<p>I live there. I’ve been here for a month and I CANNOT wait to move out next weekend.
I really, really don’t recommend it. It’s liveable and fine and the people tend to be really great, but if you can, live in the dorms, and if you can’t afford that, check UCLA community housing and get an apartment; if you live with 3-4 other people you can get rent around 650 a month, while co-op is around 500/month.<br>
If you want more information, you can read my blog post here: [once</a> there was a kitty_kat: Why I would never recommend the UCHA co-op](<a href=“http://oncekitty-kat.blogspot.com/2010/07/ten-things-i-like-and-ten-things-i-hate.html]once”>http://oncekitty-kat.blogspot.com/2010/07/ten-things-i-like-and-ten-things-i-hate.html)
I’ll answer your questions also:
It’s not that clean. I have a really really messy roommate, which bothers me as I’m pretty clean, so I wear shoes in my room at all times. Despite the “Facilities Dept”, main rooms aren’t kept very clean, and a lot of chairs/doorknobs/surfaces/couches/tables that you touch will be either oily or sticky. You can keep your room clean- I know some people have really clean rooms- but you still have to deal with the rest of it. It’s not THAT bad; I got used to it after a week or so, but it’s definitely a LOT dirtier than the dorms. I sort of wonder why the health department doesn’t go after this place. Rumors of bed bugs, both online and from veterans, although I haven’t run into any.<br>
There are UCLA students and Santa Monica Community College students. It tends to not really matter. The people are really great; you sit down with someone and they’ll start talking to you, unlike in the dining halls where people only associate with their friends. I actually met someone from my major who took one of the same classes as me, but you’ll run into a lot of grad students, interns, and other various people. </p>
<p>The food varies a lot. Yesterday dinner was pretty great; tonight I only found one thing palatable. I’m a fairly picky eater, but most people agree. A lot of things are high-fat, but there’s always good salad and there’s fruit at lunch. Vegetables that are dropped on the floor are still used in salad. </p>
<p>The rooms are pretty decent. I’m in a triple with one other person, and I’d say it’s bigger than your avg res hall room by about half again. There are different sizes though, and HHH rooms are the smallest. </p>
<p>FYI, you have to do a 4 hr work shift per week, and then 4 extra hours per quarter. Facilities (trash and mopping) sounds gross to me, but I work in the kitchen and it’s not bad- one of the cooks is super friendly and awesome, and you get to do a lot of cooking, which is fun. </p>
<p>In sum, I’d avoid. There are definitely good things about it- the cooks, the people, some of the food- and I think it was probably a good experience to live here, but I think if I had to stay here for the rest of the summer, I’d go insane. If you got a good roommate, you’d probably do better than I did, but my biggest problem is with how the facility is run as a whole.</p>