Hey guys. I’m ecstatic about the prospect of attending UC Davis and all I really need to seal the deal is to visit the campus. My family and I were planning on driving up during the last week of March, since that’s my spring break, but then I realized there’s the option of Decision Day on April 11th. If any of the current students could share their experience with either a normal campus visit or Decision Day specifically, and weigh in on which one is better, I’d greatly appreciate it! 
Got accepted to Davis but still waiting for UC Irvine, does anybody know how they stack against each other? Which one would be a better engineering school?
@MysticSquirrel
So it really depends, hunh? Thanks for the feedback.
I was waitlisted at both UC Davis and UCSD, but rejected by UCSB… I thought that SD and Davis were more selective than SB, so I dont really understand how that went down… I was an electrical engineering applicant with a 3.75 uw, 4.21 w, 2200 SAT, 200+ EC, 4 yr track athlete, and involved in a lot of clubs. Does someone please know why I got these decisions, I am just so confused. Please help!
@yorohit13: Each UC campus will review your application differently based on GPA/Test scores, EC’s and essays. One campus may like your essays vs another, but no one will know accept for admissions. Many times there is no rhyme nor reason why applicants are accepted or rejected. You need to move on and be happy about your other acceptances and focus on those instead of the rejections. Engineering is competitive at all the UC’s since there are far more qualified applicants than spots. I would definitely opt in to UCD’s and UCSD’s waitlist and hope for the best. Do you have any other acceptances under your belt or any other schools you are waiting for decisions?
@Gumbymom I am waiting on Irvine, Berkeley and UCLA, but I’ve been accepted to Purdue and Cal Poly SLO for electrical engineering as well
@yorohit13: You have some very good choices at the moment so you should be proud. Both schools are excellent schools and many many applicants would give anything to be accepted to SLO for Engineering. SLO’s engineering program is on par with the Mid to Upper Tier UC’s, so Congratulations!!!
Can anyone tell me if it’s recommended to authorize or decline the Title IV section on MyAwards?
@citylightstroll What specific days are you planning to visit? As our spring break is about then so you might not get a true sense of student activity when you visit. If you can wait a little longer, there is picnic day on April 18th which’ll be a gigantic open house with lots of events.
hows the food like in davis? both campus food and off campus dining thanks
@souperr Off-Campus foodwise there’s a lot of variety ranging from Thai, Japanese, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Greek, Middle-Eastern and American. Though I can’t speak about every restaurant the Chinese restaurants aren’t the best and Boba milk tea places are decent but not excellent. On-Campus there’s a lot of variety at the Memorial Union Coffee House, Silo, and the food trucks next to the Silo in addition to the Dining commons. (Basically on campus food is pretty solid in terms of taste)
@PhantomVirgo thanks so much! When would I have to request to change colleges? And as well, I heard you must have good academic standing to do so? thank you!
Also, was just wondering can you do lots of research with your professors here?
@hannnnnnnn: You’ll have to wait until winter quarter to change your major. And yes, you have to be at good academic standing.
And yes, you can do research with your professors here! You just have to ask or email your professors whether you can join their research team. Some professors will also post on Aggie Job Link that they are looking for lab assistants for whatever research they are currently working on. And you can start as early as your freshman year (though it’s advised that you don’t start your first quarter at Davis, since you still need to get a feel of what the quarter system is like).
@hannnnnnnn and some professors will only take students who have completed certain courses (biology, genetics…) because they don’t want to spend time teaching you basic material. Others are happy to take freshman without those courses though and help them through it. Im researching with a new professor next quarter and he said that its okay that I don’t have any prior experience 
Or you can wind up in my situation, get in contact with a PhD student by coincidence and be working on your own research project with them for a couple years. Regardless of how you do it, I highly recommend getting involved in some kind of research as soon as you can. I started fall quarter my sophomore year, personally.
@sopranokitty Hey, I have a question similar to the previous one you answered. I was accepted to the College of Biological Sciences for NPB. I’m interested in it, but since Davis does not offer a nursing program for undergrad, will I have to change majors in order to become a nurse? Should I be I major in Biological Sciences, and if so, how difficult will transferring to Biological Sciences be? Sorry if this is confusing
@cwordsworth12: no, you do not need to change your major. In fact, one of my former roommates was a Psychology major and now she’s working on obtaining a nursing degree from nursing school after graduating with a B.S. from Davis (a B.S. in Psychology is different from an A.B in that it’s more science-focused). Another former roommate was an NPB major and she’s now working in the medical field as an EMT. So you do not need to major in Biological Sciences to become a nurse. What you DO need to get accepted into nursing school is completion of the required core science courses, which you’ll be covering anyway since you got accepted into the NPB major. Practically all science majors have the exact same core science classes. UC Davis also has a Pre-Health Advisor in the South Hall building, so if you have any questions about any of the pre-health professions and classes you should take, you can always ask them. The Pre-Health Advisor are more able to help you with questions about the pre-health professions than the advisors for your major department.
But if you do want to switch to the Biological Sciences major, it’s really easy. You do the major change online by clicking on the appropriate form [url=<a href=“https://registrar.ucdavis.edu/records/changes-major-minor.cfm%5Dhere%5B/url”>https://registrar.ucdavis.edu/records/changes-major-minor.cfm]here[/url]. Keep in mind that you CANNOT change your major during your first quarter at Davis. You’ll have to wait until winter quarter.
@UCLorde: Ah, yes. You’re right in that the days I had originally planned to visit just so happen to fall during spring break for Davis students. As such, I’ll probably just attend Decision Day on April 11. Thank you for the help!
Just wanted to add in a little note for all of you who are undecided. I actually accepted my acceptance to Davis ( made the housing payments and everything) before I had ever even seen the school. The first time I visited was last April during Davis’ spring break. I immediately fell in love with the campus and knew that I had made the right choice. I have never once regretted my decision to come here and am so incredibly happy here Davis is a great place and I don’t think you can go wrong by choosing this school. That being said choose a place that will make you happy. Davis fit every single one of the qualities I wanted in a school so thats why its worked out so well.
Those qualities were:
- easy to go home and to campus during/after breaks
- Horses on campus and good equine courses
- Good advising resources for vet school ( pretty obvious that Davis would have good ones)
- Lots and lots of opportunities for research, internships, clubs
- College town thats safe
I know that a lot of schools fit this list but I believe that Davis fits the best for me