University: University of California Davis
City: Davis
Country: United States
Continent: North America
Field of study: life sciences
Study type: semester abroad
Since there aren’t any reviews about UC Davis in here yet, let’s start with something about Davis himself: The city itself is pretty boring and the few bars don’t help that much either. However, there are 2 cinemas and on Tuesdays you can watch a film for just US$ 4 (with movie hopping you can also watch several films). Davis is a real small town with a population of 60,000, half of whom are students. But that also has a certain charm. Here you can also go to the lecture in your pajamas and nobody bothers you. The university itself is huge and even has its own airfield. But the university bus system is a good way to get from one place to another in Davis. Nevertheless, I would not have wanted to give up my bike! Bikes can be bought very cheaply (from US$ 20 on Craigslist. com) and make life in Davis so much easier. It’s definitely worth it, since the weather is usually very good (much better than in SF). You can eat very well in Davis and also very cheaply (tip: Sophias and Pita’s Pit). Only living is quite expensive, whereby Craigslist is my recommendation here too, if it should be a whole quarter or longer. I had a very strange experience with the homestay and cannot recommend this variant. But there are many great shared flats that are constantly looking for people. After 2 months I also switched to a flat share and had an absolutely brilliant time with “my new family”. Visit existingcountries.com to get information about San Diego State University student review 2.
Davis is located between Sacramento (approx. 25 minutes) and San Francisco (1 1/2 hours), which are super easy to reach by bus or train. Both cities are worth seeing, with a visit to the Capitol in Sacramento being recommended. SF is simply an absolutely brilliant city and it takes more than just a weekend to see everything beautiful. A little tip at this point: If you want to visit Alcatraz, you should get the tickets at least a few days in advance!
I can only recommend the Open Campus program itself, because you really have all the freedom there! In principle, every course can be attended if you get the approval of the respective professor. This worked for me every time without any problems. The courses were all really great and the professors are awesome. It takes a long time to look for such helpfulness here with us! I also got everything credited to my university, which of course is also a matter of luck. So this time did not throw me back in my studies, on the contrary, this stay brought me a lot! The fact that I was abroad helped me a lot to get a great postgraduate position.
As said, the campus itself is huge and has new and old buildings, but you can’t compare the campus to Harvard, Yale or anything like that. Nevertheless, the campus has its own charm and offers a lot! There is a huge, new gym and a large event hall where great concerts take place from time to time. In any case, it didn’t take me long to really feel at home at the university.
In any case, I enjoyed my time in Davis to the fullest and wouldn’t want to miss a day. Would definitely have stayed longer and would highly recommend Davis. It’s definitely important to make friends with regular students (especially those who own a car) as you’ll definitely get more out of the whole experience. I had made super nice friends and in the end it was really hard for me to say goodbye. In closing, I just want to say that I was very happy that I chose Davis – it was really worth it.
