<p>So I’m going to Cal Poly next year and I’m clueless about what I should choose.
The first thing I need to know is if students in the Cerro Vista Apartments still have a fun social time and can make good new friends. It would be great to see my own room and a kitchen because I am swimming their next year and will probably be hungry and up early (normal room mates won’t appreciate athletes waking up before 6 =)). However I am big on having fun and need to make sure that I will have a great time. So should it be a dorm or apartment??</p>
<p>I lived in Cerro last year, as a freshman, so maybe I can help you with your decision.</p>
<p>Pros of Cerro: Your own bedroom (more privacy, don’t have to go to the library or out of you room to study), kitchen, only share a bathroom with one other person, more freedom than the dorms (you can easily sneak people in, etc.), just more space in general, if you put in the effort to be outgoing and go down to the community center you really can meet a good number of other cerro people, another great way to meet people is to bake cookies with your door open and give them away, or just go door to door with your roommates and introduce yourselves.</p>
<p>Cons: it’s easy to isolate yourself, a little bit farther away from campus than the dorms (some people say it’s really far, but honestly, it’s right next to the north mountain dorms, just on the hill)</p>
<p>But if you aren’t completely sure about cerro and want to try the dorms, I’d say live in the dorms. You can live in cerro any year, but you only get one chance to have that real dorm experience. But if you have absolutely no desire to live in the dorms, then go with cerro. A nice compromise between the two are the north mountain dorms actually. You share a bathroom with about 8 people, the rooms are fairly large, and there is a bit more privacy than in the traditional type dorms.</p>
<p>My daughter really likes** Yosemite**. It’s configured in a way that isn’t like your normal dorm with one long hallway. There are only 60 kids per tower and about 20-something students on each floor. Twelve girls on one side and around the same amount of boys on the other side. An RA lives in one of the rooms as a single. (Two small hallways on each gender’s side with 3 rooms opening to it.) Each side has a large bathroom that is between the two small hallways. A door on each side of the bathroom. A lounge divides the girl and guy sections. There are couches, chairs, table and chairs and microwave in there. It’s a great set-up! Almost like an apartment without a kitchen. Anyway, it feels like a small family. And, my daughter likes having boys on the same floor. When I visited during Parents’ Weekend one of the guys told me they feel protective of the girls who live there. 
She’s actually friends with the kids on all three floors. There are 10 towers in Yosemite. Sierra Madre next door has a similar set-up, also with towers.</p>
<p>if you want a social life, do sierra madre or yosemite. Less people, per floor so you really get to know eachother, and there are common rooms right outside of your room and people are ALWAYS out there so no 1 really locks themselves in there rooms</p>
<p>You’re right about getting to know each other, at least in Yosemite. And, that common area lounge in the middle is a great place to hang out.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman living in Cerro Vista. He really likes the set-up he has with his own room where he can study and sleep well and the convienience of the kitchen and a bathroom shared by only one other roommate. It is true that he is not meeting as many people because he lives there, but the friends he has made are very close. They have room to have a group of them over to play games, watch movies, have dinner, play Kinect. He has a lot of his personal things in his room and plenty of room to store food in the kitchen/pantry and a place for sports equipment and such. It isn’t as quiet as you would think, but I am sure it is quieter than the regular dorms. He probably has more time to himself than students in the regualr dorms, but he doesn’t mind that sometimes. He is also plenty social with the friends he has made. I think the traditional dorms are a great place to stay for your first year, but Cerro was my son’s choice and he loves it. He is also staying healthy and I wonder if that is because of the single room and less people sharing common space. He could be just lucky so far.</p>
<p>Try to go on a tour of the dorms for sure and truthfully, I think most students make the best of their situation and love where they are.</p>
<p>Here’s what I think about the dorms:</p>
