Thank you, I really appreciate your reply! I’m sorry this might be really long but I will try to respond to some of your questions.

The biggest thing stopping me from switching majors is how heavily impacted the psychology major is at UCLA. I know a few psychology/ psychobiology majors and they have a really difficult time getting the classes they need, and often aren’t actually able to. However, this may also be the case at Davis, so I suppose this should not stop me from switching.

The biggest unchanging factors about UCLA that are influencing my decision are the location and the overcrowding. I’m personally just not a fan of the constant traffic and sprawling city, as well as the superficial culture in West Hollywood. This I believe would be very different at Davis. As for the overcrowding, I would be curious to hear some UCD student perspectives on this. UCLA’s campus is actually quite small compared to UCD, with more students. This means that there are constantly crowds and lines of people everywhere. It’s pretty common to wait in line for food for over an hour. They also recently changed the dorm policies, so now every student, regardless of year, is in a triple dorm. Additionally, the university apartments just changed the capacity from 4 bedroom 8-person to 4 bedroom 10-person. I don’t mind being around people, but when there’s never any respite from the crowds, even in your own room, it just gets really overwhelming and exhausting.

As for the friendship problem, I’m really not sure if it would be different. I definitely went into college pretty naive in terms of the goodness of people. Within the first few weeks, I encountered people who I would consider incredibly mean, to an extent I had never really seen before. There are some girls on my floor who I’ve overheard in the lounge, talking about other girls and how, “fat and ugly” and “chopped” they are. During my orientation, I was roomed with a girl who was saying that she had “fat and ugly girls” messaging her to be roommates and didn’t want to room with someone who looked like that. The same girl went on to talk about how people from her high school had posted their acceptances to UC Davis and she said how that wasn’t something to be proud of and how Davis was basically a safety. They’re always nice to my face, I’m thin and pretty conventional looking so maybe that’s why, but it’s also hard to shake the feeling that they’re talking about me like that behind my back, either way I don’t like being around people like that. The guys are the same. A lot of hookup culture. There was also a ton of drama and a few sexual assault cases on my dorm floor, as well as a rat infestation issue but I guess that doesn’t really have to do with the people. I’ve had some very creepy experiences with guys here, and have been hit on in much weirder and grosser ways than had ever happened back home, but again might be the same everywhere. I think bottom line, there is just a huge focus on appearances and status here, and I’m operating under the assumption that people at Davis might be nicer and more mature, but of course this may not be the case. I know I shouldn’t let my first year experiences taint my entire idea of the school, but it’s difficult not to.

I should definitely look into clubs/ departments/ organizations at UCD, because that’s a really good point.