<p>"hella's a bay area thing. they'll beat your ass in santa cruz if they hear you say it." - AceRockolla</p>
<p>i disagree with this one. i'm a student at UC Santa Cruz and i had NEVER heard anyone use 'hella' in real life until i came up here. all the norcal people use it all the time, and us socal people get ****ed if we hear someone else from socal saying it. if that makes sense...(btw, are you a loveline fan?)</p>
<p>to the OP: i'm from the LA area (about an hour from the claremont colleges) and i'm going to school in NorCal, obviously. the two regions are like different worlds. although nothing like the northeast (ny, etc), SoCal is more fast paced than norcal. people up here are more relaxed and, at least in santa cruz, much more in touch with nature. a lot of people with the mentalities of hippies and such.</p>
<p>both norcal and socal are good, and you'd probably be happy in either location. the biggest question to ask yourself is do you like being in a more fast paced, big city, atmosphere, which you'll get at the claremonts and oxy, or do you want something a little more laid back, which you'll get at santa clara?</p>
<p>also, the weather is very different. it's going to be in the 80's for xmas here at home, but in santa cruz it's about 60.</p>
<p>if you look beyond the huge cities oak, san fran, la, sd i am generally accurate</p>
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<p>No, the generalizations you made about Socal are accurate ONLY if you consider solely LA and not the rest of Socal. It's LA that has terrible traffic and no gaps between cities, not Socal in general.</p>
<p>Looking beyond the LA and SF mega-cities, if small towns like Gilroy and Hollister can be regarded as typical of Norcal then I guess Elsinore and Julian can be typical of SoCal. There are plenty of isolated little towns in Socal too.</p>
<p>to the OP: scripps/pitzer isnt like the typical LA that people think of. its waay suburban LA (around where i live), i dunno, it doesnt feel the same city feel as, say, ucla, where i go. </p>
<p>one bay area kid told me that he thought "hella" was the "cool" word that teenagers say haha. i mock the use of hella now with my new norcal friends, like "the test was HELLA hard". oh yea theres a lot more sense of community pride in norcal it seems, everyone says theyre from "the bay area" as if that were a city. here its like im from this city, that city, etc. but really, socal has many different parts to it, we know san fernando isnt hollywood, palos verdes isnt south central, pasedena isnt san gabriel, claremont isnt chino, fullerton isnt huntington beach, santa ana isnt newport beach, etc. even though the compared cities are relatively close to each other.</p>
<p>"SoCal does have a wider selection of top notch schools than NorCal does though."</p>
<p>Let's see now. They have Stanford and Berkeley, therefore they dominate us. The only school we have that people recognize outside California is Caltech. Then again, only academics recognize the greatness of Caltech. Regular people in California don't know about it. Hell, even ordinary joes in Pasadena probably don't even know about it.</p>
<p>Yeah we get the norcal overspill where I'm from alot, but the kids from california are always really cool. choose a school based on the school, california is cool no matter what part your in!!!!!!!</p>
<p>Really they are the same. The only difference is that people in NorCal say 'Hella'. People in SoCal use the word 'the' when telling directions.
EX. "Dude, like take the 101 south to like the 10 east to the 215 south to like the 60 east to get to Riverside. (last word is optional)"</p>
<p>NorCal People:</p>
<p>"Take 101 north to 66 east to 215 west. It's like hella easy, dude"</p>
<p>So that is the only difference in NorCal and SoCal people. It's wetter and colder in NorCal. Nicer weather down south.</p>
<p>UCLA and USC are not widely recognized nationwide. My friends in Northern California who don't watch football never knew about USC before. UCLA is like Vanderbilt, a regional backwater school. </p>
<p>Stanford is known nationwide for its academics, and Berkeley for its political activism.</p>
<p>Also, northern california has a culture of quiet affluence and tolerance, which I find extremely attractive. Here we are very materialistic, and dare I say it, gaudy and cheap.</p>
<p>It's amusing that Berkeley is known for its political activism... recent polls inform us that Stanford is actually more liberal than Cal. :-O. </p>
<p>USC is hitting up the rankings nationwide. Last year, it wouldn't be too surprising if norcal kids didn't know about USC. But now, they're just not paying any attention, USC is everywhere. (I myself was criticizing USC last year for not actually being that great a school just grasping for acclaim... but they're keeping to their word). I'd be surprised if UCLA doesn't top Cal in competitiveness in the next couple years. We'll see, we'll see.</p>
<p>those are current polls. berkeley's reputation has been built through decades of political activism. i wasn't living then, but supposedly it was the center of political activism(alongside haight-ashbury) in the 60's and 70's. i've actually heard republican influence is spreading through berkeley now, as their young republicans club is one of the biggest in ca.</p>
<p>Interesting thread...