<p>Cerro Vista: I haven’t been in these apartments, but I’ve been to the ones in Poly Canyon and I think they’re pretty similar. It’s nice to have your own room, and only 2 people to a bathroom. You get alot more privacy and it would probably be easier to study. If you feel more independent, or are looking to be more independent it’s a good place. Plus you don’t have to get the dorm dining plan if you live in the apartments since you have a full size fridge and lots of cupboard space.The living rooms and bedrooms aren’t very big though. It’s not that far of a walk, unless you live in the buildings that are farther back (but I think those are mainly for transfers). I don’t remember if Cerro has a pool… I thought it was only Poly Canyon, but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>Red Bricks: Here they encourage you to go in whichever building pertains to the college you’re in (business, liberal arts, ect.), but you can still put down your preferred choice. The red bricks are nice because you have a huge floor of people to get to know and it’s pretty social. The RA’s are always putting on activities in the study lounges/game rooms so on weekends you can be sure to have at least one thing to do. These dorms have 2 floor bathrooms (on for the girls, one for the boys), and there’s a lounge in the middle of each floor that separates the girl’s side from the boy’s side. Now everyone gets a mini-fridge in their room, which is nice, but in the red bricks you have one community kitchen downstairs, and one microwave in each of the lounges. Here you have a greater chance of getting into a triple, and the rooms are super small. Depending on which red brick you’re in it could be a tiny bit of a walk to get to class (like fremont or trinity), but fremont is also right next to VG’s, so when you get hungry you can run over there very quickly.</p>
<p>Santa Lucia/North Mountain: SL is a red brick, and NM looks like bunch of motels; the doors open to the outside. Because of this NM doesn’t get it’s own lounge and game room, we share with SL, so you have to go out and walk over there if you want to get the mail or use the study lounge. This set of dorms is meant for engineers, but there are still tons of people outside of that college living here. The great thing about NM is the room size. They’re literally about twice the size of the red brick rooms, and you also get a microwave in addition to the mini-fridge in each room. There are 4 rooms connected to a bathroom which has 2 showers and 2 toilets. Much better than having a floor bathroom in my opinion. Because NM doesn’t have it’s own lounge or enclosed hallways it can be more antisocial than the other dorms, but that all depends on how much effort you put into meeting people. You can become antisocial in any of the dorms easily.</p>
<p>Yosemite/Sierra Madre: These are the only dorms I haven’t been inside of. From what I hear these are more of the party dorms, and I’ve seen tons of people walking to or from there drunk. The rooms are bigger than in the red bricks, but not as big as NM. These are also pretty far away from campus (yosemite more so than sierra), but they have “private” basketball courts, so if you’re into that it’s a plus. I think their game rooms are also really big, too.</p>
<p>They all have good things and bad things; I personally like living in NM, and it’s nice and quiet here most of the time. But I live in one right next to the street so it sucks when garbage trucks go by. You can see pictures of rooms and take virtual tours also ([University</a> Housing - Cal Poly](<a href=“http://www.housing.calpoly.edu/oc_futr_frsh_where_live.cfm]University”>http://www.housing.calpoly.edu/oc_futr_frsh_where_live.cfm)), so check that out if you haven’t seen the rooms yet.</p>
<p>I never went on a real in person tour, so that would be good to do if you can.</p>
<p>You do need to have a modified dining plan as a freshman in Cerro Vista. Not so at Poly Canyon *after *your freshman year. You’re right—the pool is only at PCV.</p>
<p>My daughter is in Yosemite and I wouldn’t necessarily call her tower the party dorm. They’re like a little family and enjoy doing things together, but it doesn’t always involve “partying”. I understand what you’re saying, though.</p>
<p>As for the distance from the main part of campus, it’s not too bad. Her tower is right next to Grand Ave and the closest to Sierra Madre, which makes it nice.</p>
<p>As a first-year who is currently living in Cerro Vista, I want to say that I LOVE living in the apartments. I get my own room (my own space) and I can cook food whenever I want and can enjoy the comforts of home. However, some words of advice, if you are someone who tends to isolate themselves, then I would say CV is definitely not the place for you. There are so many opportunities to get to know people who live around you and people in the community, but many do not take advantage of it because they don’t leave their apartment. Another great bonus is that we have less of a reliance on the dining plan, which you will soon learn is NOT the best thing about Poly. I would suggest taking a tour, and definitely come to open house, because there are so many opportunities to see which setting might work best for you.</p>
<p>Cerro is very nice, and you have the option of living in your own space. Dorms used to be the only on-campus option for freshmen. I lived in a double my first year and got sick of the noise and lack of privacy.</p>
<p>What does housing have to do with your fun and social life? For gods sake just GET OUT THERE. Your experience is what you make it to be</p>