<p>Hey guys. Just got into UOR and trying to figure out if I should go here or not. Everything fits in terms of Academics, but I was wondering more on the social side of things. Id love to hear from students first hand what living/campus life is like. How are the dorms? Beds? Food? What do kids do on weekend nights? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Congratulations.</p>
<p>I will try contacting deadparrot to see if he has time to post.</p>
<p>Each dorm is very different. East and Williams have very small rooms, but very tight-knit freshman communities. They are also right next to the science buildings and not too far from the Commons (food). Both buildings are also air conditioned. I lived in East my freshman year, loved it. </p>
<p>Anderson has a wing that will be all/mostly freshmen/transfers. It's the largest dorm on campus. It's not really close to anything except for the music department, but it has suite bathrooms, which are very nice, and decently sized rooms. </p>
<p>Fairmont is right next to Anderson, and is where I'm living now. It is the smallest dorm on campus, housing around 60 students. The basement is a mixture of triples and singles, both of which are very small. The first and second floors are mostly doubles. The doubles are pretty large, especially compared to East. I got lucky and landed in one of the four suites in Fairmont (the hall bathrooms have trouble with hot water sometimes). There is no air conditioning, but there is heat. It never gets too hot in my room though. The heating pipes make alot of noise at night; it's popular fairmont legend that there are gnomes living in the walls. </p>
<p>Melrose is the quite dorm on campus, everytime I go in there it is silent. It is nicknamed Hotel Melrose for it's impeccable cleanliness, soft carpet, and silence. The rooms are huge and air conditioned. Not for party animals/loud people, but probably the nicest dorm on campus.</p>
<p>California Hall (all male, but connected to Founders) smells. Really bad. But it's being renovated this summer, so it will probably get alot better. Founders (all female, but connected to California) smells much nicer, but tends to get kind of hot. </p>
<p>Grossmont is similar to Fairmont, but cleaner and neater, because only women live there.</p>
<p>North and Merriam have large rooms, with sinks, and gigantic closets. They are both very loud and rowdy. Mostly jocks/atheletic types live in north, since it is close to the gym, baseball, soccer, and football fields. Merriam is advertised as the 'transfer student' dorm, but very few transfer students seem to want to live there.</p>
<p>Food here is way better than any of the other colleges that I visted. Food service is provided by Bon Appetit, a national catering/cafeteria company that mostly runs office cafeterias and the like. Some students complain about the food, but most people love it. </p>
<p>Bring a mattress pad for your bed and cinderblocks or bed risers to boost it up higher.</p>
<p>Redlands students love to party on the weekends. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights there are parties on frat row. Saturday night there is almost always a dance party in University Hall ($2-3 dollars admission, but includes pizza and soda). Saturday there are Movies/Activities/Discussions/free food in the Hunsaker building. There are often free concerts, weekend camping trips, buses to LA, ect. There's always something to do.</p>
<p>The campus at Redlands was beautiful when i visited, and I got an okay vibe. I am from the east coast, and I am considering colleges in CA (redlands was one of them). So I am pretty sure I will got to school in CA (either pitzer, whittier, occidental, or redlands). Any how, I am not sure about redlands. It seemed a little cliquish, jocky etc. Will I fit it in as a moderate liberal, non-athlete? I know there are other students like this.. but really how many?</p>
<p>Awesome! Thanks for getting back to me so fast. I have a few more questions for you if you dont mind.
-Are freshmen permitted to have cars?
-If so, what is parking like? Easy to find?
-Do a lot of people take trips to the beach?</p>
<p>-Are there good cafe's/dinner & lunch spots in the town?
-I have seen the pool complex and REALLY am impressed. Are students permitted to use the pool area for leisure (sunning, relaxing, etc) or is it strictly for swimmers? If we are not allowed to use this pool, is there another one students use?
-Is the campus safe?
-How awful are the beds? Are they doubles? I am rather tall so probably would not fit to well on a standard double bed.
