First Quarter Experience at a UC

<p>Why did I choose Davis over Berkeley? I really liked Davis for their flexibility in major changes. I have different circumstances than the average student as well and Davis met my needs on that account. I am a student who is also a parent. Davis has excellent highly ranked elementary schools, whereas the schools closer to Berkeley aren’t as highly ranked. Davis has on campus family housing close to my kids’ school. There is a unitrans bus stop right in front of their school, in fact. If thre were an emergency I could just hop on a bus and get there quickly, for free. I didn’t have that at Berkeley. Berkeley family housing and my kids’ school would be in Albany while I would be in Berkeley. While the cost of living is high in both areas, Davis is more manageable. One HUGE factor as well was the UCD childcare grant which basically pays for my children to go to daycare at their school until 6:00 pm. That grant is sponsored by UCD and the city of Davis to allow parents to go to school without worrying about $. Childcare in Davis will set a family back over a 1800 a month just for after school care. Of course nothing beats being able to walk from my house to my classes. In my circumstances, it was a no-brainer after I weighed the pros and cons. </p>

<p>My circumstances are different and I had to think about more than just myself when making my decision; not only do I have to have a good quality education, but my children do as well. I and my children love it here because everyone has been so nice to us. I have made friends, I became an RA in one of my professor’s labs, and I am academically challenged. In fact, this quarter (my first at Davis) I got a 4.0 GPA. I feel confident that I can do well here and be prepared for the rigors of Graduate school. Getting the 4.0 made me realize that I should start thinking of Grad school. Also, contrary to what a lot of people say, I’ve seen UC Davis students get accepted to very elite schools for grad and professional schools (Harvard, Stanford, Yale, etc.) and I’ve met a couple of students from those elite schools go to UCD for grad (go figure). UCD MUST have SOME international recognition because there are a lot of people from other countries in my housing unit (a lot of grad students) from South Korea, China, Japan, France, Spain, Uganda, England, Russia, etc. </p>

<p>What it boils down to is that I feel comfortable at Davis and they have met all of my needs financially, academically, and emotionally. We (my family and I) love it here.</p>