Deciding between UC Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Davis

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
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<p>Hello!! I’m an undeclared major accepted into all three of these schools, and even though I’ve visited all of them, I really have absolutely no idea where I want to go >_< </p>

<p>Here’s some stuff about me: I’m fairly well rounded in academics, but not so great at math and history. I enjoy reading, writing, and arts/crafts stuff. I wanted to attend a private liberal arts school but was only accepted into UCs (still happy about that though ^<strong>^). I don’t mind large or small campuses, and I want to try a range of class sizes. I want to meet loads of unique people and be in a comfortable, accepting environment. I don’t know what I want to major in so I do want a school that’s great in various subjects; I know I am not interested in PoliSci, but I may be leaning towards research or computer sciences @</strong>_@ As you might be able to tell I’m super conflicted and indecisive, and I only have two weeks left till my SIR!!</p>

<p>UCSD: La Jolla is one of the prettiest places I’ve ever seen, but the parts of the SD campus that I’ve seen weren’t too great. The school seems to not have much social life. I don’t care for parties, but I do want to attend a school that’s very open and outgoing rather than reserved as I have seen many SD students are (correct me if I’m wrong; I know there are many awesome peeps in every school). The academics are rigorous but I feel like I will be pressured by work and never make friends x_x I was accepted into Sixth College, which has super crappy dorms apparently :frowning: But I like the CAT (culture, art, technology) values. This place is recommended by my family because it has the highest ranking of the schools I got into, and it’s more convenient for me to be picked up.</p>

<p>UCSB: Very pretty campus, beach area is alright but I think La Jolla is nicer (: SB students seem super friendly, and I like the people from my school who are planning to attend. I feel like I will be able to grow as a person since I can experience more things (not talking specifically about parties, but maybe…). If my brother ends up transferring here, it would be suuuper convenient for us to be picked up :slight_smile: SB is by the beach, so tons of opportunities to learn how to surf which is something I’d like to get into. Apparently the undergrad research program for science is really good here. I’m not too worried that my social life will take away from my studies because I probably still won’t have much of a social life; I just like having the opportunity available… I’m interested in the College of Creative Studies here. Con is that this school is the most expensive for me ($2k more than Davis and SD).</p>

<p>UCD: I heard the campus food here is great! I love that we can bike everywhere on this AWESOMELY HUGE campus. One of the best things about this place is that it’s SUPER far from home, so I can be independent and only come home during long breaks ^_^. I like the quaintness and homeliness of the town, and how everyone is very friendly (: It’s so peaceful here with the cool weather and trees all over. I like that Davis has biweekly Farmers Markets and I can start a part-time vegetarian diet x)) I REALLY like San Francisco/Bay Area! NorCal is great :smiley: I believe Davis has a good undergrad research program but not too great in English. I don’t know many people who are attending, which may or may not be a good thing. Also, my parents don’t really like Davis as much because it’s so far from home. However, I have heard that people run out of things to do at Davis; there’s not much night life and the surrounding town is tiny. I don’t know much about the dorm life there either.</p>

<p>Can someone tell me something that will make me absolutely love one of these schools? I need to make a decision soon haha :slight_smile: Sorry for the super long and messy post and thank you if you actually read this far…</p>

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<p>My kids are deciding primarily between UC Davis and Santa Barbara. Neither were very interested in SD because of its reputation for (as they told me) being where ‘fun goes to die.’ I am sure that is not accurate and that there are people who have a great time there, but it is off their lists. I would ask in the San Diego forum about San Diego because I haven’t seen much warm and friendly said about it anywhere else, and when it comes right down to it, the opinions you want are from those who actually KNOW what it is like.</p>

<p>I consider Santa Barbara more of a liberal arts school (despite its engineering and physics etc) because that is what it started as, the same way Davis started as an Ag school. However I think they hold the IDENTICAL ranking to eachother in English at the moment. One of my sons really likes liberal arts as well, and is looking at the same issues you are. Santa Barbara is very friendly, and beautiful, and is known for its writing program, if that is attractive to you. UCSB does have a farmer’s market, but I don’t know if it is twice a week instead of once a week. It would completely make sense for the ag college to have more farmers markets than anyone else – they are perfectly located, and possibly students grow the food. </p>

<p>Davis is all of he things you mentioned, although it will get pretty hot around summer, whereas Santa Barbara is more temperate. </p>

