My advice, look for academic, social and financial fit.
Financial - Should be about the same at both schools. It is a bit more expensive to live off campus at UCSB than UCD but not as high as schools like UCLA or Berkeley.
Academic - It sounds like UCD is a better fit as it offers a program for what you want to study.
Social - It really comes down to this. From your description above, it sounds like UCD is a better fit but you are hung up on which school is harder to get into. Acceptance rate doesn’t equate to your education or experience - especially since you are looking at overall acceptance vs acceptance into a specific major.
I agree that you should spend time evaluating after a tour. Grab lunch at the UCen (UCSB) or Memorial Union (UCD). Look at the students who are coming and going see if you can feel yourself fitting in at one school better than the other. Step away from campus and get dinner in Isla Vista and in Davis so you can get an idea of what life is like off campus in the evening.
Picking through your pros and cons,
- both are biking campuses
- Tercero is nice but the food isn’t as good as Segundo (Note: they changed food vendors this year)
- UCD is more ethnically and culturally diverse than UCSB but there are more than enough Asians at both schools. UCD has more other (non Asian) ethnicities which might be an adjustment if you went to a predominantly Asian school.
- I would put “best friend” as a con as it is easier to meet new people if you aren’t living or hanging out with a high school friend.
- There are MANY people from Los Angeles at UCD. You will be surprised. There are MANY people not from Los Angeles at UCSB. You will be surprised.
- At UCD, freshman winter and spring registration is done by lottery. You are just as likely get an early pass time as a late pass time. Upper class men and honors/regents get first choice. After spring quarter, registration pass time is based upon how many units you have completed at UCD. Note: AP credit does not give you earlier registration. For freshman classes (math, physics, chem, etc) you will most likely get the class but not necessarily with your first choice for professor or time. At UCSB they make an effort to have enough room in classes for those that want to take them. They claim to send out in interest survey of sorts so that they can get an approximate idea of how many students are planning to take each course. Again, you might not get your first choice for professor or time. Registration might have changed in the past 5 years but, at UCSB you need to sign up for the lab separate from the lecture so you risk getting a lecture without the lab. At UCD you sign up for them at the same time. I don’t think this is a deal breaker.
- UCSB definitely has a larger party scene. This is something that you are going to have to figure out for yourself. When you visit, walk (don’t drive) around Isla Vista in the evening. It is very different than Davis.
- Instead of You Tube and vlogs of strangers, do you have friends who are at each school? Ask them about their social experience or check out their social media.
Finally, ask your parents what they think.
Just my two cents