Residence Halls at UC Davis

Freshmen students get the opportunity to list their preferences of which residence hall to stay in here at UC Davis. Sometimes they will get their first choice, sometime they will not. However, each of the residence halls in Davis have positives and negatives and they are all amazing in their own ways. Here you can find out the conveniences of the three dorm locations: Segundo, Cuarto, and Tercero.

Segundo Residence Halls

Located at the northwest part of UC Davis campus, it is next to La Rue Road and Russell Boulevard. Segundo recently underwent a dramatic change in Fall 2011 and upgraded its Service Center and layout, making it one of the more attractive residence halls in Davis. Segundo is divided up into three regions:

  1. Regan Hall
    1. One of the older buildings in Segundo; contains seven small residence halls and one community building
  2. Segundo Towers
    1. Four old buildings in Segundo with smaller dorm rooms but recently got renovated and looks better than before
  3. Segundo North
    1. The newer buildings of Segundo with more modernesque atmosphere
  4. Primero Grove
    1. The location was originally apartments for anybody but recently converted three buildings as residence halls for Freshmen students.

Positives

  • Considered to have the best Dining Commons (DC) on campus.
  • Close to AM/PM convenient store at Arco gas station
  • Close to the University Mall, which consists of
    • Trader Joe’s
    • Subway
    • Namaste Nepal Restaurant
    • Forever 21
    • Old Teahouse
    • Ohana’s Hawaiian BBQ
    • Starbucks
    • Sugar Plum Frozen Yogurt
  • Close to the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) – the main gym of UC Davis
  • Beautiful grassy lawns and bike paths
  • Closest Residence Hall to the “Frat Row” where many of the fraternities and sororities are located.

Negatives

  • Fairly far from the classes on campus
  • Noise can often be a problem
  • The DC can get crowded very fast in Segundo
  • Some dorm rooms are inconveniently smaller than other dorm rooms
  • Traffic occurs often on Russell Blvd. and La Rue Rd.
  • In recent years, fire alarms went off very often in Segundo and have notoriously become a problem there.
  • Public community bathrooms can be a bit messy at times

Cuarto Residence Halls

Located on Russell Boulevard and Sycamore Lane, Cuarto is the only residence hall located off campus. It is another beautiful residence hall with many advantages that Segundo and Tercero does not have. Cuarto is divided up into three regions:

  1. Emerson
    1. Shaped like a figure 8, it has 2 courtyards, a swimming pool, with dorm rooms that are connected into suites.
  2. Webster
    1. Also has a swimming pool with a courtyard; it is also suite dorms
  3. Thoreau
    1. An interesting residence hall that contains a fountain, lawn and many sitting areas. It is the only dorm on campus with an underground parking lot. Also suite dorms.

Positives

  • Each suite has their own private bathrooms
  • The only residence hall with swimming pools
  • Bathrooms contain bathtubs, unlike Segundo and Tercero
  • Each hall has pool table, cable television
  • Very close to the University Mall
  • There are many public parking spots near Cuarto
  • Sigma Nu is right next to Cuarto
  • Unitrans bus stops are next to Cuarto!
  • More privacy offered

Negatives

  • Often hard to make friends when you have suite-mates and your own lobby
  • Late-night swimmers can get noisy
  • DC in Cuarto is not the best quality food
  • Cuarto residents live the furthest away from campus
    • Bikers need to cross traffic in order to get on campus
  • Private bathrooms = cleaning it by yourself, no custodians
  • Two keys: ID Card to swipe into the building, and key to open your suite…it can get inconvenient

Tercero Residence Halls

Perhaps the most centrally located residence hall in UC Davis, it is located in the southwest corner of campus. The lawn and trees area is one of the more beautiful scenes on campus. Tercero is divided into three regions:

  1. Lysle Leach
    1. One of the older Tercero buildings, it is very rural-like and comprised solely of single-occupancy rooms. Rooms are comprised of 4-5 rooms with a shared community bathroom. This is the only hall in Tercero with a traditional keyed locks
  2. Kearney and Laben
    1. Also known as Tercero South, each floor has additional lounges, lighting is well-lit, community bathrooms and doors are locked electronically.
  3. Wall,Campbell, and Potter
    1. Built during the Tercero Phase II, the new tri-sisters buildings are state-of-the-art buildings with well-lit areas and residents of four double-occupancy and one single-room occupancy room shares a bathroom.

Positives

  • Closest to the outdoor basketball courts on campus
  • Closest to Dairy Field and Hutchinson Field, where many soccer games are played as well as flag football
  • One of the largest DC on campus
  • Close to engineering, chemistry, physics and biology buildings
  • Short walk to computer labs on campus
  • ARC is close just like Segundo
  • Close to the Silo, where many food and Starbucks is
  • Closest to the Recreational Pool (opened during early Fall and Spring quarter)

Negatives

  • Next to the Cattle Facility, so often smells like cow at Tercero
  • Far from convenient stores, grocery and restaurants
  • Some dorm rooms may have 3-4 roommates, can get crowded
  • DC food is sometimes poorly done
  • Tercero can get very noisy due to construction around the residence halls

If you want to know more about these residence halls, please go to http://housing.ucdavis.edu

All courtesy of daviswiki.org