I agree, look up where you’d want to stay if you were vacationing there. It won’t be near USC, a beautiful enclave (campus and very immediate surrounding blocks) in an otherwise tough area (South LA, Inglewood, Compton, etc.), but it’s easy enough to drive around.
Also, pay attention to the housing culture at each school. If I recall from our USC visit, students tend to stay on campus only one year. You’ll want to know what students do after and how safe those situations are. The weird thing about LA is that it is so young that the dangerous neighborhoods don’t look that bad. Like any city and/or school, it is largely about knowing when and where the ok places are.
It will also be interesting to see what she thinks about LA. It has a LOT to offer culturally and in the food realm. It’s far more sprawling though than typical east coast cities. There is stuff to do, but getting to it can be a challenge. It really is a love it or hate it environment.
If she wants the prototypical CA beach school experience, UCSB is the place. It is close enough to the city to do city things without the hassle of the city (mainly traffic, sprawl and crime).
Personally, I love the Koreatown area, i love the vibe and the food and it’s very central to everything - downtown, Hollywood, USC, UCLA, and so on. The Line is a chic hotel that you might like in the Koreatown area. The hotels won’t be as expensive as staying in downtown or Hollywood or Santa Monica.
@NewJeffCT Are you only looking at Southern California? If not, she might like University of San Francisco especially or San Francisco State or UC Berkeley if she likes cities
Oh and when you STAY in LA, don’t be surprised about the room size vs. what you pay.
The rooms are small. I suggest staying near UCLA (Santa Monica is always fun).
Agree that what you see on a map, does NOT reflect traffic, especially if you have to go on the 405.
USC will have more of the traditional university “look”.
The UC’s all look very different.
UCSD looks like a business park. Don’t expect to have an ocean view from the central parts of campus. The beaches are below the campus. There is a lot of construction on the eastern end of the campus. Biking the campus, ah, not unless you want to have a lot of detours.
UCI is uphill-both ways! Having a car helps.
UCSB is “removed” from the city of Santa Barbara, but the beach is basically the campus.
Depending on the time of day, you need to plan your visit out to the Clairemonts. Traffic out there, from central LA, can be a bear.
@Jugulator20 no, my daughter is NOT going to be premed. She has a lot of interests - theater/acting, psychology, game design, history and another one or two I’m forgetting right now.
@readthetealeaves Thanks - my daughter likes Berkeley, but I think we would save northern California for another visit, as I would be doing the driving and don’t feel like driving from SF to LA, even though it’s supposed to be a beautiful drive if you go Route 1.
If you do eventually do Nor Cal, don’t miss UC Davis. That’s where I transferred to after I left UC San Diego, and I loved it so much. My D 19 did a summer program there two summers ago and fell in love with the little town of Davis too. Granted it’s not a big city, but you’re pretty darn close to San Francisco and because Davis has so many amazing professors and the university is there the town itself feels very interesting and not dull at all…there’s something for everyone in Davis?
@NewJeffCT if you do take the highway 1 route at some point in time, be sure to allow plenty of time - a whole day - for travel. It’s a lovely route, but exhausting to drive. With recent construction due to mudslides be sure to check that the entire route is open when you plan to travel.
You should be all set with the great advice here! One more thing to know about LA, if you don’t already: it’s not really a big city. It’s a bunch of small to medium sized cities and neighborhoods whose boundaries have disappeared. Each has its own character and they change over time. Lots of visitors choose to stay in Santa Monica because it has that classic sunset-over-the-ocean S Cal vibe. Koreatown will have tons of good inexpensive food options but lousy traffic and no place to walk. Beverley Hills is clean and upscale. Los Feliz / West Hollywood has great people watching and restaurants. Melrose is quite the scene for walking and shopping. Since you’re not there very long you mght not care where you stay … but don’t judge all of “LA” by what you see outside your hotel window or on the streets you are driving - what “LA” is like very much depends upon where you are in the city.
Thank you @CaMom13 - I remember many years ago when I was in my 20s and a year or two out of college, a couple of young women came by my home doing a fundraiser for college. One of the women was from LA and she told me that Connecticut (the entire state) reminded her of LA - lots of towns and small cities together, with extremes of wealth and poverty, sometimes in close proximity. The description kind of stuck with me over the years, though.
also, one additional question. My wife has it in her head to go to San Diego first, so would this be feasible for a trip:
Monday - UCSD
Tuesday - UC-Irvine
Wednesday UCSB
Thursday - UCLA
Friday USC
If we drive from SD to the Irvine area for UC-Irvine, and then from LA through LA to SB, is that feasible or will traffic be crazy? Or, would it be better to do UCLA/USC on Wednesday and Thursday and then drive out to SB on Friday?
A couple of thoughts - 1. It’s more important to define when you travel than where you travel. Going from Irvine to Santa Barbara after 8pm will be fine. Going at 3pm will be horrible. 2. The freeways you take make a huge difference in your traffic - when I go from my area (just N of downtown) to San Diego I head out the 210 to the 15. Going to Irvine I take the 210 to the 57. A lot of that is because I instinctively avoid taking the 5 or the 405 through LA. Irvine to SB the most direct route is the 405 and the 101 and both freeways can be murder, especially during commute hours.
