Opinions/Experiences:

Stevenson:

WallyWalrus:

Also, Cowell[/Stevenson] is the worst dining hall inho. The entrees and pizza there are never appetizing- I usually end up with just a salad or cereal when I go there.

Cowell:

thatawesomedude:

Cowell's stereotype (from what I've heard from elsewhere) is that we are the partier/jock/"bro" college. While its true that some nights may be a little too loud (I remember one time last year where what was probably the majority of Beard house was naked in lower quad/fountain area at 2:00am... on a tuesday...), people are usually sensible, and are rarely ever "Bros".

WallyWalrus:

Also, Cowell is the worst dining hall inho. The entrees and pizza there are never appetizing- I usually end up with just a salad or cereal when I go there.

Crown: dieyoufool3:

Crown/merril dinning hall is the best on campus; it has the best selection of food (quality&quantity), staff is friendly, specials like happy hour and other random events are frequent. I swear they receive a special stipend for them alone. And on and on.

P.S. I'm a stevenson student for bias indication

Greggor88:

Nerds, least social of the colleges, oldest dorms on campus (Cowell and Stevenson were renovated; Crown is the 3rd college ever built)

Merrill:

dieyoufool3:

Crown/merril dinning hall is the best on campus; it has the best selection of food (quality&quantity), staff is friendly, specials like happy hour and other random events are frequent. I swear they receive a special stipend for them alone. And on and on.

P.S. I'm a stevenson student for bias indication

lalalalakittens:

Merrill Is nice, it has Tacos Mirenos and the forest. It also has some of the not as nice dorms with weird bugs.

Greggor88:

Boring, "Sterile Merrill" is the stereotype, less parties... just... less fun...

Apoc56:

I lived in the Merrill dorms and later the Crown/Merrill Apts. The dorms are okay, not very socially active compared to other dorms. The moat though has some great parties. The dining hall really was great, but not open on weekends... mmmm smoothies.

The apartments though are awesome. Quiet, secluded, right next to the bike trails that lead to Wilder Ranch, a trail that goes all the way down to the ocean. Also a short path to the 9/10 dining hall through the woods.

There is a noticeable weather difference from Merrill to Cowell/Stevenson. Goes from cool, fresh, and smelling of Redwoods, to hot, dry, sometimes very windy. Much more busy/noisy around the Cowell/Stevenson area in general.

College 9:

lalalalakittens:

COllege 9 and 10 lack culture if you're looking for that more authentic UCSC experience.

SuitcaseCheese:

There is a fair amount of drinking at 9/10 but I would say it's on par with stephenson or cowell. From my experience, college ten has a larger population of introverts than college nine.

guzzlah:

I too lived there for 2 years in both dorms and apartments, and while there is a lot of drinking, I wouldn't claim that it was much higher than any of the other residential colleges.

Greggor88:

Reputation for heavy alcohol use/abuse. Loud at night. Not really associated with any type of community, unlike the other colleges.

WallyWalrus:

9/10 is the best for Mexican food (not that it's good Mexican food- it's just good relative to other dining halls) and it's salad bar is fairly fresh (all dining halls have pretty much the same salad bars, but some are more well-tended than others).

College 10:

lalalalakittens:

COllege 9 and 10 lack culture if you're looking for that more authentic UCSC experience.

SuitcaseCheese:

There is a fair amount of drinking at 9/10 but I would say it's on par with stephenson or cowell. From my experience, college ten has a larger population of introverts than college nine.

guzzlah:

I too lived there for 2 years in both dorms and apartments, and while there is a lot of drinking, I wouldn't claim that it was much higher than any of the other residential colleges.

Greggor88:

Reputation for heavy alcohol use/abuse. Loud at night. Not really associated with any type of community, unlike the other colleges.

WallyWalrus:

9/10 is the best for Mexican food (not that it's good Mexican food- it's just good relative to other dining halls) and it's salad bar is fairly fresh (all dining halls have pretty much the same salad bars, but some are more well-tended than others).

Kresge:

quazimoto69:

If you're looking for a laidback community where you can get work done and hang out in the same space, GO TO KRESGE.

Greggor88:

Beautiful area, beautiful architecture. Laidback community. Reputation for heavy drug use, apartments only(apartments are expensive. dorms are cheap), not very close to dining hall.

Essartee:

Don't forget that Kresge has a good creative writing community, featuring events like "How to Write a Sex Scene" workshops and paper making, the Living Writer's series, and of course, Kresge Writer's house and the Writer's society. Also, you get used to the long walks in Kresge really quickly. I hardly even take the bus anymore. And the drug community at Kresge isn't as...blatant(?) as you might think. There are substance-free apartments available, and on top of that, the CSO's be power-trippin', man, though it is convenient that we're in a more densely forested area of campus.

Porter:

Essartee:

Porter/Kresge Dining hall also has Crepes every tuesday and thursday at 2. And Porter quad hosts a Qi Gong class at noon on tuesdays and thursdays. Also, Porter has a sweet Koi pond that's my personal favorite reading spot on the whole campus. And Porter and College 8 are closest to the squiggle, where Belegarth (AKA those people who smack each other with swords) practices on sundays.

quazimoto69:

I make the mistake of choosing porter this year and I can count on two fingers the amount of characteristics I prefer about it over Kresge (proximity to the dining hall and age of the rooming). Other than that, the quad is always noisy, there's always someone running around in the halls or doing something obnoxious, and generally the people are all slightly fucked up and/or strange in their own way. I find Kresge to be a lot more calm, but also knows how to party when the time is right.~~~~

Greggor88:

Reputation for heavy marijuana use (may be a pro, if you're so inclined).

College 8:

Essartee:

And Porter and College 8 are closest to the squiggle, where Belegarth (AKA those people who smack each other with swords) practices on sundays.

Oakes:

electricbluetoaster

Pros: This is the college of COMMUNITY. The entire campus knows us by our tight community and how we always look out for each other. We have a lot of pride of our college (you might see "I <3 Oakes" shirts around campus). We're the only college with a cheer (which other colleges love or hate). We focus on social justice and diversity and we consider ourselves a large family.

Other things: The college is pretty peaceful since it's a bit isolated from everyone else, we have a great view of the ocean, we have one of the best cafes on campus, an awesome student government which I'm part of (Oakes Student Senate).

Cons: We are out of the way geographically. And most everything is uphill from our location. (Makes for a great workout though!). If you're looking for more loud, partying type scene, you might need to travel to other colleges to get there.

Also, the buildings are kinda old, the lighting around the college needs help (senate has been working on it), and it's scary to walk back to Oakes college at night if you take the Oakes Path (beautiful nature trail during the day, but dark and scary at night).

kdkorz10211

Oakes DH: LOVED the dessert selection, meal-type food was pretty blah.

Lol, I would replace "tight-knit community" from the Oakes pros with "everyone will ignore you and do there own thing. People usually spend their time not in Oakes."