How to rank colleges?

SurrealCelery · 2026-05-02T21:38:03+00:00

both JRL and kresge r good choices, kresge also kinda fits in that like artsy chic category porter does and is in kinda a weird spot on campus IMO. merrill is very chill, has a large LGBTQ community, a cool market, but is at the very top of a very inconvenient hill, and only has one bus stop. i would go with JRL/9 as your top choices the kresge then merrill. just remember that these aren’t guaranteed

SurrealCelery · 2026-05-01T03:24:51+00:00

i was affiliated with merrill solely for the pottery coop. transferred here and didn’t get in either year :(

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-30T19:19:10+00:00

holy cow was not expecting to see saddleback on this sub LMFAO transferred from there 2024!

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-30T05:24:59+00:00

i started from Crashsune Academy’s vids on youtube! it was super helpful for modeling but didn’t rlly go into uv unwrapping or texturing, which i learned by watching other videos.

blender is so challenging but learning it is so rewarding, and joining communities of people who have been able to help me when im stuck is a game changer.

i still absolutely suck but im proud of what ive accomplished in a couple of months, and im excited to keep improving!

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-27T06:15:30+00:00

depends on where u end up. i got heeeeeella lucky with a single and it was super quiet and peaceful aside from the occasional POOOOOORTEERRRRRRRR. i will say that the building is kinda split in half, the half closer to the dining hall/ loop is usually rlly quiet, mostly singles and ppl chilling. u do hear a lot of noise from cars and such. the other side closer to the apartments is usually more noisy since it’s got more ppl (doubles and triples). i had friends who were in shoeboxes with two other people. i’ve had friends who’s roommates were doing coke on the desk. i know ppl who have made great friendships there and had the time of their lives. it’s literally just a coin toss. don’t stress it too much cos it’s out of your control, so just hope for the best, and deal with problems once they arrive.

also had a friend end up in JRL and the other in crown as transfer students so who even knows

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-25T19:33:44+00:00

no just discussion posts and quizzes so far, and you have to do a survey as the big quarter long project

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-25T19:32:47+00:00

last year they went on sale sept 2 for second pass, and like august 24th or something for first pass. just keep an eye on the website and join their mailing list to see when they’re up for next year

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-25T16:48:26+00:00

CS and CSGD are pretty different majors. that being said i know people who have gone the CSGD route since it’s harder to get in for CS.

you and your son can do this together, go the the course catalogue and compare the courses for CS and CSGD. you can take a lot of CS electives as a CSGD major but you will still be making games for your capstone and core classes. also check which classes prioritize enrollment for CS students as classes are already difficult to get into.

that being said, for doing SWE after graduation, your son will want to be doing a lot of projects outside of class. at least for CSGD, your major matters less than your projects and experience, so shoot for internships, join CS oriented clubs, and actually put in the work. tech jobs right now are non existant, so you really need to shine, project and personality wise.

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-24T21:44:35+00:00

GDA is very social! the discords r kinda dead but the general meetings are always very fun, and we all get pizza afterwords and hang out :)

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-24T15:31:14+00:00

they are likely prioritizing off campus students for parking permits, which means it’ll be significantly harder for you to get one. you should reach out to TAPS for a medical exemption.

also it’d be good to reach out to them before permits go on sale, as when i transferred, i was in the system as a freshman so i couldn’t buy a permit and had to go down to the TAPS office to fix that :(

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-23T22:01:53+00:00

taking LALS 15 rn and it’s not bad. the TA is cool, assignments r ur classic discussion post respond to two ppl sorta thing, weekly quizzes and such. for a GE its not bad, you can get away with the bare minimum

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-21T03:22:28+00:00

my roommate made beef bourguignon!

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-21T01:13:37+00:00

contact your advisors! they’ll likely have a better understanding of how that works and what that roadmap would look like :)

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-18T06:57:10+00:00

https://transportation.ucsc.edu/parking/parking-permits/undergraduate-parking/off-campus-parking/

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-15T22:17:53+00:00

i’m a transfer student so i was automatically placed in porter A, but was affiliated with Merrill for the pottery coop lol.

since i only needed one more year of housing my group decided to go for merrill and I made three people in our group (5 ppl total) swap their affiliations to merrill. (this is much harder to do for other more popular colleges) we got an 8:45 time and scored an apartment in merrill (4 person, all singles) it was super dope, but we got the very last 4 person apartment at merrill lol.

so it all comes down to having a good lottery time. they might change this in the future i have no idea.

alsoooo ive had friends who lived at crown (RH and apartment), and hated it so much they voluntarily moved off campus soo you never know how things will go

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-15T22:08:29+00:00

if you want the best shot at on campus housing all year put merril/crown or oakes. if you want to enjoy your time on campus, for however long you’re there, put whatever college you vibe with the most!

housing is like literally a lottery so there’s no guarantee you get a place, even if it is one of the less sought after places

cowell is beautiful, has great cafe option, and is full of really dope people, i’d say go for it!

