<p>i got accepted to ucdavis last week and was almost sure that i would go there in the fall, but today i got accepted to usd and awarded a $60,000 scholarship and now i don't know where to go. i live in san diego so if i went to usd i'd only be 20 minutes from home, and i don't think i really want to be that close. the nice thing about davis is that its in state tuition, but i'm far enough away that it feels out of state. they'd both be about the same financially, so i was woundering if anyone knew the pros and cons socially and academically for each. thanks!</p>
<p>my brother attended davis for the 2004-2005 term and so i got a chance to go visit him during the summer. the first thing i noticed was that the place was a whole lot cleaner. There were trees everywhere, the air was fresh, baaaaaaaarely any cars [apparently bikes are really big there. no joke -- there must have been 8 bikes to every 1 car] and overall it was refreshing change coming from the streets of LA... but then again, maybe that's just LA, i always thought San Diego to be a healthy place to begin with anyways :) </p>
<p>A bad point to this is davis is in the middle nowhere! The scenery was fantasic and all, but there wasn't really much to do socially. The people i met were very friendly and i felt like it was a really close knit community. i also heard there's a huge gay scene there, but i mean, it's no big deal. it's not evident or anything, just realize it may be hard to find a bf sometimes.</p>
<p><em>random</em> On the plane ride, i saw a whole buncha land [10+ miles] reserved just for crops and such. the farm was no where near the school at all, but, yeah.. just to give you an idea of what's around, i guess haha.</p>
<p>I can't say much about academics. The only thing I heard was that the vet program was one of the top of the nation. Anyways, that's all i have to say about ucd, good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>Have you visited the campuses? They're both just terrific schools w/ lots to recommend them, but the feel is very different (size, architecture, surrounding community, school mission, etc.). I'd be surprised if one didn't feel more comfortable to you than the other. When I worked in SD, I was quite aware of USD's community connections. If you hope to live in SD after college, that might be a tipping point?</p>