UCD or UCSB?

College Search & Selection
1

I got off the waitlist for both colleges for undergraduate, and I’m having trouble deciding between the two. My major is International Relations for Davis and Global Studies for SB, and I want to emphasize my education on Environmental Sciences. I’ve seen a bunch of threads with the same dilemma, but only for science majors.

-I want to pick the college with the better major, internship opportunities, and study abroad programs (Are they all the same for UCs?). I originally wanted Davis because its close to Sacramento, but are there any government/non profit internships at SB? My gut is saying to pick the college with overall better academics, but im not sure which is the “better” one.

-I visited Davis, and I liked the college town feel and can definitely see myself going there. But even though I haven’t visited SB, I heard the beach and campus are absolutely beautiful and its tempting to pick SB for the location. Also, I’m a social person and am looking to party, so naturally SB seems a better fit. But I feel like I’ll easily get tired of the huge “MTV style parties”, especially during my 3rd/4th year.

-I got the relatively same amount of financial aid from both colleges. The difference is not enough to make an impact on my decision. Also, I live in the Bay Area, and distance isn’t a huge deal for me. Weather, size, and sports are also not important factors; I’m satisfied with both.

I like both colleges equally, and this is a very hard decision for me ;(

THANKS SO MUCH!! <3

2

The UCs have a [central office](http://uc.eap.ucop.edu) for studying abroad. There is unlikely to be any difference between UC Davis and UCSB in this regard. Additionally, the UCs have a [Sacremento](http://uccs.ucdavis.edu/for-students/apply)Center which while run through Davis, is open to all students. Both schools have excellent environmental policy programs with numerous opportunities to apply what was learned in the classroom to the real world. I don’t know enough about their respective international studiesprograms to comment on which is superior.

3

@whenhen Do you know where the internship opportunities are typically located at SB? And thanks for your reply!

4

Unfortunately I do not. You may wish to check out respective career center websites for [UCSB[/url] and [url=<a href=“https://icc.ucdavis.edu%5DUC”>https://icc.ucdavis.edu]UC Davis](http://career.sa.ucsb.edu/internships). Perhaps you can post to the respective schools’ CC boards and Facebook groups to try to tease out more information about internships.

One point, most internships occur during the summer and they are often off campus. For instance, I go to school in one state and am interning in another. The location of my school was mostly irrelevant in terms of obtaining the position.

5

Okay I will definitely look around, and thanks for the advice!!