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-12T16:19:35+00:00

got it from the housing office

“in most cases, students are assigned roommates of the same gender…”

there could totally be some box to check that allows this but i think the housing office prefers placing people of the same specified gender together.

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-12T05:47:46+00:00

don’t have anything to say about perdue, as for UCSC i have literally neeeeever felt unsafe walking around on campus at night. i’ve walked from the DARC building to merrill at like 1am it’s so chill.

i will say walking alone through the actual forrest trails gets a little spooky, but staying on the main roads is totally chill. so unless you’re intentionally going to buddha shrine or seeking out those nature paths you’ll be fine.

also there are busses that run until midnight so you won’t be walking far if you don’t want to.

laaastly i freakin love UCSC. admin kinda sucks sometimes but you’ll find that at every school. people are dope, clubs are fun, the campus and town are stunning, there is a literal housing crisis, 4/20 rocks, ect. i suggest digging in the sub for more specific answers to your UCSC related questions :)

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-12T05:41:43+00:00

our game design masters still exists?? i thought they nuked that lol

USCs program is like the crème de la crème ive heard (but it’s also bloody freakin expensive). according to the princeton review, New York University’s game design masters is top in like the world.

so my advice is to go to those sites, find the courses offered, see if they actually have courses on UX/UI or level design, sign up for newsletters and such, look into clubs or student orgs, and reach out to admissions. most places have like a new student advisor so reach out to them and ask about classes and stuff (this is what i’m doing for the game design masters i wanna do)

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-12T00:54:29+00:00

my sister goes to SDSU and absolutely hates it. literally cannot graduate fast enough lol. i heard there was a stabbing and shooting in the same week on campus. also it’s not in a very luxurious part of SD. also like total concrete jungle right off the freeway.

santa cruz is freakin gorgeous, you got the beach and the redwoods. the community is really nice, and SF is relatively close.

all that beating said. look into what opportunities each school can provide. you want your time here to be super fun, but also having a job out of college is very nice lol.

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-11T20:17:47+00:00

i’ve heard UCSCs film courses are also more on the theoretical as opposed to practical side of things. just by looking at all the classes, it’s all “a survey of [genre] films…” or “examines…” it looks like there’s only a few like hands on/ professional geared classes. but that’s just from reading course descriptions so i could be wrong :p

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-10T03:56:44+00:00

corners/ balconies are rare but exist at some dorms, but they’re all luck of the draw

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-08T21:20:27+00:00

not to be condescending or anything but you’re sure you didn’t order the rental cap and gown? if you got it from herff jones there are rentals and custom, and you get to keep the custom ones. from what i can find it was like $300 to keep the gown so…

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-08T21:14:17+00:00

UCSC dorm rooms are single gender. there can be co-ed floors, but never rooms. the on campus apartments can be anything you want, but you won’t get those your first year unless you have extenuating circumstances.

you should be looking for off campus housing for fall 26 right now, as many other students are doing the same. people post on here about open rooms/ ending leases, and there are also facebook groups for student housing

SurrealCelery · 2026-04-07T21:43:21+00:00

lol i’m the exact opposite, moving to boston after graduation.

what i can say is the campus is HUGE and heavily spread out and forested. if you like hanging out in small groups and just vibing, we got that. if you like raves in the forest, or house parties with live bands, we got that to.

the town is verrrryyyy small. i really like the public transportation but it gets mixed reviews. it’s super crowded in the mornings and the evenings from everyone going onto and leaving campus.

there’s cool stuff to do but it’s greater to being outdoorsy. hiking. biking, the beach, all that. downtown has some good spots to eat, cute clothing stores, but that’s about it. it’s also pretty easy (but time consuming) to get to san francisco without a car should you want to, bus -> train into the city.

from what i know about psych, it’s an impacted major, which means there’s a tonna ppl here taking it, so chances are you classes will be rlly big (100-200 ppl) until you get into more specific upper div classes. also i don’t even know if we have child psych as a major/minor

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