#Go to UIUC (Transfer) or stay at UC Davis???

298 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

wise jacinth
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Well! Here we go again!

I'm currently a Data Science and Atmospheric Science double major at UC Davis. I Recently got admitted to UIUC as a sophomore transfer for the Statistics major. If I go to UIUC, I will minor in CS and double major in Atmospheric Science.

Intended Major: Data Science / Statistics, Atmospheric Science

Cost: ~36k-40k/year for UCD, ~55k-60k/yr for UIUC

Similarities: Both schools are big public schools with HUGE campuses, both campuses are in a college town, Statistics programs in both colleges are solid.

UC Davis (current school, really just my current experiences)

Pros

  • Strong statistics department, professors are decent so far
  • I LOVE LOVE LOVE the small-town sports culture, going to football and basketball games are always amazing
  • The arboretum! It's so nice
  • Just such a charming city overall
  • So many people here are friendly and its really endearing
  • Small data science community
  • COST. cheap asf
  • Close to the Bay so I come home often

Cons

  • Weak atmospheric science department, small but a bit TOO small for my liking
  • Old classrooms and buildings + library is depressing, I really wish there were more modern facilities on campus
  • I'm sometimes unimpressed by the way some classes are structured here, oftentimes i feel like I'm not really challenged
  • A solid portion of the student body pisses me off (as in, the types of students who want an A with no effort)
  • I know I'm a bitch for this but relative prestige
  • I was somewhat disappointed in the extracurricular options that exist for data science
  • At first I thought that the quarter system was nice. Then came winter quarter.
  • Too strong of an emphasis on bio and agriculture for my liking
  • Kind of interested in entrepreneurship, but little resources for it.
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UIUC (Statistics, Transfer)

Pros

  • Stronger atmospheric science department, larger and actively supports undergraduate research
  • Big Ten sports school!
  • Statistics program also very well-regarded, more applications-based as far as what I've researched
  • Prestige for tech -> better job placements
  • More STEM focused, recruiters seem to come here for career fairs
  • Campus facilities look pretty dang nice
  • Semester system -> more structure in class planning, which I appreciate
  • It's in the midwest so I can go storm chasing :>
  • Stronger CS program, since I plan to minor in CS
  • Stronger entrepreneurship culture if i choose to go down that path
  • DIRT CHEAP housing

Cons

  • COST
  • Distance from home
  • I'd be leaving everything behind from davis
  • It's in the midwest...
  • Don't know how friendly people are here, especially since there are so many engineering majors
  • The campus is so fucking huge and there is little bike infrastructure from what I've seen
  • The town itself doesn't seem that much appealing to me
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I'd appreciate more perspectives from UIUC

cursive spindle
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Oh I didn't realize you were trying to transfer Sach

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One question I have is how much does it matter to be near a city for you

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Because Davis is like an an hour and ten from SF but UIUC is double that to Chicago

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Also for the extra 60k (for all three years presuming you graduate on time, that being 4 years, or 1 year Davis and 3 years UIUC) would that be loans, out of pocket, fin aid? Like how is that being paid for.

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And for facilities, UIUC is an old school, I presume you won't be spending time only in the new areas (I may be wrong though)

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I have more to say, some good for UIUC and some bad for it but for now what it looks like is this is a debate between paying more for prestige vs saving money for a better quality of life, but I'll comment more later

winged tundra
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i will say i dont think that prestige matters too much in the realm of atmospheric sci? im not sure how much you're pursuing that as a major for funsies or a possible career path but skills and projects are much more important than school name
but yeah the cost difference question is a big one and id be interested in hearing
and definitely visit the campus and get a feel for the facilities if you can

wise jacinth
wise jacinth
earnest meadow
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Lwk not worth it

winged tundra
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the difference in atmospheric science programs piques my interest but idk if its worth the cost

wise jacinth
wise jacinth
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For me at least

