<p>My parents really want me to go to Davis mainly because it's about 1 hour away from home. My goal is to go pre-med and from what i hear Davis is more of a agricultural school even though it does have school of medicine. I'm interested in UCSD, but my parents want to know what would make it a better school to attend rather than Davis. We've gone on a Davis tour and we'll be going on a tour of UCSD sometime next week, but I would just like to know what are the differences between the two in terms of going pre-med.</p>
<p>I’m sorry your parents are being so unreasonable, especially since your preferred school is still instate. It really should be about where you want to go as you are the student. I happen to think that farther away from home is a benefit, provided the student wants it. It promotes maturity and independence. You need to separate from your parents and immerse yourself into your new community. Your parents are being selfish, that is not a resonable criteria to pick a school and it is an even undesirable one, imo.</p>
<p>UCSD is ranked 35 Nationally by USNews while Davis is 42, not huge difference perhaps, but you are right that SD is stronger and better known in the sciences if you go to the departmental level. It will carry weight with grad schools if you end up being a researcher. But for medical school, I just hear over and over that you need top grades and strong MCAT.</p>