<p>My friend and I are planning to do a weekend road trip up to Santa Cruz (or San Jose) from Los Angeles, and we're wondering what schools are up the coast that we could visit in between? We are going to take PCH because I couldn't fathom being on the 5 for more than two hours...</p>
<p>The schools I know of so far are</p>
<p>UCSC
UCSB
CSUMB
San Jose State</p>
<p>Any more?</p>
<p>San Jose is not on the coast… not even close. It’s in Silicon Valley. (kind of a cow town if you ask me…)</p>
<p>CSU Long Beach
CSU Channel Islands
UC San Diego
U of San Diego
Pepperdine U
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (it’s right off of the 101 when it merges with PCH)
Humboldt State U</p>
<p>…hope that helps!</p>
<p>[PS] Some of those are south of LA and north of Santa Cruz, though… so you might not be able to go to those.</p>
<p>:o)</p>
<p>Santa Cruz is literally on the beach. It has arguably the nicest campus in the country.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how anyone could call Silicon Valley, arguably the tech center of the country, a “cow town.”
But San Jose State isn’t really on the coast, it’s about 45 minutes away. If you’re looking at colleges in the same area as SJSU, you could check out Santa Clara University.</p>
<p>The first one in LA area: Loyola Marymount, near LAX and not far from the beaches. Next one, Pepperdine in Malibu, not to be missed for its location and views. Yes, definitely UCSB.</p>
<p>If you are willing to head a little farther north you would arrive in San Franciso, the home of USF. Close by is Cal, the premiere UC.</p>
<p>
There’s a huge geographic gap in your list, about 250 miles wide, between UCSB and CSUMB. There is only one four-year school within that gap, which is Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Cal Poly is about 100 miles north of UCSB and 150 miles south of CSUMB. Doesn’t that seem like a good place for a pit stop?</p>
<p>Furthermore, PCH cuts through the southwest corner of the Cal Poly campus after it branches off from the 101 in San Luis Obispo. So if you plan to take Route 1 all the way to SF, you will literally be driving through Cal Poly anyway. Might as well turn off at Highland Drive and take the 0.5-mile detour to the center of campus.</p>
<p>Cal Poly isn’t a “coastal” school, because it isn’t on the water. However, it is only 10-15 miles from Morro Bay (to the west) and Avila Beach and Pismo Beach (to the south), and so it still attracts surfers, kayakers, and other beach enthusiasts. People who are considering schools like UCSB, CSUMB, and UCSC routinely consider Cal Poly as well.</p>
<p>you definitely need to visit UCSC..its an AMAZING campus! i live in monterey so i drive through CSUMB all the time..nothing real special there..UCSB is beautiful too! thats where i’m going this fall..i can’t wait!!</p>
<p>Branyon214:</p>
<p>Silicon Valley and San Jose are not cow towns. I won’t even begin to explain the significance and significant companies in and around Silicon Valley. Where did you get your info.?</p>
<p>Stanford is kinda close (take a detour) and if you go through SF you can see SFSU and then Cal.</p>