I have experience with both schools. My oldest son is currently a sophomore at UC Davis and my second son is currently a high school senior who was also direct admit to Kelley (finance). My oldest son’s experience at UC Davis has been quite a struggle. They support their TA’s, employees, and researchers, but the students seem to not be a priority. He is an aerospace engineering major, and I know various departments may be different, but it is nearly impossible to get academic advising when he needs it. Appointments are not available, and they only staff the phone number for about one hour a day, if that. He has had at least two quarters of the five he has done there so far where TAs went on strike and just became unavailable with no alternative options which affected his grades. He had twice where he was sick and student health was on strike, so his only option was to go to an urgent care in Davis and self-pay.
IU Kelley has a long-established business school and well-recognized program, unlike UC Davis that seems to just now be developing a major. Poets & Quants ranked IU Kelley number 23 overall and number 1 for student experience for 2025 (Poets&Quants for Undergrads - Indiana University Kelley School of Business). All of the top firms recruit at Kelley. It is kind of in the middle of nowhere (so, in our experience is Davis), but they have 750 clubs and a Kelley business school specific freshman living learning community where you are likely to find friends with common interests.
I do agree that the weather at UC Davis is likely to be much nicer than IU-B, so if that is something that would affect your decision, definitely take it into consideration. You don’t want to be miserable if you can’t stand being cold for a few months in the winter.
Also, UC Davis is ridiculously expensive for us a out of state (TN), but if you are in state, the two schools may be closer to comparable financially.
Whatever you decide, I am sure you can make it the right choice for you. And if you end up not being happy with your initial choice, you can always transfer!
Best of luck to you.