For those 5 schools I would do: SD → Irvine → USC / UCLA → SB and I would drive between locations either mid-day or after dinner each “travel” day.
some more thoughts - not sure how rental car companies work wrt a Fastrak device in California, but you may want to pick one up before you come here, if rental companies don’t offer the option. Unless you are traveling late at night every night, you’ll probably find that taking the 73 toll road on the way between San Diego and UCI will save you a ton of time. Likewise, taking the 110 toll as an option as you come up to the downtown LA area will possibly save you a bunch of time as well. Do note that Fastrak is a slight pain when it comes to rental cars - after you pick up your car, you must register that license plate number on the website, no automatic tracking like one would expect.
Presumably, you’re flying into/out of LAX, so I don’t think it will matter that much whether you go Irvine->USC/UCLA->SB, or Irvine->SB->USC/UCLA, since you’ll have to come back to Los Angeles proper anyways. Maybe the first option would be better just so you don’t get stuck with a potential 3.5-4 hour drive.
I completely agree with @CaMom13, that the deal with the traffic is WHEN you travel.
Also, remember that the odd-numbered freeways (5, 91, 405, 15, 57, 101) run north/south.
The even #'s run east/west (10, 210) EXCEPT the 110 which runs N/S.
Try to avoid the 405 and 5 at peak hours.
I agree with @crknwk2000, my kid loved Davis which feels like a college town but has access to SF and Sacramento.
There are some nice B&Bs near the beach in Santa Monica and the drive to UCLA is not too far (USC is a different matter). But also consider the UCLA guesthouse, it can be cheaper than quite a few of the surrounding hotels, and is open to anyone to stay there. From the guesthouse you can walk around the campus very easily, it’s especially convenient if you have an early morning tour. Westwood is a short drive or walkable in 20 mins for dinner (note that UCLA is all hills, great for staying fit).
Look at airfare to and from different LA airports. Depending on where you live, airports other than LAX might be good bargains and more convenient. For example, if you decide to finish the tour in Santa Barbara, flying out of Burbank might be easier than LAX.
Just wanted to add to everyone’s advice that traffic should be a big factor in your plans. Our first time out, we just use Google, and miles, to estimate, and that was completely misleading. You can take an hour to go five miles in LA, no kidding. I believe you can use Google or Waze to plan a future trip with times and traffic, so this is helpful. Even now I have visited about 10 times and still find LA simply tiring due to the traffic and congestion. Doing everything is just a little harder. Keep in mind if you do plan two school visits in one day, make sure the second one isn’t one of your favorites…energy will be low and you don’t want to lessen a school’s chances by dragging your kid through a tour.
LMU has come up a few times and I strongly recommend it, my DD is very happy there. It is as much in “the city” as USC or UCLA, knowing as explained above that “the city” is really a very large collection of areas. LMU is beautiful like Pepperdine and up on a bluff, but as soon as you drive out of it you are in “LA” (specifically, the Westchester neighborhood, near Marina Del Rey), and it’s close to LAX if you fly in and out of there. Very close like 10 minutes. We also had read about the Pepperdine religious vibe and crossed it off the list; LMU is Jesuit, but there is not really a religious feel or culture to it, but the Jesuit influence is present in more philosophical/service/whole person kind of ways. Anyway, if your D has the stats for UCLA an USC, LMU would be more of a safety. And it is quite different, as in a medium school rather than large, huge sports spirit culture, like UCLA/USC. My D got great merit at LMU.
I know that many people advice Santa Monica to visitors, but it is really, really congested. Especially if you are experiencing traffic for the first time and driving around a lot, why stay in the middle of a super congested area? I would pick lodging as close to your school destinations as possible, with maybe a couple nights something more beautiful/resort-y, and I would choose to move hotels over picking one that is more central but will mean long drives each way. I know I sound like an old codger who cant handle traffic, that’s not the case, but when you have a lot to do, try to minimize your drive time as much as possible!
You may also want to at least do some Googling of University of San Diego. It has a very different look and feel from UCSD. It’s more out of the philosophical and size mold of LMU, Santa Clara and University of Portland.
As for places to stay in SD, look up the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in La Jolla. It’s not your typical Holiday Inn and an easy walk down to the beach. It’s very convenient to UCSD without being stuck up on the hill.
The ultra splurge is the Del Coronado, but it’s about 20 min south of USD and 30 min south of UCSD.
Thanks @TS0104 - I think we’re probably going to do 1 school per day, as USC seems to run expanded tours only on M/W/F and I think it starts late morning, so would preclude all but a cursory look at UCLA if we did both on the same day.
One more thing to know about LA, if you don’t already: it’s not really a big city. It’s a bunch of small to medium sized cities and neighborhoods whose boundaries have disappeared. Each has its own character and they change over time. Lots of visitors choose to stay in Santa Monica because it has that classic sunset-over-the-ocean S Cal vibe. Koreatown will have tons of good inexpensive food options but lousy traffic and no place to walk. Beverley Hills is clean and upscale. Los Feliz / West Hollywood has great people watching and restaurants. Melrose is quite the scene for walking and shopping. Since you’re not there very long you mght not care where you stay … but don’t judge all of “LA” by what you see outside your hotel window or on the streets you are driving - what “LA” is like very much depends upon where you are in the city.