Here's my predicament. Last year my first choice was UC Davis, and UC Irvine was my second. Now that I've gotten into both, I 'm not really sure which one I want to go to. Anyone want to help me make a decision? Answer must be backed up by a good reason though... x]

It's sooooo hard to decide because there are so many pros and cons!! gsakfdf

Pros and Cons:
Distance
Davis: two hour drive from my hometown
Irvine: 5 hours away
Davis is closer to home.. which makes my parents happy, but that's a pro and a con in itself. Pro because if I get sick or something I can come home faster.. Con: it's close to home

Location
D: Farm Country
I: more urban setting, hour away from LA [meaning easier to commute to any concerts (i.e Hollywood Bowl!!)]
At Davis, I'll be less distracted by events, but won't I get bored? At Irvine there seems like more things to do.. which means I'll probably get distracted and study less, but I'll have more fun maybe?

Campus
D: classes are far apart from each other, biking campus [I don't bike]
I: heard it's one of the cleanest campuses?

student body
D: ...no clue
I: at least 50% asian...
meaning it's more likely for me to find hot asian guys? LOL pretty shallow.... but still x] I feel more comfortable around asian people because I've always been surrounded by asians >_<

admissions
D: only one of my friends so far has gotten in
I: most of my friends who wanted to major in engineering or the medical field have gotten in
Davis seemed like it was harder to get into, so I guess I should be honored that I was accepted? Irvine will have more of my friends though, which is good and bad?

major
D: Biosystems Engineering [umm I think I accidentally chose the wrong major when filling out my application]
I: Biomedical Engineering: Premed
I'm not 100% set on my major yet.. I'm still trying to figure out if I want to be a psychiatrist, business major, or a vet.
What's Irvine's best department? I know Davis is really good for veterinary medicine

It's sooooo tough to decide. Please give me some guidance.

I say Davis cuz I'm currently attending Davis. So its bias! Well, just pick the one u really want to go to don't pick it cuz ur parents or friends. Davis is a really boring town tho really nothing to do on weekends so if u're outgoing then maybe Irvine. Which I really don't know anything about. If the choice was given to me again, to be honest I would pick Davis again cuz I really like it here even tho I got UCLA too. But yeah, good luck on ur decision and congrats to ur acceptance.

^ Hey now, I'm attending Irvine!! *raises fist*

Lol, just kidding!

Irvine is REALLY CLEAN and the campus is sort of "circled shaped" so it's really hard to get lost.
And the way it's structured, it seems more tight-knitted.

Yea, you might think it's 50% asian, but when you really look at it, it's more like 80%.
You cannot walk to class and not come across less than 30 asian people.

I'm from Sacto, but i got to Irvine. 6-7 hr drive. So, I don't usually go home unless it's a major
holiday break or something like that.

Anyways, congrats on your acceptance!

irvine! ! it's nice there
and theres bunnies everywhere! lol
but it's up to you

i live like an hour from irvine so yeah

I would have said Davis last year but now I'm leaning towards Irvine. All of my friends at Davis complain about how there's nothing to do (I go to San Diego). Irvine is right in the middle between San Diego and LA (hour away from both places) so that's really cool. I love the Irvine Spectrum Center (it's a mall but it's huuuuge) There are a lot of asians at Davis too though.

I never went to Davis, but from my friends - they say that Davis is surrounded by nothingness; in other words, it's a boring area. Irvine has a nice structure, especially since it's in a large circle and you can never get lost. Although for Irvine, it always seems to be under construction because they constantly build or modify buildings. If you want an interesting college experience, I would have to say attend Irvine. :3

I don't attend either of those colleges; just only visited their campuses.

i vote for Davis. I have been there, but I have never been to Irvine. I have a few friends that attend Davis and they all really like it. MY sister also went there and that is when I visited. It is not exactly farm country. It's growing really fast. It's a hour and a half away from SF. I asked my friend, and she said their passing period between classes is ten minutes and it is enough time to walk between classes. I assume you're going to be living there. so you really are getting away from home. You don't really ever have to go home if you don't want to.

