<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>I've been accepted into both UCD and Cal Poly as a transfer student for my junior year (Fall 2008). I've done research on both and have visited the Cal Poly campus. I'm stuck and can't decide on which admission I will accept. My question is: which school is better suited for a biology major? This will probably be the deciding factor for me. I plan on attending graduate school in the near future.</p>
<p>I chose Cal Poly bio over Davis simply because I liked the school a lot more. It was near the beach, was cheaper, and had more of an undergrad focus to it. That said, UCD probably has a bigger "name" in the bio world. Both are well-known and prestigious, but Davis is really known as a bio school. Cal Poly has a very good science program, but it gets overshadowed by its super-selective arch. program.</p>
<p>As for myself, I had a great experience at CP and had great research opportunities to boot. I chose to work right out of school, but several of my classmates are at Ph.D. programs at UCB, Harvard, UCSB, etc. </p>
<p>I think both schools have great programs, but are a bit different.</p>
<p>for grad school, its a no-brainer. A University parchment paper tops a Cal State parchment paper every day.</p>
<p>Thank you for the replies,</p>
<p>Hmm, yeah Davis does seem to be the better school for biology; with great research facilities and whatnot. bluebayou, what do you mean by parchment paper; I assume you're referring to the university's letterhead for the letters of recommendations. Could you please explain? Does that really matter?</p>
<p>sorry, I was not clear. For grad school, a University degree is almost always better than a Cal State degree (in the old days, the degree was printed on parchment paper).</p>
<p>I don't know about bio--to me SD is the bio school--but CalPoly is seen to be the only CSU with equal prestige to a mid level UC. Unless you're in a hallmark program at one, I'd choose Poly for better location/weather and about $7-10K less.</p>
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CalPoly is seen to be the only CSU with equal prestige to a mid level UC.
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<p>That has been posted often on cc, but I've never challenged the assertion until now. Besides taking a poll of those residents of SLO, please provide a data point suze. </p>
<p>Cal Poly has two great programs: Architecture and Engineering, but the rest are normal Cal State quality -- politically, they have to be, or the other Cal States would be clamoring for additional resources. (Ag school is excellent too, but so is the one at Fresno State.)</p>
<p>Blue, Poly also has a business program (average GPA 3.8/1300s average SAT which is high for all CSUs and most UCs). It has average Stats higher than the three lowest UCs. I'm currently working for an Asian college consultant and Poly is much hotter over here than loiwer and mid UCs because of great engineering for cost.</p>
<p>I guess Davis is the way to go then. I'm not a business, architecture or engineering major. I also don't plan to work straight out of college and would like to move on to graduate studies. Thanks for you input.</p>
<p>That is true in general, but Calpoly is in a somewhat different category. It’s as highly regarded and more selective than several UCs.</p>
<p>UC Davis is the place that you are looking for. This isn’t really a matter of opinion. You certainly could be successful at either but UC Davis is superior in biological sciences to Cal poly. </p>
<p>Somebody else mentioned this already, but if you are considering any UC schools for biological sciences, perhaps you should look into Berkeley and UCSD more closely.</p>
<p>i’m kinda going off track, but what about Biology as an undergraduate study. Is graduate the one that matters?</p>
<p>This thread is over two years old. I’m sure the OP long ago made his choice and moved on.</p>