I would look at like this:hellohello wrote:what are the pros and cons of going to davis over irvine?
i went to the davis admitted students and alumni reception in LA as well as irvine's admitted student day. as for first impressions, i think i liked davis a lot better, although i haven't been to the actual campus yet so i guess i'll have a better idea next week. the people at irvine were friendly/excited for us and the faculty seemed awesome, but i felt like whatever strengths they told us about were things that davis had as well??
but the fact that davis has more history and alumni, as well as its already ranked is also a plus, you know?
people at irvine also kept saying that irvine was going to rank higher than davis, and i know i shouldn't care THAT much about rankings in general- but it is still a measure that people look to for many things.. so i can't disregard it.
what do you guys think?
Pros of Davis - You know what you are getting. You know exactly what their employment stats have looked like for the past few years and can extrapolate that they will look relatively the same when you graduate (after taking into account economic fluctuations). They have an alumni network, but this is reflected in its employment stats.
Pros of Irvine - You don't know what you are getting. They could be better, they could be worse. While they will be trying really hard to place you, it's hard to know whether you will get a better or worse job out of Irvine than out of Davis.
I see Irvine as more of a gamble and Davis as more of a safe bet. I think Irvine will place worse (at least at first, maybe one day that will change but who knows) so I would pick Davis. The rankings will be meaningless in your job search so it won't matter if UCI ranks higher in USNWR. Isn't Davis significantly cheaper due to less CoL and a larger scholarship? I think that would help me edge towards Davis too.
