So I was accepted into both schools for engineering (biomed but I plan on switching to chemical), and I’m having trouble deciding which one to go to. I’m not able to visit either one at the moment due to family circumstances but after reading around both schools seem to have things that are really appealing to me (though each school has a different combination of those things). UC Irvine seems like it’d be a bit more close-knit since the area is smaller but I also heard that UC Davis also has a really friendly college town.
How is each school in engineering (chem specifically) and is one stronger than the other in terms of academics/research/jobs, if at all? What is the atmosphere/culture at each school like (I’ve heard they’re both really different environments) and which one is better and why?
ex-BME at UCD here, not a very enjoyable experience. The school of engineering in general did not meet my or my friend’s expectations. Davis has no internship opportunities around it, very dull city. I’d assume the chem. engineering is the same as BME (since same school), but that’s not a guarantee.
From what I’ve heard of UC Irvine, it’s a much newer schools, hence the fact that it has more updated technology than UCD (seriously UCD, step up your game). I know the city of Irvine has a little more going for it, so it’s possible that it has more going for it in terms of internship opportunities, but again, that’s just speculation.
As for atmosphere, Davis is a small college town while Irvine is a little more large scale (some have compared it to UCLA’s campus, probably due to how new it’s technology and buildings are). The city of Davis doesn’t have much going on, and Irvine doesn’t have much more, but still a little better. UCD has a little more extreme weather, and UCI usually tends to be pretty warm. Also the whole Cow-smell rumor that surrounds Davis is only partially true; just around the agriculture area
EDIT: Asked a Engineering friend at UCI how their school of Engineering is; he had a positive experience and says that he loved it. He says the school is on an upward trend and that it has gone up the rankings quite fast. (It’s tied with Davis in 50 years, whereas Davis is much older). Both engineering schools are around the same ranking which is ~34 or 35. Starting to with I had attended UCI, UCD’s experience is not the one I hoped for
@jorell thanks for your insight! What things about the engineering program were not enjoyable or didn’t meet your expectations?
I was leaning more toward Irvine for a while too since they have tech/engineering companies situated right around the school so it’d be easier to find internship opportunities
@chrysalaea The lack of internship oppertunities for starters. Professors were average and not as helpful as I hoped. I’m not sure if BME was the issue; I think it was the engineering in general (friend was a computer engineer).
Checked information regarding Irvine, definately more internship oppertunities, so thats a plus.
