Maybe it's just me but I LOVE Crown! Yeah, we should probably get more remodels for a lot of our buildings, but on the bright side we're one of the oldest colleges here at UCSC--we have HISTORY. I'd like to address a lot of the issues that came up: "Crown is anti social and full of geeks/nerds/gamers" Ok, I'll admit it, we probably do have a lot of gamers here...but we're NOT the only "gamer" college. There's multiple "houses" within Crown, some houses are "gamer" houses, and others aren't at all. It just depends where you end up, if you don't like gaming you won't suddenly become a gamer once you come to Crown. Also, why is being a "geek" or "nerd" a bad thing? I think of it as a compliment, we take our studies seriously and who is normal these days anyways? "Hills, hills, hills" Freshman 15? How about NEGATIVE freshman 15. Yes, a lot of people actually lose weight after coming to UCSC due to how much you end up walking, and thanks to the hill leading up to Crown our legs gets toned along with our tummies. After about a week, you honestly don't mind the hill that much anymore--unless you're just extra tired a certain day, but there are less steep ways to get up to Crown. "Food" Our DH is probably one of the best ones on campus. Our salad bar, fruit bar, and sandwich bar is one of the best because of how many options we have. Even though our DH closes on the weekend we have Banana Joe's and Taco's Moreno's that are walkable distance from almost anywhere at Crown/Merrill. read more

All the complaints about Crown College are kind of ridiculous. A college dorm is not meant to be a palace, and in California we have these little things called hills. Crown College is a nice place to live, and because of its position on top of the hill, it is much quieter and more peaceful than the rest of the school. The dorms are a little funky, but so are a lot of other places on campus, because the school was not built yesterday! If you put in a problem report to the fix-it team, it will get completely fixed within 12-24 hours, just like the rest of campus. It attracts intelligent people mostly because of it's emphasis on being the "Sciences" college, but many of the people who live there, including myself, are not affiliated with the science majors at all. Many of the people here are more private and reserved, and we like it that way. A lot of the people here are more interested in their education than getting drunk every night, and that makes this place is a haven for us. However, if you want to get high every night and fail all your classes, try a different college. read more

The Crown College mission statement is a joke. I tolerated this college for the 2 school years I've lived there and minded my own business until shit went down towards the end of the year. Thinking that I can lean on my college for support, I was completely betrayed and treated unfairly. This college is run by children with one hell of an administration. For a college that prides itself on honesty, community, individual freedom, they sure have a way to silence opinions based on facts and proof. Either that, or they probably have never (or rarely dealt with) dealt with intelligent 27-year old undergrads that if they (the crown admin) took the time to swallow their pride, would put them in their place. Here's a lesson that I learned the hard, hard way: Never agree to live with your "friend" who happens to be your R.A. read more

First of all, in terms of the oh so important dorm experience, let me tell you that college is what you make of it. For those complaining about the quality of the people who live at Crown College, I hope someday you're going to look back on your opinion and feel embarrassed and ashamed that you weren't a little more open minded and less judgmental about people who you can only barely get to know in a year. People who are only barely developing into their full potential as awesome people to know. I think it's important to be polite towards those you meet and keep your acquaintanceship friendly because you never know who will be the next Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Tiger Woods, or Barack Obama. Don't you think you could learn a lot from someone like that? Wouldn't it be nice to have some of those folks in your social network? Keep all of this in mind, especially if you're worrying about finding a job in the years after you graduate. If you don't feel like you really click with the people in your dorm or at your college, why aren't you capable of meeting friends from other colleges in class, at clubs, or around campus? Why, then, can't you walki or take the bus to their colleges? It's not like when you were in high school you only associated with kids who lived on your block, right? If you don't enjoy living on campus, be proactive about finding off campus accommodations after freshman year. More important that your dorm experience is your ability to graduate. This is where Crown students can thank their lucky stars. The Crown College administrative office is wonderful! I left UCSC during my second year and re-entered a few years ago after extended time off. Navigating graduation requirements can be very complicated, especially for a re-entry student. I ran into a lot of snags with transferring in transcripts, figuring out if I had to meet new requirements implemented since I'd left, applying for petitions to extend my financial aid, etc. The former administrative assistant, Andrew, and the current one, Matt, rank in the top 10 most helpful people I've encountered at UCSC out of the dozens of staff members from whom I've had to solicit help. Matt will do whatever he can to assist you and if it's something he doesn't know about, he'll get back to you quickly with an answer from someone. Former Academic Advisor Jeanne Johnson, Academic Preceptor Maria Acosta-Smith, and Provost Joel Ferguson have all personally been of great help to me throughout my years at UCSC. I am very glad I picked Crown for my UCSC experience. read more

