Need some guidance to decide between UCI vs UCD.
In-state student admitted to:
UCI - School of Social science (Social policy and public service major)
UCD - Undeclared L&S.
Has decided to major in Psychology., and ideally minor in business. So in UCD need to declare major and in UCI, need to do Change of major,
A few questions (on top of the thread that discussed this few years back - UC Davis vs UC Irvine Psychology Major)
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I keep hearing from many that the opportunities like internship, research options are plenty in Irvine and easier to access due to the closeness to businesses, hospitals etc. Is that truly the the case and a clear advantage compared to Davis ? how is that in UCD ?
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for registering for courses etc, is it equally easy (or hard) to register for courses related to Psychology major ?
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if the student has interest to take a business minor, understand Irvine might be better, but UCD has this minor - business economics in College of Ag. Looks like similar, but not sure if there are some insights into this. Including opportunities to take some hands-on training or jobs etc.
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Any other social / collaboration aspects to consider.
thanks for this groups help.
What do you want to do with the degree/major/minor?
What type of career are you looking for?
Does school fit, location, or cost matter to you? Suburban vs more ruralish? Walking v bike? Food matter?
Where do you want to eventually live?
To me, it would seem like either school would be fine in psychology. I don’t think one would have a distinct advantage over the other. I would guess Irvine’s business school is probably more established overall than Davis. The reason being that Davis’ undergrad business school will be just opening up. Irvine’s Paul Merage school has been around for almost 20 years. If you want to do business Irvine looks to have more opportunities but Davis isn’t too far from Sacramento if that matters.
I guess I’d probably choose Irvine personally since I’d rather live in Orange County than Davis, although it’s only a couple hours from San Francisco. Moreover, I would rather live in Irvine where I think there’s more to do with LA, Orange, beach, Disneyland, etc. relatively close by. Food to me is better in Irvine, too. Davis is a nice quaint town, if you like that kind of environment though.
As for the school, I know people like Davis. Seems to be collaborative. I think people like Irvine, seems to be a lot of people do go home weekends. What’s it called? Suitcase school? But I would think Irvine may offer a little bit more potential opportunities.
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thanks this is super helpful.
you hit all the right points. We are from North Cal, and 1.5 hrs from Davis. Distance wise its perfect.
My kid likes psychology, but likely isnt going to be going on the clinical side. She is also interested in exploring business minor to expand her career options and discover more paths.
Do you have any info about the type of internships, projects etc that psychology students at Davis might see ? I agree that Irvin seems to provide more opportunties, but I wonder what options do students see in Davis. @Gumbymom , since you have good exposure to Davis, any thoughts on this as well ?
I do not. My wife was a psych major at UCSD and eventually went to grad school to be an OT. Others I know did go into clinical psychology. Internships they had varied depending on their career direction. Wife interned at hospitals and schools. Others I know went into teaching.
I cannot speak specifically about Davis and Psychology but both campuses offer a Career Center where you can find information regarding jobs/internships and employers that recruit on-campus. For both my kids, I found it is really up to them to seek out the resources each school has to offer.
UCD’s Undergraduate Psychology club is also a good resource: Undergraduate Psychology Association (UPA) | Psychology
OT = Occupational Therapist.
So I am not familiar with psych at UC Irvine but I can give you my perspective on Davis. My D is a 3rd year Design & Cog Sci double major and was also going to try to get a minor in CS but has since decided it was better for her career focus to take a handful of Comp Sci/Tech Mgt classes that interested her rather than trying to meet all the CS minor requirements. Just to backtrack a little, she originally applied to Cog Sci / Business Psych at other UCs because she was interested in the non-clinical side of Psych and leaning towards “decision science”. She ultimately decided on a Design degree at Davis since they had a “UX/UI” design track which really peaked her interest and she could still get all the cog sci/psych classes that she was also interested in along with the option of adding tech classes to round out her focus. As a cog sci major many of her classes have been Psych classes (she has taken at least 8 without any problem). I will say that the bulk of her learning/experience has been outside of the classrooms in clubs. She has been on the boards of 2 large very well regarded tech/design clubs for the last 2 years and this has provided her with skills building, experience working with real world clients on project teams with students from many different majors (CS, Design, Psych, Econ…), networking opportunities and resume/portfolio building. She secured her 3rd internship last fall - first summer she worked at the headquarters of a global restaurant chain in SoCal, year 2 she secured an internship at the Federal Reserve in Atlanta which was extended for 4 additional months remotely from Davis and this summer will be working at a global retail company headquartered in SF. Most of her friends will be interning in tech departments in a wide range of companies across the country - from Microsoft (Seattle), Adobe (Seattle), LinkedIn (SF), Deloitte (Sac) Ford (Bay Area), Capital One (Maryland) PBS (Chicago), Target (MN) etc. Internships in these fields are tough to get and most students will apply to at least 50-100 in the late summer/ fall in hopes of securing 1 offer for the following summer. So I say this because most students will be applying broadly and not necessarily in the same area as their college in order to get something. My D has been able to do all of this by leaning in, working really hard, taking on leadership roles in everything she does, and having a career focus from the very beginning. Davis offers a very collaborative learning environment and the flexibility that other schools could not have offered her. She also could have graduated in 3 years if she only wanted a Cog Sci OR Design degree but felt that 4 years would allow her to double major and get all the experience she needed to graduate with a very strong resume/portfolio. Hope this helps!
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Yes, Occupational Therapy. If you google it, this definition seems to define the profession pretty well:
Occupational therapy is a healthcare profession that helps people of all ages participate in everyday activities by using therapeutic activities, exercises, and other therapies to improve their skills and abilities. It focuses on helping individuals develop, recover, or maintain the skills needed to perform daily living and work activities.
It’s often associated along with Physical Therapy, but PT does seem to focus more on the gross motor skills and often times OT is associated with fine motor skills. There’s a number of settings including hospital, home base, schools, and it is used with any age group whether seniors or children. My wife works in a school base setting with kids with autism. Just one area where psychology majors can enter into (as with many other careers and professions).
Super amazinf response. Truly appreciate the perspective and context and sharing this.
these responses are exactly what my D would like to hear. thanks
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If she has any further questions, let me know! (You can also DM me if you prefer)
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Also a quick follow up here.
The B.A Psychological sciences degree in UC Irvine, Is that the same as other BA Psychology programs at other UCs (like one at UC Davis) ? Curios why they say it as BA psychological sciences at UC Irvine. If its worth, my D is hoping to go on a non-clinical track post Psychology, by taking a few minors like business, tech etc.
@Mystics @Gumbymom @DStepler
You can compare requirements:
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