The University of California - Davis

Date: Oct 25 2010
Major: Civil Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
Someone before me said

people come to Davis with inferiority complexes.

Couldn't be more true for me.

I did not enjoy my first year. I did not make a ton of friends. I found my dorm life stagnant. It was intellectually cold, compared to my high school (sad). Many of the lower-division classes are taught boringly, with boring discussion sections, and even more boring students. I found the cafeteria food dull, and the overall design of my dorms/living area artificial and bland. At this point, I felt a bit of regret/disappointment going to this school.

However. I am part-way into my third year, and life is much more interesting. I've immersed myself with the davis experience. I live with a few awesome people, live close to campus (a must), eat super well (due to the convenience of an A+ farmer's market and several mind-boggling grocery stores), know a bunch of cool people, and partake in the cycling culture that can be found nowhere else in the country.

The engineering school is top notch. Most of the faculty are doing crazy research, on par with the most famous universities. Many students don't notice this. classwork can be rigorous, getting A's is not a cakewalk. the curves can be steep.

The humanities departments are OK, but I don't recommend (due to job options, school of less recognition). The classes i took/sat in were simply not engaging…

Who said cow-town didn't have girls? there are aplenty, even attractive ones. the social life is ok. like any school you have to know people basically… But to find interesting people with interesting backgrounds is rare. There are happy, complacent people everywhere though.

In every way Davis is the little brother of Berkeley: the academics are not as strong, the partying is not as intense, and the athletics are not even close. Some may disagree, but intellectually Davis is lacking. People don't freely discuss politics in detail, figure out what an integral really means, and so forth.

I can't help but say I would rather have gone to a liberal arts school or better name institution, for the sake of meeting people with more ambition and interesting backgrounds. A smart friend once told me that Davis is utopian. The population is very well-educated, many families are affluent, and crime-rate is low. But very few students will take this into consideration.