@Nhatrang so here are some general thoughts, and then some of my thoughts:
The choices for dorms freshmen will be Foothill, Stern (women only), Blackwell, Unit 1, Unit 2 and Unit 3. I think Bowles is also available, but more for the Regents and Chancellors folks. Not sure since it was off limits to my kid. Off-campus living is allowed but I believe that around 97% of incoming freshmen goes with a dorm.
Traditionally, Foothill and Stern have been considered the more quieter and less social side, while Blackwell and the Units are considered more social. Foothill is more the domain of the engineering majors and a lot of the STEM majors since more of the Engineering and Math buildings are on that side. Blackwell is the newest dorm, just built last August. To me that’s the premier dorm because of the state-of-the-artness (for lack of a better word) of the building, and it’s the closest dorm to campus. No cafeteria though, but Unit 3 is right across the street so no big deal. Another tiny advantage of Blackwell is that a microwave and tiny refrigerator will be already available (saves you $100 a year in rental fees). The Units are older (so is Foothill), been around for at least 25 years. My kid visits his friends in all the Units, he’s less picky than I am, he thinks all of them are fine.
You can request a single room, but they are really limited. In my experience, usually the Regents people, or people who have a disability that requires a single room get them first. So unless you are a Regents/Chancellors person, I probably wouldn’t bother with a single. Blackwell has nothing but doubles. Dorm assignments are pretty random, as long as you turn in your application before May 1 you will be assigned a lottery number. In other words, it doesn’t really matter when you turn in your application. You get 5 choices in your application for which dorm you want, but it’s also segregated out by people accommodation. In other words, Choice 1 could be Unit 3 double, Choice 2 could be Unit 3 triple, Choice 3 could be Blackwell double and so on. You 100% want Choice 5 to be “any building, any room” or else you might be left out in the cold with no room assignment at all. Doubles will probably be the most popular, and triples will be the cheapest. Foothill has quad options which are more like 2 bedroom apartments with a common living space. Make sure you thoroughly think this through - in some respects you are playing the odds here, so choose wisely.
You have 2 choices for requesting roommates - you can choose one on your own, if both you and the roommate have chosen the same building and room type. Or you can have UCB choose your roommates, based on a questionnaire. The questions, OTOH, are 1) how neat are you? 2) what time do you sleep 3) what time do you wake up 4) how much do you trust other people and one other one that I can’t remember. From here, they will match you up. They don’t use race, major, or age for matching.
The meal plan that comes with the dorm: Basic one is 12 uses a week, which is included in the dorm cost (they don’t accumulate, you don’t use it in a week, you lose it). There’s also an unlimited plan, which I believe is an extra $950 a year. There’s also a new plan, which for an extra $350 a year you get 10 additional uses per week on top of the 12. Personally I would just go with the basic, I doubt if my kid has ever used up all 12 in a week ever. There are so many restaurants on the south side of campus, and many on the north end as well, and a ton on the west end/downtown.
A lot of classes for the first year, maybe first 2 years, will be spread around all over the place. For my kid, the vast majority of his lectures and discussions were in the center, either in Wheeler, Dwinelle or VLSC. Computer and Engineering labs are always in Soda or Cory. But he also has a lecture in the Haas School of Business all the way on the east side this semester. Last semester he had a class all the way in the northwest end in the Li Ka Shing building.
Usually students only stay for freshmen year, though because of Blackwell and a few other additions, all sophomores can more or less be accommodated as well for next year. My kid is debating in the next 24 hours whether to take his same dorm offer for next year, or go thru the hassle of finding an apartment. Quite frankly most freshmen opt for apartments,houses, or frats/sororities by their 2nd year because it’s more spacious.
