<p>Please help! My S got accepted at UT Austin (in state) and UC Davis (Out of state). He is planning to go into premed. Even UCD is out of state he is qualified as CA resident since he is under 18 and will move to CA to stay with his mom (we are separated). Which school do you think he should pick? Thanks</p>
<p>Don’t you have to be a resident of CA for atleast one year to be considered a Calif. resident?</p>
<p>No. Under CA law “minor from separated parent” if you are under 18 it consider you are a minor. Then you can stay with one of the parent who is a resident of the CA state. As a result you can qualify as a CA resident. UCD has confirmed this with me.</p>
<p>Both are about the same academically, so it really is a matter of what environment he prefers and what programs he’s interested in.</p>
<p>I’m from California, so I’m baised but I just LOVE California surroundings (save a few cities), and the weather so I would choose that. But seriously let your S (son?) visit both and let him choose. As heavenwood says, they both (from what I see) are pretty same…</p>
<p>Choose UT-Austin. UCD is overshadowed, sadly, by UCLA, Cal, UCSD, and UCI. I have heard Davis is very rural and boring, and UT-Austin can not be beat for location.</p>
<p>let’s see CA > Texas so yea…</p>
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<p>UT Austin. Definitely</p>
<p>Oh and coming from Texas you are more likely to find some more “open minded” people in CA than TX…</p>
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<p>UCD is rural but it’s not boring. When I was at UCD Tom Petty played a concert at the school and Whoopi Goldberg was doing her comedy act the local supper club - not in Sacramento, but right there in Davis. </p>
<p>Davis is the quintessential College Town, perhaps the only true college town in California. Everything you need is right there in town in easy biking distance. And it is nicely situated half way between the bright lights of the Bay Area and the ski slopes of Tahoe. Sacramento is right next door in case you need a quick urban fix.</p>
<p>There is a certain percentage of each freshman class at UCD who are basically disappointed Berkeley wannabees. They show up proclaiming how they are going to work hard and transfer to Berkeley after a year or two. But in all my years there I knew only one kid who actually transferred. All the rest ended up loving Davis so much and having so much fun that by a few months into their freshman year they had forgotten all about Berkeley.</p>
<p>And oh yeah, UC Davis is a fine school too.</p>
<p>since both schools are almost same, why not just go to the cheaper one.</p>
<p>coureur: great post. I totally agree. Sure, I’m baised because I live in NorCal and UC Davis is one of the two schools I’m deciding between for next year. Davis is an awesome, true college w/ plenty going on, close to Sacramento, Tahoe, etc. </p>
<p>UCD, UCSB, and UCI all accept/reject the same caliber student; UC Davis is not overshadowed by UCI. Plus, UCD should be moving up in the rankings because some data was miss reported this year and UCD is moving to Division 1 athletics (meaning a ton of $ for research, campus development, etc.) UC Davis should be very close, if not in, the top 10 among public universities among the nation next year. I’d be very proud to call myself a University of California, Davis Aggie!!!</p>
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<p>I’m a Davis alum. I was also born & raised in Texas… and spent 16 years of my life counting the hours until I could move away. So, er, I would vote for Davis.</p>
<p>But it really depends on the kid – they are very different environments. There was plenty to do in and around Davis – if we got bored, we’d take a trip to Lake Berryessa or wine country or go into San Francisco. </p>
<p>I think your son is lucky to have these choices and he really should just go where he feels the fit is best.</p>
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<p>Thank you all for your valuable opinion. It should help us in making this decision a lot easier.</p>
<p>“Oh and coming from Texas you are more likely to find some more “open minded” people in CA than TX…”</p>
<p>Austin is a liberal city, and UT-Austin is a liberal school.</p>
<p>Anyway, I would pick UT-Austin most likely. More urban, great city, etc.</p>
<p>If your son is in Texas now and it would be a hassle for him, his mother, and you for him to visit UC-Davis in the next two months and for him to stay in a dorm overnight and visit a couple classes/profs, go through the hassle. It will be worth it if he genuinely views UT-Austin and UC-Davis as his final two tough-to-decide choices. Of course, this assumes he has already answered these same questions about “fit” at UT-Austin.</p>
<p>i would choose texas-austin over uc davis, but not over top-tier uc’s (uc berkeley, ucla, ucsd).</p>
<p>thanks lonstardad and ucchris. This confirm my though of they are not much different academically therefore may not worth the hassle. Except for the top tier like ucchis said</p>