It’s coming down to the wire now with the deadline to issue SIR May 1. So some thoughts, any thoughts, would be appreciated.
Accepted to UCB, UCD, UCSB, and UCSD, but I’ve narrowed it down to the two in the title for various reasons but mostly because their locations allows me to go home whenever I want. Of course the cost is roughly the same but, while distance to home is the same I prefer Davis’s location as I find the town of Berkeley ugly and will not enjoy seeing homeless people on campus and having to walk through them to get to the dorms.
Speaking of dorms, Berkeley’s are old and dingy while Davis has fairly new housing. While I love the old, stately buildings of Berkeley like the Campanile and the library and that nice classical style, I’m afraid I’ll be worried about those old buildings since the Hayward Fault runs under the school.
As far as majors go, as UCSB’s chancellor Henry Yang said at his reception, I picked the most popular major of undeclared. I truly am undecided as I could see myself pursuing either a science or a humanity. Since I just don’t know, I think Davis has the advantage since it has more open majors. It doesn’t have capped or impacted majors like Berkeley, right?
So I’m really leaning towards Davis but I feel like I’ll be missing out if I don’t choose Berkeley, the number one public university in the world. I’m worried that I’ll always regret not going there and think “shoot, I could have gone to Berkeley.”
That’s a tough decision…I can understand your dilemma. I have only just visited Davis with my daughter, so don’t have any first hand experience except that. After the visit, my daughter decided to attend Davis. Her good friend from HS is going to Berkeley. Both have been comparing notes and have a little rivalry going on. 
I know Berkeley has that number one public university thing going for it and the reputation it has built. However, I think it’s best to put that aside and pick the school that will meet your needs the best and make you happiest.
It’s funny that you mentioned the fault running thru Berkeley…my daughter told her friend about that and teases her about all the rioting haha
I personally loved my time at Davis. The students at Davis are ridiculously smart, they just tend not to take themselves too seriously. There was overall a more laid back vibe to the campus. The Berkeley students were too competitive for my taste. People do complain that with Davis being a small town in the middle of nowhere, there isn’t anything to do. But its just a matter of finding the right people and the right thing to do. There is always something going on around campus but there are probably more things going on in and around Berkeley.
I will also mention out that there are some majors that are impacted so not everything is totally open. They will typically make you take pre-reqs and then let you declare the major if your grades in the pre-reqs and overall are high enough.
But it should honestly boil down to where you feel like you fit. If you are miserable throughout your college experience, it doesn’t matter if its at the best public university in the world or the worst. And going to the best public university in the world also doesn’t necessarily mean you will be successful after graduating, you’re going to have to work for it wherever you go.
I don’t know… Berkeley is ranked so highly, I feel like it’ll make your time getting a job much easier in the future. Why turn down such a great opportunity because of dorm aesthetics? You haven’t even been to Berkeley yet, you don’t know what it’s truly like to be there. My sister went there and she loved it! At least visit. Honestly, I wouldn’t turn down Berkeley, and I’m going to go to Davis! I had a friend who turned down Berkeley for Davis and she regretted it. She ended up visiting Berkeley all the time anyways because she had some friends there. Or maybe you can try out Berkeley and if you really don’t love it you could always transfer?
@LilyMoon Haha yeah the riots are another point that I’m just not sure about. Or I should say the intense political activism. In a way it excites me but I worry that it might be too much.
@hisllama Yeah the competition at Berkeley was another thing I’m not sure about. In a way I’ll feel like I would be stagnating myself and sort of chickenong out by not going to the most competitive school. But, then again, how much could I really gain from being in such an environment if I felt overly stressed or inferior?
@RetainerBaby AAAHHH!!! Your friend has experienced the thing that I’m most worried about… regretting my decision. I suppose transferring if I hated UCB could be an option, but it seems a bit odd. By the way I actually have been to Berkeley multiple times before, that’s how I know I don’t dig the town or atmosphere.
Davis is no cakewalk either, I met my share of hyper-competitive students who were hell bent on graduating with a 4.0 a year early while bringing about world peace and curing cancer. I’m just saying the overall population didn’t feel like that the way it did at Berkeley.
