going to LA area looking at colleges
 

Spending a few days [from NE] looking at colleges w/ daughter UCLA, USC, UCSB,..any help w/ hotels,rest,sites to see as a good rep of LA area? 1st time west

If you are coming this far to look at the universities and colleges, I'd suggest that you also look at UC San Diego, also UC Irvine.

Smaller colleges would be the Claremont Group of colleges.

UCLA is in the Westwood area, very safe. You could look for hotels in Santa Monica or Culver City, depending on your hotel budget.

USC is right in the downtown area and is flanked on 1 1/2 to 2 sides by some not very good neighborhoods. Students who study late usually ask for escort services, even though the area is patrolled by campus police.

Beautiful campus, but if it came down to a choice between USC and UCLA, I'd recommend UCLA for your daughter's safety.

UCSB is a beach campus, being situated right on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Look for hotels ranging from Goleta (where UCSB is situated) to Carpenteria.

UCSB and UC Irvine rank about the same. While UC San Diego is ranked below UCLA but above the other two.

The Claremont group of colleges are all private and classes are much smaller, so students receive more individual attention.

Good luck in your search! :)

If you want a reasonably priced hotel to stay at when you go to UCSB, you might try the Best Western in Carpinteria. We just stayed there during the Labor Day weekend and I noticed a lot of parents with college aged kids were there. Carpinteria is a great little town just south of Santa Barbara. Try breakfast at the Cajun Cafe, lunch at the Spot and dinner somewhere in Santa Barbara for fun!

Good luck on your college search...my son is a senior at San Diego State and we had so much fun looking at colleges! (San Diego was his #1 choice...UCSD is a great school too!)

Out-of-state students have a tough time getting into the UC schools, especially UCLA. You probably already know that. Our daughter was admitted to Pomona College, one of the Claremont schools, and it is very nice. (She didn't end up choosing it, though.)

Our son goes to Loyola Marymount, which is a great Jesuit college near Marina del Rey. Their Film and Television school is ranked up there with USC's and UCLA's.

There's also Redlands and Occidental, for private schools near L.A. Santa Clara U. is another gorgeous Jesuit college near Santa Clara.

Have fun on your search. It's exhausting.

If staying in Marina del Rey makes sense for you, ask for the LMU rate at the Marriott Couryards. We paid just $135 last weekend for a king.

Travelzoo is showing a great rate of $85/night for the Custom Hotel near Loyola Marymount. (Westchester/Marina del Rey area) http://hotels.travelzoo.com/california-hotels/466697

They is also a special running at the Hotel Palomar, a Kimpton boutique hotel near Westwood: http://hotels.travelzoo.com/california-hotels/466688

Check out the other UC schools too. I'm Bruin (UCLA) alumni as is my sister who's 10 years younger. We're a big Bruin family. Be prepared to possibly have to select another UC campus. Also try UC Berkeley although that's really hard to get into,too. But, it's a great school.

One morning, when I was watching ABC News, the ticker tape news flashed on the screen that UCLA is the Number 1 applied to school in the US, receiving over 55,000 applications a year and admitting around 9%. It is however, a great school with really great professors. I had a wonderful experience there in both undergrad and graduate school.

I'm from Pasadena, an hour across the freeway, but still lived in the dorms for two years and then in an apartment in Santa Monica for two years before going back to Pasadena and commuting to UCLA for grad school. Good luck to your daughter. I hope she gets whatever her first choice is. Smiles. Happy Travels!

It's also hard for in-state students to get into UCLA. BTW the dorm food at UCLA is the best anywhere, so if you get a chance try out the dorm food hall!

If you're looking for an inexpensive hotel with queen beds (not doubles) and free guest parking, there is a Holiday Inn Express in West LA, not far from UCLA. If you can make do with two double beds, in addition to the new Palomar (Kimpton), there is Hotel Angeleno in Brentwood near the Getty.

There are also large chain hotels around Century City or Beverly Hills, such as the Beverly Hilton or the Hyatt Century Plaza.

USC is close enough that you don't need to move. Santa Barbara is about two hours eachway.

MLGB...That's VERY true. It's hard for anyone to get into UCLA and Berkeley is also really difficult.

The daughter of a friend of mine just got into Berkeley and started her freshman year this month. They're native Angelenos. Her family was elated. Her mom went to UCLA. They were also so glad that they won't have to pay those high east-coast school tuitions. They spent the summer of 2007 flying/driving around the U.S. checking out universities for their two daughters who are a year apart in age.

Oh, Ice203, on the day that you check out UCLA, you should go to the Getty Museum which is a must do thing. It's very close to UCLA and is an absolutely architecturally beautiful museum and a great representation of L.A./ Southern California style. The view and gardens are wonderful. On a clear day, you can see Catalina Island. Happy Travels!

UC San Diego is a good choice also, depending on the major. Two of my nephews applied the same year, one got into BOTH Berkeley and UCLA, and one into UCSD. Since nephew #1's mom graduated from UCB, she pushed him there, but I have a feeling he's sorry about the food. (And I'm a Bruin, too).

The downside of the UCLA dorms is that they are a healthy walk from campus, plus many of them are now triple-shares, especially for freshman! I don't know how they stand it. Pushes a lot of sophomores into the frats/sororities, even if it isn't their thing.

The walk from the dorms to campus is good especially since the average freshman puts on 10-15 pounds by the end of the first year. I put on about 20 and I lived at Hedrick at the top of the hill. Had I not walked every day, it probably would have been 25. Smiles.

As for the food, the food is supposed to be bad. It's part of the experience. Hedrick's food wasn't that bad although we all claimed that it was.
I laugh aloud when I hear some of the young ones complain about dorm food at UCLA. I tell them that I survived it as my sister after me did and that what didn't kill us just made us stronger.

The work load will kill one a lot faster than the food. But, thank goodness I went to a really great public high school that had a killer work load so I survived it.

A few years ago, I was reading one of those annual, national college-selection magazines and students were asked what they liked about UCLA and they said that it was the professors...very interesting and challenging. And they were also asked what they were most shocked about...and the answer was....the work load. Well, I don't know what they expected. Plus, it's on the quarter system, which I loved...I think we changed quarters every 8 weeks. So, I remember having 3 to 3 and a half classes per quarter with all the term papers per class and exams. And since I was a language major, my term papers, in my language classes, had to be written in another language... really exhausting. Smiles.
If I had to turn back the hands of time and do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing though. Happy Travels!

I don't really have much to add about the school's being considered and suggested, but I did find the talk about food amusing. My son went to Sonoma State for his first semester and HATED the food. He said that he had a hamburger everyday, but tried to make it seem like something different each time (one time with ketchup, one time with lettuce and without the bun, etc.) and he's usually a very health-conscious eater. To make matters worse, there weren't many places around the campus and he didn't have a car. If I didn't feel so bad for him, I'd think it was pretty funny. But, he survived.

Don't know how the food at UCLA is, but there are certainly plenty of places to eat in Westwood.

When you visit USC, check out downtown Los Angeles. The Grand Central Market is mind-blowing for those who haven't spent time in Latin America. If tacos aren't your thing try Philippe's, the home of the original french dip sandwich (and a great microcosm of LA residents).

From UCLA head west to Santa Monica for its views of the ocean. Rent bikes at the Santa Monica Pier and bike south through Venice Beach.

For UCSB, well, ... can you do a keg stand?

I'll second the rec's for the Claremont Colleges, especially Pomona and CMC. I'd avoid Scripps though - any possible advantages to attending a women's college are destroyed when the campus is surrounded by coed schools.

ttt. Happy Travels!