I live in Livermore, CA which is a good-sized city in the East Bay. I was born in the OC (the real OC, not the fake OC seen on television). I was raised in NorCal, but I make several trips down to Newport every year. So I think I have a good perspective on CA, but a full analysis is not worthy of my time. So here is a short version.</p>
<p>NorCal does have a more laid back lifestyle than most of SoCal. For example, look at my area. The average home cost is I think 1.2 million or even higher. Yet, you look at the kids in school and they all have similar clothing. There are very few arrogant rich kids. I am applying to Stanford/Ivies but my classmates all see me as just another fun guy. I surf (fit right in to the stereotype) and just live life instead of draining away. Most kids are like me. They have fun with life but also work their butts off in school. </p>
<p>SoCal is very different. Go to Newport and you will see why. Out of 10 cars, 9 will be Mercedes Benz. They flaunt their wealth. Yet, there is also the beach scene which is totally laid back. I must clear something up. People look down on surfers because of the stereotype that they are drug hippies. They are not. They have passion for the power of the ocean and enjoy the awesome sport. You will find that surfers are driven. In Santa Cruz, the majority of surfers are tech company employees. </p>
<p>Nor Cal is <em>hella</em> lame, cold, beaches are sharky, and just bleh</p>
<p>So Cal has San Diego, Orange County, Catalina Island, LA, and Santa Barbara... need I say more? </p>
<p>Nor Cal people also feel inferior.... why do they sport their "Nor Cal" gear? So Cal people could care less cause they know they live in the best part of CA ;)</p>
<p>Just for the record and I know I've said it before, a problem with the OC is people now believe that is a good picture of Socal... I've lived out here (About 45 minutes north of Downtown LA) my whole life and I can assure you not all of Socal is like that. The OC is actually filmed mostly down in Malibu, not Newport. Newport however does have some very nice area, and yes they do have some very nice beachs down in there. </p>
<p>People down here are without a doubt somewhat fake, but you'll learn to deal with it.</p>
<p>"The O.C." is the worst depection of Inland Empire and Orange County. First off, living on the edge of Riverside/Orange County, there is no difference physically between the two. Most of Orange County and all of Riverside County is a giant master planned community of middle-upper middle class housing. I digress. </p>
<p>All of California is guady and materialistic. My NorCal friends are some of the most materialistic people I know. And this is living in place where my friends discuss which shoes are better (guys not girls, really disturbing). </p>
<p>As far as college experiences go, they are the same. The only differences are the setting of the college. USC and Berkeley similar since they are located in working class neighborhoods. UCLA and Stanford are located in relatively nice areas, although UCLA is more urban,Palo Alto is not too far from San Francisco. UCSB and UCSC are located in rural areas of their respective centers (L.A and S.F.). UCR and UC Davis are both located in devloping suburbs (Riverside is actually massive 279,000 people living in the city itself not including neighboring cities that are literally divided by a single street).
Each has institutions that are world class within their own rights. All of California is recognized on a national level of having a good public school system with highly prestigious private schools as well.</p>
<p>ucsb_dude- you are completely wrong with your descriptions of the UCs. First of all, Berkeley is not in a "working class neighborhood," it is in downtown Berkeley, which is a very fun area. It is not at all like the area USC is in. UCSB and UCSC are also not at all rural. Both are near Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara, repectively. Riverside and Davis are rural, not in "developing suburbs." And while there may be "279,000" people around, it is very spread out.</p>
<p>Both areas are good. Each has its good points. I would love to have my little house (millions of dollars) on balboa island when i'm retired. SoCal has some good surf spots and the water is warmer, but NorCal dominates surfing. The waves are of better quality, are bigger, and more consistent. The risk of being eaten by a shark is so miniscule (do you know how many people surf on california coast) but it does increase once you move towards bodega bay. Mavericks is right next to Stanford. </p>
<p>NorCal is the rebel/skateboarding/snowboarding logo. There is a NorCal shop. It's not that big of a thing.</p>