christycruz

Are you arranging tours with the universities? It may be worth it for UC Santa Cruz. It's on a hill, and it's easy to get lost (can't see the buildings for the redwoods!). And parking while school is in session is pretty difficult.

If you take a tour, you can park for free at the base of campus, and they will shuttle you up to central campus for a 90 minute walking tour.

The problem is that there aren't tours on Friday...or Sunday.

Underhill

A final comment: UCSB is known as a party school. The Santa Cruz campus attracts more in the way of free thinkers.

socaltraveler

Not too shabby for a party school:

"In its 2016 listing of the “Top 30 Public National Universities” in the country, U.S. News & World Report has ranked UC Santa Barbara number 8. This marks the university’s highest ranking ever in the magazine’s annual listing."

Momddtravel2

Thanks for bringing this back up. The reality is my daughter will not likely get into UCLA or CAL - being a 3.8 transfer student doesn't really rank that high but we will make the trip... she could simply end up at Long Beach or Fullerton (we live in Orange County) She will be fine...and is frankly a party so no matter where she goes she will a. most likely do well academically based on her high drive, b. party - because she likes to.

I have always felt it important to not have my head stuck in the sand regarding my children and to have as honest of relationships as possible.

Thank you again for all the advice - we will try to arrange tours based on the time that we have to see the schools.

Best,
Dawn