University of California, Davis

The University of California, Davis, UCD, is one of the top public research universities in the world with a medical program and very high research activity. It offers undergraduates highly ranked academics, unparalleled research, internship opportunities and an active student life in a welcoming friendly college town environment.

The university is one of the 10 campuses of the University of California, UC system, having the third-largest enrollment in the UC System after UCLA and UC Berkeley.

UC Davis set in a small traditional college town is justly famous for its outstanding programs in the biological and agricultural sciences. In addition its programs in engineering, the social sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, and the arts and humanities are also popular and highly prestigious. Graduate Studies oversees more than 80 graduate degree programs, giving UC Davis the most diversified teaching faculty and curriculum in the UC system. The quality of life on campus is enhanced by its proximity to the state capital and the San Francisco Bay Area, sites that offer a wealth of additional cultural, political, and social opportunities. 

UC Davis faculty and graduate programs attract highly qualified students from diverse educational, social, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. It is this global mix that contributes to the character of both the campus and the city of Davis. 

In the 2017 edition U.S. News & World Report ranked UC Davis as tied for the 10th-best public university in the United States, tied for 44th nationally and 37th globally. Washington Monthly ranked UC Davis 10th in the  National University Ranking 2016. Forbes 2016 ranking places UC Davis as 125th overall in the nation and 58th among research universities.

UCD faculty is rich of high qualified specialists and includes 23 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 14 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 25 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 17 members of the American Law Institute, 5 members of the Royal Society, 3 Pulitzer Prize winners, 1 Guggenheim Fellow, and 3 MacArthur Fellows.

Notable alumni of UC Davis include two astronauts; US Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral; Chevron CEO John S. Watson; entrepreneur Jason Lucash; and actor Matthew Moy. Notable faculty include two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Alan Taylor.

UC Davis’ academic strengths range from microbiology and aerospace engineering to art, linguistics and Middle East/South Asia studies.

The university has expanded over the past century to include graduate and professional programs in medicine, law, veterinary medicine, education, nursing, and business management in addition to 90 research programs offered by UC Davis Graduate Studies. The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine is the largest in the United States and was ranked first in the nation two years running, 2015 and 2016.

The university has several graduate programs ranked in the top 10 in their fields by the United States National Research Council; most notable are programs in agricultural economics, entomology, evolutionary biology, plant biology, and ecology. 

U.S. News & World Report 2016 rates UC Davis 2nd globally in agricultural sciences, 2nd in plant and animal science, 3th in environment/ecology, 1st nationally in veterinary medicine, 3rd in ecology and evolutionary biology, 7th in biological and agricultural engineering, 9th in U.S. colonial history, 15th in comparative politics, 19th in biological sciences, 20th in earth sciences and 21st in psychology.