Hi! I went to Davis for undergrad and I'll be going there in the Fall too.
In terms of where you want to live, there are several considerations.
Davis is pretty small, so realistically, if you're going to be driving, you can live anywhere.
If you don't have a car and/or plan to use the bus system, look on unitrans.ucdavis.edu and find the map that shows the route for the A line. There are LOTS of bus lines that go to campus, and you can transfer between them, but the A line is the only one that goes directly to the med school. If you want to transfer to the A line from another bus line, make sure the bus line you live on goes to the Silo/library.
I hear a lot of the med students live in West Davis (West of Hwy 113) but I have to warn you NOT to live in Arlington Farms unless you like having a party next door every day. The Arbors (the Trees?) has been mentioned to me, but I really don't know first-hand. Living off of the 113 will give you a really quick, direct route to the med school parking lots.
If you don't mind higher rent and are looking for a nice place, north-west Davis is where all the newer developments are coming in. I used to live in the Saratoga West complex, which was nice and close to the 113, but $$$. There are nice places in North Davis too, like off of Covell.
If you want to go cheaper on rent, you can move ~15 min. north, to the city of Woodland. It's an easy drive.
Check out davisenterprise.com and craigslist.com for current listings. Good luck!