Omg, I went through the same crisis as you last year, but in the end I chose Davis, and I don't regret it. UCI was my 2nd choice too. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I had chosen Irvine though, haha...but so far I'm liking Davis =)

Here are my super biased opinions (LOL):

Distance:
-I'm guessing you live in the Bay Area too? When I get homesick and want a break, it's much more convenient to know that home isn't too far away. But I think it all depends on how much you wanna go home. Eg, do you want to go home every weekend? Once a month? Don't care? One of the most influential factors that made me want to come to Davis was that it was close to home (esp. because of family reasons). If I went to Irvine, I don't think I would be able to go home as much (maybe only during breaks).

Location:
-Davis is very rural. From time to time I can literally hear cows mooing outside my window, lol, because I live near a dairy facility.
-Irvine is a bustling city...if you like big cities, this might be better for you. I'm from the Bay Area so it was kinda weird at first...I didn't realize how rural it was. But Davis is a nice college town...and it's supposedly a very safe campus.

Social Scene:
-Davis is kinda boring for me, lol. Cuz there's nothing really to do except eat/hang out. But college is what you make of
it...soo....yeah....haha. You can always join a frat/sorority too =)

Campus:
-I don't bike either, and I get around campus fine. I think Davis is one of the largest UC campuses, actually. But the furthest class I have is only a 20 minute walk, max. Most of my other ones take less than 15 minutes to get there on foot. I'm living on campus though. A bike can be very convenient though, especially if you are rushing to get to class
on time.
-Davis is very environmental. It's also very clean from what I've seen. I barely see any crap on the floor because there are sooo many garbage/recycling bins around. It's not a big city so maybe that's why there is less garbage lying around.

Student body:
-Davis has hella Asians too...I'm not sure, but I thought it was like around 30%. For me, my classes are roughly like half white and half Asian. And trust me, I've seen alot of gorgeous Asian guys walking around
-And of course, if you want to see more hot Asian guys, you can always take an Asian American studies course. Those classes are literally like 98% Asian. Lol.

Admissions:
-If you're into rankings and all that, Davis as of 2008 ranks higher than Irvine...
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews....tudoc_brief.php

In the end, choose what's right for YOU. Where do you picture yourself better?

Good luck, and congrats!! <3 Tell us which one you end up choosing!

HAHA.

Didn't you already make up your decision...clearly from an outsider's point of view, you are leaning towards Irvine.

i'm from irvine. it's clean and there's always something to do w/ south coast nearby or la

i dont live in cali but from everything you listed
if i had to pick, i'd pick irvine, definitely !

Hi, I go to UCI.. maybe I can help a little : )

distance
do you know if you're the type to want to go home/get homesick easily? some people really want to get away after high school to experience a whole different view of life (scenery, people, etc.) if you're like that, then i'd say irvine. personally, i love going home. i know i shouldn't.. but i live in LA so it's SO close! =X

Location
i don't know much about davis to be honest, but around UCI = southcoast plaza, irvine spectrum, fashion island, newport beach, laguna beach. basically, lots of shopping and beaches. haha. plus it's not far from san diego, riverside, OR los angeles.. if you have friends that go there, it won't be much of an inconvenience. plus, you can bear the 405 freeway traffic and go to LA for hollywood bowl, kodak theater, sight seeing stuff.

Campus
our campus is pretty clean. and it's in the shape of a circle so you can't get lost. we have a park right in the middle of the circle too. haha. since you're a biomed major, i'd say you'll have a lot of classes by engineering/science areas. i'd have to say though, the engineering area of the school is pretty old. i hate the lecture hall. haha. but i think you'll have more classes in the physical science areas too. they like to have big science lectures in the biggest lecture hall on campus that seats ~ 450 students, it's one of the nicer lecture halls : ) if it's anything... they just finished remodeling the chem lab building and they just finished building a REALLY pretty and big bio building. oh, and our new student center just opened this year too. : ) the only thing i absolutely do NOT like about campus.. are the on campus apartments, which are not on the main campus. we have to take a shuttle to get there. but. you'll most likely be living in dorms your first year and apts maybe for your second year, you won't have to worry about that yet. haha.