Crown College - Colleges & Universities Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

STAY AWAY!!! This is the weirdest college at UCSC by far! If you are an antisocial nerd who never leaves their room and plays dungeons and dragons ALL THE TIME then then this college is for you, but if you are normal and like to socialize then please please choose another college. Going to this college totally ruined my freshman college experience. There were two things that absolutely disgusted me beyond all belief about the bathrooms at crown. 1) The showers were FILTHY-- there was a disgusting puddle of I don't know what in the middle of one of the showers throughout the entire year and clumped hair in all of the drains. ew. 2) On every toilet stall there were signs that said 'boys stop masturbating in the shower, it's clogging up the drains.' I though I was going to flip when I saw that. Remember that puddle I was describing earlier? yea I don't really want to think about what it was...... The dinning halls were nice, that's about the only thing that was at least half decent about this place. And thats it. So are you turned off to crown college now? I should hope so, don't ever go here. Just walk away and save your self. read more

It is a beautiful and friendly Campus right in the redwoods! The maintenance crew is great ! Chuck read more

the dorm experience was so horrible that i had to move off campus asap after my first year lets see, maxwell = upper quad the bathroom flooded, and lets just say there were ... surprises floating about. the RA threatened to closed down our bathroom, but thank god someone from the 1st floor cleaned it up. THANK YOU! from the third floor, i was getting wonderful watering gifts from the good o' bong. twice, and i basically got the guy upstairs kicked out of the dorms. THANK GOD, it was a pain cleaning it up! the rooms were tiny, barely any room for two people to live, especially one who had too much stuff (me). the dining hall sucks, it was only good because of late night but that definitely encouraged the freshmen 15. banana joes was much better. the library had no book, its just a study area. there is a computer lab for CS majors. i hated cardiac hill, and when it was a rainy day, you would almost slip on the ground ... so many have. your better chances are at c9/10 ... they have brand new BIG rooms ... very nice, and no crazy ass hill. not to mention their dining hall is awesome. read more

Nerd alert !!! This college was so wack man, the only thing good about this place of residence was the dinning hall area its probably in the top 2 as far as best dhs to hit up on campus. Talk about a pain in the ass just to walk up to crown. Shit ! Crown has probably the two steepest hills leading up to it on campus. Its one of the oldest colleges on campus and the dorms and apartments are all run down, with nerdy pokemon drawings on the walls in the stairways. It is a good place to live if your a computer or science major tho, because every other person there is majoring in one of em. But if you hope to get a lot of hot ass in college do not come here, try college 8,9, or 10 read more

Crown College deserves a LOT more credit than it's getting on this site. Some of the reviews' complaints are also no longer a problem; for example, the hills leading up to Crown that were so steep you'd fall on your rear, have mostly been replaced by stairs. No more falling down - yay! As a Merrill affiliate, I can totally empathize, but I repeat - the hills are no longer really a problem. Crown's people are fun-loving, honest, and serious about school. We DO get out and socialize.... EVERY community out there, not just Crown college, has its token one or two nerds who spend all day playing League of Legends, but that shouldn't be an indicator of what ALL the people in that college do. Besides, the more awesome people like you come to Crown, the less chance there is that you'll have that experience where you're the odd man out who couldn't care less about video games. :) Crown's core writing course is FASCINATING and I really wish I had been smart enough to apply for affiliation with this college instead of Merrill's. Merrill's core course makes it its duty to inform you about just how absolutely squalid life in war-torn, gang-infested, repression-choked places can be.... Crown talks to you about new up-and-coming technology and really gets you involved in current events in a POSITIVE way! There is a minimum of pot and other substances in Crown, even in the absence of substance-free dorms, and that's something I craved in my time at Merrill. Those who do partake do it responsibly and a lot of the getting smashed takes place/resolves elsewhere on campus. The hills are really NOT something worth complaining about... UCSC in its entirety consists of hills and Crown's are honestly NOT that bad!! Merrill is UPHILL from Crown and there are lovely Core buses for when it's cold, late at night and rainy. ;) This bus takes you directly to Crown circle and it's a downhill walk to get to any other building in Crown. The ONE downside I see about Crown is that since the dorms are kind of old, the rooms tend to be smaller than in, say, College 9/10. But size-wise they really are not all that bad. I have a single room this year in Crown and there's plenty of room in here for me, all my stuff, pets, and friends! It may not be the room you had in your dad's $1 million house, but hey, when you live in a dorm you make certain concessions. The dining hall has excellent food and always has a selection of fresh-cut fruit available, though its hours are a little weird. (Maybe we can petition for them to bring Late Night back. :) ) Crown is an awesome place and has been great to me so far for my Sophomore year! read more

