Housing & College Experience After Transferring

dilapidatedmind
Wed, 31 Oct 2012 09:34:39 +0000

This thread is pretty interesting, it looks like you’ll get a pretty decent range of responses from students at the universities you wanted. Anyway, I’m currently attending UCSD (now you only need someone from UCI to comment lol) I live off campus about 2 miles and I really enjoy it. The studio I live in is TWICE as nice as the transfer dorms at UCSD, known as the Village, which are pretty nice to begin with. In fact, UCSD probably has the best transfer dorms in the UC system, to me they were definitely nicer than UCLA (De Neve was okay actually) and Davis when I was looking at schools I was accepted to. Here’s a link of what UCSD’s transfer housing looks like:
[UC San Diego Housing - The Village, Virtual Tours](http://hdh.ucsd.edu/thevillage/tour.asp)

Anyway, I chose to live off campus because I consider myself a pretty independent person and the thought of sharing a small, less than 400 sqft room with another person was not at all appealing for me. I can manage roommates (suitemates) in the traditional sense where you share separate rooms, but at this point in my life the thought of sharing a bedroom with someone 24/7 and then a suite with 2-3 other people was unacceptable. Personal space and privacy were pretty key for me so if they are for you, off campus may be your choice. When I initially got accepted at UCSD, I tried to see if I could stay at the dorms and have a single room to myself, but all the single rooms were already taken by continuing transfers, which tends to happen.

Anyway, I ended up going the off campus route and I don’t regret my decision at all. The complex I live in has a 24 hour gym, an olympic size pool, and two tennis courts and private parking which are all great amenities. I have a full kitchen with granite counters and a combo washer and dryer in my studio so laundry isn’t an issue either (I feel like a real estate agent writing this lol). The only drawback is I pay about $200 more in rent and utilities than I would have at the Village. However, for me the money was a non-issue because it was a no brainer given all the extra amenities of where I live and the privacy of living by myself. If you’re concerned about the price of living off campus. I’d suggest finding roommates (try craigslist about a month before school starts there are A LOT of people looking for roommates) that will make it that much more affordable, likely cheaper than living on campus plus you’ll still have your own room. There are 4 girls that live in my complex that are all freshman at UCSD and chose to be roommates here rather than at the dorms on campus and they seem to like it. Also there are A LOT of people that live off campus at UCSD hundreds all within a couple blocks of each other in an area called University City, so don’t assume that living off campus means you never see anyone. I see about a hundred students a day just walking to the shuttle stop in the morning and afternoon to take the bus to UCSD. Another thing, if you live where I do in University City, transportation to campus is SUPER easy. UCSD has a shuttle service that comes around practically every 5 minutes (10 mins at the most) to various spots around the area. I can literally walk out of my studio, walk a couple hundred feet to the shuttle stop and get picked up by the bus in a few mins at any time during the day, it runs at night even too until midnight (convenient if you stay late on campus). Also as UCSD students we have free access to all the city bus routes, which is convenient if you don’t have a car and live off campus. I would hope that all the UCs have similar services, but I’m unaware of any that have a direct shuttle for students like here. I really can’t stress how thankful I am that UCSD provides this service because it makes transportation super convenient for all of us in the area.

All that said I can say that living in dorms pretty much forces you to interact with people on campus and you tend to make significant connections a lot more quickly because of the living environment. I imagine it’s pretty hard not to get to know someone that sleeps in your same room every night. From my experience, people living on campus tend to be a little more aware of the events going on also, but if you’re proactive you shouldn’t be limited by living off campus. I’m actually a fairly shy, introverted person (I fake like I’m outgoing well enough) so meeting people during college was a big concern for me when I first got here. However, there are so many events and clubs and organizations that are impossible to miss during “welcome week”, the first week of the quarter that it’s hard not to be aware of ALL the opportunities to meet people. It may seem awkward at first, but if you go to those events or stop to talk to people in clubs or organizations that advertise on campus you WILL meet many many people and will make friends along the way. I pretty much went to every major event on campus that first week and got to know at least 20-30 people pretty well in just a few days. All that said, if you tend to be a hermit (I was in CC lol) and never leave your apartment, but you still want to meet people then dorms are definitely the best option as they force you to interact with people. If you’re a decently outgoing person, or can fake it well enough lol, then even if you move down here and don’t know anyone (I moved here with no friends or family here) and you live off campus right away there will still be plenty of opportunities for you to meet people and develop friendships.

Sorry for rambling for so long. This is my first quarter on campus and I kind of used this thread as an outlet to share my experiences so far and possibly destress a little from midterms these past few weeks. I hope the 45 mins I wasted typing this is able to help you out in the long run when it comes to deciding between on campus or off campus. I know it was a big decision for me. Anyway best of luck to you, I hope you get accepted to those UCs and find the perfect living situation for you.