I will be touring colleges throughout California between August 8th and the 22nd. Specifically: Berkeley, Pomona, Claremont Mckenna, Stanford, USC, UCSD, UCSB, UCLA, Occidental, Pepperdine, and maybe a couple others just for the heck of it if we pass by, which is kind of what Pepperdine is for (PCA, duh!). Anyway, will there be much activity around the schools while I’m there or do most students arrive right after I leave? I hope to meet some students other than just the tour guides, you know? Also, if you have suggestions of what to do on these campuses or other schools I should take a look at feel free to mention it!
You can look up each school’s academic calendar online and see when students come back to campus. Unfortunately it is likely most schools will be starting up after your visits.
When we visited schools in session we would sometimes try to eat at the school cafeteria (admissions can arrange it or you can pay cash depending on the school) and walk around campus on our own. With more urban campuses we would try to also walk around the surrounding area.
There should be decent activity as the school prepares for the coming year. At many of the schools you mentioned the fall athletes should be back.
I visited Pepperdine in the mid 1990’s and the campus is really nice.
Freshman Orientation sessions will still be going on at all the UC’s, so there should be a lot of activity on campus. As stated above, most athletes are expected back in August for training and there is always the summer session students taking classes.
Awesome, thanks for the replies! @Gumbymom girls soccer is a fall sport here in the north, is it fall out there as well? I hadn’t thought about it before, but maybe I’ll sit in on a practice or chat with a coach. Same for crew, would you happen to know is that during fall or spring? Thanks again for the idea!
My son has a friend that is a X-country runner whom will be attending UCSD this fall as a Freshman. She has to report for training starting August 15 and a co-workers daughter is on the soccer team at UCSB whom is already there coaching and training. Not sure about crew.
@Gumbymom first, honestly I’d like to thank you on behalf of the countless lost teens you’ve helped on this forum, including me! I’m sure it takes a lot of time and effort as well as wisdom to generate 5000+ posts and I want to make sure you know I, and I’m sure many others, appreciate it! That being said, does this friend of your son have a cc page I could message to get further insight on UCSD? Also, it sounds like you are familiar with the UC system as well? Any recommendations as to where an out of state, decently well rounded kid could get in and not have to fork over an arm and a leg (and a torso, and head, and the other arm, and the other leg) to pay for tuition?
All the UC’s will be pricey since they are public schools funded by CA taxpayers so you should expect to pay full freight of $55K/year. The best schools to target for good FA/merit aid are the California privates but even these are not nearly as generous as many of the schools in the Midwest, South and even East. For the California privates consider Santa Clara, Occidental, USC, Claremont Colleges, Unversity of Redlands, Loyola Marymount and Chapman.
My son’s friend does not have a CC page, but there is a current UCSD student that posts often in the UCSD threads @baktrax whom I sure you could message for your questions.
I have gone through the UC and CSU admissions with my two son’s and niece for the last 3 years and hopefully I have learned a thing or two to help some applicants navigate the confusing world of college admissions.