student body
very asian. i realized that there are a LOT of koreans at irvine. haha. or maybe it's just the people i happen to see/meet. there's also a lot of Filipinos and Vietnamese and Indian. but there's also a lot of other ethnicities.. just.. not as much i was around asians a lot in high school too, being in irvine feels at home for me. haha. and a lot of the people in irvine dress well/dress up. hip hop fashion's really in so a lot of the boys are wearing that too. girls with the leggings/heels/boots, etc.

major
i actually don't know. =X BUT! i'm almost positive (99% sure) that irvine's bio department is really good.. if you go to orientation/explore UCI (whatever it's called), i'm sure you'll get this question answered and you can see for yourself if you like the department.

hope that helps!

The pros and cons for the first four criteria are IDENTICAL to mine when I was making my decision! Unlike you, I had NO IDEA what I wanted to major in. So I basically based my decision off of the location. I ultimately decided that I didn't want to live close to home (Davis is also 2 hours away from my hometown of SJ), because it would be too easy for me to go home if I had any problems. What I wanted out of my college career was to become independent and self-sufficient.

As for location... I'm a sunny SoCal kind of girl hahah. Plus, I didn't like that the Davis campus was so huge. I'm a lazy person, so I didn't want to deal with having a bike. Also, my brother went to Davis and hated it there so he kept telling me to go to Irvine. It turns out he simply didn't make the most out of his college career though, so I don't think there was anything about Davis that was terrible. Except maybe the lack of entertainment. UCI isn't exactly very interesting either. Irvine is a pretty new city, so surrounding UCI are lots of apartments/houses, shopping centers, and malls. The beaches are super close too.

But seriously, first and foremost, the decision you make should be based on your major. Since you're not completely sure what major you want to pursue, I'll just tell you what I know. UCI has a brand new undergraduate business administration major. The Paul Merage School of Business has a really good reputation, but since this major is new, I don't know how "good" it's going to be. If you're planning on being a vet, definitely go to Davis. and... I know nothing about BME. sorry!

I go to UCD so maybe I can help a little. I actually really wanted to go to Irvine or San Diego but ultimately chose Davis instead.

Distance:
I'm from San Jose so Davis is just an hour and a half drive away. It's really convenient if I ever need a break from school to just take Amtrak or get a ride back to San Jose. When I first moved in I realized that I needed to bring a lot more stuff so I just went home and got some more. In fact, I spend about half my weekends in Davis and the rest at home just because I can. My roommate is from Socal so if he ever needs something from home his parents have to ship it to him or he has to wait until a long vacation so that he can go home.

Location:
Davis is a college town so it is pretty small but the people are friendly. It's not as rural as people make it out to be and is actually very peaceful and relaxing most of the time. Sacramento is literally like 15 minutes away and San Francisco is about an hour so there are places to go if you get bored. Davis does get really boring especially if you live on campus and you only have your feet and a bike to get around. There are times where I'll just end up studying for my classes because I'm so bored. I usually just end up going downtown to eat or go bowling in the MU.

Campus:
When I first visited the Daivs, I thought that the campus was huge but after the first week I realized that it's not so bad. Eventually you'll figure out shortcuts and quicker ways of getting to your classes. I usually bike to class but will walk if it's raining or if my class is less than five minutes from my dorm. I live in the Tercero housing area which is in the middle of campus so my psychology class in Sciences Lecture Hall was a two-minute walk away and next quarter my ASA lecture will be across the street. You can pretty much get anywhere on campus in 5 minutes on a bike and less than 15 minutes if you walk. The campus is your typical mix of old and newer buildings but they're doing a lot of renovation to some of the older buildings right now. The campus is chill most of the time and there isn't too much craziness.

Student body:
Lots of Asians go to Davis. Most of my classes seem about half White half Asian. A lot of Chinese and Koreans. The campus is fairly diverse though with students from many different ethnicities and a lot of international students too.

