Hey I’ll be an incoming freshmen at UC Davis and was wondering if you guys have anything I should know. Also any tips about college or the dorm situation would be appreciated. Thanks!
- Bikes If you aren't great at biking, you have all summer to practice. You do NOT want to be barely able to bike when you get here. Not only are you a danger to yourself, but others as well. Honestly, feel free to also just walk everywhere. I do it, and I know a lot of others who do it as well. Make sure to get a sturdy U-lock and learn to lock both your wheel and bike frame to the parking spot. Biking circles go counter clock-wise, and bicyclists already in the circle have the right away in every situation. Pedestrians do NOT get the right away, but both bicyclists and walkers are careless, so make sure to be aware of your surroundings. Campus is fairly flat, so when it rains, flooding is prone to occurring. If you don't already have a fender on your bike, get one, otherwise you'll end up with the "freshmen stripe" on your back. Or you can just walk on rainy days.
- Classes I know high school typically starts at 8am, and so it's easy to assume 8ams in college will be alright. And yeah, if you're a true morning person, go ahead and sign up for 8am classes. For the rest of us, avoid 8ams if you can because they are the worst. Because it's a public university, certain classes fill up VERY quickly. Often times the classes fill up before your pass time even arrives! Make sure to waitlist at pass 2 though, because lots of people end up failing the prerequisite, or drop by the end of week 1. It's terribly inconvenient, but signing up for classes is always cutthroat. UC Davis does not give priority registration to those with more AP credit, but if you're in EOP or Honors, you will be ahead of everyone else. Oh, for your bigger classes, make sure to learn to get to class a bit early because seats get filled quickly. My Bio class has 500 students, and it's tough to find good seats if you don't give yourself extra time.
- Food I'm not exactly sure how meals will work next year because the university is changing almost everything, but my main point is that you should make sure to portion your meals. People end up gaining weight because it's all you can eat, so walk into the DC knowing what you're going to eat by checking out the menu in advance. There's tons of awesome off-campus eats downtown! Everyone gets tired of DC food, so head down with your friends to explore all there is. My personal favorite is Thai Canteen. On Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings, the local park (near Downtown) has a farmers market with all sorts of goodies. Organic honey, chocolate pastries, and the best apple juice you'll ever have.
- De-Stressing You should nap. Any time and all the time. Before midterms or finals, there are often THERAPY PUPPIES in the library courtyard! I highly recommend. They're all good puppers. In the quad they often have hammocks! Get there early to beat the crowds.
That’s all I can think of right now. I’ll make another post if I think of more.
Awesome thank you so much. This actually helps a lot! Please leave anything else you think is worth knowing.
Explore the city and find the greenbelts and parks, use the bike paths. Look at clubs early on. (Check out DRAGON we’re the best club we have D&D and board games.) Study early and study efficiently. There is free tutoring for chem, math, bio, etc., and Dutton hall will read your essays and give suggestions. You also get a lot of free printing as a freshman in the dorms – I regretted bringing my printer. Start looking for an apartment early because leases are signed very early in the year (like, February??); make sure you have friends by then who will be your roommates lol. Don’t live in West Village it’s really expensive. Closer to campus is better and worth the extra money. Movie theaters have $6 movies on Tuesdays. Shop at Trader Joe’s not Safeway you’ll save a lot of money. If you’re on a meal plan, only use 2 meals a day and keep cereal/milk/etc. in your dorm room fridge for breakfast; if you feel like your meals are building up, choose the smaller meal plan for next quarter because they don’t roll over to the next year and it’s a lot of money you’re wasting. I started my first quarter with a large meal plan, had too many I didn’t use, switched to a smaller meal plan, and finished the year with only 2 meal plans unused. Bring a power strip if you’re going to the library during finals week because there will be NO outlets available. When it comes to signing up for classes, ask your advisor each quarter if you’ve picked good ones (not necessary but if you’re nervous about class planning). Don’t freak out if you can’t get the classes you want; you can add and drop classes during Pass 1, Pass 2, AND during the whole first week of class. For my orientation, I signed up for 4 classes; I ended up taking zero of them Fall quarter. That’s all I can think of right now.