<p>I know I am not helping you, we went to Spring Insight at UCSB and will be going to Davis tomorrow (for a revisit, we went last summer but didn’t see the dorms or classes in session.) Let us know what you find out about the arts there, AND at UCSB and I’ll post when we get back, as well. </p>

<p>As for UCSB, I went there, and absolutely loved it. My niece went there recently and absolutely loved it as well. I guess I personally prefer it, but I really like Davis as well, and I am not the one going to college in the fall. Likely one of my sons (I have twins) will end up at each.</p>

<p>Fortunately, both are excellent schools, and both seem well liked by the students there.</p>

<p>–
Oh, about research, UCSB’s web page says that 50% of its seniors are involved in original research. Also, we were told that UCSBs disproportionately large undergraduate to graduate class size means there are far more opportunities for research and internships for undergraduates, as they are not competing with the large numbers of graduate students for positions. That seemed to be true, from everything we have seen.</p>

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<p>It depends on which college fits you best. My daughter is at UCSD, makes great friends, has great roommates, gets lots of opportunities, gets good grades, goes to a few parties and gets great surfing lessons. Only takes classes M-T, has Friday-Sunday off. She is not one of those unhappy students because even though college is hard, the professors are helpful. She visited UCSB and despite has Regents scholarship(much more money than UCSD) she felt that the Regents at UCSD has more benefits and she didn’t like the all the bikes at UCSB(she is picky and quirky). She never applied to UCD because she doesn’t like to be in the middle of nowhere(pardon my lack of a better word), similar to Cornell and Dartmouth, which she visited and never applied. Basically these colleges didn’t fit her.
She thinks the Social Dead is slightly exaggerated(she did have reservation about this before picking UCSD), however, I don’t think it’s a party school like her sister’s college (USC).</p>

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<p>^She applied to UCSB but not to UCD because it’s in the middle of nowhere? UCSB is more “in the middle of nowhere” than UCD.</p>

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<p>Older son at UCD and loves it.<br>
1)Yes small town, but very friendly and that is why my son really likes Davis.
2) Since you are undecided about your major, transferring into most majors is very simple and straightforward at UCD. You need a few signatures from the deans of the colleges and your advisor and you are done. They offer freshman seminar classes especially for undeclared’s that help you explore career and major options.
3) There are plenty of interesting things to do at Davis and you are only 20 mins from Sacramento and the Capital. They have a daily shuttle to Berkley if you are so inclined and many trips to the Tahoe area for camping, rafting etc… As for night life, there are some popular places to hang out such as Crepeville and many restaurants. To be honest, I really do not think you will have as much time as you think. UCD classes can be pretty challenging. My son normally spends 4-6 hours daily on homework and studying.
4) The food is really good at the dining commons and do offer many vegetarian and vegan options.<br>
5) Getting around town is easy by bicycle or the Unitrans bus. No car needed. Yolobus makes round trips to Sacramento and surrounding towns hourly.
6) We live in SoCal and my son flies home via Sacramento and Southwest Airlines within 1 hour. Really easy.
7) Staying in the dorms and joining clubs will help you meet many people. My son knows 2 students from his high school attending UCD, but only rarely sees them do to other interests. His made a lot of friends in his classes along with his roommates.
8) Wine tasting, Beer brewing, Tractor driving are a few of the interesting classes you can take. UCD also has a craft center which offers classes in Blacksmithing, Ceramics, Stained Glass etc…
As you can tell, I am an AGGIE MOM. Good Luck in your decision. </p>

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<p>$Kings, maybe she does not like cows. I know we visited somebody in the bay area who had vast land with cows roaming in front of her house and she expressed it was too country like for her. Not all of her reasons are rationale either. The Bay area is not country, far from it.</p>

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<p>I am a parent of a student who was admitted to the same UCs…UCSD, UCD and UCSB and also UC Berkeley (Cal)…and we visited them all this past week. All the campuses are gorgeous, though each has a very different feel. We also visited UCSC, though it wasn’t on your list. My daughter likes UCSD the best. She is very hard working, but is also very social. She found the people at UCSD on Triton Day (their day to welcome newly admitted students) to be super friendly and enthusiastic. It was the only school where people actually came up to her and started a conversation. She is going to do an overnight this week to see what it’s normally like. I was left to wonder if the campus is normally this friendly or were people just more outgoing because it was Triton Day?</p>