I think you should ultimately base your decision on your major though. Davis has a great Animal Science program if you do want to become a vet. My friends who are Animal Science majors absolutely love their classes. You can even take classes to take care of pigs, sheep, and chickens. LOL

yeahh!! there are so many bunnies there! i love it <3
but yea, im int he same situation as you!!
im transfering from a cc. i got into davis. and im waiting on uci ( they release at the end of april .__.)
ive been to davis campus for one weekend. and uci for a week.
i like uci a lot more. but davis is sooo close to home. and yea, id def concentrate better at davis with nothing to do. har har har.

both schools have an equal amount of asians. uci has def hot asian guys. maybe bc i didnt wander around davis that much. congrats on ur acceptance! and gluck making ur decision!!

(uci is beyond clean <3 yea, i lean towards uci :])

Thanks for all your advice guys!

I'm going to try to visit both campuses during my spring break so I can get a better feel of which one I like more. haha

The thing about Davis is that I only know 3 other people that got in from my school... so I feel like it's a really big honor to have been admitted [people say davis "pulled a berkeley" this year haha], therefore I feel I should go there.. cuz it's "exclusive" or something. haha does that make sense?

Does anyone have pictures of the campuses? I tried looking but I got mostly aerial shots..

Also what's the weather like for both places? I really can't stand the heat..... if it's really hot, are most of the places air conditioned?

I'm currently a davis student and it's freaking boring here! But the positive side to that is...no distraction so you can always study[but really, it's about time management]. Davis is really quiet, the town and college is dead after like 9 pm and during the weekends, it's even more quiet because people go home. I was in the same boat as you were, and I wanted to go to Irvine but my dad made me go to davis...sigh. I dont think it's exactly a "bigger" honor to go here because they're both same ranked schools o.O

1/3 students here are science/engineering majors...and there's tons of asians here.

If i were you, i'd pick irvine...why? Because 1] location is better and 2] good school 3] in the end, you'll be happier because davis gets old eventually

Irvine's by the beach so it's usually sunny & breezy. It can get hot though. Dorms aren't air conditioned, but it's tolerable depending where your room is. (bring a fan. haha.) Classrooms are air conditioned though. : ) Also try not to visit campuses on weekends since it'll be pretty dead. It's best to go in the middle of the week. & UC's are on spring break after this week too..

It seem like u like to go to Irvine more.

RANDOM UCI PICTURES! (found on Google)
A really good compilation of (old) campus pics: http://www.ps.uci.edu/physics/build.html

The brand-spankin-new Student Center - just opened Fall 2007 (Quizno's, Wendy's, Starbucks, Mexican, Chinese, salads, pastas, pizza; bookstore, study lounges, computer labs, student government, etc)

Bridge leading to University Center - huge shopping center (Trader Joe's, Lee's Sandwiches, Cha For Tea, Veggie Grill, Peet's Coffee, Juice It Up, Golden Spoon, pizza, sandwiches, candy, gelato, Japanese food, 24 Hour Fitness)

The famous Science Library (note the sperm hahah)

Aldrich Park - it's smack dab in the middle of the campus. It's the shortcut people take when they need to go across campus, so they don't have to walk around the circular Ring Road

McGaugh Hall - pretty much our strangest-looking building hahah

Humanities Instructional Building

Frederick Reines Hall

woww i've been to uci twice and i never even seen everything haha
but its really nice to walk around

cha for tea makes the best drinks quite expensive but sooo gooddddd

QUOTE (PDURRR @ Mar 15 2008, 10:26 PM)

cha for tea makes the best drinks quite expensive but sooo gooddddd

Seriously T___T
I'm scared if I go UCI I'm gonna waste all my money there lol

hahah. to be honest, of my two years here (technically 1.5??) i've only gone to cha.. 4 or 5 times. i think i was too lazy to walk there freshman year. large peach green tea for $4.50! SO GOOD.

I've only been there like 2 times...

Apple Green Tea FTW!!!!

