UC Irvine vs. UC Davis

[florence02]

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any thoughts? what are some pros/cons for each school, and which one would you pick if you had the choice? do you think one school is necessarily better than the other?
thanks. 🙂

 

[kiping]

i don't know- this question is pestering me too.... i loved the feeling at Davis, loved the hospita. I loved the people at Irvine and SoCal climate...
I suppose the schools are similarly ranked- with maybe Davis having the edge... I think this is a toughie choice...
but i am jumping the gun as neither have accepted me (YET? PLEASE OH PLEASE)

 

[Moskeeto]

Ok, I haven't gotten into UCI or UCD, but if I had to make a choice (I'm glad I don't have to, it'd be hard) I would probably go to UCI. Both Davis and Irvine are pretty lame towns, but at least in Irvine, theres a ton of great stuff around you. true, here in Davis, theres Sacramento, which is a nice town even though its not that large, but everything else is at least and hour and a half away. From the students I've talked to the ones at UCI have a slight edge in personality, but there's not that much of a difference. I think UCI is more student oriented as a school and I would feel more comfortable there. As far as med centers go, I haven't been to UCI's, but I think it would be hard to beat UCD's med center, its spectacular and you will see a ton of cool stuff here. I've lived in Davis for a while and I'm personally ready to leave here, but some people are happy here and theres some cool people living in town. but in general, I've gotten a really bad impression from most people I meet, they're not very friendly overall and a ton of them are gunners. I have a lot more to say, but my post is long and boring enough so I'll leave it at that. ok, just one last thing, theres no wal-mart, target, or any sort of store to go buy stuff quickly or late at night and that sucks.

 

[UCSBMed1]

Well let me give you my pros for wanting to go to Davis (granted I'm sorta biased since I'm a NorCal guy and Davis is my co-top choice 😀)

UC Davis Med Center is the county hospital in Sacramento. I don't know what Moskeeto meant, but the Sacramento area has over a million people...thats not a small "town" to me. Therefore, you'll get lots of great clinical exposure, and great training.

Davis' social atmosphere is sort of lame, but its no lamer than Irvine's. SF and the bay are near by, and so is LA to Irvine. I think they're tied in this regard.

The cost of living in Davis is way lower than that in Orange County. You'd probably be paying almost double to live in Irvine than what you'd pay to live in Davis or Sacramento.

Davis and Irvine academically are pretty much equal, so I'd say that Davis has the slight edge taking the above into account. I'd choose Davis, but thats just my opinion. 😀

 

[doc2bee]

first, congratulations on getting into such good schools!! i've never been to uci, but i went to ucd for undergrad and i loved it. i worked at the ucd med center, and i only have positive things to say about it. the faculty is great and so sincerely interested in the success of the students. the town of davis is a great college town with a friendly student atmosphere. although i'm sure both would be great experiences, i'm a little nor-cal biased, if you can't tell...email me if you have any questions about davis or want to know more about it.

 

[Moskeeto]

Originally posted by UCSBPre-Med1
I don't know what Moskeeto meant, but the Sacramento area has over a million people...thats not a small "town" to me. Therefore, you'll get lots of great clinical exposure, and great training.

ok, yeah, when you count the whole sac area there is over a million people, but Sacramento itself has only 400,000 people. so I was speaking relatively to SF, LA, and the bigger ones back east. but to me, it just seems all residential except for downtown and its a bit isolated from everywhere else so maybe thats why its small to me. I'm not putting it down and I agree with what you've got to say on everything else. I really like Sacramento, but you do run out of things to do here and its impossible to get Kings tickets, so maybe thats where my deep seeded hostility is coming from 😀. i haven't been able to go to a game in almost 2 years now so i'm frustrated. I go to SF everynow and then and I think its the best city in the country, but its still a bit of a drive. Tahoe is about the same distance and its pretty bitchin. same for reno, but its not as bitchin 🙂. For a little more fun Chico is an hour and 45 minutes away and it is one the greatest places in NorCal, somewhat of an exact polar opposite of Davis. I just don't get the "friendly college town" atomosphere being here in Davis. maybe its just me. I bitch about this town alot, but it isn't that bad, its just not some place I could see myself living in for very much longer and theres a ton of people here that feel the same, hopefully you won't be one of them. Here's a really good plus that noboday has mentioned: picnic day. its a damn good time. and again to reiterate the Med Center is spectacular.

 

[yaoming]

Go to the school nearest to where you grew up or where your family is. Things will be a lot more convenient and you will be a lot happier that way. If neither of these matter to you, then I would personally visit both areas and see how YOU like it, not other ppl on sdn. I personally hate LA, but people who grew up there like it a lot and wont ever leave.

Residency directors will not really distinguish a UCD or UCI med student. There are many ppl currently at both schools who got into both and some have chosen UCI and some have chosen UCD. From what I know, UCD's curriculum is very traditionally structured (anatomy comes first) where as UCI's curriculum is organ-system based (if you are on the cardiovascular sys, you learn physio, embryo, anatomy, genetics, histo of the heart simultaneously). I, and many with whom i've spoke, prefer organ-system based because you can put everything in perspective together at once. it is hard to learn the anatomy of the thyroid gland without knowing what the hell it actually does (physio) and how cells are arranged microscopically (histo).

but again, convenience, family, and happiness comes first. that will help you strive as a student no matter what the curriculum is. it's hard to succeed as a student when you feel miserable at a certain location for 4 years. g luck and hopes this helped.

 

[kiping]

hows about an opinion or two on ucd/uci versus usc?