My son was accepted to UCSC’s School of Engineering and will need to decide which college out if 10 to choose. He is not into partying, loves computer games, prefers to study with a group, very lazy. I know there is a geek/ gaming college but I am not sure it would be a good idea for him to go there. There is a good chance he will have no social life. He is not nerdy. He is quite outspoken, participated in speech and debate club and played at his HS theater. But he would definitely benefit from having other STEM students around.
We’ve read descriptions of all 10 colleges and it looks like there is one college with mostly STEM students- Crown. All other colleges are more about art, humanities, etc. We are a bit lost so I would appreciate any input on those 10 colleges.
Looking forward to reading the replies to your post. My so. Was admitted for Computer Engineering
My son is at Merrill and been happy there. He is a sophomore CS major and found many other friends. Yes they game but they also study and get good grades. Merrill wasn’t his top choice but he loves living practically in the woods. I really don’t think you can go wrong with any of the colleges.
I wouldn’t worry about one college being geeky vs. any other as Engineering is now one of the largest schools in the school and he will find friends anywhere.
Keep in mind in the college selection he won’t necessarily get his first choice.
I am a UCSC alumni and I went to Kresge for the apartments and honestly did very little with my college once I moved off campus. In my opinion the colleges don’t really live up to their hype.
Thank you! It’s very helpful.
If your son’s studying engineering I’d recommend Crown College. It’s the most science oriented community and he’d meet more peers from engineering. They have some extra programs and grants available to him. Look at their website for more information - crown.ucsc.edu
Thank you! This is what I told him but he is under impression this college is socially dead. My son is going to take a interdisciplinary major and he is not exactly a nerdy type. He is not into parties either but he’d prefer to be around students with different interests. We are going to visit UCSC in a couple of weeks. I think my son sees Crown as a place where students only study, discuss homework, and play games.
I would be very interested to know how impacted housing is at UCSC. I just traveled to Santa Cruz and heard from locals that it is a BIG problem for students.
Any coastal city in CA is going to expensive for off-campus housing (look at rental prices near UCSD in La Jolla as an example). The students would be competing for rentals against locals plus vacationers and some retirees. However, the UCSC campus is huge (1500 acres) so on-campus they have many great housing options and even the most unique option I’ve ever heard about (RVs).
There have been problems with providing enough housing on campus, only for the students to find limited in town options.
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/08/30/uc-santa-cruz-wants-staff-to-rent-rooms-to-students-due-to-lack-of-housing/