MatSci PhD UCSD vs UCLA vs UC Davis

[justakid21]

Hey guys,

Just posting on here as I'm super nervous and not sure as to what to do. So I applied for PhD in MatSci and am trying to decide between UC Davis, UCLA and UCSD.

Now I really like the UCSD research as they have a lot of faculty working with physics related stuff (I have a BS in physics) but I don't have gauranteed funding. One of my POI's at UCSD says he can't guarantee me anything between when I messaged him and April 15 so I can't base my decision on him, and others say they don't have funding for a GSR this year and they'd take me next year  Similar situation for UCLA, one of my POIs says no funding and another says that he will take students but it's competitive and I'm not gauranteed anything. UC Davis however has given me $29K fellowship offer but I'm not sure if their research aligns with my interests as they focus heavily on biomaterials. 

 

So UCSD has a better reputation overall and I think better research opportunities but since it's so expensive to attend and I'm out of state it seems incredibly risky to me. Same with UCLA. I was told I could apply for physics TA positions and the Physics department usually gives some TA ships to students from other departments each quarter in both schools so should I hope for that and keep contacting professors? Or go with UC Davis even though it doesn't have as good a rep as UCSD or UCLA and the research may not be as appealing to me now as that of other schools?

 

On a side note has anyone here TA'd for Physics department or some other department while in MatSci at either UCSD or UCLA? All help in these trying times is greatly appreciated!