eatSumPhoo

Hey, I recently got into UC Irvine and UC Davis.

I like both schools, and I think both atmospheres are really great at them.

Thus, I'm deciding to base my decision on their Pre-Med and colleges of biological sciences.

Any suggestion on which one is better?

Thanks.

ADHDFTL

They're honestly quite comparable. I got into both as well. This data is making me move toward davis over UCI though:
Davis has ~573 million vs 300 million for uci in research expenditures, ( a sign of the universities financial viability.)
Davis has ~800 million dollars in endowment vs 200 million for UCI.
Davis is going up the ranks a bit faster than UCI (not a huge deal, but still)
Davis seems to have more school spirit from what I can tell, not as much of a commuter school.
Davis is 42nd up from 44 and uci is 46 down from 44 on USNWR (I don't care about this, but because other people do you might have stronger applicants favoring davis over uci on the basis of this silly rating. This actually means the rankings do matter, in an indirect fashion ( potentially stronger students preferring UCD).

That said UCI is definitely a great school and is stronger for other sciences I believe. With UC system being so taxed financially though davis seems like it will likely fair better than UCI ( although it's only UCR UCSC and merced that really have to worry).
You'd probably excel at either school, I heard both are good for pre-med.

sen10rstatus

I'm in the exact same boat as you and I've been trying to figure out which school I should go to! I'm from NorCal so I thought I wanted to go to Irvine when I was younger to get away, but now I think I'm leaning towards Davis. It's still over an hour away, and I loved it when I visited. I feel like the campus life is really strong, and I keep hearing that Irvine is a "quiet campus". I'm also pre-med, btw =]
People should post responses to this! I'm curious what people have to say...

But I've been doing some reading and UC Davis and Irvine have the exact same rating on the U.S. News 2009 rankings. They're both #44 on the list of Best National Universities and both #12 on the Top 50 PUBLIC National Universities, so I mean, they're obviously both great schools. I guess my decision maker will be location.

bluebayou

Davis has a better college town feel. Irvine tends to be more of a commuter school. Since local rents are extremely expensive, some kids live off campus in nearby towns and thus, commute to campus even when they live away from home.

Indianjatt

I have the same option and same goals; medical school and biological science. I've made my decision and have chosen Davis. To me, I like the fact that it is reasonably close to home so I can come back anytime and have heard that Davis is very calm, quiet, and soothing - something which I definitely like. I also will be attending Davis because my best friend is also going so we that is a plus.

Haha, make a choice on what you feel is REALLY good for you.

Indianjatt

^ Same option school wise (Accepted into UC Irvine and UC Davis only).

dyip92

same boat as you haha. Does anybody have the stats on what percent of premeds make it into med school from uci and ucd? And research opportunities?

iamawesome27

irvine is cheaper than davis...
you should keep that in mind if you're going to med school lol
although it's only a 1k difference.....it srsly adds up!

cutieflutie08

maybe if you stay in college for 20 years, yes ^
apartments r probly way cheaper in davis, fwiw. 1k/month studios/1br anyone?

anyways
our bio sci dept kicks butt. mite have something to do with our awesome vet school.
they really arent that different, imo tho. go with the one you like the best. i know u hear that all the time, but it's true.

hermanliu320

most people pay about $320-400 a month for apartment here at davis.. of course sharing though.

ADHDFTL

Davis definitely has the edge overall though: Washington Monthly sorting by research davis is 27th vs 43 for irvine. Davis is also 42nd vs Irvine which is 46th, davis increased average gpa to 4.04 vs irvine which stayed at 4.02. Granted this stuff is relatively insignificant but you have to keep in mind you have 6.5k undergrad students per incoming freshmen class. A GPA difference of .01 is like introducing 260 more people with a 4.25 say. In UCD's case .02 GPA difference is the equivalent of having 520 more students with a 4.25 with everyone else having a 4.0 for ex.

More importantly: Stability, no, really. UC davis has a bunch more money in their endowment and partially due to their medical school they have dramatically more money being spent on research. 573 million v 300 million. With possible new procedures being introduced to not share the wealth generated by this research UCSB/UCI/UCR/UCSC/UCM will all be hit HARD while UCLA/UCSD/UCD/UCB (UCD actually beats berkeley in research expenditures) fair better.
Davis also has transfer applicants increase by 20% this year so while their overall acceptance rate went down to 45ish % or so the transfer student acceptance rate will be lower ( so you'll have a higher quality of transfer student which is nice).
UCI is definitely a good school, but davis does beat it for pre-med and likely will weather the financial storms the UC system faces better than UCI.

sndebrosse

Davis only has a larger endowment because it's a much older school.

Who cares about the us news ranking? These rankings go back and forth every year. I suppose UCI was a better school when it was ranked higher than davis a few years ago? If we're going to play that game, here's another ranking which places Irvine at 46th and Davis at 49th internationally (or 35th vs 38th in the US): http://www.arwu.org/ARWU2009.jsp

Link to "possible new procedures being introduced to not share the wealth generated by this research," please.

Irvine has 3 or 4 noble prize winners in its history (depending on how you count). Two are currently faculty members. Davis has none.

Anyway, all of this is irrelevant to which is better for getting into medical school. That answer to that is: whichever one you like better. Choosing by any other standard is dumb.