<p>I visited the campus yesterday and missed about half of a tour so it left me wondering a few things:</p>
<p>1) How do dorm mates get assigned to you?
2) If I submit my deposit and intent to enroll early, do I get priority over which building I want to live in on campus?
3) Is there anything about the school that could use some improvement? I was pretty impressed overall, but maybe there's something I overlooked.
4) Is it actually cheaper to study abroad, as the tour guide said?</p>
<p>I'd greatly appreciate even one answer to any of these! :)</p>
<p>I’m an incoming freshman as well but I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can:</p>
<p>1) Once you’ve submitted your SIR and established your UCSB netID, you can access the Housing contract and such. You fill out some answers to questions (Do you smoke? Do you want a TV in your room? Do you wake up before 9am? Do you sleep before 11pm?), and from there I can only assume that they just match you to whoever fits your preferences best. You can put in the Perm Number of someone you want to room with but they also would have to input yours. You can do this for as many as two people (but understand that triple rooms are always temporary). You can use a website like ■■■■■■■■ to meet your ideal roommate by creating a profile and seeing how others match with you–although it can be better to let fate decide your new best friend for you.</p>
<p>2) I don’t believe so. But I think they do assign the Living Learning Communities first when placing students so say, applying to a Substance-Free floor in FT might increase your odds of living there, if only on a substance-free floor. If you apply to Freshman Summer Start Program, you will be placed in San Nicolas Hall not only for the duration of your summer but also your entire freshman year. But don’t fret that much on not ending up where you like… a third of the freshman class gets placed in FT (Santa Catalina) so if you want to go there you’d probably get it, Santa Rosa, Anacapa and Santa Cruz are virtually identical to each other (especially the latter two, which have the same “swastika” design) and the same goes for San Nicolas and San Miguel. That leaves you with Manzanita Village which carries only a couple hundred of the freshman class compared to several hundred in the other dorms. While the accomodations are probably the best of them all this is known as one of the quieter dorms on campus and less social (especially if you are a freshman living with lots of continuing students). </p>
<p>3) dunno. </p>
<p>4) Compared to where? The UCs share the Education Abroad Program with one another and as I understand it, your financial aid does carry over to your time abroad. </p>
<p>Hope I was able to help. Go Gauchos.</p>
<p>Oops, I should have been more specific with the last one. What I meant was, I had heard that the tuition in other countries where you study abroad is sometimes cheaper than tuition here at a UC per year/semester/quarter, and that because your financial aid transfers over, sometimes you’re left with extra money. </p>
<p>However, that sounds too good to be true so I was wondering if this is a rare occasion or if it’s just a statement made to get students to study abroad.</p>
<p>Thank you for your in-depth insight to the other questions :)</p>
<p>Tuition studying abroad could be cheaper depending on the country and housing etc. Its more of an incentive the see the world which is always a plus if you have the time and dedication.</p>