Good, bad and ugly about your DMV child's experience with attending college in CALIFORNIA?

[Anonymous]

If your DMV child is currently in school in California (or headed there this fall) can you share your experience and thoughts?

How has it worked out?
Any regrets by the child and/or would they make this choice again?
If they're graduating, are they coming back home after graduation?

[Anonymous]

Not mine, but my neighbor's kid is graduating from UCLA this year. She's loved it, no regrets, and doesn't want to come back to DC. Is going to grad school in Europe.

[Anonymous]

We’re Californians who lived in the DMV for about 10 years and went back. Our kids are pretty much Californians. One is in school in NorCal and one in SoCal.

I will say that Californians seem to be way more critical of the UCs outside where they grew up than OOS. My kid in SoCal hates that it’s too sunny, thinks it’s too hot and too difficult to get around with public transportation and too much traffic in a car. She hates the ubiquitous influencer/reality TV show look and body con clothing. Thinks they have no fashion sense. My kid in NorCal has SoCal friends who think it’s freezing up here, no one up here has any fashion sense, and it’s either too outdoorsy or too techie.

OOS kids seem to be in awe of the beautiful weather in either place.

[Anonymous]

Pros: weather, food, outdoor activities, really nice people
Cons: wild fires, hot dorms without a/c, travel fares, homesickness

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pros: weather, food, outdoor activities, really nice people
Cons: wild fires, hot dorms without a/c, travel fares, homesickness

The thing about CA weather is that it cools down a lot in the evening even in the summer, unlike the south or DC. You open your windows at night to get that cooler breeze when it's hot. You can't do that in the south, or here in DC. I learned this the hard way when I moved from CA to DC. I never really needed a/c at night in CA. During the day, if it's hot, you just hang out indoors like the library or common area. Bonus: the heat is usually dry heat, not humid heat. Dry heat is easier to tolerate than humid heat.

[Anonymous]

My kid at UCSD has liked her experience, although the travel has been drag and she wishes she could come home for visits more often. Obviously there are lots of expenses we wouldn't have if she were within a day's drive.

She's graduating in 3 years and plans to do grad school closer to home.

[Anonymous]

At the UC's, the dorm situation can be challenging. My DD was assigned to a double room, but they put three students in the room. This has been a common practice. It's pretty crowded to have 3 girls in a room for 2 girls, and so that negatively impacted my DD's freshman year.

The UC development office rep specifically told me (an OOS parent) that the UC's are mean to provide social and economic mobility for California residents. (This was a way of explaining why there were so few orientation resources for new students.)

Also, the school spirit is not as much as it could be.

Instead of paying to go OOS at a UC, I personally think you'd get more of a value attending a private college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the UC's, the dorm situation can be challenging. My DD was assigned to a double room, but they put three students in the room. This has been a common practice. It's pretty crowded to have 3 girls in a room for 2 girls, and so that negatively impacted my DD's freshman year.

The UC development office rep specifically told me (an OOS parent) that the UC's are mean to provide social and economic mobility for California residents. (This was a way of explaining why there were so few orientation resources for new students.)

Also, the school spirit is not as much as it could be.

Instead of paying to go OOS at a UC, I personally think you'd get more of a value attending a private college.

Is this ucla? UC’s vary. I would only recommend ucla, Berkeley and ucsb for out of state students. I mention UCSB because it’s such a special place, and overcrowding/lack of dorms is overshadowed by the happy students, beautiful location and amenities.

I would NEVER attend Davis, UCSD, Santa Cruz or Irvine as an OOS student. Irvine is a commuter campus. UCSD is fine, but lacks cohesion and school spirit. Davis is great - for California students.

[Anonymous]

DC is in California and loving it. Would like a car but otherwise no issues. Isn’t near graduation so not sure if they’ll return to DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the UC's, the dorm situation can be challenging. My DD was assigned to a double room, but they put three students in the room. This has been a common practice. It's pretty crowded to have 3 girls in a room for 2 girls, and so that negatively impacted my DD's freshman year.

The UC development office rep specifically told me (an OOS parent) that the UC's are mean to provide social and economic mobility for California residents. (This was a way of explaining why there were so few orientation resources for new students.)

Also, the school spirit is not as much as it could be.

Instead of paying to go OOS at a UC, I personally think you'd get more of a value attending a private college.

