I’m planning on attending UC davis and i was wondering which dorm buildings would be the best for freshman
Answer to your question from another thread courtesy of MistySquirrel and further elaboration from me:
On your housing application you will choose from three areas and put them in order of preference. those areas are Tercero, Segundo, and Cuarto. You can look up each area on the housing website to get information about their location and other things. You also choose single,double and triple and if you are interested in a Living/Learning community themed housing. Each housing area has a dining commons and a small market.
Tercero is popular because its sorta in the middle of campus and they have the newer buildings. Close to the Science buildings but they also have the most triples. Rooms are pretty large so a triple is not too bad. Usually 4 rooms share a 3-4 stall same gender bathroom. You are in the dairy, so you occassionally get the “essence of cow” smell but only if the wind is blowing in the right direction. Many of the Living/learning communities are housed here.
Cuarto is suite living and you will live in an “apartment” style dorm with 3 to 5 others and you will have a common living room area no kitchen. Pool available at Cuarto is also a bit off campus and you will have to cross a street or two to get to campus but its just about a 5 minute walk. Cuarto is less school due to the configuration of the suites. A much smaller dining commons is available but you have Trader Joes and the University Mall across the street which has several restaurants for a change of pace.
Segundo is on the North end of campus near the ARC, across the street from Trader Joes and Rite Aid which comes in handy. Segundo is also a popular choice due to location and the dorms are more traditional style with a large same gender bathroom at the end of each hall. They are also more social since most students keep the doors open. This year in Regan Hall, some floors were unisex bathrooms so you may want to confirm if this is an issue. Segundo has a mixture of some old and some slightly newer Halls. The Segundo dining hall is the largest and most popular.
You will not be able to choose an individual dorm building, just the area. As far as the best place its really up to you. Do you want a more dorm style living (segundo/tercero)? do you want a more apartment like place (cuarto)? are you okay being farther from campus (cuarto)? and you will have classes scattered everywhere throughout campus so its not like you will be farther or closer to your classes based on where you live. It just comes down to random luck with scheduling. My son got into Segundo, Ryerson as a Freshman and into Cuarto Webster Hall as a 2nd year. Freshman year was fine to be in a regular dorm for the social aspect and he likes Cuarto this year since study time and quiet has become more a priority.
^ just wanted to add that if you choose to live in Cuarto and you get placed in Thoreau, you’ll have up to 7-8 people living with you since all the suites in Thoreau are either a 8-person suite (all the rooms are doubles) or a 9-person suite (in a 9 person suite, there are three doubles and one triple room). That’s the only dormitory where you get a large number of people in the same suite, though.
The kitchen in Cuarto is located in the main lounge area of each respective dormitory.
Only a 9 person suite? I had a 10 person suite in Thoreau! Granted, two of my suitemates walked out a few weeks in to live with their boyfriends and never were replaced, so we only had 10 on paper. And of course it was one from each of the doubles, leaving the two triples to continue being triples and the two doubles to become unofficial singles. But yeah, you could have up to 10 people in a Thoreau suite. There’s room for it at least.
Try to tour each of the housing areas if possible before putting your choices in. You may be surprised which one you like the best. For me I ended up liking Cuarto the most by far, Tercero was essentially neutral, and Segundo was a very very distant last place. It depends a lot on your personality and your general living preferences.
Tercero hands down