help! Can't decide between UCLA and UC Davis

<p>My son has to decide and feels very conflicted. He is more reserved and loves the outdoors. He is in engineering. We live in the bay area. He wants to avoid being stressed out and overworked and wants a balanced life. He is bright and knows he will do fine at either school. He is very down to earth. He is definitely not in the popular crowd, but is a really nice kid. My husband feels that he should try UCLA since it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and can transfer to davis if he does not like UCLA. We went to both of the decision days and UCLA's was way better. His department at UCLA will be smaller. Please give advice. He needs to decide by this evening.</p>

<p>Don’t assume he could easily just transfer from UCLA to UCD later if he wants. It’s not a slam-dunk to transfer from one UC to another.</p>

<p>I don’t see why UCLA would be incompatible with any of his feelings mentioned above although he might find the ‘avoid being overworked’ one might not be reality at either UCLA or UCD since he plans to be in some type of engineering.</p>

<p>I think he just needs to decide which one he likes better and he should keep in mind that this is a good time to step a little bit out of the familiarity/comfort zone sometimes. UCLA would give him a chance to try a different area. If he includes the beach (surfing, sailing, jogging, boogie boarding) along with his outdoors interests then that’s another reason to consider UCLA.</p>