Help guys ! I got admitted into both Cal & Davis, but I am now having trouble deciding on which to go to. Any advice would be greatly appreciated also if there are any Poli Sci majors at either Cal or Davis I would love your input at how your experience was with the major at either campus.
UC DAVIS PROS:
- Close to home (from Sacramento)
-Close to the capitol so more opportunities to intern
- Quarter system so will be able to complete lower division Poli Sci courses faster
UC DAVS CONS:
-not as prestigious as CAL so might not open as many doors after graduation
-Poli Sci program isn’t as well known
(My plan after graduation is to hopefully get into law school)
UC BERKELEY PROS:
-More prestigious school & Poli Sci program
-Would love to attend a super liberal college
UC BERKELEY CONS:
-Would have to commute (almost 2 hours away) due to family circumstances I would not be able to move there
-Might be more rigorous than Davis
-More impacted Poli Sci program so might be harder to obtain classes
Since you have to commute 100% Davis. You can get a better GPA there, as well. The commute will suck you dry at Cal.
That is way too long of a commute. Go to Davis. It’s a great school/town.
If it weren’t the commute, I’d say Cal. With the commute? Cal. Life will suck with that commute.
When I was at UCLA, I met plenty of people who did long commutes. One commuted from Santa Barbara, another commuted from Palm Springs(Even had a wife and child). Their reasoning was that they could not give up the chance to go to UCLA and to sacrifice certain aspects of their life for a couple of years. Every case is different, so you need to think long and hard about it. Do you want to give up the chance going to Cal? The commute would indeed suck but to be honest you adjust rather quickly. You’ll just have to schedule your classes to two days a week or maybe three days a week. You do not want to be going to school 4-5 days a week like this, you’ll burn out rather quickly. If it’s twice a week, you should be fine. But as I stated, every case is different. Davis is a good school, so if you pick Davis, then you should feel proud.
Cal isn’t the end all and be all for undergrad.
@Nessa24g You can get into any T14 law school with a strong GPA from Davis, high LSAT and Sacramento internships. In theory, you probably have a better shot at getting into UCB law school (Boalt) coming from another UC. Keep in mind, you won’t be able to transfer a second time if it goes south and you could seriously jeopardize law aspirations with a 4-hour commute.
Law school admissions is super numbers-based. All they really look at is LSAT and GPA, with some small amount of attention paid to Extra Curriculars/Work Experience. Go wherever you think you’d get the best GPA, which in this case is probably Davis. Law schools don’t attach a particularly strong emphasis on whether you went to their school for undergrad.
Berkeley and Davis are both fairly liberal. Berkeley certainly has the reputation of being a school at the forefront of protest and liberal thinking, but that only matters if you intend to be actively involved in them. Both Berkeley and Davis have opportunities for internships. Tons of Berkeley Poli Sci majors do Cal in the Capitol, which sends students to Washington DC to do internships in the federal government. Davis does similar things, though not sure if it’s on a more state-level.
Maybe start perusing TLS (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/index.php). In general I don’t think you’d miss out on much by going to Davis, and probably set yourself up well for Law School