I always get the mango green tea with fruit jellyyy<3

But yeah, the excitement does wear off, and you'll find yourself going there... not that often. I buy Starbucks, Peet's and Juice It Up way more

I haven't visited Irvine yet, but I've already seen Davis. It seems like it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. it's like it's own little town, lol. lots of trees. the school is pretty big, so at least a bike is necessary. It doesn't seem like there's much to do there, but that's just what I gathered from walking around for 2 hours, lol. There's a section where there's a bunch of cows! lol. I don't like cold weather as much, so I don't think Davis is really for me. I got in to Davis though, so I guess I'm keeping the option open. Even though Irvine is 2 rankings lower, it just seems like it'd be more enjoyable to go to Irvine, at least for undergrad. It's so convenient to be so close to Los Angeles AND San Diego! haha

yeah i would choose irvine over davis for its location & social opportunities.

The social opportunities are the same anywhere you go. It's all about you making the most of it. Like, if you're shy and not actively meeting people, it wouldn't matter if you went to Davis or Irvine.

well i meant stuff to do.

irvine is between LA & San Diego. there's a bunch of amusement parks & whatnot over there. + beaches.

loll when i had a job i would always go after work because i live near another cha
honey green milk tea FTW!! lol
or pearl black milk tea (when i feel cheap)
!!

ohh that's what you meant. but still, all the stuff around Irvine gets old fast too. You can only go to amusement parks so many times before you're broke. hahah and shopping gets REALLY old, even though the malls around Irvine are amazing (South Coast, Spectrum, Fashion Island)

I go to UCD! And i have some photos i took during the first week i was here this year:

Dutton Hall (financial/workshop etc. directory)
[Back of] Mrak Hall (Chancellor)
^Another one
[Back of] Mrak Hall, side of Shields Library
My dorm view. (Tercero Dining Commons)
One of the new dorms where freshmens live, including me (Kearney)
Yes, bike country. (Front of Memorial Union [MU]~ huge hangout spot for student body.+bookstore etc.)
Right in front of the MU is the Quad
..^which is across from Dutton Hall

Anyway, i love the peace and quiet on weekends.
But, you kind of have to do some research for events/concerts happening nearby.
Students are always downtown on the weekends~ there are a lot of mini-shops.
It's a pretty traditional town-- college town, really. =)
Weather has been pretty nice lately. But.. windy a lot. And when it rains, ew.
You need to be extra-careful when it rains b/c ppl biking just don't care. (I suggest walking when it rains)
But on sunny days, it's just heaven. =PP
You'll have to get used to biking if you want to travel in Davis.
But if you don't want to, there's the student-run unitrans system.
Basically like a city bus, but w/in the campus [and outskirts of campus]. And they're usually always on time.

But, which ever one you pick, i hope you choose the right one for you that you like.
College is a meaningful step in your life. =) Congrats and good luck!!^^

Hmm, right off the bat, I'd say UCI. My brother and some of my friends go there. They say it's very clean, and very nice, but also very BORING. I've only seen pictures, but it looks very pretty...very...Asian haha

As for Davis, I live close by, but have never been. When I hear Davis, I immediately think farmland, but then again, I have no first hand experience. But to be honest, all of my friends that go to Davis seem to really like it there. Whereas my friends at UCI just tell me their bored.

i go to uci.

Distance
for me, 2 hrs is a longgg drive as it is, especially with gas prices as high as they are right now.
personally i live closer to home then that (less than 2 hrs) and i try not to go home too often because of driving thru traffic and because of gas. if you wanted to go home from UCI, and you live 5 hrs away you'd probably be driving in traffic a lot or you'd have to leave really early or really late.

for another input, both my roommates live about 2 hrs away from home and they go home once every 2 months.

Location
i guess it depends on where you're from. im from the l.a area so im not really wowed by the stuff we have here. and personally a lot of people that live in irvine think that theres nothing to do here haha. we only have shopping and eating. since you're incoming freshman you wont even be able to go to bars or d&b until later so theres REALLY nothing to do. however the shopping is fantastic tho. :] its an hr and a half to get to SD, and an hr to and hr and half to get to L.A depending on traffic.

