<p>Which one is a better school and why?</p>
<p>besides money...</p>
<p>no one?</p>
<p>Santa Clara is considered to have great academics. The professors are great and teach undergraduate courses as well as graduate (they have a lot of money so they can afford great profs). I know weather at Santa Clara is great, too.</p>
<p>Davis is sort of in the middle of nowhere. Academics are still pretty good (but SCU blows Davis out of the water on this one). Um... social life may be more lively at Davis, but you can make your own at SCU.</p>
<p>Oh, and something about SCU that everyone should know: there are SO MANY requirements. Wow, it's really over-the-top.</p>
<p>Both are considered very good schools. UCDavis is considered near UCLA & UCBerkeley in selectivity. Davis is a college town and the campus is HUGE.
Santa Clara is in the Silicon Valley & a smaller town & campus. Santa Clara is much more religous & requires students to attend class (was told 4-6 absences in a quarter & student may be asked/required to withdraw from school). It does have a lot of requirements, but I understand it has good internships & placements, especially for engineering.
Class sizes are much smaller at SCU than UCD. SCU does have a lot of requirements, but that can be researched. SCU has "learning communities" where you live with others of all grades & take a class together.</p>
<p>UCD like all UCs & many other states' schools has been hit by budget cutbacks, so getting aid may be tougher & costs & fees higher than historically. For us, it would have been cheaper for son to attend SCU than the UCs because SCU offered son a very nice merit scholarship (1/2 tuition). The UCs often do not offer OOS students merit aid (or any aid), tho rare individuals have been known to receive merit aid.</p>
<p>Ultimately, my son has chosen USC (USoCal), which we feel will be a better "fit" for him (& be cheaper than the UCs as well, with merit aid).</p>
<p>I would say UCDavis has more prestige. I wasn't too impressed with SCU at "welcome day"...</p>