University of California-Davis Top Questions

During my first visit to campus I could sense that people here were really layed back and friendly. Everyone is happy to meet new people. Most students are from northern California but in terms of their economical background, there is great diversity. People generally wear a sweatshirt and jeans to class, but then there are those few who dress up.

UC Davis has so many students of many different backgrounds that it is impossible not feel welcomed. Many of the students do congregate with their own racial profile, but they do talk and interact with others. There is a large Asian population on campus - many students from Japan and South Korea come here to study. I have seen students from different soci-economic backgrounds. I met with a single mom from East LA who was loving the peaceful atmosphere of the campus and city. The students wear what they want. Although I think that the sagging pants are stupid, many of the students wear them. During the spring quarter, the clothes come off and little is worn. It does get hot in Davis during the spring and summer. It can get up to 105 F.

Lots of racial diversity. Friendly people. Most of the people here are liberal or moderates. Not many conservatives.

There are many students on campus who are politically active and involved in organizations that push for positive change regarding social inequalities, environmental policy, etc. There are also students who don't care. Basically, at a big school you're going to find a lot of diversity. If you choose, you can surround yourself with a group of friends that is very homogenous - if you wanted to you could choose to never interact with people who are in any way different from yourself. But, there is also the opportunity to get to know people from all kinds of backgrounds, who live many different kinds of lives. The later is more interesting, and absolutely creates a more enriched experience.

I have had find interactions with racial and religious and LGBT groups on campus. I think everyone gets their chance to voice their opinion should they seek it.

In all truth, diversity is a problem. To contextualize it, diversity is a problem everywhere, at all institutions of higher education. Our African/African American population is less than 2{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the students (according to recently given statistics). People of color are by and large underrepresented on our campus, but given our activist penchant, we're making differences. 4 of our students joined in a 6 day hunger strike which ended in the creation of our Cross Cultural Center 15 years ago. A 30 year battle against the AGR fraternity's use of a song demeaning women and glorifying violence ended this past year in the creation of 3 full ride scholarships for children of farmworkers. Our Student run Recruitment and Retention Center hosts diversity phone banking to let current Davis students call prospective students of color to answer questions and encourage them to come to UC Davis. It will continue to be a struggle, but this is a struggle that our students are more than willing to fight.

As a transfer student this year, I have found it very difficult to get involved in the social life at UCD. It deffinately takes alot of effort on your part to join clubs and really strive to meet new people. Even though there are Transfer Tuesdays (various events planned for transfers to meet up and get to know each other), it's still a bit difficult because I am not living on campus (about 2 miles off campus) and I didn't know many people coming here. But as the year has progressed I have made a few friends and have signed up for clubs and look forward to be a board member of the Student Alumni Association next school year. I think it's nice that students of UCD dress casually to class. Some come in PJs and others get a little more dressed up (dresses and jewlery and sometimes even high heels!), but overall there's no pressure to impress anyone. I have a few friends in other schools who attend class where it's almost like a fashion show each day and it's almost an intimidation factor. I find that a great majority of UCD students are from the Bay Area (San Francisco, San Mateo, Foster City, San Jose, etc.), which is cool because that means I get to see alot of familiar faces on campus. I also find that alot of students are politically aware, most of whom are Liberal.

Most students wear whatever to class, sweats, casual, dressy. In college, you can wear whatever and get away with it. You can roll out of bed or you can dress up...as long as you go to class! I love going to the MU in between classes, I always run into someone!

Everyone is accepted at Davis. I haven't met a single bigoted, racist, or closed-minded person here.

Most students are middle class, and value education. At Davis you have different classes of people. You have the athletes who are never the best students, but are always ready to have a good time. They party a lot on weekends. At school, the athletes are always wearing sweats and representing their sport. Another group at Davis is the nerds. They are always studying and throwing off the curve in hard classes. A lot of these people don't really get out much, and really spend all of their time focusing on school. Another group is the fun crowd. They are skipping out on classes to go to sporting events and hosting the big parties on the weekends. Sorority sisters and fraternity brothers fall into this group. These people are friends with everyone and they are always getting involved with things on campus.