Campus
campus is clean and theres lots of grass. the center of the campus is a park, soo yeah haha. people still bike around here but most walk. the people that bike are those that live near by

student body
i'd say its at least 70% asian. depends on if thats your thing. its not too much diversity

admissions
i have nooo idea which one is better than which. but honestly neither are superrrr prestigious so IMO it doesnt really matter???

major
think long and hard about what you want to do. most people switch at least once or twice.
if you want to be a vet of course going to ucdavis would be better, even tho you would still need to reapply for davis' vet school. either way, it seems you will be considering higher education so undergrad isn't going to be the end all for you.

weather
its great weather here. nice and sunny. not too hot. its still early so it'll be hotter later on, but we ARE close to the beach :]
sometimes it can be a little bit humid (really little). i guess im more sensitive to it because im used to super dry weather

^Thanks! I'm a sophomore in highschool and so i'm looking into what colleges I would like to go to/qualify for.
UC Davis looks so pretty! And when you meant "bikers"..i can tell what you mean! -LooksAtPictures- xD
I don't mind if its quiet & all (: I used to want to go to UC berkeley but then changed my mind.

oh And my cousin goes to UCI. He was happy when he got admited. I think he likes it there? ^ ^;

HAHAHAHAA! rofl.

i say uc irvine cause of kaba modern! hahahahah

I'm sophomore @ UCDavis!=)

Definitely if you're thinking about VET School, UCD would be an awesome choice. =) My roommate from last year at the dorms is planning to be a VET also; so it was easy for her to get an internship at the VET school-->close by also. +) (She biked there)

-Davis a farmland? Lol, I actually never thought of it that way because my brother went there before I did also. But when I got there, yeah there's the cows right out across the road from the new Tercero buildings. HOwever, other than the smell sometimes, everything else did not look like a farmland at all. lol--it's just not as *citylike*. (Don't worry they occasionally move the cows away near the Spring-Summer also. haha *or at least that's what they did when I was there*

The new DC's at Segundo and Tercero are awesome so if you come and visit, def. come and check it out. The new tercero buildings are pretty cool, cuz they're PRETTY NEW. Since the Freshmans of 2006 broke the record of the BIGGEST class there that year, we were all roomed in TRIPLES, however, this year+future, UCD has set a limit on the admissions to DAVIS>>So def. expect DOUBLES and don't worry about being roomed in triples like me. haha

About diversity, I say UCD is probably one of the most diverse Uni. Since every ethnicity is about almost at a balanced. Stats says there are more Asians though. lol

x_estherrrrrr_x, haha my younger sister is considering UCI also just because of KABA modern. lol

>>>Again, it could get quite boring because there aren't shopping malls close by at all, but if you've got friends and other activities-->that makes up for everything..+) good luck!!

ps. BEST 2 things about UCD: UNITRANS ll and everyone's super friendly...lol

My brother goes to UCI and I'm a senior at Davis and we both agree that college, no matter what school you attend, is what you make of it. We're from LA and neither of us stressed about choosing which UC we were gonna attend. Cal, LA, SD, Davis, Irvine, SB are all considered "public ivies", which means no matter what school you choose, you'll still get a great education.

^I agree, college is wat u make of it. I think whether its UCI or UCD, you'll get the same college experience. You'll meet new ppl, see new things and experience a whole new life in college.

Yah both schools are excellent, its how you make of it.

Irvine gets my vote though. Its fun place, clean, great weather, tons of places to go out, shop, hang out, beach close by. Campus is clean with lots of green. Not to large they you would need biking. I suppose lots of asians if a plus for some people. Davis is generally a bit more of a small college town unlike Irvine. But you really don't have tyo worry much about being distracted, not everyone goes out all the time.

You really shouldnt choose to go to UCI just because of kabamodern though. Kinda stupid reason really lol Socal generally has better dance groups than norcal we got a lot down here.