During the Fall Quarter, I attended four lectures at UC Davis. The city of Davis is a typical small US town with around 65,000 inhabitants. It is noteworthy that half of them are students and university employees. That shapes the city and life in Davis. Davis himself has a manageable range of leisure activities: There are three cinemas, a number of bars and a wide variety of restaurants. It is quite possible to meet people there in the evening or on the weekend and spend some time together. Get more student review on University of California Davis on maternityetchic.
Due to the proximity to Sacramento you can be there by bus or train (Amtrak) in 20 minutes. San Francisco can also be easily reached in 90 minutes. So you have the opportunity to visit the interesting and diverse city of San Francisco on weekends, which is a good addition to life in Davis.
When looking for an apartment you should be prepared for the high real estate prices in California. Incidentally, the standard Davis lease has a duration of 12 months. However, there are plenty of opportunities to get accommodation for a shorter period of time. You can move into a shared apartment that is currently looking for a roommate. The website Craigslist.com is very helpful in this regard. There you can also get other things cheaply, such as furnishings, desk lamps, printers, bicycles, etc.
An alternative is a host family, with whom you can live. The university also helps in this regard.
After a bit of searching, I found a room in a shared apartment. It was really good as you get to know some people that way. I got on very well with my roommates and we did something together every now and then. Not only did I have American roommates, I also had students from Korea. It was interesting to learn about this culture.
The UC Davis campus is really beautiful. The area is quite large and there are always green areas. There is a small park directly opposite the library, where you can study well or just relax a little. The library has a large selection of books that you can borrow after you have received your student ID. Some books can only be borrowed for a few hours, but this has the great advantage that these books are usually available.
The Bridge Program, which is also known there as the Open Campus Program, is really highly recommended. In principle, you can put your schedule together as you wish. All lectures and courses offered in the course catalog can thus be selected. To do this, however, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the respective professor. In the worst case, you have to wait about three weeks for the regular students to finish their course selection.
I completed my electives at UC Davis as part of my electrical engineering degree. During the engineering lectures, I had absolutely no problem getting the necessary signatures from the professors. They showed themselves to be open-minded and briefly wanted to know something about my previous knowledge. Other students in the Open Campus Program also generally had no problems getting the courses they wanted. There is also a very wide range of lectures.
There are some key decisions that you make when creating the timetable. One should make sure that the previous knowledge for the respective events is largely fulfilled. In case of doubt, the professors are open to any questions.
If you study full-time, you have to take at least 12 units, otherwise you have to take English courses. A lecture usually has 4 units, I had a total of 15 units. The course is pretty intensive and time-consuming. However, if you are fully involved from the start, you can keep up with it. I had a lot to read in books for all subjects. Homework is mostly collected and assessed. There are also around three quizzes per subject. Here you have the chance to collect a few points for the overall grade. In addition, after a few weeks there are midterm exams and finally the final exams.
There were between 22 and about 100 students in the lectures. The professors were generally very open-minded, whether during their office hours or just after the lecture.
In one of my lectures entitled Marketing Management, I also did a term paper in a small team. It was interesting for me to work with people from both the USA and Korea.
California is indeed very beautiful and varied. The consistently good weather is motivating and enables numerous leisure activities. In Davis itself, for example, you can go cycling well or choose one of the many sports that are on offer. A good contrast to Davis is a trip to Los Angeles. I really liked Downtown LA, Hollywood and Venice Beach.
Overall, my experience in Davis has been very positive. The studies were interesting and the Californian attitude towards life is inspiring.
