<p>For the longest time, I was sure that Berkeley was my first choice, with UCLA being a second. As it turned out, I did get into EECS at Berkeley (and Computer engineering at LA). What I didn't expect was a Regents at Davis which will amount to $30,000 plus priority for classes.
Now I'm torn between UCB and UCD. One of my best friends is in an IDENTICAL situation.
So what should I choose? My goal is to go to grad school. What matters to me in addition to that is not hating my life. I don't want to be drowned in the competitive nature at Berkeley, plus I'm thinking that it would be nice to go to Davis for undergrad, save the money, then ideally make it into Grad school at Berkeley.
Is Berkeley worth the potential misery? or will I go just as far at Davis and have 30k saved for grad school?
I know Berkeley has the name and opportunities, but Davis isn't a no-name either. And while there may be plentiful research (to help with grad school) at Berkeley, I know there is a decent amout at Davis.
Please help and tell me WHY. Thank you!!</p>
<p>Graduate school in EE or CS should be funded*, although $30,000 is nothing to sneeze at (and becomes even more important if it involves taking on (more) debt).</p>
<p>*Fellowship, research assistantship, or teaching assistantship should be common; these waive tuition and provide a stipend for living expenses.</p>
<p>You may want to go through the department web sites of each to check courses, major requirements, and faculty research activity that may interest you at each campus.</p>
<p>Save yourself the stress and go to UC Davis.</p>
<p>Have you visited both?</p>
<p>By the way I’m in the same exact boat: UCSD regents vs Berkeley.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input so far!
I’ve visited Davis a ton of times from having two Davis alumni parents. I just visited Berkeley yesterday. Davis is an average-looking campus but seems like a nice place to live. Berkeley is a gorgeous campus but doesn’t seem like a great place to live.
Most people from Davis that I talk to LOVE their school. Most people from Cal <em>like</em> their school. Maybe just a random coincidence, talking to the wrong/right people?
Good luck to you. San Diego is great too. What major?</p>
<p>I go to Cal and LOVE it, and lot of people I know love it too. The only “problem” is that classes here are really hard and you really have to be on top of things to do well. I am not an engineering major, but I also had to make the decision between Davis and Berkeley. I think Berkeley is a great place to live , and there are definitely more things to do than at Davis.</p>