I was just wondering if you request a roommate, do you not get to choose which dorms (segundo/tercero/cuarto) you live in? Do your preferences not get considered because of roommate request? Anyone who has requested a roommate, did you get the hall you want?
Also, which dorms are better segundo or tercero?
And if you submit your housing registration form early, do you get preference. Or does the time you submit not matter for housing placement
UCD’s housing applications are not like the CSU’s, first come. As long as you complete the application and meet the enrollment fees and deadlines, you will be considered with all of the rest of the applicants and they do try to give you your 1st or 2nd choice area/dorm type if possible. If you submit passed the deadlines, there is no guarantee.
If you select a specific roommate, you both have to agree on the same area/location, room type and living/learning community.
You cannot select a specific hall unless you know that the living/learning communities will be in that specific hall, but the locations change each year.
You can select single/double/triple, Segundo/Tercero or Curarto and a Living/Learning community or not.
Tercero is near the dairy (essence of cow and only when the wind blows are certain way) but are the newest dorms. They have a single gender bathrooms which are shared by 4-6 dorm rooms. The rooms are fairly spacious for triples.
Close to many of the science buildings, Arboretum and horse stables.
Segundo has many of the older style/traditon dorms. Long Hallways with one large bathroom at each end of the floors- single gender. Most of these rooms are doubles. There are some buildings with similar dorm types as Tercero also.
The largest and supposedly the best dining hall.
Close to the ARC.
Do you plan to visit? Decision day has in the past offered dorm tours for both areas.
Definitely do a dorm tour to scope things out for yourself.
To add onto what @Gumbymom said about the dorms:
Map: http://campusmap.ucdavis.edu/
Tercero is nice in that everything is bright, new, and shiny. UC Davis is even opening three new halls starting Fall 2017. It’s closer to most classes, and located closer to the center of campus.
However, it is the most popular choice and housing there is not guaranteed. The DC at Tercero is rather small. I just went to eat there the other day, and the food was pretty bad. All the DCs should have the same menu, but the way food was prepared there was oddly sub-par. Anyways, the Tercero DC is actually located on the second floor of the Services Center. When the DC becomes too crowded (very often) people are actually forced to go downstairs to eat due to lack of seats. If you want more food, you’ll need to walk up the stairs back to the second floor.
There are actually gender-neutral bathrooms in addition to the single-gender bathrooms at some buildings.
Segundo is closer to the edge of campus, right across from the Rite Aid and a small outlet with various food options. It is also very close to the ARC making it so there is no excuse for not working out. It’s a bit farther to most classes with the exception of the lab building. If you look at the campus map, there’s a small section of Segundo called “Regan Residence Halls”. Regan is the worst place you could live in my opinion. They also have the infamous quad rooms. A quad is a room where two doubles have a connecting room in-between that contain all four desks. In exchange your bedroom is incredibly narrow, and it almost feels like living with three others. Same double room cost though. I am not entirely sure a tour will bring you to this area because it is quite decrepit, so I encourage you to go see these buildings for yourself. Please let me know if you would like to know more about that hell hole, because I know a lot about it. Most rooms in Segundo are not in Regan however. The Segundo DC is great, and has ample space.
I don’t know a lot about Cuarto besides their DC is usually considered the best of the three. They serve real ice cream every day. Cuarto halls are more of an apartment style and rooms are more secluded from each other. This area also has a pool and hot tub. Cuarto is much farther from the main campus area though.
I can elaborate on Cuarto since my son lived their Sophomore year. The rooms are like apartments (no kitchen) but suite style. You have maninly doubles but some triple rooms. He was in a 3 bedroom suite (3 doubles) with 2 shared bathrooms and a small living room area with couch and side tables. His building had a pool/hot tub and a small rec area (Webster Hall).
Cuarto is located off campus, catty corner from the Segundo area and across the street from the small mini-mall and Trader Joe’s. My son thought their DC was definitely the best and does have a lot of Vegan options.
Thanks so much for the info!! @Gumbymom @Panduhr
Also,is there any way to avoid being put in regan, and are you able to switch dorm halls once you’re put in them?
As someone who lived in Cuarto, I always have to roll my eyes when someone says that Cuarto is “far”. Is it farther out than other areas? Yes. But it’s literally a couple minutes away from Segundo. So Segundo isn’t “far”, but a couple minutes magically makes Cuarto “far”? Give me a break. And tell me just how far Cuarto is once you’ve lived in an off campus apartment for three years.
To Segundo being closer to the ARC: Yes, it is. But once again, it’s a case of adding a couple minutes to the travel time and everyone talking about how much “closer” Segundo is compared to the others. And once again, give me a break and get back to me about how much farther the other areas are once you’ve lived in an off campus apartment.
Besides that pet peeve of mine that I wanted to address to give a more accurate view of the distance situation, the housing areas in and of themselves have been covered pretty well upthread.
Regarding Regan, no. Unless you request a specific theme community, they’re going to put you wherever there’s room while trying to meet as many of your requests as possible. So assuming you specifically get Segundo, you could be in Segundo North, a high rise, or Regan. You won’t know for sure until you find out your assignments a few weeks before school starts.
You can request a room transfer, but where you end up depends on who else is requesting transfers. So yes, you could theoretically switch dorm halls. But you could also end up in either the same hall or one with a very similar setup (e.g. swapping high rises), depending on who else wants to transfer.
If Regan is a particular concern to you and the other aspects of Segundo don’t outweigh that concern, your best bet is to rank Segundo last in your area preferences. Given that Cuarto is the least requested area, putting either Segundo or Tercero below it should result in you not being in that area. It also gives you a higher chance of Cuarto, so consider your preferences there before making a ranking decision.
The long and the short of it is that it comes down to luck of the draw, but you can try to influence that draw based on your preference rankings. If you’re like me and request a triple on the quiet floor in Cuarto, you have a good chance of getting what you want. If you request a double on a coed floor with no community preference in Segundo/Tercero, you’re more likely to get shuffled in various ways. Somewhere in the middle, who knows?