2.5RSMatt

Here's the deal. In a year I will have payed my dues and done my time at community college and I am heavily consdering UC Davis. I live in Orangevale so commuting is possible but a real PITA and there is CSUS (Sac State) closer by. I want to know if Davis is that bad of a place to live in, and if the college is good. I'm not wanting to leave Sac because I don't mind it here, it feels liek home, and I don't want to have to find a job someplace else in CA.

So anyone thats gone or is going to UC Davis or anyyone who resides there give me some info I can use to make my decision.

Decision: Commute to UC Davis....Screw UC Davis and goto CSUS....Live in Davis and goto UC Davis.


Matt L

p.s. Is a degree from CSU any less than from a UC?

Slack

iTrader: (4)

Don't know exactly what you want to know, but I live in Davis. Rent is higher than elsewhere in Sacramento. There's quite a bit of single family homes for rent and a lots of apartments, most of the newer ones are farther from campus. As far as night life and bars, I don't do that ****, so I couldn't tell you what Davis offers. There isn't much in the way of shopping, you'd have to go to Woodland or Dixon for that, except the yuppie places downtown.

If you want to drive to campus, expect to pay a lot, per day parking is $6, per quarter is pretty high too. Davis however does have a Free bus system for students which depending where you live is very nice, bus stops right in front of my apartment and takes me about 5-10 minutes to get into campus, they have quite a few lines, so you'll have bus service pretty close regardless where you live.

There are a lot of intramural sports you can join if you are into that, they just opened a brand new Rec building sorta like a 24hr fitness, they have the Rec pool, all free.

edit: Dorifto can tell you about commuting in.

AdoboUaReX

I graduated from UCD last year and have both lived and commuted there. I lived in the dorms my first year, lived off campus, and commuted from Vallejo for two quarters. The commute from Vallejo was about 40 miles one way. It wasn't that bad of a drive but I'd have to say that I prefered living in Davis over commuting. It was much more convenient especially if your class schedule is all weird. If you have class early in the morning you dont have to wake up as early if you lived in Davis. Another thing I hated was when I had huge gaps between classes. When I commuted I was forced to stay on campus even if I had nothing to do, but when I lived there I was able to go back to the apartment and take a nap or watch TV whenever I had large gaps.

Is Davis a good school? It depends on what you're lookin for in a school and what major you plan on getting into. Davis is a UC and the class sizes are large and impersonal. So its up to you if that your kind of thing. Davis has a really good Biology and Agricultural program and the Engineering program isnt bad either.

As far as your question goes about which degree is better, again it all depends on what you make of your college experience. If you study hard, learn, get good grades, and get involved in programs and internships and what not then it doesnt really matter what school you get a degree from.

I think everything else was covered by slack but if i think of more i'll chime in.

blk rex wagon

well im goin to davis next year and i have a place.. if u want i have one more room open. pm if your interested

dub2w

I graduated from UCD two years ago and loved it. Davis is a fun place to live, and I think it is pretty sweet for a college town. Granted it is not the most happening place, but you have Sac 15 minutes away so its not big deal.

I would encourage you to go to Davis over Sac State. I personally think that it is a better school, and have had friends who graduated from Sac State and it didnt sound like it was as good as Davis.

I also studied history, a major that is not ranked as high as others. Still, my professors were awesome for the most part. As far as being impersonal, I think it is really what you make of it. Go see your teachers during their office hours, and you will get a much different experience.

btw, even though parking may be tight you can get anywhere easily by park or bus. You dont even need to drive.

Good luck on your decision!

stevenkhau

iTrader: (11)

I graduated from Davis a while as well.

I would say Davis is a lot closer to the "stereotypical" college lifestyle than Sac State.

Academically, depending on your major, Davis is a nationally known university. It ranks high in engineering, but where it ranks at the top is in Agricultural related fields (duh). Bio related fields also do very well. I don't know anything about the liberal arts (english, sociology, etc...). I got my BS in 98 and when I went job hunting as well as grad school hunting, people in major corporations and universities in the south and east coast all knew Davis and praised it highly. Even though most people know it as some backwards cow college, it's actually nationally and internationally known in academia. If you're just looking for a degree to get a job LOCALLY, then Sac State is probably just as good. But if you want to go for a higher degree or get a job somewhere far...you're probably better off with UC Davis. BTW, I went back to get my MS at Davis and graduated last year. I'm definitely not tooting my own horn since my grad GPA was horrible...but even with such a sucky GPA, I had several job offers (in mechanical engineering) in the supposed "down economy".

Onto the social life. You might hear that it kinda blows...well...actually that's all up to you. If you're a social person, you'll have no problems finding parties on the weekends. On top of that, even though there are only 5 or so bars, it's all within biking and walking distance! So you can get sh!tfaced and just bike home!

2.5RSMatt

hahaha. very safe!

Thanks foir all the input guys. I have a year to decide, I just need to get on track NOW!

nachomc

iTrader: (7)

if it really is cheaper to live outside of davis, you could live out here in the Natomas area. Apartments aren't TOO bad, and you're only 10 minutes or so from UC Davis. good luck, man

dorifto88

iTrader: (8)

commuting sucks.
i, of all people, would know.
when you end up commuting 15 miles each day, and it takes you 45 min to get to class in the morning (thats not even counting the mornings when i have to leave at 7:20 just to get to class by 9:00 am)....

it gets tiring, but i put up with it.

dorifto88

iTrader: (8)

............................

Crisisback

I'm at Davis right now and have a cousin at Sac State. stevenkhau pretty much summed everything up. If you're into academics and you're looking at a science/ engineering related field then Davis is the place for you. Also if you're a pre-med or pre-dentistry (like me) type of person, or any pre health related field, there are a lot people at Davis that can help you out. Davis is a good place to go if you're looking to apply to grad / professional school. The town is pretty cool, it's not the busiest place in the world but there are always things to do. The Greek scene is pretty big in Davis so you could always do that. There are 20,000+ kids here and a lot live in the town so there's always something to do if you work at it. I heard the parking at Sac State sucks and so does parking at Davis. You can be like me and park at the Mondavi Center lot and walk hella far and use that as your exercise or something haha, lose a little weight and get those 1/4 times down.

NZO

You dont come to Davis for the school, the important aspect is that UCDeez Nuts.

Impreza01

Off-topic: What are you guys, who graduated from UCD, doing?

UCD > any state university

Heck, when one of the professors at San Jose State University (considered one of the best in science/engineering for California's state system) told his son to go to UCD cuz the SJSU profs suck, it means a lot.

HongKongBeef

UC > State

as far as living.. i have lived in both. Davis is full of wannabe yuppies that think they are better than everyone else. (I'm talking about the actual residents.. not the students that go to UCD). Sac in general is ghetto. since u live around there, u already know this. haha. although, I did used to live in Natomas where Sonicsuby mentioned and it was cool there. even though i lived in the gated community full of fixed up escalades and ferraris (the Maloofs have some SICK RIDES), there WERE still home breakin robberies/stolen cars etc.

Slack

iTrader: (4)

That would get you a BUI, far as I know it has the same consequences as driving drunk, odd