Is this ucla? UC’s vary. I would only recommend ucla, Berkeley and ucsb for out of state students. I mention UCSB because it’s such a special place, and overcrowding/lack of dorms is overshadowed by the happy students, beautiful location and amenities.

I would NEVER attend Davis, UCSD, Santa Cruz or Irvine as an OOS student. Irvine is a commuter campus. UCSD is fine, but lacks cohesion and school spirit. Davis is great - for California students.

Can you say more about Davis? We have family on the west coast and sophomore DD is drawn to Davis for a specific area of study and the location, but we keep hearing similar comments to yours and even after a visit don't fully understand why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pros: weather, food, outdoor activities, really nice people
Cons: wild fires, hot dorms without a/c, travel fares, homesickness

Pretty much this. The weather makes a huge impact on their mood in the winter. Dorms without AC were rough first few weeks but have been fine since and she is even opting to be in the same area next year.

The time change and then inability to jet home for a weekend sometimes makes her a little homesick but overall it’s been a great decision.

As of now she wants to come back to DMV for grad school but she’s only finishing first year so who knows!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your DMV child is currently in school in California (or headed there this fall) can you share your experience and thoughts?

How has it worked out?
Any regrets by the child and/or would they make this choice again?
If they're graduating, are they coming back home after graduation?

Berkeley, Engineering, picked it over UVA. They love the classes, peers are highly intelligent, not much frat culture, there are large classes but more than half have been reasonably sized(under 80). The negative is the library lines: there are sometimes very long waits just to get into the libraries. Kid has sent pictures. The sheer volume of students borderlines on overwhelming compared to the resources available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the UC's, the dorm situation can be challenging. My DD was assigned to a double room, but they put three students in the room. This has been a common practice. It's pretty crowded to have 3 girls in a room for 2 girls, and so that negatively impacted my DD's freshman year.

The UC development office rep specifically told me (an OOS parent) that the UC's are mean to provide social and economic mobility for California residents. (This was a way of explaining why there were so few orientation resources for new students.)

Also, the school spirit is not as much as it could be.

Instead of paying to go OOS at a UC, I personally think you'd get more of a value attending a private college.

Totally agree. I encouraged my in state CA kids not to apply to UCs. Too crowded and feels like a warehouse education. Definitely at OOS rates, I’d choose private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the UC's, the dorm situation can be challenging. My DD was assigned to a double room, but they put three students in the room. This has been a common practice. It's pretty crowded to have 3 girls in a room for 2 girls, and so that negatively impacted my DD's freshman year.

The UC development office rep specifically told me (an OOS parent) that the UC's are mean to provide social and economic mobility for California residents. (This was a way of explaining why there were so few orientation resources for new students.)

Also, the school spirit is not as much as it could be.

Instead of paying to go OOS at a UC, I personally think you'd get more of a value attending a private college.

Totally agree. I encouraged my in state CA kids not to apply to UCs. Too crowded and feels like a warehouse education. Definitely at OOS rates, I’d choose private.

We’re in-state and unless DC gets into UCLA, they’re going OOS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the UC's, the dorm situation can be challenging. My DD was assigned to a double room, but they put three students in the room. This has been a common practice. It's pretty crowded to have 3 girls in a room for 2 girls, and so that negatively impacted my DD's freshman year.

The UC development office rep specifically told me (an OOS parent) that the UC's are mean to provide social and economic mobility for California residents. (This was a way of explaining why there were so few orientation resources for new students.)

Also, the school spirit is not as much as it could be.

Instead of paying to go OOS at a UC, I personally think you'd get more of a value attending a private college.

Is this ucla? UC’s vary. I would only recommend ucla, Berkeley and ucsb for out of state students. I mention UCSB because it’s such a special place, and overcrowding/lack of dorms is overshadowed by the happy students, beautiful location and amenities.

I would NEVER attend Davis, UCSD, Santa Cruz or Irvine as an OOS student. Irvine is a commuter campus. UCSD is fine, but lacks cohesion and school spirit. Davis is great - for California students.

Can you say more about Davis? We have family on the west coast and sophomore DD is drawn to Davis for a specific area of study and the location, but we keep hearing similar comments to yours and even after a visit don't fully understand why.

Are you asking why I said it’s great? Or why I discourage you from attending a great school?