<p>Well, I just went to cal poly's open house event and really liked the school, but I also like Davis a lot. I am not sure what career I want, but I will most likely go to grad school. I want to become specialized in something. In high school I really enjoyed biology, statistics (especially probability) psychology, and my citizen law class. I especially enjoyed psychology, even though my teacher was a jerk I loved the class, and I loved reading the textbook. I chose psychology as my major at cp but I think that was a mistake. At Davis my major is undeclared -life sciences.</p>
<p>The main cons for davis are large classes, professors that don't care about you. and make you learn from TA's. (this I'm really worried about)</p>
<p>The main cons for Cal poly are that it's hard to change your major, it might be harder to get into grad school, it isn't known for science. </p>
<p>I really like at cal poly how the classes are small and it's "learn by doing" motto. You get to personally know the professors. Also there are interesting courses I would like to take like their colt starting classes, rodeo etc. I own my own horse and the facilities are probably better at Davis. However the cal poly school has lots of interesting things I could learn how to start colts, I could do polo. However I am an eventer which isn't offered at cal poly, and is at Davis.</p>
<p>Also I am an extremely picky eater and even though Davis supposedly has good dorm food, I didn't like anything there. At cal poly I actually had options to chose from, and it was from one dining hall only. </p>
<p>Also you know that "vibe" everyone gets while walking around campus. I didn't get that at Davis, but I got it at Cal poly. But I did meet some really nice people at cal poly, I even talked to the teacher that teaches how to break colts. But maybe cal poly told them to be nice to us on purpose. Although wherever I go I probably don't have to worry about fitting in if I get involved with horse stuff since I'll make friends that way. </p>
<p>I plan to visit Davis again during picnic day and buying a course catalog so I can compare the majors. I already bought one at cal poly. I want to decide soon after next Saturday. Thanks for the help everyone, and sorry for the length.</p>
<p>As a UC Davis student, I would recommend Cal Poly for the small class sizes if you can switch to the major you want (I’m not sure how difficult it is.) I didn’t think the large classes would be a huge issue, but they really are. I have definitely felt like some professors just don’t care about undergrads whatsoever, and even when they do, it’s not like they can connect to a 500 person lecture hall. It’s sad when a 60 person class is considered extremely small.</p>
<p>Only you can decide. Both schools are great. I know far more about Cal Poly. With regards to the major issue. It is fairly easy to change majors at Cal Poly if you are changing majors within the same department. For example, from Electrical Engineering to Mechanical Engineering (College of Engineering) or from one liberal arts major to another. What is challenging is changing majors from let’s say Accounting (College of Business) to Aerospace Engineering (College of Engineering). Cal Poly gets you started in your major from the first week of your freshman year. Also, Cal Poly is very well known for science – in fact for all STEM majors. I have no idea why you think that Cal Poly is not known for that. You will have no problem getting into a great grad school as long a you have good grades and test well on your Graduate Record Examinations (GRE).</p>
<p>yeah the class size thing is the major downfall for davis for me. I’ve always been self-taught but I want to be able to learn also. I guess I thought it was not as well known for science because it is so well know for engineering. Psychology and Biology are different departments though. Psychology is College of Liberal Arts and Biology is College of Science and Mathematics so it might be hard to change. Apparently cal poly was tough to get into this year, average GPA was 3.96.</p>
<p>Oh also @JeSuis are most of your classes really big. my mom said they sometimes would breakdown the class sizes into groups of 20 and have TA’s make sure you understand the material the professor just went over. What major are you too?</p>
<p>I loved Cal Poly and the small class sizes. The learn by doing motto is really important. I majored in biochemistry and was hired for my first job over two candidates with masters in biochem. The reason I was hired was because I knew how to run all of the equipment in the lab because of the learn by doing motto. At the time even students from Berkely were not using the equipment that we were at the undergrad level.</p>
<p>And the weather is better. The Sacramento/Davis area is grey for about six weeks in winter.</p>
<p>The town is great and there is a beach. The quality of the students at Cal Poly is really high too so you have a great peer group.</p>
<p>I’m an applied mathematics major. My classes are huge. My lectures are generally 250-500 students, with my smallest ones being around 100. My two English classes were around 25 students, but those are taught by grad students. Large lectures generally have discussion sections, but that doesn’t mean much. I have had worthless TAs who don’t know the material. I’ve even had TAs give false information. Also, general calculus discussion sections are around 50 students! That’s practically still a lecture. </p>
<p>Upper division classes in some majors become smaller. Impacted majors like psych or biology will be huge all four years. Math classes shrink down to an unimpressive 50-60 students at the upper division level. I highly suggest Cal Poly SLO. It’s an all around much better school than UC Davis.</p>
<p>it’s so hard to decide, I still can’t choose. Cal Poly was supposed to be my back up school. I only submitted an admission because my college and career counsellor wanted me to. I didn’t know i would like it so much. I’ve been wanting to go to Davis since I was in Kindergarten, so it’s really annoying I visit Cal Poly and my mind can’t choose a couple weeks before the deadline. I like every thing about Davis, except the large class size.</p>
<p>I am in no way qualified to advise you but I’ll give you my 2 cents. If you knew exactly what you want to do I’d recommend Cal Poly. My child will be going to Cal Poly for engineering. But, since you don’t know what you want to do I would consider Davis because it will allow you more flexibility to explore and change majors. Personally, I think the undergrad education at Cal Poly is probably superior, though. Just one person’s opinion.</p>