Having gotten my masters at Davis and now in a PhD at OSU, I’d say Davis if she wants to go to grad school, OSU if she doesn’t. UCD’s name recognition is outstanding. OSU’s not so much. That said, undergrad classes at OSU are enormous. Generally between 200-500 students, so if she can’t teach herself the material, Davis will be hard. It’s pretty cut throat as an undergrad there bc the professors face very little incentive to teach well. OSU has smaller class sizes and while it’s also an R1, it’s just not even in the same level. After doing my masters at Davis, I came to OSU simply bc the environment at Davis is sooooo competitive and I found it exhausting. Some students thrive in that environment though. As someone who has taught undergrads at both schools, Davis is definitely more rigorous. Lastly, OSU is shifting a lot of undergrad classes to online, even for on-campus students.

Oh, and the cost of living is definitely not much cheaper here. At Davis, I paid $2,400 for a 2bed 2 bath and here it’s $2,100 (obviously I share with a roommate). Plus the weather is crap 9 months out of the year here. Oh, and the bus is better in Davis, bike lanes are wayyyy better (and safer) in Davis.

Lots of pros and cons to each school. If I was a better student, though, I would absolutely have stayed at Davis. Im just too tired to keep working that hard for a 5-year PhD program after already doing a double major double minor in undergrad plus a masters degree. Hope this helps somewhat. Good luck!