<p>Well, I’m admittedly a huge UCSB fanboy, so keeping that in mind, you can see [my</a> post here](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-santa-barbara/753048-did-you-know-10-unique-facts-about-ucsb-why-its-best-school-nation.html]my”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-santa-barbara/753048-did-you-know-10-unique-facts-about-ucsb-why-its-best-school-nation.html) on the UCSB forum.</p>
<p>However, I did live in Davis during one of my summers (South Davis, at the Allegre apartments holla!) to spend some time with my high school friends (being from San Francisco, all my friends went to Davis and I was one of the few who ventured to UCSB). </p>
<p>I would say that one of the biggest differences is that Davis is spread out, with nice and wide avenues. Isla Vista, meanwhile, is really compact (many streets don’t even have proper sidewalks), and as a result, the 13,000 students living in Isla Vista are all within a mile of each other. Also, unlike Davis, which contains more permanent residents than students, Isla Vista is about 70% students, so it doesn’t have the same “town & gown” relation problems Davis has with residents resenting the noise that students bring… it’s these kind of factors which lead to UCSB and Isla Vista being conducive to partying. It’s nice to be a very short bike ride away from all your friends, food, etc, and no one will call the cops on you for being loud or rowdy.</p>
<p>That being said, I found Davis to be a lovely town and I had a nice time there. I’d say downtown Davis was more varied and interesting than Isla Vista. Be sure to visit UCSB and make sure that the school feels like a “fit” for you.</p>