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Hell, I haven't had time to visit Sacramento

vagrant forum
wise jacinth
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So everyone just does man econ

vagrant forum
vagrant forum
wise jacinth
vagrant forum
wise jacinth
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It's like a "cool to have, might make use of it"

vagrant forum
vagrant forum
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And how often do u go home

wise jacinth
vagrant forum
wise jacinth
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Every

vagrant forum
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Whether that being ur depressed

wise jacinth
vagrant forum
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Or ur roommate is annoying

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Or ur beefing

vagrant forum
wise jacinth
wise jacinth
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Plus my roommate does pmo

vagrant forum
vagrant forum
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I think you’d be fine then

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Unless u have really bad homesickness

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I feel like internally u wanna go

wise jacinth
vagrant forum
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Given where ur from and the prestige part of urself I can see it

vagrant forum
wise jacinth
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Hm

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Like im quite happy with the data science program here so far

vagrant forum
wise jacinth
vagrant forum
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U got in

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Might as well go

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Yeah it’s going to be daunting but u might as well

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If ur unhappy now go pursue happiness

wise jacinth
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Idk if "might as well" is a good reason to spend $60k more total

vagrant forum
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If you think ur getting better opportunities and ur parents can afford it appreciate them

winged tundra
vagrant forum
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Ur very lucky they’re supporting you

wise jacinth
wise jacinth
vagrant forum
wise jacinth
vagrant forum
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It’s scary to make big changes but I feel like they’re usually worth making

wise jacinth
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I feel like I need to let it sit for a couple days

vagrant forum
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Flip a coin

wise jacinth
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Damn

winged tundra
ionic gust
wise jacinth
wise jacinth
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which was back in november

wise jacinth
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not sure to what extent i'd pursue those though

inner pilot
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Is stats at uiuc good?

wise jacinth
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Also is uiuc even worth it for out of state if im not engineering

wise jacinth
inner pilot
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I didn’t hear much good things abt their DS+stats program

wise jacinth
inner pilot
wise jacinth
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But my parents would be ok with either

inner pilot
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Maybe I’m thinking of something else

inner pilot
wise jacinth
inner pilot
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I mean is there a field u want to break into

wise jacinth
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Stats and stats+cs which is just stats with a cs minor

wise jacinth
inner pilot
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I mean if that’s the case then ya Davis if ur more into geospatial area

wise jacinth
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U mean like gis?

inner pilot
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Ya

winged tundra
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stats -> gis pipeline

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🔥

ionic gust
# wise jacinth i unfortunately did not apply to other UCs as a transfer since it was too late a...

If you end up staying at Davis anyway, it might be worth applying to ucsd next cycle tbh.

I think the benefits of uiuc probably don’t really outweigh the costs/risks from what it sounds like. I’d also be curious how much of your current coursework transfers and if you can realistically complete the double major + minor in three years. If you aren’t absolutely sure you can, then you also have to factor in the cost of another semester or two and decide if it’s doable and/or worth it.

wise jacinth
winged tundra
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I can go on and on about how awesome gis is lmao

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What kind of severe weather are you interested in? Or is it just broad interest/no specific

wise jacinth
winged tundra
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Lowkey might be worth specializing in GIS then

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Whether thats staying at Davis or not

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My department gets hella money for wildfire stuff

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And someone in my program does air pollution modeling (which I think is part of the comp geosci research area @ davis)

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GIS is like stats but better because you can do it spatially dogekek

wise jacinth
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should i try visiting

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also why is the illini/saluki amtraks so cheap

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20 bucks are you kidding me

winged tundra
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holy

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thats so good

winged tundra
wise jacinth
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dunno

uncut stream
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uiuc

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i remember your rant abt not liking davis 😭

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it seems like youd be happier at uiuc

wise jacinth
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my mental health is not the stablest

uncut stream
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oh that might change things

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but you also said you are influenced easily by your peers

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and i do think ppl at uiuc might be more “locked in” or academic

wise jacinth
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i dont think influenced is the right word

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like their energy radiates onto me i guess

