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What are the pros and cons about each school? Now that I have an option, I need to make a decision fast. Thank you!
uci vs ucdavis
- Thread starter mashimaro
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Weather is probably a little more aesthetically pleasing in irvine.
Davis has cheaper cost of living.
That's about all my brain can come up with. Both are excellent schools.
Congrats and best of luck in your decision. 👍
Davis has cheaper cost of living.
That's about all my brain can come up with. Both are excellent schools.
Congrats and best of luck in your decision. 👍
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They're not THAT similar (keep in my mind my opinion is exactly that, MINE). Irvine has the nice weather, proximity to large metropolitian areas, a great learning enviornment and no damn cows! Really it up to you, wherever you feel more comfortable, many of my classmates are from the SoCal area and like being down here, some like myself are from NorCal and really miss the vibe up there (but no way in hell would I ever give this place up for Davis).Jalby said:
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ItsNotATumor said:
Yeah. I guess I was trying to say the schools themself, not the location is similar. But that's not really accurate, but there isn't any really big black marks for either school. I personally wish the way UCD was run and was located at UCI, that would be the best.
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SaltySqueegee said:Weather is probably a little more aesthetically pleasing in irvine.
Davis has cheaper cost of living.
That's about all my brain can come up with. Both are excellent schools.
Congrats and best of luck in your decision. 👍
YUCK!!! i am faced with this decision too!!! i was hoping it wouldn't come down to this....
i was all set to go to UCI, then i get an offer from UCD... so now i am confused
however, i don't see how everyone can say the two schools are so similar??? some pretty big differences i can think of are:
1. UCD has a public health school AND has a pretty close relationship with Cal's school of PH
2. UCD has more nationally renowned hospitals in the areas of cancer, heart, orthopedics, urology, and a few others... UCI has Geriatrics and Gynecology...
3. When it comes to research, UCD is definitely superior.
How about curriculum differences?? from what i remember from my visits i think UCI has biweekly exams and no overall final while Davis had finals... i could be wrong on this though...
For me, I am completely torn because i am from Norcal and appreciate the area, but the thought of living in the Davis/Sac area is too depressing... but should my decision really come down to location??
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I thought about all of this as I was trying to decide whether to stay on the UCI waitlist or not. In terms of location, I decided that I would rather be in Davis/Sac than Irvine. I work up here now and am not going to tell you it's the greatest place on earth, because I don't think it is; but I have learned that it really is not that far from the Bay Area. I make the drive b/w SF and Sacto weekly, sometimes several times/week, and it's not that bad, especially if the traffic isn't too heavy. I am not a big fan of LA in general, and it seemed like Irvine was far enough from the parts of LA that I do really like to make it inconvenient to get there with traffic. I like the beach, but it's not a huge factor for me. So when it came to location, I decided that I would rather be a drive from San Francisco in a college town, than a drive from LA in a suburb.
In terms of the curriculum, I liked that Davis was P/F instead of Irvine's H/P/F in the first two years. I liked the student run clinics at Davis and did not see as many opportunities at Irvine. I heard some students complain a bit about the amount of exams they have at UCI, but it didn't seem like that big of a deal. UCI uses the standardized patients more than UCD does, it seems.
Overall, I really liked both schools a lot and I do think that they were similar in some ways. I think Jalby is right, neither have any really bad things about them. It comes down to where you think you'll fit better and be happy. For me, I felt Davis was the better fit in terms of the curriculum and the other students, and the location was better for me since my family and friends are mostly in the Bay Area. Good luck with your decision.
In terms of the curriculum, I liked that Davis was P/F instead of Irvine's H/P/F in the first two years. I liked the student run clinics at Davis and did not see as many opportunities at Irvine. I heard some students complain a bit about the amount of exams they have at UCI, but it didn't seem like that big of a deal. UCI uses the standardized patients more than UCD does, it seems.
Overall, I really liked both schools a lot and I do think that they were similar in some ways. I think Jalby is right, neither have any really bad things about them. It comes down to where you think you'll fit better and be happy. For me, I felt Davis was the better fit in terms of the curriculum and the other students, and the location was better for me since my family and friends are mostly in the Bay Area. Good luck with your decision.
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WuzUpDoc said:
There are some other differences...
