NorCal vs. SoCal: College Showdown

Jacqueline Moncada, Reporter|April 1, 2016

Did you apply for colleges in SoCal, but are unsure whether you want to leave NorCal just yet?

Despite NorCal’s beautiful college options such as:

…and several others, SoCal also has a lot of great options as well!

One thing to consider is the environment you want to surround yourself with, not many people know exactly what they want when it comes to choosing the right college. Just remember that if you feel slightly out of place at a college, it is probably not for you, you should be able to feel comfortable in your new home, right? It is highly encouraged to visit the colleges you are considering.

Here are some of the campuses in SoCal:

You might already be familiar with NorCal weather, we tend to have “gloomier” weather, which consists of peaceful rainy days, cloudy days, and enough sunlight to keep us warm. People in Norcal tend to wear boots, denim jeans, cozy oversized sweaters. Southern California, on the other hand, is extremely warm with more than half of the days having sunlight; it rarely rains. People over there tend to wear shorts, tank tops, and flip flops. Weather plays a large role in your comfort zone.

Colleges also have different types of scenery, for example CSU Long beach has more a suburban city setting, while UCSB is located right next to a beach. If both suit you, there can be a balance of both. Cal Poly is college within a small town, but the beach is about 20 minutes away.

Some cons about living so far down South, by Los Angeles, you will find yourself in a lot of traffic! The area you live in will be nice, however, on the way back home you will need to adapt to very long car rides. Cal Poly SLO has very little traffic, because it is a little up north, but overall SoCal’s transportation consists of more cars as opposed to other methods of transportation.