Dear Reader, please ignore all the hate posts below and possibly above me. These people clearly had a different experience at Crown than the norm, and most simply sound unintelligent. Crown is a place of intelligence, so it would make sense that they wouldn't enjoy it there. Crown College is quite simply a fantastic place to live. Nestled at the top of a hill amidst a forest, Crown's Upper and Lower quad living facilities have all the amenities one could need. The Crown/Merrill Dining Hall, one of the more frequently high quality Dining Halls on the UCSC campus, features a diverse array of foods for those of all denominations, as well as comfort foods. The attached Banana Joe's cafe offers late night services and delicious supplements to the dining hall's ever-changing menu. The library offers study space to any who need it, and there is a nearby general supply store (down the hill) and mailroom (at the circle). The area is also easily accessible by car or by foot (oh get over it, the hill isn't that bad), and is walking distance from the engineering and science sections of the campus. The Dormitory Buildings at Crown are some of the oldest on campus, but are currently in the long process of renovation in certain aspects. This is where some people may lose interest in Crown, as the facilities are not the best. The showers can occasionally be subpar, the bathrooms a bit of a mess, and the plumbing less than perfect, but these aspects are, in my opinion, easily overlooked, and are mainly determined by the residents that are living there. Rooms can feel small if you live in a double, but any other room type feels spacious enough to live in. The sense of camaraderie is where Crown, for me, really shined though. If you picked this college from the list at UCSC, you will fit in there with everyone else who did too. Just awesome. Would give it a 5 but I don't want to overlook the bathroom related issues and some oldness. Gotta be fair! It earned a five in my heart though. read more

I cannot believe some of the things I'm seeing people say. Yes, people at Crown like geeky things such as cosplay or role playing games. Big freaking deal! That's nothing to complain about, it's what some people like. Someone actually said "Nerd alert." Do people really say that these days? Look, the people there aren't partiers, that's true, because they care more about education than getting wasted. The hill is good for exercise, even if it can be tiring sometimes, and if you don't like the dorms, there are apartments you can live in from your second year and on. The people at Crown aren't anti-social, they're just a different kind of social. They're geeks and proud of it, since it's nothing to be ashamed of. Let the haters be haters; if they think it's a bad thing if people there like nerdy things, that's their loss. read more

People go into college a lot of times and expect that they will have just as great a time as every other good review they've heard. What they might not seem to realize is that you have to actually put in effort of your own to get that amazing time. I have loved every minute of being at Crown. At first I was a little intimidated by the reputation it had of being just filled with people that play video games all day (before college I had never played a video game in my life apart from Super Mario and Pokemon on my gameboy). I thought that I would be the outsider. What I found was that, unlike what Crown's reputation portrays, not everyone is as into video games as you would think. Yes there is a large percentage of zombie killer's running around on the weekends, but I have never found that this in any way gets in the way of making the most of MY life at Crown. I have made amazing new friends, comprised of the hard-core video game enthusiasts, hard-core jocks, and those that want nothing to do with either. Crown is in a beautiful location, and it's an amazing feeling to know that I am able to look out my window everyday and see towering redwoods. Despite what a previous comment stated, Crown is not divided into heavy partiers and those that only care about video games, and I din't have any trouble at all finding those that seemed to fall right in the middle. If you go in with a negative view, it's going to be hard to get past that and see the good in Crown. But if you are able to go in optimistic and with a clear mindset about Crown, then you will most likely have some of the best years of your life as so many others have. read more