#Admtd: UC Berkeley v. UC Davis

22 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

unique hemlock
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Schools: UC Berkeley, UC Davis
Intended major: Accepted Undeclared CAES UCD
Accepted Undeclared UCB L&S

Similarities: Both in California,
Stem programs are decent at Davis compared to Berkeley.

  • I will advocate for myself at both schools, seek out tutoring, office hours.
    ( Cal’s admin don’t seem very responsive? So sink or swim. )i
  • At both schools, I have people I want to avoid ( MINOR people shouldn’t hold you back from your dream school. )

Berkeley
School 1 Pros:

  • Weather is just like home ( Bay Area )
  • Located in the Bay Area, good job opportunities?
  • I liked the people I met but the atmosphere feels tense.
  • World class engineering program
    It’s like 7k tuition, I won’t have
    Access to it though because I’m undeclared >7% of students get accepted to engineering. I’d be spending two years focusing on an absurdly high GPA while planning alternates and just being stressed.
  • An hour away from home so if I get stressed af, I can go home and recharge, be near my family.
  • Once in a lifetime opportunity + First in family to get into school.
    -Apparently everyone wants us to succeed, I haven’t been ( Cal students/alumni I need you! )
  • There is a lion dancing club there, I met them during my retreat and I wanted to join their team, go figure.
  • family pressure from extended fam but my direct family is going to let me make my own decision but they definitely want me to choose one over the other.. 👀
    School 1 Cons:
  • The panic attacks I had trying to decide what was best
  • No clue the academic environment
  • Notoriously hard to get into Engineering ( CivE , Berkeley alumni:students please! )
  • You go into Berkeley to do what you plan to do, how will I become a Civ Engineer, and how would I plan an alternate life decision?
  • I’ve heard from two people about whether I want a Berkeley degree or an Engineering degree.
  • Advisors scare me?
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  • It’s a GIANT school. Internship opportunities will be difficult.
  • As much as I want to know my limits and take less classes, I believe Cal wants us to GRADUATE.
  • I’ll be more focused on my GPA AND trying to transferring while juggling an alternate major.
    Name of School 2
    School 2 Pros:
  • Fell in love with the environment and how happy everyone is
  • #1 in UC happiness/mental health ( I’ve had anxiety and mental health issues before )
  • I won’t have to deal with the anxiety that I have when it comes to school because I won’t be worrying about a GPA?
  • More room to learn and to grow.
  • 2 hours away from home ( +-) I’ll have more space from family.
  • Sustainability is something I love, I agree with the values of the school such as challenging and asking more of your administration.
  • Tutoring rooms in each dorm, study rooms in each dorm.
  • I guess a lot of people from my HS are headed there, (+-) I have a friend from elementary school who wants to do ChemE, a friend?
  • Happiness, I can be happy here for sure. It’s warm. A warm feeling

School 2 Cons:

  • 1 hour away from home (+-) closer to home.
  • Engineering is marginally less good?
  • Cows..? They’re cute
    Tuition 30% higher than Cal 10k

Tiebreaking considerations:

  • Initially if I was able to 1) Transfer into Engineering 2) Defer 3) Get good classes
  • Davis was what I decided yesterday than #2 happened
  • I was going to consider Berkeley, well they offered deferment after a bunch of begging and bureaucracy.
  • I don’t know what tiebreaking considerations would make me stop considering Davis, maybe if I got into Engineering.

Addendum: Good academics ( Both fulfill )

  • Cheap tuition ( Both fulfill )
  • I want to do engineering.
  • While I’d like major flexibility in case I don’t like engineering if I go to Cal I’m DOING those major requirements.
  • close to home but not too close to home.
  • space from parents either way they want to
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visit me on a 2 week or week basis ( UCD v. UCB )

  • Prestige is nice but I like Davis as well so can’t go wrong with either
  • for some reason people respect me a lot more if I say I got into Cal makes you think :/
  • Good climate ( I wouldn’t mind UCD’s climate )
  • A pool.
  • A gym.
  • Okay residence halls
  • Goodish admin or at least people who may help you if you advocate and seek stuff out
  • Just a good track on my future and guidance.
leaden sonnet
# unique hemlock visit me on a 2 week or week basis ( UCD v. UCB ) - Prestige is nice but I like...

Ok so I had a friend who got into both undeclared as well and ultimately chose Davis for few reasons. Davis has much better support and a lot of resources for undeclared majors, and she liked the Davis school/area a lot more (despite the recent murders and being with the cows), and overall, her parents both went to Berkeley (and were very traumatized) and has a premed sister at ucla (she is also extremely intelligent but overstressed in an extreme level) and the Berkeley environment isn’t for everyone. She was telling me that despite it being a better school prestige wise, she wouldn’t be able to handle the stress/competition she might face (heavily influenced by her parents and her sister’s current experience) and she overall thought she would do better at Davis mentally too because she has anxiety/anger issues and again, wouldn’t be able to deal with the stress. She also really plans on exploring at Davis, but I heard they’re very much like explore everything with undeclared majors (she’s CAES) so something to keep in mind. You honestly seem to have more pros for Davis (which is real cal engineering has a lot of grade deflation and weeder classes), so it seems like you’re leaning there, but honestly, you can’t go wrong with either of them. Cal also has cheaper tuition which could make a huge difference, but either way, they’re both fantastic choices

unique hemlock
leaden sonnet
unique hemlock
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Berkeley Housing is similar to where I live, the Bay Area but I will consider that. Financially I think Berk and Davis balance out

tardy plank
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@unique hemlock do you want a link to a uc Davis server

unique hemlock
tardy plank
unique hemlock
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I don’t know

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Sorry man I’m just so stressed

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Maybe I could post this on reddit

tardy plank
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You could yeah

quaint owl
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no actually they are guaranteed housing first year

fossil magnet
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Isn’t cal the easy choice for this?

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Idk I didn’t read through everything lol

unique hemlock
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L, decided

fossil magnet
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u already picked UC davis

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wait for which major im sso confused

keen mortar
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ok what happened @unique hemlock