-What are the bathrooms like in the Froshie dorms? Community showers I assume. </p>
<p>-And of course, hows the weather. I know about the summers, but what about the rest of the year.</p>
<p>Thanks for everything!</p>
<p>Cali8: yes freshmen can have cars, parking is free and is pretty easy to find. The beach is about 45min to an hour drive away, students go there pretty often. If there is one thing that Redlands students know how to do well, it's eat. There are alot of good restraunts in Downtown Redlands. The pool is open to all students at some time during the day, though it will probably not be open for the first few weeks of school and for a week or two in winter. I think the beds are twin size, they're of a decent size, but not super soft and comfy, but I have one of those memory foam pads, so mine is very comfortable. In East and Williams Hall there are 4 bathrooms on each floor, 2 mens and 2 womens. In each bathroom there are two shower stalls, and two toilet stalls. Weather here is pretty warm all season round. We get a few days of rain each year, and winter is cloudy alot of the time, and of course we are close enough to LA to get the smog. No matter where you live you will want to bring a fan; the air conditioning in East last year broke down a few times.</p>
<p>Taylor6: I guess there are cliques on campus, mostly the local greeks. But noone is really mean or exclusionary, it's not high school. Everyone that I've met here is really nice and pretty laid back. I'm pretty liberal and definitely not an athelete, I haven't had any problems finding friends. Your political leanings don't really have any bearing on who you hang out with; if anything it just gives you something to talk about. If you really want to surround yourself with Democrats, we have one of those young democrat clubs. If you're planning on being a Johnston student, you shouldn't have any problem finding lots of liberal minded students. Anyway, I would say that the campus is very politically diverse, maybe leaning into the conservative side by a little bit.</p>
<p>Well UOR keeps soundin better and better. I have a few final questions.
-I am a huge sports fan, and I gotta have my TV so that I can tune into the games. Are TV's allowed/supplied? Can you bring your own?
-Are fridges and microwaves allowed in the dorm rooms?
-Is there wireless internet access in the dorms? </p>
<p>-How do student ID's work? Are they hooked up to the system where you use your ID card to store food $ on them, or are they simply used for identification purposes.
-The fitness room looked really nice, how do you go about using it? Is your ID all you need to gain access?</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>There is at least one TV in every dorm. East and Williams both have a TV in one of their "living room" areas. Fairmont has two TV's one in the Living Room, one in the basement. You can of course bring your own TV to enjoy in your room. Cable hookup costs some money, I don't think a whole lot, especially if you split it with your roommate. You can't have microwaves in your dorm room, they will blow out the circuit, power will be gone for an hour. Every dorm has a kitchen with one or two microwaves. Each room provides for wired high speed (a little bit slower than DSL (still fast enough for counter strike... <em>cough</em> ... I mean homework...), there are a few spots on campus for wireless, but the University is still working on that one, it will probably be a couple more years before the University is really wireless saavy. </p>
<p>Your student ID is your meal card, just swipe and pay. The fitness center is free for all students, just flash your ID and go work out. Private school is really cool like that sometimes, you get alot of free stuff.</p>
<p>My S was accepted to Redlands as well!</p>
<p>Thanks DeadParrot for all the info! I will print out a copy!</p>
<p>Don't mention it.</p>
<p>Alright got a couple of really random questions about the Redlands area for you.</p>
<p>-What seems to be the most popular gas station in southern cal/Redlands (going to need to get a gas card)
-Same question for banks. Which one is closest/most popular. I am going to need to switch to a bank out there.
-Nearest major Hospital? I assume there is going to be a large one in San B. </p>
<p>I should mention that I did used to live in San Francisco, but NORCAL is quite different from SOCAL so not exactly sure on service related things.</p>
<p>For banks, Wells Fargo and Washington Mutual both have branches in downtown Redlands, lots of ATMs and free student checking.
Cheapest gas around UofR is off-brand, but if you want a namebrand for creditcards, both Shell and Unocal are there and throughout socal. Redlands Community is a full service hospital; Loma Linda University is the closest major tertiary hospital, just 15 min. away.</p>
<p>I use Bank of America. There is a branch downtown and the only ATM on campus is B of A. Also, if you use Costco, there is a Costco with a gas station in San Bernardino. I usually get gas there when ever I'm in the area.</p>
<p>Ok got a few more random ones for ya.</p>
<p>-Do kids use Metrolink a lot to get into LA? I see the closet station is San Bernadino, so about 7 miles. What is parking like there?
-Whats the best place to get your hair cut in Redlands (thats not a barber shop).</p>
<p>I've never used the metrolink, and I don't hear of anyone really using it. People going to LA usually carpool, or go with a school sponsored event, in which case there is usually school van. </p>
<p>It's kind of odd, but I don't think I've ever gotten my hair cut in Redlands. I don't cut it that often, and when I do, I always seem to be home. I do have a friend that is very particular about his appearance, he usually goes to some place in downtown Redlands.</p>
<p>Yea, I kinda figured as much about metrolink. I am very familiar with it because of some people related to me, so maybe I can start a trend! </p>
<p>Well it looks like I will be attending UOFR as I sent in my deposit today!</p>
<p>Cool, see you around campus</p>
<p>One more question came to mind. How would you say the size of the campus is in terms of population. I mean, are there still days where you see new people? Or is it a situation where you basically know who most of the people on campus are?</p>
<p>It's a pretty small community, you won't meet and get to know everyone, but you will recognize alot of faces</p>