@sopranokitty Thank you for this. I’ve just been very conflicted because I’ve been told that UC Davis isn’t the right place if you want to become a nurse, and that I will have a very difficult time finding a job without a masters in my major. Is your friend that is attending nursing school working for her BSN or her masters?
@cwordsworth12: she is working for her masters, I believe, but at a different college in SoCal. UC Davis also has its own School of Nursing, located in Sacramento. If you want to get a feel of what it’s like to work in a hospital or clinic, health-related internships (including nursing internships) are available through the Internship & Career Center, but the only problem is that they fill up RIDICULOUSLY fast. You can read about them here: http://icc.ucdavis.edu/hbs/Clinical.htm
I’ve been accepted to UCD for their School of Biological Science, but I have since then decided that I want to do engineering instead. I realize engineering is an impacted major, but if I decide to attend UCD this fall 2015, would it be possible to change into engineering?
@jenerally: switching into the college of Engineering is different than switching into any major in any other colleges, particularly because you would need to complete prerequisites before you change your major to engineering, whereas if you want to switch into a major in any other college, they don’t require you to have completed any classes. The prerequisites are all listed [url=<a href=“http://engineering.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/advising-q-a/#a1%5Dhere%5B/url”>http://engineering.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/advising-q-a/#a1]here[/url] under “how do I change my major into the College of Engineering”. After you complete the prerequisites, you fill out a “change of major” webform (it’s entirely online). Since it states on the link I gave that you must complete MAT 21 A, B, and C as some of the prerequisites, you won’t be able to change your major until your second year (I don’t know if you can change your major during summer) because MAT 21ABC already takes up the first school year.
@sporanokitty: thank you! That’s really helpful! Also, I would like to know if I manage to complete the prerequisites, would I be guaranteed to be changed into engineering or would it depend if there is room?
You’re guaranteed to get in so long as you’ve completed the prereqs. None of the majors have any sort of enrollment cap (currently, at least).
Hi i was wondering whether it would be worth it to live on campus or commute to davis for school. i live in west sac and saving 14 thousand a year is a lot. So is it worth living on campus?
I had no choice but to live on campus and i absolutely love it! its really nice being so close to class and it makes it really easy to pop into professors office hours. I think being on campus helped me to focus on school too. Dorm life is also really fun and I’ve met so many great people on my floor and my roommate and i are really good friends. I personally think the experience is worth it but if you are concerned about money then i understand why you would hesitate.
@MysticSquirrel Hi, I was wondering is there a specific dorm building for freshman or…? and which would be the best to live in.
@ecruz22 Hey! On your housing application you will choose from three areas and put them in order of preference. those areas are Tercero, Segundo, and Cuarto. You can look up each area on the housing website to get information about their location and other things. Tercero is popular because its sorta in the middle of campus and they also got some new buildings. Cuarto is suite living and you will live in an “apartment” style dorm with 3 others and you will have a common living room area. Cuarto is also a bit off campus and you will have to cross a street or two to get to campus but its just about a 5 minute walk. Segundo is the place i live in and i personally could not be happier!! you are really close to trader joes and rite aid which comes in handy and you’re also closer to downtown. In each housing area there are different dorms. For example I live in the segundo area but in the dorm called Gilmore. you will not be able to choose an individual dorm, just the area. As far as the best place its really up to you. Do you want a more dorm style living (segundo/tercero)? do you want a more apartment like place (cuarto)? are you okay being farther from campus (cuarto)? and you will have classes scattered everywhere throughout campus so its not like you will be farther or closer to your classes based on where you live. that just comes down to random luck with scheduling.
^ Just wanted to add, Cuarto is also pretty close to Trader Joes (it’s actually directly across the street) and the U-Mall.
@sopranokitty Yes! you’re right, i should have mentioned that. and another note about cuarto… i think it has the best dinning commons of all three 
Im very jealous of it. I didnt choose cuarto though because i didnt want the suite style. And i highly recommend that if you visit before filling out your application to look at each area! i didnt get the chance to do that but luckily it worked out.
I thought I read somewhere that in Cuarto you must supply your own toilet paper and clean the bathroom yourself. Is this true?
Also, do you get to pick which residence hall you want to be in?
Thank you in advance!
Also, how is the CS program?