<p>Reading your email, I can give you all sorts of pros and cons for each school, but instead I am going to do something different. I am going to tell you where I think YOU want to go. I am basing this only on the things you said in your email. It sounds to me that you do not want to go to UCSD in spite of how pretty La Jolla is and in spite of its slightly higher ranking. Forget about where you brother might go and easy pick-ups, because that is an unknown and whatever he may do can change. So don’t base your decision on that. From what you wrote, it sounds like you really want to go to UC Davis the most. Yes, everyone there did say the food was great. Several students rated it a 9 out of 10. It is a large campus, but you’ll be there for four years, so it won’t seem as large after your freshman year. You are also close to San Francisco, Sacramento and Silicon Valley…close enough for a day trip, and you can ride the free bus to Berkeley if you like. The campus has a great rec complex…the outdoor pool was gorgeous. Students seem happy at this campus. There are only a few cows, so don’t even make that an issue. </p>

<p>My personal opinion is that all the UCs are friendly, and that Davis has a slightly more laid back vibe…mostly because it draws from the Central Valley, and just generalizing here…but the Central Valley people seem to be more laid back than those from the Bay Area or Southern California. Of course, this is just a generalization, as there are all types of people in all places. Davis has nice dorms, very friendly people, and a lot going on. It sounds like you want to be on your own and be a bit further away from home, which can be a good thing. If you live in CA (which I suspect you do), Davis isn’t that much further than the other schools. I would not base your decision on distance. Go with the school that your gut it telling you to go to. Forget about reputation and what other people say. Go to the school where you like the people and the campus and you think you will be the happiest.</p>

<p>That is my two cents. But just by reading your email, it sounds like you are saying you want to go to Davis and you are looking for reasons to confirm your decision. If I’m wrong, then so be it. But the best advice I can give you is to just tune out what everyone else tells you and go to the school where you intuition tells you to go. That is the same advice I am giving to my kids.</p>

<p>Good luck and please let us know what you decide!</p>

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<p>P.S. I thought the town of Davis, which is only a 10 minute walk from campus, was adorable. In a school of 25,000 people, you will not be bored. You will find plenty to do, especially if you become active in activities, groups, causes that interest you.</p>

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<p>@$Kingselite$</p>

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<p>I suspect she meant that people go to Santa Barbara and the ‘American Riviera’ beach there as a destination resort, whereas I don’t think there is a lot within a half hour drive of Davis that people would travel for, specifically, unless they had family or business there. Davis is a really charming town, but I don’t think a lot of people go there just for that. That is actually, one of the issues my sons have with it, as well. I think they would like the bus to the bay area, if they go there (or if one of them goes there, the other one seems to have pretty much decided on UCSB.)</p>

<p>@StanfordGrad1 </p>

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<p>UCDavis and UCSD are tied in the rankings. UCSB is tied immediately below that ranking, if US News is what you are looking at. If you are looking at the NRS rankings, it varies between the three schools by department, sometimes UCSD, or Davis, or UCSB would be on top.</p>

<p>To the OP, we went to Davis, it is still a beautiful campus, and we stayed longer in the town and my sons really, really liked it. (I kicked them out with money for dinner and the evening and left them to make their own way back to the hotel.) However, we didn’t find anyone who knew anything about the English program or specific things we wanted to ask about, so we didn’t really get our questions answered. The students weren’t very evident around town from what my sons said, either, so they wondered what people do there for fun. Unfortunately, I think they were in mid terms, and that probably kept them in the library or their rooms studying while we were there.</p>

<p>From my perspective, it was a little hotter and more humid than I expected in mid April, and it did make me wonder what June and September would be like. However, I liked the town even more than I had before, and think it is an excellent school.</p>

<p>I’d probably go to UCSB again if I had it to do over, though, for the location and the climate, and because I KNOW the students there are really friendly, regardless of whether a bunch were in midterms on any given trip we made or not. But if my sons had caught up with students at Davis, or if we had found people who could answer questions about what literary people/film types do there, we might have come away with more conviction towards Davis. To some extent campus visits are just the luck of the draw. One of my sons may still end up there; we will see.</p>

<p>Good luck wherever you end up!</p>

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<p>I agree…it actually depends upon what department you are looking at to compare how they rank. They are all really so close, since they are all such great schools! I was raised back east and moved to CA for grad school and never looked back. Looking at the UCs in CA, I am in completely amazed at how wonderful they all are!!! It is one excellent school after another to choose from. I really don’t think there are any bad choices. You just have to go with the school that seems to suit your personality best. Sometimes people get caught up in the “reputation” of a school, and forget to consider where they’d be most happy.</p>