No problem! And I totally forgot to mention… you probably know this already, but UCSB does not have a football team. It may seem like small thing, and maybe your son doesn’t care much, but school spirit is definitely an integral part of the college experience! Although UCSB isn’t short on any school spirit either; they have great soccer games 
Go Bruins and Go Gauchos!
UCLA grad here who loves my former school. But I’m a massive fan of the UCSB CCS program. It’s super unique and privileged for all the reasons you listed. I recall watching their graduation video from a couple years ago and practically every CCS Physics grad seemed to be going onto some T5 graduate program.
Can’t go wrong with either choice. But there’s no doubt that UCLA won’t match the CCS experience in terms of class size, access to classes, advising or access to undergraduate research. Though in my experience, UCLA is what you make of it – if you hustle you usually get what you want.
Congrats on your son getting accepted into the UCSB CCS program. My daughter is a junior and recently visited the beautiful campus. Do you have any recommendations for her as she is very interested in applying for the program?
Haven’t read the rest of the thread but my understanding is that lots of UCSB kids live together in private college-student apartments (some right on the beach!), it seems the off campus housing is robust and vibrant . But it might be expensive.
You might ask to join the parent Facebook group for these colleges and you can ask there about housing and any other issues.
I also love the freedom and flexibility of the CCS!
Seems like UCSB CCS also has it’s own special interest housing option in Santa Rosa Residence Hall. Their description says they house ~400 CCS students in the residence halls which is equal to the entire enrollment of the program, so it seems like if you want housing as a CCS student you probably get it.
The CCS LLC was in Manzanita for several years. It moved to Santa Rosa last year (or maybe the year before), which is much more convenient.
Something is off in that description. I think the first line should read, “The College of Creative Studies (CCS) is home to fewer than 400 undergraduate students at UCSB.”
CCS has 385 students total which means just under 100 freshmen. While Santa Rosa is one of the more sought after dorms, some CCS students choose to not live in the LLC. Santa Rosa houses 575 students.
@hollylindq has a CCS freshman and stated that housing is guaranteed for the first year if a student gets their application in on time. You can apply for sophomore housing, but it is not guaranteed.
Hi! I’m a bit late to this thread, but I was wondering if your son decided on UCSB CCS Physics? I’m an incoming freshman as well, so if he did I could invite him to the CCS discord server to meet some other students
Hi! He decided to commit to UCLA. Hard decision! I preferred CCS but it was his decision.
Have him sign up for honors classes at UCLA. They are just as good if not better than CCS. And while regular physics might be a large class, honors version is small and intimate and just like CCS.
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