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but i kinda like it sometimes #lowcortisol

uncut stream
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if you dont plan to go to grad school, then maybe uiucs stronger programs and stronger name within the stem field can be worth the extra cost when you graduate and look for a job

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plus youre also applying for transfer so im assuming you dislike davis more than like it? these r two very different schools so uiuc might be the one for you

wise jacinth
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might have accidentally doxxed myself in the last image

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so i removedit

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but dicette and i literally follow each other on the gram so its ok

wise jacinth
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i really really loved davis in the fall, so i was actually against transferring back then

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i was actually only thinking about transferring seriously until midway through winter quarter, which was already too late

uncut stream
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did you apply transfer anywhere else?

wise jacinth
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and i feel like my decision to apply to uiuc was also based in an irrational kind of fear i guess

uncut stream
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you might like a priv school with smaller classes and more faculty

wise jacinth
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it was definitely rushed and in around march i believed like i had to get the fuck out of here

uncut stream
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with your major id personally go uiuc since you dont plan to spend extra money on grad school

wise jacinth
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i didn't expect to get in

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but here we are

uncut stream
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successful 4yr transfer oos is pretty impressive yeah

wise jacinth
uncut stream
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you might regret not going and wonder what you missed out on

wise jacinth
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or after a few years in industry

uncut stream
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i dont think uiuc gives much aid right

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idk my friend didnt get any

wise jacinth
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im oos so

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none lmao

uncut stream
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he was also similar to engineering and chose uiuc oos over udub in state

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dang

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will you have a chance to tour uiuc before making a decision?

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maybe you can ask some students here how their experiences r and get a better feel first

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if youre rllyy set on grad school then ig davis would make more sense, tho idk how much grad school would benefit you for your major

wise jacinth
uncut stream
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can you skip

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or idk virtual tour and js ask a few students

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since you want grad davis is prob easier for higher gpa

wise jacinth
warm oar
uncut stream
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bro prob saw uiuc and ran to this thread

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booooooo

cursive spindle
wise jacinth
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sonion

uncut stream
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👎👎👎

warm oar
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the thing with uiuc is

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campus is so polarized

wise jacinth
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for me atleast

warm oar
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its divded by this street called green street

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one side is engineering and cs and some other stem stuff

uncut stream
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uiuc expert here to save us all yessssssssssss

warm oar
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other side is everything else

wise jacinth
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i couldnt bother being in the middle of nowhere, it's not like my parents are gonna let me venture outside the city

cursive spindle
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If it doesn't matter to you much I won't comment on it further, I just wanted to clarify

warm oar
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uiuc sounded rly great on paper

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but when i went to tour with parents

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they were kinda sus about it

wise jacinth
warm oar
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just cause of the other side of green street

wise jacinth
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for the record guys

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umd is one of my favorite college campuses

warm oar
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like i had a tour in engineering school and a tour on the other side of green street

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way different impressions

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i dont think thats much a problem tho

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social life seems cool

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if u party a lot is good

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but i dont party cauyse im a loser

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liiek u see ppl do stuff like play frisbee on main quad probs wont be too much of a problem making friends

wise jacinth
warm oar
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perfect

wise jacinth
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i love my ultimate team here

warm oar
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uiuc is booty compared to UW

warm oar
cursive spindle
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Tbf UW is probably top 10 most beautiful campuses in the nation

warm oar
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when i went to see uchicago i thought uw was nicer

cursive spindle
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Anyways back to the topic: from my perspective the 60k is a concern, especially if its all loans that you wouldn't have to pay if you stayed in California.

warm oar
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thats just me tho

cursive spindle
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Like UIUCs two year atmospheric science masters is also 60k

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If you really want it UIUC

wise jacinth
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im really starting to think that id be going to uiuc just for the heck of going to uiuc

cursive spindle
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If you can make the money work for undergrad, I think it's fine, but just make sure you can afford it

uncut stream
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transfer to udub instead 😎

cursive spindle
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Well too expensive like he said

wise jacinth
uncut stream
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YES

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I AGREE

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😁😁😁

warm oar
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isnt uw out of state rly expensive ?

wise jacinth
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i told them i'll apply for winter 2027

uncut stream
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yes yes yes!

wise jacinth
uncut stream
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udub transfer rate sucks tho

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they hate hate oos

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ik oos cs is literally 0% but idk for eng

wise jacinth
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i'd be applying into their stats major

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plus 21% doesn't seem all too bad

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my parents regret not sending me to uw from the get go

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but alas

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can't change much...

