<p>Hey everyone,</p>
<p>I graduated recently from UCD and was accepted to several medical schools this year!</p>
<p>That being said, I decided to make this thread because I remember being VERY frustrated with UCD’s HSA as an undergrad. I went premed late during undergrad and felt that HSA was pretty useless and generally unhelpful. I got more guidance from my friends and Google than I did from HSA.</p>
<p>So… feel free to ask any and all questions that you might have about being premed at Davis, life after Davis, and the med school application process. I hope this thread will be helpful to all you Davis premeds out there, especially the ones without any ties to the medical field. :)</p>
<p>Yes, this thread was inspired by “Ask a Student” and “Ask a Recent Biochemistry Grad”!</p>
<p>It’s been asked a million times but it’s always nice to hear from different perspectives. How did you like your time at Davis? I think my decision this year is going to boil down to be between UCI and UCD and since their ME programs are very similar in quality, my choice will ultimately be made based on personal preference. What (if anything) makes living in Davis worth leaving the coast, and what were your favorite and least favorite things about the town and school?</p>
<p>Overall, I enjoyed my time at Davis.</p>
<p>I think something that is very unique at UCD is the sense of collaboration among its students. Even though a lot of students here are premed (especially in the biological sciences), almost all of them are willing to help you out. It’s not uncommon to see people discussing concepts and problem sets in the Smartsite chatroom. No one is actively trying to sabotage you or each other, which is really nice.</p>
<p>I also enjoyed the slower pace of life in Davis itself. Davis really IS your small, quintessential college town. I always felt safe at night, even when I was wandering around campus at 10 PM (woohoo finals week!). I also liked that I could bike everywhere in Davis, and on the days that I didn’t feel like biking, Unitrans was sufficient in getting me from Point A to Point B.</p>
<p>The ARC is also another plus. It’s a gorgeous facility and really well-maintained. 
</p>
<p>That being said, I also had things I really disliked about UCD.</p>
<p>First and foremost, I hated how impersonal UCD is (I think this is a UC-wide problem, though). They take your $$ and you’re kinda left to fend for yourself. You really need to be an excellent self-advocate to succeed here at Davis, because no one will care. Also, I really dislike how UCD kicks you out of the dorms after your first year. I think it’s one of the dumbest policies ever…</p>
<p>Secondly, it can be insanely hard to get classes (especially popular classes like Nut10, Che118 w/o Nasiri, etc.). 
I was very fortunate to have priority reg, but I saw how my non-priority reg friends had trouble getting classes required for their majors. </p>
<p>As for the town, everything is pretty much dead after 10 PM. And Sac kinda sucks in terms of nightlife.</p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>Very informative. I have a feeling that Irvine will be worse regarding night life since it’s pretty much dead all the time. Also, coming from San Luis I don’t think I’ll be missing out on much that I have experienced here… It’s very rare to see people out past 9 unless it’s farmers market. </p>
<p>Thanks for the response.</p>
<p>@ FutureNow:
I lived in Irvine before I transferred to UCD, and regarding the night life, I wouldn’t say that it’s dead all the time. There may not be parties going on frequently, but there are things to do and places to go at night. I often see the Spectrum parking lot filled up the most at night compared to the daytime.</p>
<p>@ucdgrad1: my major is not in the medical sciences, but can I ask how the process of asking for recommendation letters worked for you? How early should I start asking professors for recommendation letters if I want to go to graduate school? Also, I’m very shy, so I rarely visit my professors’ office hours or speak up in class. Would that affect whether they’d put in a good word about me or not? I always feel like the most talkative and engaged students are the ones who get better chances at receiving good recommendation letters, as opposed to people like me who are just another face in the classroom and get quickly forgotten once the quarter ends.</p>
<p>What did you study as a pre-med? What was the workload like for you?
Thanks. :)</p>
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