Accepted to UIUC...is UCI a good bet?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Irvine
1

<p>I was accepted into University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign a few weeks ago and from what I've been hearing, UIUC is better academically than UCI in a lot of aspects like its engineering program. However, when I looked at the stats of admitted students and their acceptance rates, UCI seems to be a lot harder to get into than UIUC (UCI's acceptance rate is a little below 50% while UIUC's acceptance rate is 60-70%, meaning they accept a majority of their applicants). I want to know for those who have experience (or can decipher stats a lot better than I can) if a UIUC acceptance is a good indicator of a UCI acceptance. I am neither an Illinois nor a Cali residence so I am considered an out-of-stater to both schools. Here are my stats for reference:</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.6ish
UC GPA: exactly 3.6 (reason being my top grades were in freshman year and they slowly declined throughout sophomore and junior year, plus I retook a few classes that I got B's in online which won't be calculated into my UC GPA, according to the stated UC system)
SAT: 2210
ACT: 30
UIUC essays: mediocre (probably on the upper side though)
UC essays: very good (I spent a lot of time on them)</p>

2

<p>You will get in, no joke</p>

3

<p>I would say consider the student body most before making a decision. The two schools are completely different locations. UCI is like 50% Asian, while the other is 13%. Do you want the beach? Look up your courses on the bookstore for both colleges and see which one you would prefer based on that too!</p>