Why does your only concern appear to be aesthetics at Berkeley?
Dorm age, fault lines, homeless walk-arounds. Really? You’re going to miss out on Berkeley because of those things? I’ve never heard a student, here on CC, mention fault lines. We’re near the San Andreas, but we don’t think about it in everyday life.
It sounds like you aren’t open to anything that appears “ugly” or “old”. You have a lot to learn.
Regardless of the education, the aesthetics appear to be your driving force. My daughter loved Davis but if she had had Berkeley as an option, she would have tried. As a Davis student, she lived in some not-so-nice places and dealt with homeless clients in her clinics and she never spoke about earthquake fault lines.
Live at home; go to Berkeley if you think you are ready for it.
Live at home; go to Davis, if you think you can handle it.
@“aunt bea” The aesthetics aren’t my main concern, they’re just something I mention to avoid the real issue. My real concern is prestige and what I may miss if I don’t attend Berkeley.
I’m I bit of a conceited person in all honesty, so my ego will take a blow if I back out of Berkeley, but maybe going there would be humbling if I feel everyone is smarter than me. If I choose Davis, I suppose I could take it as a personal triumph as I did not let my hubris get in the way of my decision making, not let my arrogance cause me to automatically choose the school with the best reputation.
If you’re going to Davis because you think it’ll be easy, that’s a dumb idea. All universities are hard and experience the same random genius kids who kill the curve lol! No offense but like all universities are hard. Also, may I ask, what is your major? If you’re worried about med school or something then I could understand, but you said you might go for a humanity, so why are you so worried about the GPA? If you got accepted into Berkeley, it means they think you can handle the rigor. Also Berkeley will open a lot of doors for you when you’re applying to jobs. Not saying Davis won’t, but Berkeley is probably more impressive to anyone out-of-state who doesn’t know the UC system that well.
And yeah my friend was a nutrition major and she decided to go to Davis because she was scared of the rigor. Now she regrets it! She’s just always thinking “what if” plus she thinks it might’ve helped her more when applying to jobs.
My D eliminated Berkeley due to her perception of its culture of students not supporting each other. It’s early but so far no regrets. The problem with being accepted by so many colleges when you can only pick one - there will always be what ifs. Own the choice and move forward.
I have never heard of a fault line being a reason to not attend a university, but to each their own.
My brother attends UCB, and I’m currently a UCD student. He’s a mechanical engineering major, so he often complains about the difficulty of his classes. He was recently telling me about an exam he took where the highest grade was a 30%. He’s a very bright student, but the reality is that all of the students at UCB are very bright, and for some it’s a rough transition to be near the bottom of a top tier school. My friend turned down UCB for that reason, and she’s never looked back. She doesn’t want to rely on just a school name.
As for old buildings, some of the buildings at Davis are on the older side as well. A lot of humanities majors tend to complain that while Math and Science buildings tend to be shiny and new, a lot of the humanities buildings are not so nice. That’s something to consider if you do decide on Davis.
Your experiences at your university will shape the person you will become. A year from now, either at Berkeley or at Davis, you’ll be a whole different person. If you like the person you are at that time, I think there’s no reason to regret.
What I tell people is that while the name is great, you also have to realize that sometimes it’s not all about the name. (If that makes sense). What I’m trying to say is while Berkeley is great and almost everyone’s dream school, can you picture yourself living there for the next four years? Can you survive in such a rigorous and competitive atmosphere?You have to realize that you’re going to school for yourself and not for anyone else. If you don’t find yourself a perfect fit for Berkeley, it’s fine. Attend another school you’re more interested in. There’s always grad school to go to Berkeley (or Davis). If you don’t like the campus, you’re not going to enjoy college (to a certain extent). Remember, college is what you make it of it. Yeah, grades matter in terms of you gotta pass your classes to graduate but also keep in mind that you can graduate from Berkeley and not be able to find a job. What matters is the people you meet and the connections you make while you’re at college.
@E17 So what was your final decision?