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i would 100% do my grad school at UW if i had the opportunity

warm oar
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wait u got into uw this app season ?

wise jacinth
warm oar
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i thought ur freshman college

wise jacinth
warm oar
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ohh so ur like seeing if u wanna decline davis

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oh no

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ur doing 1 yr davis

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then see if u should go to uiuc or not ?

wise jacinth
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im about to finish my first year here at davis

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and i was admitted to uiuc as a transfer for fall 2026

warm oar
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dont laugh at me claire

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ill get mad

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well ask them current uiuc students and gl

wise jacinth
wise jacinth
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in terms of at least

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what im learning

uncut stream
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NO NO NOOOOOOOOO

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dont do this to udub

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udub >>>> any t1 program

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isnt udub rank 6 for stats tho

wise jacinth
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yes

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davis is not far behind tho

wise jacinth
# uncut stream NO NO NOOOOOOOOO

https://acms.washington.edu/data-sciences-and-statistics-0

Data Sciences and Statistics | Applied & Computational Mathematical...

Summary The ACMS Data Science and Statistics option is designed with strong statistics and applied mathematics components.  The track incorporates coursework in mathematical modeling and scientific computation, statistical learning, probability and data science. Students graduating with the major will be well prepared for careers in data scienc...

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it is VERY similar to uc davis ds

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what even goes on in urbana-champaign

wise jacinth
full pond
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Can you attend seminars at the UCSD? That can be a good way to get on the radar of profs, although the focus seems to be more on the oceanography side. https://scripps.ucsd.edu/events/all

But I imagine there's a degree of transferability in terms of numerical ocean simulation vs numerical atmospheric simulation. Either way you want to take/learn numerical methods, PDEs, (computational) fluid dynamics, linear algebra machine learning, bayesian inference, etc

Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Upcoming Events

A department of UC San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography is one of the oldest, largest, and most important centers for ocean, earth and atmospheric science research, education, and public service in the world.

wise jacinth
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i did research with some of them in high school

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and ucsd still didnt take me off the waitlist shrug

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i'm pretty well-versed with the ucsd program but i'm now realizing that it's better fit for grad school

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especially for atmospheric science/NWP

wise jacinth
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The more I think about it the less I wanna go there

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I dont think I'll be happy enough there to justify the better career outcomes

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Plus I might switch to engineering but I can't do that at uiuc

inner pilot
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Or maybe transfer again

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What field in engineering btw

wise jacinth
vagrant forum
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Second yr

wise jacinth
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I was planning on doing that

vagrant forum
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Yeah just do that

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I think u should give it more of a chance

wise jacinth
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I was also thinking doing a spring transfer for somewhere like GT

vagrant forum
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Spring transfer is cooked

wise jacinth
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Oh?

vagrant forum
wise jacinth
vagrant forum
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?

wise jacinth
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And adjustment is fine especially when getting in is the hardest part

vagrant forum
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I think u underestimate things

wise jacinth
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I guess

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But if I pursue engineering wouldn't finishing in 4 semesters be impossible

earnest meadow
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Well some folks can do it

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But are you against delaying your graduation, A couple semesters?

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You should totally like plan it out

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See if any of you are already finished credits maybe transfer over into an engineering major of your choice

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If you are just a freshman, it might be possible to do it within the 4-5 years you alr have

wise jacinth
wise jacinth
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alr ive decided that i'll stay at davis for another year

wise jacinth
uncut stream
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ANOTHER DUB FOR THE AGGIES

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now leave them for udub and dont let chloe see this channel 😎

wise jacinth