First, we don't have biweekly exams in MS1 or 2, but your exams will be scheduled on mondays, and we don't have cummulative finals for the majority of our courses. Quality of teaching differs, we have more time dedicated to Anatomy and our "color" group system instills a greater sense of class unity, plus alot of nights spent teaching and learning from your fellow students. I wouldn't say UC Davis is clearly superior in research, we've got the Beckman Laser Institute and a great Radiology/Radiation Oncology program. Additionally, we match well into extremely competitive residencies, no one who wanted radiology, dermatology or orthapedics went away empty handed in the past few years. Plus the location is quiet and conducive to studying, we're smack in between LA and SD.
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My point was that there are good and bad things about both schools. Mostly good. But they average each other out that I couldn't say that people should go to one over the other. It's close enough that I wouldn't even have a lean. I know I would like UCI better b/c opf Southern California, but really for me, if I was raised in Nor Cal I would say Davis.
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I don't know how much hospitals affiliated with medical schools matter to you guys....but I think these make a difference. UC Davis Medical Center clearly pushed UC Davis above UCI. At one point during the application process, I had this choice.....I liked my option of UC Davis better ( I am a UC Davis undergrad.)
In addition, UC Davis was much cheaper. The clinics at UC Davis also raise it's value. 👍
-Harps
In addition, UC Davis was much cheaper. The clinics at UC Davis also raise it's value. 👍
-Harps
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Harps said:
Thanks for the input guys... i think i've decided to go with Davis... i can hardly believe it has come to this because I was nearly 99.9% sure i was going to Irvine... but i realized that if i had gotten into both at the same time, it would have been Davis hands down... I still think UCI is awesome, but i think Davis has more to offer in terms of a professional experience with respect to the things that are important to me--public health and international/cross-cultural medicine... plus, i LOVE Lake Tahoe 🙂
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WuzUpDoc said:
From people going to UC Davis... is there anyone looking for housing?
If you are a female and would like to share a 2 bed/ 1 bath with another MS1 student, please let me know.
I had signed a lease in Davis, but now i've decided to go to irvine.
I'm willing to give you a good deal. 🙂
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WuzUpDoc said:
Cool. See you in the fall 🙂 I have similar interests to you, and I got a good feeling from talking to some of the deans at the 2nd look that Davis really has great opportunities in these areas.
mashimaro--you should post the room on the class of 2008 website if you did not already do so. It seems like there are people on there looking for housing.
J
JR
I always get a kick out of these "vs" threads. This is no ones fault, but as undergrads you guys just do not know what aspects to look at when it comes to choosing a med school. That is why you need to talk to 4th year med students and/or recent graduates about your choices!!!! Not 1st and 2nd years (although they mean well when they give advice!). The original poster may have chosen Davis over Irvine b/c Davis has "better clinics" or "superior research". As a recent med school graduate, I can tell you that these aspects mean absolutely nothing with respect to your final outcome. What about match statistics? What about the fact that Davis is much more primary care oriented school than Irvine (bad news for people going into subspecialities)? I urge everyone on the fence about med school decisions to read the following thread; I am not the author, but would want this info when I was applying:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=104541
Good luck to everyone,
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=104541
Good luck to everyone,
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JR said:
JR,
Well, I am not an undergrad, but I think you raise a good point and I was happy to have read that thread when thinking about this question. I was also happy that most of the students I got to interact with at UCD were 3rd and 4th years to ask some of this stuff to.
Anyway, I am really bored at work, so in case anyone digs up this thread in the future, here is what I learned. First of all, Davis is NOT just a primary care school. That has changed a lot in the past several years and they now match many people into competitive specialties. The 4th years I talked to had matched in Ortho, Radiology, EM, and Surgery. I'm posting the match list below. None of them had any trouble finding research opportunities to be competitive in these specialties, and felt that the school supported them in their desire to pursue specialties. The students overall were happy with the way the 3rd year was structured, felt there was not excessive scut, and said they felt better prepared when they went out on rotations than many of the students they encountered from other schools. Davis has a good rep for producing well-trained physicians and it seems from what they said, that residency directors know this. Students said the administration is very supportive and really want to make sure everyone is doing well and that the schoo's rep continues to grow. Anyway, I hope that is helpful to someone in the future.
http://som.ucdavis.edu/ea/records/r...4_match_results
