College Decisions: Where I'm Thinking of Going

Two days ago, I received my last few college decisions. While I got rejected by a couple of notable schools such as UC Berkeley and USC, I did get waitlisted by UCSB and UCLA (although it's not very easy to get into UCLA if being on the waitlist). Additionally, I got into all of my safety schools, which includes Santa Clara University and UC Santa Cruz. Currently, I'm thinking about going to UC Davis or Cal Poly SLO as well as the aforementioned schools I got waitlisted by.

UC Davis

A photo of the UC Davis campus

I chose statistics as my major for UC Davis. UC Davis is between 1 and 2 hours from where I live, and my family knows more people who go to UC Davis than Cal Poly SLO. According to U.S. News, UC Davis is ranked #39 in National Universities, and College Factual ranked the school at #2 on 2020 Best Schools to Study Statistics in Far Western US. When visiting UC Davis last April, I liked how environmentally friendly the campus was, as there were many people who were riding their bikes. My UC Davis campus tour guide mentioned that bike theft is common on campus, although one can lock his/her bike to prevent it from being stolen, and students helped each other out when studying for final exams. The website Niche.com gave the professors at UC Davis an A rating.

Cal Poly SLO

A photo of the Cal Poly SLO campus

For Cal Poly SLO, I also chose statistics as my major. Cal Poly SLO is approximately 3 hours from where I live. According to U.S. News, Cal Poly SLO is ranked #4 in Regional Universities West, and College Factual ranked the college at #7 on 2020 Best Schools to Study Statistics in Far Western US. When visiting Cal Poly SLO last year during June, I liked the variety of recreational activities that were offered, and students often seemed to interact with each other. The college also offers a hands-on learning experience. However, most of the dorms didn't look too attractive, and Niche.com gave the professors at the college a B rating (although this ranking may not be representative of the statistics major in the college).

UC Santa Barbara and UCLA

A photo of the UC Santa Barbara campus

A photo of the UCLA campus

I chose statistics and data science as my first choice major for UC Santa Barbara and statistics as my first choice major for UCLA. UC Santa Barbara is between 4 and 5 hours away from where I live, while UCLA is over 5 hours. According to U.S. News, UC Santa Barbara is ranked at #34 and UCLA is ranked at #20 in National Universities. However, UCLA is more selective, with an acceptance rate of just 12% for fall 2019, compared to UC Santa Barbara's 29.7% during the same term. For UCLA, there is an optional info section, which I hope to get advice from my college counselor on what I should state. College Factual lists UCLA at #3 and UCSB at #4 on 2020 Best Schools to Study Statistics in Far Western US. I toured both UC Santa Barbara and UCLA last June. UC Santa Barbara is close to many beaches (my UC Santa Barbara campus tour guide stated that it took 42 seconds from where his dorm was to get to a beach), the recreation is good, and many artists perform at UC Santa Barbara. UCLA has a small class size, nice dorms, and is located in a safe area of Los Angeles. For both UC Santa Barbara and UCLA, Niche.com gave the professors an A+ rating.

Conclusion

It's definitely not an easy decision for me to decide where exactly I'd like to go for college, but hopefully I'll be able to come to a decision in the next few weeks.