<p>Im visiting these schools in a few days, does anyone have any suggestions on what to tour, see, do.</p>
<p>The most unusual thing this year is that the weather has been so odd--80 one day and 30 the next. Don't consider this normal. Secondly, I would take a look at the areas around each of the schools. You'll find that there's a regular village around Berkeley, just a bunch of shopping centers and housing areas around Stanford, and nothing at all around Davis but a bunch of farms.</p>
<p>If this is a social trip as well--which I presume it is--go across the Bay Bridge from Berkeley and visit San Francisco--it's lots of fun. Take a tour of the Napa Valley, also and visit the wineries and restaurants. Cruise down to Santa Cruz and Monterey once you finally settle here.</p>
<p>Touring the campuses at these places will take up a lot of your time and should be your first priority. Looking at the local paper and make sure you're okay with the housing/apartment costs if you aren't staying on campus (you'll go for the campus housing pretty quick at either Stanford or Berkeley if you do this). Off-campus housing at Davis may be a possibility.</p>
<p>You might like Santa Cruz as a safety more than you like Davis, I'd visit it if you have an extra day. Plus, the town of Santa Cruz is adorable and you can go to the boardwalk after your visit. My mom and I had a lot of fun with that to destress after visiting a million colleges.</p>
<p>In San Francisco, the tourist spots to hit are Ghiridelli square Fisherman's Warf and Pier 39 all of which are in the same general area. They're really touristy and not that unique except for Ghiridelli, but they're what people think of with San Francisco. The cable car turn around is right by Ghiridelli (I feel like I'm spelling that wrong) and they're fun if the weather is decent. If it isn't don't bother. They drop you off at Union Square, the most upscale shopping in San Francisco. (There's a range though.) I also suggest Chinatown, which could be cool and different depending on what you're used to and where you come from.</p>
<p>I have already toured Berkeley and Davis over the summer. Basically im going again just to get a feel for it when regular classes are in session. Also seeing the residence halls. Im spending the most time at stanford because i have never been there. The reason I am considering Davis is that my uncle is a proffesor there and if I had to live off campus I could live in their rental house. Im taking all the organized tour stuff at Stanford, but at Berkeley and Davis, Im just going to try and explore on my own.</p>
<p>Im from Northern Cal, Humboldt, I dont have that much time since my high school is out for presidents week, but some college classes I take are still going on. Im spending an entire day in the stanford area, then splitting Berkeley and Davis into one day. This trip is mostly just looking at the colleges.</p>
<p>The tour at Berkely is relatively worthless in any case, but hanging arround and visiting classes should be informative. I don't know how one goes about visiting dorms. </p>
<p>I love the town of Santa Cruz but was underwhelmed by the UC campus. Others love it. Davis isn't as bad a town and school as some might think.</p>
<p>Some people love the Stanford campus, some don't. The tour is pretty good, but no dorms.</p>
<p>They say they have a one hour tour of the housing at 1:00 everyday. Also at Berkeley</p>
<p>Oh, sorry, you are correct about Stanford. As long as you want to see the residences but not any actual dorm rooms. Don't know the details for Berkeley (but the outside might be enough to put you off -- LOL).</p>
<p>It seems pretty hard to do Berkeley and Davis in one day, it's a two hour drive without traffic in a region that is prone to traffic.</p>
<p>Yah I remember the dorms being called Unit 1,2 and 3. Not very appealing. They looked like big hotels or something. I probably wont stay too long at Berkeley and Davis, a few hours at each</p>
<p>In Davis eat a pizza downtown at Steve's Place. Excellent pizza. If you are in Davis on Saturday morning, take in the Farmers Market.</p>
<p>I think getting the real feel of Berkeley would take a while, both on campus and in the surrounding neighborhood. I suppose that's true of many places, but Berkeley seems more complex than, say, UCD or UCSC. For Stanford, you don't need to visit Palo Alto or other surrounding areas at all, really, except to inquire about local transportation and SF travel possibilities. On the other hand, getting a feel of the campus, including residence arrangements, is more important.</p>
<p>Actually Ive had pizza at Steve's Place. It is really good. Ive been around the Davis area a lot. Been to movie theatre, restraunts, etc. Been around berkeley a little bit, never been to Palo Alto</p>
<p>Palo Alto and surrounding localities have a few pizza joints, movies, and watering holes, along with plenty of restaurants, mostly expensive. It's about as bad as it gets for a college town atmosphere. On the other hand, undergraduates tend to stay on campus, which has its advantages, with the occasional jaunt into SF.</p>
<p>Does Palo Alto have any culture or is it basically all shopping malls and franchise stores</p>
<p>High culture, in the sense of opera, serious music, plays, etc., exists in the SF Bay area primarily in SF and on the Stanford and Berkeley campuses. I'm not up to date re jazz clubs or whatever else culture means. Palo Alto and the string of related towns are in a certain sense a string of rich people's nice residential areas and small towns, but it's not exactly all shopping malls and franchise stores in the sense that you ask, i think. The Stanford Shopping Center, technically on the Stanford campus, is a very high end shopping destination, for example, but it's not exactly a part of the Stanford undergraduate experience in an important way for most undergraduates.</p>
<p>Basically I dont want to live in place like roseville, or these emerging suburban places. I dont like driving around and seeing home depots and Walmarts every where you look</p>
<p>Stanford students don't spend much time "driving around". You stay on or very near campus, go to nearby restaurants or stores, go to the beach or Santa Cruz or Yosemite, go to SF or maybe even Berkeley. Maybe do community service in East Palo Alto. But you otherwise aren't much aware of the local community, whose culture in any case is not Home Depot and Walmart.</p>
<p>splitting the day between Davis and Berkeley doesn't give you much time to do more than investigate the campuses. besides the dorms, you might hang out a while in the student unions. have a meal and listen to the conversations around you. look at the bulletin boards to see what speakers or performers are coming to campus. take a look at the student newspapers. you might wander around whatever building houses student organizations and see what they are. if you have a particular major in mind or a particular extra curricular you're involved in, try to talk to students who might be wandering around those departments or e-mail a club contact ahead of time and arrange to meet or sit in on a class with him/her.</p>