<p>I’d be interested in hearing what current students think about this. </p>
<p>I used to be good friends with someone in high school, and they ended up going to Davis. The last time I talked to them was when I was visiting for a campus tour, and asked them about life there. He said living in dorms and studying with people from there bonded him closely with his new friends, so much so that he didn’t really care about his old high school friends. Ouch. He also mentioned things like dormcest, and it became apparent to me how huge this is at Davis. </p>
<p>My impression is Davis students are nice, but cliquey. The kind of people who are nice neighbors and coworkers, but never have real conversations or spend time with you. The dominant social structure at Davis seems to be dorm mates who live with and spend their time with the same people for 4+ years. Luckily I found a place to live with other transfers, but I’m feeling cynical about social life when school starts. From my pov very few people participate in clubs. FB groups for clubs are just people posting random articles that no one comments on or likes, the FB group for events and parties is just a bunch of dudes asking what is going on tonight, Housing group is full of people from dorms just looking for one more person so their friend group can all move in together… etc etc. So for a “normal” transfer student who has no interest in sports or trying to get into hookup culture and has no social connections to current students, it looks like its gonna be a tough and lonely 2 years.</p>
<p>Not true that Davis students don’t get involved in clubs. The fb groups aren’t indicative of actual club involvement at all. I’m a transfer as well and i’m involved in 3 different clubs and will join. 4th one this upcoming year (VSA). All the clubs I’m in are very active and have many members. Also not all students hang out with just their dormmates.</p>
<p>You get people like that at any college, and of course UCD is no different. In general I’ve never noticed any actual cliques though. Of course you get people with the same/similar majors that hang out and all, and you tend to get to know the people you live around. Those are cases of similar interest and proximity (respectively) more than cliques, to me.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, the friends I’ve made are all over the map when it comes to what our interests/hobbies are, and only a couple of them were even in my dorm area. I met most of them through classes (yes, including ones outside of our majors), and a couple through clubs.</p>
<p>Any school you transfer into will have established relationships you’ll have to deal with. All your high school buddies who went away have a new network of friends. Davis might be harder than some because they don’t seat as many x-fer students </p>
<p>Each year about 5200 freshmen begin college at Davis. Most live on or very near-campus. About half as many junior transers are seated each year and most live off campus. When you arrive as a transfer student and sit down for your first class, odds are, the person sitting next to you already has a local network of friends. I won’t be as easy to come is as a transfer student and establish relationships. You will have to work harder at it than those who came in as freshmen. </p>
<p>Join clubs, live really close to campus, go greek. these will all help.</p>
<p>The up-side of course is you paid $20k+ per year to go to your local community college. </p>
<p>I’d encourage you to apply. If you are admitted, go to campus during a normal school day and ask current students what they think.</p>
<p>I applied and was admitted… that was the vibe I just got from talking to potential roommates and everything. Most people seem down to earth and friendly, just closed off to meeting new people. Going to cc was free for me because I got the bog fee waiver </p>
<p>Anyone know some active clubs that would be good to join?</p>
<p>Well, what are your interests? There are over 100 clubs geared to various interests. If you like Harry Potter and human relations, you can join the Harry Potter Alliance Club. They meet every Tuesday. If you like politics, international relations, and debating, join Model UN–my former roommate is currently in the club and they’re an active bunch. If you’re pre-vet, there’s the Vet Aide Club. If you’re interested in a career involving food animals like cattle, there’s the Young Cattlemen’s Association club–one of my former suitemates is a member of that club. If you want to parade around campus while being pulled around by draft horses, join the Draft Horse and Driving Club. If you’re into Kpop, join the So Kpop Club (which I’m currently in). And of course, there are all the various ethnic clubs.</p>
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