@AGrahamCracker: I used to lived in Cuarto (Webster Hall), so I can answer that for you. No, you do not have to supply your own toilet paper. You can if you want to, but it’s not needed. In fact, if you run out of toilet paper, you simply go to the Area Service Desk located in Thoreau Hall (also part of Cuarto) and ask for toilet paper, and they’ll give you two rolls for free (to get more than just two rolls, just have your roommate and suitemates also come in and ask for toilet paper. The people behind the Area Service Desk are fellow students, and they won’t know who your roommates/suitemates are anyway). Also, the cleaning staff generally comes by every two weeks on Fridays to clean the bathroom for you (usually early in the morning around 7am, so it sucks if you’re in the room directly attached to the bathroom. Luckily I didn’t have that room, but my suitemates did), but generally you’re expected to keep the bathroom in decent shape (not a problem for me and my housemates since we were all girls and liked keeping things tidy). There will usually be an official notice posted on the small white board on your front door telling you when the cleaning staff are going to come by to clean. Also of note is that the cleaning staff have their own access key to your dorm so they can come in and clean even if no one answers the door.
And on the housing application, you put down your housing preferences (Segundo, Tercero, or Cuarto) from most preferred to least preferred, but it’s not guaranteed that you will get your top choice. You do not get to pick which residence hall in these three areas you want to be in. So if you wanted to live in, say, the new Scrub Oak dorm in Tercero, you won’t be able to do that. That is random.
(For me though, since I was a transfer student, Cuarto was the only option available for me, so I wasn’t able to choose between the 3 residence hall areas. This was back in 2011 when transfer students actually were offered housing in the dorms. The year after that, 2012, was the last year that transfers were given the chance to live in the dorms, since after that, dorms became reserved only for freshmen).
I can’t answer about CS program, though, since I was an Animal Science major, so hopefully someone else can.
@sopranokitty Thanks so much again! Really helpful.
The CS program itself is a decent program. However, the upper division classes are tough to get into. I’m talking a 120+ person waitlist for a class with 150 seats to start with. That one got expanded by about 50 seats total the other day (which I’m happy for because that got me in). Mind you, that’s a required class for both CS in Letters and Science and CSE in College of Engineering. So well, that’s a lot of people that will most likely have to put off taking the class because they couldn’t get in this quarter. To give an idea of how quickly the seats can go, my friend is graduating next quarter and got one of the last seats for the class I just described, on the third day of registration. I barely didn’t get in on the morning of the fourth day, and I have a senior registration level. When I was finally able to waitlist, I was number 18 and by the time I checked it again a few minutes later the waitlist was up to around 35.
Big tip though, if you do come here: Always stick around on the waitlist for any CS class you really want or need. Be persistent and you’ll eventually get in. The people I see that constantly complain about never getting classes tend to be the ones that either don’t bother to waitlist or the ones who don’t bother talking to the professor when they don’t get in before the class starts. Do both of those things and you’re more likely to get in. During fall quarter the professor for ECS 120 let me in despite being around #10 on the waitlist because I was coming to class and participating. Not all can do that (fire regulations), but you never know and it’s better for you if the professors know who you are and that you care about the class.
On the plus side, lower divs are easy to get into, if nothing else because a lot of people drop. They also tend to expand those quicker. Plus the electives don’t tend to have it nearly as bad as the required classes once you get to upper div, but of course the required ones are more obvious because everyone has to take them and deal with the long waitlists.
tl;dr version: Good program, but it’s overenrolled currently and the department is still trying to adjust for the increased enrollment.
^ Update to the class issue: They opened a new section for that class, but people haven’t switched over to it yet. And it’s at 7:30am, which I imagine is deterring some people. But they’re addressing the situation as best they can and it’ll leave less than 20 on the waitlist assuming everyone currently on it switches sections. This is for ECS 150 for those curious enough to follow along at home.
So again, classes are crowded but getting them shouldn’t be a huge issue as long as you’re persistent. And be willing to potentially take a less-than-desirable timeslot if it means getting your classes.
@MysticSquirrel , @sopranokitty thank you so much for replying! I got into UCSB and UCD and am torn between the two, I feel like the dorms are a lot more tamed at Davis and the campus is tamed overall, but what would you guys recommend? Also in regards to internship opportunities, especially if you’re considering economics or maths?
@hannnnnnnn asking our opinion on whether to choose UCSB or UCD is going to be pointless because I’m always going to vouch for UCD and I know nothing about UCSB. Honestly it really depends on what you value in a college and which college meets your values more. Location might be the deciding factor for you on this one but thats just me. I do feel like UCD is generally a tame campus and as far as the dorms go each floor tends to get its own personality. My floor is quite tame but the floor above me is known to be slightly on the wild side. UCD seems to have a plethora of opportunities in my opinion. Im sure you can find an internship that interests you if you discuss it with a professor or advisor. I found out about internships through my major advisor and professor. I would google things too and see what pops up.