Indecisive Transfer from UCR to UCD

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Davis
1

I’m currently indecisive over my transfer opportunity. I currently attend UCR and have a Junior Transfer acceptance to UC Davis. What’s holding me back from UCD is:

  1. I have a research position here, but it’s in a botany lab (I plan on eventually leaving this lab to move on to a molecular biology lab, if I were to stay at UCR).
  2. I’ve made a lot of friends here.
  3. If I transfer, I would have to start over and get used to the people and campus culture at Davis.
  4. I’ve gotten used to the Riverside campus and city, so if I transfer, I would have to get used to the UCD campus and city.
  5. Exploring more of SoCal.

Reasons why I’m considering Davis:

  1. closer to my home (I live in the Bay Area).
  2. I’ve been having cardiac health issues lately and my mother had to fly down to SoCal to attend some of my appointments–basically no more financial burdens for flights, etc. So moving back home would be less worrisome for me and my family.
  3. I’ve emailed a professor and got offered a research position in a molecular biology lab, so if I transfer to UCD, I can already get to work with this research.
  4. I always hear jobs hire because of where a person got his degree from… I.e Davis is higher than Riverside in terms of ranking.
  5. new beginnings?

I am currently a Microbiology major. Weather is not a problem since the weather is almost the same for both of these cities. Quarter system is not a problem since UCR is also on the same system.

***I also plan on going to graduate school to obtain a Masters degree, so I was also wondering how the admissions people for graduate schools would view my transfer from UCR to UCD if I were to transfer, and the likelihood of me getting into grad school based on my current situation. (I plan on going to a UC for grad school either way).

I just want to know others viewpoints on my current situation and help me see other opinions that I may not have already seen or noticed. Sorry for descriptive scenario. But any views on this, I greatly appreciate.

2

Health trumps all.

Go Aggies!

Good luck.

3

I’m in a totally different major and don’t have any experience with labs so I don’t know what to say regarding those, but I can tell you that UCD is a much better school.
Having friends and being familiar with neighborhood at UCR are not good reasons to consider staying…

4

Sounds like Davis would be better financially with your health issues, plus you already have another research position lined up. To me the decision is obvious based on those factors.

Regarding friends: If they’re good friends you’ll be able to maintain your friendship with them despite not going to the same school. Keep in contact; it’s about all you can do when you live away from people. And Davis people are friendly; you’ll have no trouble making new friends there.

Regarding starting over: You’ll have to do that once you’re done with school no matter where you finish, regardless. Even if you move back home, you’d then need to start over in the sense of finding a new normal with whatever situation(s) life throws at you after college. If anything this would give you a safe environment for such a transition, compared to the real world where you’re generally just thrown in without extensive assistance and expected to adjust.

Regarding exploring more of SoCal: You can do that after college too. There’s no law that says you can’t go back to SoCal just because you don’t go to school or live there.