My son was accepted to UOP Computer Engineering with a generous scholarship that makes UOP very affordable. But, Stockton is not exactly a glamorous place to live. Any current students/parents able to give their perspective on campus life and culture?
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Stockton can be dangerous but because of that, they have a very strong campus police presence with extensive network of patrolling and cameras. It is not surprising that according to their Clery report it’s one of the most safest schools in CA. Students know where the sketchy parts are and will know to avoid it, especially late at night. The school is like an oasis, a small community and tiny class sizes with professors paid to focus on teaching/helping/mentoring students. Facilities are constantly kept updated/remodeled, staff are super friendly, and the dining hall food is excellent. Students there absolutely loves it there and during our tour, always got positive vibes from them.
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Thank you for the info! Would you know if it is culturally diverse (seems so) and LDBTQ friendly?
I can’t attest to their LGBTQ-friendliness, but they do celebrate pride month.
In both visits I’ve done so far, the campus seems to be diverse with many Latino/Asian students. According to their fact page, their white/non-white student population split is 18/82%.
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I’m not worried about the campus, but usually students go out on weekends. Are there areas popular with the college crowd that is relatively safe? I’ve read some things on Reddit/Quora that made me uncomfortable enough to reconsider after February’s visit. Otherwise it does look like a great school especially given the major and the merit that D received. I also like their new partnership with the nearby DO school. And of course their co-ops.
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I’m also a parent of a D23 accepted for pre-pharm. Now that they upped their game with their partnership with Touro DO school, the school has moved up to the top on her current decision list. With this, safety is definitely our concern as well.
I can’t speak for anyone outside the pre-pharm/dent community. But I personally have two friends who are UOP pharmD grads and they both said you pretty much don’t go out into town at night. Of course, these two were studious introverts so they pretty much kept to either just studying or relaxing amongst friends on campus, or occasional parties at the pharmacy frat. They did risk venturing out to a sketchy part of town at night to get tacos once but they learned not to do that again LOL.
One thing you may want to do is do a comparison on Clery Act reports amongst different schools. Based on their 2022 report, the data shows crime is significantly lower than just about all other campuses in CA. You can google “Clery Act” on any school and by law, they’re supposed to publish a report annually.
I’m reading Reddit forums on this as well and aside from just one poster (who sounds very convincing), the consensus seems to be that the campus itself is safe. That one convincing poster does state the campus/town “is never safe” but mentions property crimes (which does happen on just about all campuses) and this may be just a matter of perspective.
Also, I want to point out, my UOP alum friend stated that in 2017, a girl who was walking to her apartment off campus got snatched up and sexually assaulted (3 men were caught and sentenced to 20 years in prison). Since this incident, the school made it a top priority to protect their students. This incident was a bit of a turning point for the school. There’s also a free ride hotline in case you’re stuck somewhere and need a ride back to campus. The police department also has a FB page that posts surveillance videos of cops monitoring suspicious on-campus activities and you can watch videos of thieves getting caught trying to steal bikes. The FB page also has weekly incident reports.
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Thank you for the info! I think a certain amount of crime is going to happen anywhere (shoot - there were 3 female students murdered at my college in the 1990’s, and that was a SAFE school and community). I don’t expect my son to wander into the community all that much, unless to nice areas. And I see they can grub hub from off campus, so that solves that issue.
I am becoming more impressed with the school overall. The orientation program (assuming it’s still the same) from a few years back sounds great. His scholarship package is really good, making it easily CSU prices or lower. I am not sure if its only engineering, but they have a mandatory/guaranteed 7 month paid co-op. That job experience is a huge advantage.
So many decisions!
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I can’t remember - do we still pay tuition when student is in co-op?
I don’t know, but that is a good question!
About 16% are multiracial, international, or unknown. Some of those students can be White. Hispanic or Latino students can be any race, including White.
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Someone mentioned on Reddit that there is a reduced tuition during COOP. The guy also complained about missing some key classes during that period but that sort of goes with the territory.
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