<p>Hi! I’m from a very small private HS and a mid-sized town. I was wondering how other students were able to adapt to UC Davis’ huge campus/class sizes/population during their first year. I visited the campus last summer, and I honestly felt overwhelmed by how vast it was. I will be visiting it again on the 18th, so maybe my feelings towards it will change. </p>
<p>If anyone could provide some information on how they were able to transition into their freshman year smoothly, I would really appreaciate it. :]</p>
<p>I don’t think you are along or even at a disadvantage coming from a small town/school. I think everyone’s in the same boat. I mean I go to a school with well over 2000 students and I feel the same way. My classes are 100+, they’re still in the 20-30 range.</p>
<p>Thanks GlueEater for your reply. Yeah, looking at it now, I guess everyone is in the same boat regardless of how big or small of a HS they came from. :/</p>
<p>Joining was key for my d as a freshman. She rushed a sorority and got involved in a sport. Half way through her freshman year she took on an internship. Get involved and meet people by finding out about groups, clubs, internships and intramurals. All are very available on campus and will be well represented at orientation.</p>
<p>To me, Davis has a small town feel… especially when compared to other campuses like Berkeley and UCLA. The main campus is huge - a square mile, but everything is spread out, and most of the buildings are less than 4 stories high.
There are a LOT of students in Davis, and that can be sort of overwhelming for anyone at first. Nobody went to highschool with 25,000+ students. My high school was 1100 students total when I graduated, & my graduating class was just 200 of that! The good thing about there being so many students is that EVERYWHERE you go, virtually everyone is 18-24 years old - bus drivers, store clerks, etc, so you always feel surrounded by your peers.
Sitting in the back of a 500 student lecture hall can make you feel very small and disconnected though. so I find that sitting in the front 3 rows makes me feel better.
In the dorms you will be with your fellow freshmen, able to bond with a smaller group of others in the same boat.</p>
<p>I just noticed how many mistakes I made in my first post. Really confusing mistakes, so here’s an EDIT:</p>
<p>I don’t think you are alone or even at a disadvantage coming from a small town/school. I think everyone’s in the same boat. I mean I go to a school with well over 2000 students and I feel the same way. My classes I don’t think you are along or even at a disadvantage coming from a small town/school. I think everyone’s in the same boat. I mean I go to a school with well over 2000 students and I feel the same way. My classes aren’t 100+, they’re in the 20-30 range.</p>
<p>Once you get into the upper division courses specific for your major, your classes will consistently be small. Especially if your major is unpopular with the masses (like chemistry)… I think my smallest class was 14 people. By the time we graduated we had taken so many classes together we knew everyone’s name, had inside jokes, etc. </p>
<p>It’s really only the general education, prerequisite courses that will be the huge 500 lecture w/ smaller discussion sections.</p>
<p>Thanks CCers for all of your helpful information! I feel better about viewing UC Davis as a potential school for me. I guess I would just need to be more open to change and become involved with clubs/activities. </p>
<p>BTW, are discussion classes available for all of the lectures?</p>
<p>Speaking of adapting, I’ve heard some mixed comments about the weather at UCD, some saying it rains a lot, some saying it’s extremely hot. I’m from SoCal so it’s usually sunny. How does Davis compare throughout the year? And… how much/what type of clothes should I bring to the dorms when the school year begins?</p>
<p>Davis weather isn’t too ridiculous, winters are chilly, the coldest it’ll get in the day time is upper 30s on a normal year (this is a stretch, most of the time it’ll be in the 40s and 50s), spring is very nice (60s to 70s), and summers scorching 80s+ (most summers there’ll be some 100 degree days).</p>
<p>satinribbon, I posted a similar question awhile back and someone suggested that if you feel like the huge classes will be hard for you, sit in the front that way you don’t know how many people are sitting behind you. Also getting involved in clubs, intramurals etc. and going to games will hep you to feel like a memeber of a smaller community. UCD is amazing! Will you stay for picnic day on the 19th? You really should if you can as it is kind of a microcosm of the campus culture.</p>
<p>I heard that everyone at UCD are all generally very nice and willing to help. Is this true? I don’t to go to school where there are a bunch of cut-throat jerks after all so this would be helpful information to me. And then there’s the issue of personal property, do I need to worry about have my stuff stolen? Like laptop, bike, etc from roommates and other people? Read about a few of these issues in other threads, and it seems like the cut-throated attitude tends to show itself in competitive majors in sciences/engineering and it got me curious about what it was like at UCD.</p>
<p>UCD is a very, “chill” campus. Bikes do get stolen, but not by roommates. My d says it is usually when they are left carelessly unlocked and someone just randomly needs a ride. Often they are later recovered. As long as you use common sense you shouldn’t have any problems. The students I have met like to study together and don’t demonstrate a cut throat attitude. Most sororities and fraternities value a good GPA and many even have mandatory study sessions for their members.</p>
<p>DEFINITELY buy a bike seat lock before you come to campus. Bike seats get stolen extremely often and it is very necessary to have a lock for your seat. Unless you like to ride your bike standing up or enjoy a pole up your butt. I know this is kind of random but its a very good thing to have.</p>
that way you don’t know how many people are sitting behind you. Also getting involved in clubs, intramurals etc. and going to games will hep you to feel like a memeber of a smaller community. UCD is amazing! Will you stay for picnic day on the 19th? You really should if you can as it is kind of a microcosm of the campus culture.</p>