What to do (UC Berkeley or UC Davis)

<p>Okay here's the deal. I got accepted into both for engineering, but I'm considering going to Davis. I have one day to decide and I've submitted my SIR/SLR/Housing for Berkeley, but I'm hoping I can call in and sort it out if I change my mind.</p>

<p>I'm planning to go to grad school. If I go to Davis, I'm changing my major into biochem or something to try for pharmacy school. If I go to Berkeley, I'll stay engineering and try for grad school with that. The thing is, I think if I go to Davis I will have a better chance of making it into pharmacy school than if I go Berkeley engineering and try for grad school. I can probably get a better grade at Davis yea? </p>

<p>And I don't have my mind set on any one major. Another thing causing this dilemma is that my girlfriend will be at Davis so that's an incentive to go. I know that I shouldn't choose colleges based on girls and whatnot, but I really want to be with her. The only reason I'm even considering Berkeley is that my parents kind of want me there.</p>

<p>From what I've gathered, grades often don't carry near as much weight as other things. At Berkeley you'll probably have more opportunities for research, opportunities to get to know "famous" professors, etc.</p>

<p>That said, any school is simply what you make of it. It sounds like you need to figure out what it is you really want to do. Pharmacy school vs. engineering grad school would be two entirely different careers, and to choose whichever based on which school you end up choosing would seem sort of stupid. </p>

<p>But seriously, I'm sure you want to be with your girlfriend, but choosing a school for that reason (you may have others but you didn't really list them) will really be a bad, BAD decision. For all you know you'll go there, your girlfriend will get tired of you or you'll get tired of her, break up, and now you are at Davis because your ex-girlfriend is there. If you like Davis better, great - but that should be based on how happy you think you'll be without considering your high school girlfriend (it is nice to think about one day marrying your high school sweetheart, but that rarely ends up happening). </p>

<p>Also - while I firmly believe you could be a very attractive candidate for grad school in any field coming out of Davis, you should consider the fact that Berkeley is pretty unilaterally considered a top-5 engineering school throughout the world (and will have the resources to back that up). </p>

<p>Anyway hope this helps a little in your decision.</p>

<p>You know, I know TONS of people here at UC Didn't-Get-In-To-Berkeley who leave so glad they came here instead. I'm really proud to be graduating from Davis. What you put into the experience is more influential to your success than going to UCB vs UCD. I did have a friend at Berkeley in the engineering program, and she was really stressed out, but I don't know a lot of Berkeley people, so I can't say much about Berkeley with as much certainty.</p>

<p>As a side note, people from "Cal" tend to come off as elitist douchebags, so if you're into that, you should probably go there. Oh, there's also not a whole lot to do in Davis, and the police suck, but these have been minor annoyances in my experience, not deal breakers.</p>

<p>So, I wanted to mention that I also ended up here at Davis because of a girl, and I cannot stress how dumb of a reason that is. The two of you are going to be different people at the end of the college experience; if you're lucky, you're going to be different people that still like each other. There are a ton of good reasons to go to Davis. Your girlfriend isn't one of them.</p>

<p>Okay, I've actually decided that I'm going to go do pharmacy. After a lengthy thinking process, I'm pretty sure I don't want to do engineering as my career. With that said, would I be better off at Davis or Berkeley for biochem with hopes of going to pharmacy school? Ignore the girl situation haha.</p>

<p>unless there's some magic requirement to pharmacy school, I'm guessing that you're going to have good chances if you do well at either school. Pick the one that fits your personality.</p>

<p>My friend wants to do pharmacy and the ONLY school he applied for was Davis, and actually ended up having reapply because he didn't fulfill his tag agreement (C in calc) and still the was the only school he applied to...</p>

<p>wish i knew the reasoning behind it, but he def. wanted to get into davis biochem program.</p>