.