WRT housing guarantee for Berkeley, I’m not sure what their definition of “guarantee” is, but at least for this year’s incoming freshmen, if you turned in your housing choices before May 1 and as long as one of your choices was “any dorm available”, you were guaranteed a spot. Maybe for those who are on waitlist and/or transfer students, perhaps there’s no guarantees.
The housing situation was a bit better this year with the addition of the new Blackwell dorm, and there are plans for more housing over the next couple of years.
oh - and thank you so much everybody. When I posted it several days back, I was hoping for 1 or 2 helpful responses and instead received dozens of them with a lot of great information.
@NewJeffCT
Is residence hall housing guaranteed?
All new students receive priority for housing. This applies to freshmen, including students participating in the Fall Program for Freshmen (FPF), Global Edge, and January start students. If you meet the housing application deadlines, are flexible about your housing preferences, you will receive a housing contract offer. https://housing.berkeley.edu/incoming-freshman-faqs
In San Diego the Sheraton La Jolla was charming and adjacent to campus…the Hyatt also looked super nice (both had relaxing pools, if you have time!)…the rates were surprisingly affordable last year around first week in March. Also, Hilton in SB is gorgeous!! There are many choices there because it’s a vacation destination, and lucky for you it will be off-season.
Try to build in the extra time for travel, avoid peak travel times (!!!). We did this trip last year and truly enjoyed it.
Also, Occidental is an easier admit than the UC’s, is charming (though in a kind of boring/average residential area) far from UCLA and the airport (though I think there’s another airport called Ontario that may be closer). LMU is also really nice, easier admit, near beaches, and a super short ride to LAX (10min). If nothing else, just drive thru the campus as you leave airport.
Where are you flying into/out of? Your itinerary might be better if you were to fly into San Diego, see UCSD and Irvine (Irvine is halfway between La Jolla and LA), and then head up to LA, see USC/UCLA/Pepperdine and then go to Santa Barbara. I would also consider the Claremont consortium. And, if she’d consider an LAC, Occidental.
I personally think two tours in one day – with LA traffic in between – is a lot to do. I would recommend sitting in on classes and not just going on tours.
As an OOS student, you’re looking at spending a lot of $$ for UCs.
UCSD doesn’t offer much in the way of “college town” ambiance.
@LoveTheBard Yes, it’s a lot of money for the UC schools as an out-of-state student. But, at least most of the UC schools are better than the state schools in the Northeast - UConn, UMass, URI, UVm, UMaine, UNH, Rutgers, Penn State, Univ of Delaware - and the private schools here are Ivy League, NYU and the Boston area schools and none of those are cheap. There are a ton of really good LACs, but my daughter is leaning against them (Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Wellesley, Bowdoin, Bates, Swarthmore, etc)
I should say that the better UC schools like UCLA and UC-Berkeley are better than the top state universities in the Northeast. And, I still think Penn State, UConn and Rutgers are still a bit behind the next tier of UC schools
We toured 5 of those SoCal schools and were exhausted after each one because we’d spend 3-4 hours walking all around. Do that on back to back to back to back days and 1 a day will be plenty. Like LoveTheBard said, just the LA traffic will tire you out. If you spent just 2 hours at a school you could do more than one a day, but those are big schools and I think it’s hard to soak in the experience in that amount of time. But you are coming from far away, so maybe a more cursory look is needed. Maybe spend more time at the most likely schools. Since UCI is between LA and SD, that might be one to take a shorter look at. Santa Barbara is a bit of a drive, so you might as well spend more time there. We liked to go off campus and have lunch, walk around, and get a feel for the neighborhood. They are all fairly different in that regard.
If you daughter’s got anywhere near the stats to consider such schools as Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Wellesley, Bowdoin, Bates, Swarthmore and the like, she likely would be competitive for Ivy League schools or a number of top private research universities (some of which offer merit aid). This might would be a better use of your tuition dollars than the UCs (to my mind, UCSB, UCI, and UCSD – with COAs ranging from $62K to $66K with underestimated travel costs and other expenses, are overcrowded (more often than not with forced triples or no on-campus guaranteed housing) are simply not worth the money; I don’t even Berkeley and UCLA are).
Re the comment about “no on-campus guaranteed housing”, costs aside, UCSB does guarantee 4 years with their 2+2 plan. Live 2 years in the dorms and then you are guaranteed 2 years in university-owned apartments. Just off campus, but a great guarantee for a UC. We know a few kids who have lived all 4 years in the dorms too, but the apartments are better IMO. UCLA guarantees 3 years of housing, so there is only 1 year to worry about. The other UCs are generally only 1 or 2 years.
@NewJeffCT - I was laughing a little over an earlier bit of this thread … Nothing like Traffic to get a bunch of Angelenos talking! So glad you’ve gotten so much good advice. I just hope you can squeeze in a flying visit to one or more of the smaller schools during your week here, you definitely have plenty of time. I grew up in Northern California and I went to school in Pennsylvania before I transferred to UCLA 30+ years ago. I love S. Cal, it’s a great place to go to college and there’s a reason so many people come and stay for longer than they planned… I hope you guys enjoy it.
Unless you rush, usc and UCLA will need their own days. For reference, LAX is about a 45 min drive to UCLA on a decent day. The good thing is both UCLA and usc in general offer very similar campus vibes, academics and attract similar student bodies. So if you like one you’ll prob like the other. Many UCLA and usc students had to decide between both schools.
First housing at USF is only guaranteed year one. So, on your own trying to find an apartment/housing in SF for three years ?. Studio apartments can easily rent for $3k per month in that area.
Second, Occidental is not an easier admit than all the UC’s. Easier than UCLA or UCB but on par or more difficult than the rest. The school is much smaller and more personalized than any of the UC’s but those wanting a rah rah experience, interested in business or wanting to be anonymous should stay away.
My two cents based on what you have said: Fly into SD and tour UCSD on the first day. Skip UCI and spend one day at USC and another at UCLA. Drive up to UCSB for the fourth day. You can add some of the smaller LAC if time and traffic permits but big campuses have long tours. Doubling up is going to be torture and I believe you are going to regret making time to tour UCI and not UCLA.
I disagree about skipping UCI. There’s no reason to. It’s certainly a top school in many facets and arguably is the nicest of all the UC campuses and in the most pristine area. So much happens in Orange County now as far as the Southern Cal economy is concerned.
Hey OP, since you’re from the Northeast, just wanted to add to check the weather highs AND lows! SoCal weather is great, and sunny, but at least a couple of times I’ve been out there it’s felt cooler than home (Midwest), the lack of humidity really makes temps feel lower! And it definitely gets cool at night.
@TS0104 - thanks, I’ve been out West a few times (I ran into a week of blah weather the one time I went to San Diego. All the travel guides I had read said the weather was great year round, but then I found out afterwards they have this thing called the June Gloom. So, I had 8 or 9 days of grey, drizzly weather in the 60s around Memorial Day, while back home in CT it was sunny and mid 80s
I hope you guys enjoy it.