certain California colleges rankings (help!!)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello! I have limited my options for college to this list in my home state CA. the weather is generally nice here and I've heard many good things about these places so here they are:</p>

<p>UC Santa Cruz
UC Santa Barbara
UC Irvine
UC Riverside
Cal State Northridge
University of SF
Occidental College</p>

<p>What I'm looking for is:
:: good dorm quality and not hard to get one
:: overall NOT having a reputation of a rigorous workload
:: good nightlife scene nearby (I see myself as more of a club junkie than a party animal lol)
:: in or near a large town/city
:: plenty of restaraunts close
:: nice places around to go jogging and close gym (as you can see, location is probably my biggest factor)
:: the lower the cost the better, but I would rather not let that dictate my WHOLE decision
:: courses/majors specifically don't matter, but if I had to ELIMINATE something, it would be science. a place focusing too much on science courses/programs probably won't work for me. besides science, I believe I can do anything I put my mind to which is silly but true!</p>

<p>So could you guys rank these colleges in order of most fitting to my requirements? To be honest, I haven't visited any of them (YET) but I've read a lot. Still got a long time before I have to narrow it down to 2 or 3 that I wanna get into. I doubt any will be perfect for what I ask for, I think some come close, but you guys are the experts so your imput is appreciated!!!</p>

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<p>blech...truth be told, the reason why you aren't getting any responses is b/c your demands are too complicated...give us just ONE or TWO of the things you're looking for and we we'll rank you list</p>

<p>also, you're on a forum of overachievers...when you say you're looking for colleges that de-emphasizes science and have light workloads you are inviting a lot of contempt</p>

<p>anyways...spend some time getting used to CC and you'll find this forum to be incredibly fun and useful</p>

3

<p>it sounds like you want to go on vacation instead of to college!</p>

<p>Your first 6 schools are part of a network in crisis because of California's budget woes. They are very large as are most classes within them and it will take most more than 4 years to get the classes needed to graduate for most so plan on 5 years of cost when comparing them to privates.</p>

<p>So IMO, if money isn't a problem, I'd go for oxy.</p>

<p>Of the UC's, SB sounds like your best bet--good sized great town, total party school, lots of restaurants and beautiful places to run. Santa Cruz would also fir this description. Irvine is in a nice area but much less of a fun or party school and Riverside is an ugly place.</p>

<p>The CSU's are mostly commuter schools and generally not as much fun.</p>

<p>At any UC or CSU it will be hard to get a dorm room after freshmen year but most want to live off campus anyway.</p>