<p>You didn’t make the wrong choice OP. As long as you are happy, that is ultimately all that matters. The important thing is not to go to the best ranked school, but the school that best FITS you. In other words, go to the school where you will perform the best, and it appears UCI will be most catering to your needs.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, UCLA is a great school for all intents and purposes, and many people do thrive here, but it does take a certain type of person to thrive here. The people at UCLA tend to be cut throat, overachievers, and have an extremely good balance between academics and social life. They may study hard, but they are also very social and fun. If you’re not the type of person who is into college football/basketball, greek life, exploring a city, then UCLA might not be for you.</p>
<p>From what you describe, you seem to be more of a introverted, personable, and tame type of person. That’s not a bad thing by any means, it just means you are probably not going to do the crazy, wild things your typical college student does. Commuting won’t be that bad. Again, if you’re not looking for the college experience, commuting to UCI will be just fine. UCI is also a great school and even if you didn’t commute, you’ll be able to find a solid group there. The kids there are very down to earth.</p>
<p>Also, no offense OP, but your stats are surprisingly low. I think regardless of whether you went to UCLA or UCI, college will be a bit of a struggle, so prepare to work extremely hard.</p>
<p>I am really sorry for making you feel that way. I was not criticizing your decision, just some of the information you may have based it on. Commuting is obviously not my preference as you can probably tell, but yes, there are people who commute to UCI and are just fine. They love the drive, what can I say? I myself hate driving and I let my bias show. Some of my very close friends from UCI were commuters and were still very active and successful. </p>
<p>UCI has ample research opportunities. You will not be disappointed. Personally, I can agree with you that the competition at UCLA is greater than at UCI, but don’t expect a walk in the park (except that one you’ll take to class everyday). At this point, it doesn’t matter how well, or how poorly you did in high school; college is a totally different game. You can succeed at UCI or UCLA depending on how much effort you want to put in. As you will find, a lot of people try to get by the way they did in high school and will fail. As long as you’re comfortable with your decision, there’s no right or wrong. Sorry again if I made you feel like you went the “wrong” way. Good luck next year, and I am willing to answer any questions you may have about UCI.</p>
<p>You made a good decision. While many want to get away from home, if you are comfortable there for awhile longer, you will have someone making you food, doing laundry and all you will have to do is get yourself to school. That has its advantages. If you make some connections at school, maybe you will find a group that wants to rent something off campus in the second or third year just to get out on your own if you want. I think UCLA may have overwhelmed you, a lot of kids get lost there. While a fab school, it is not all sunshine for everyone. UCI is great and has its own style, try to get into it! Be proud of getting there, a lot of students envy your position!</p>
<p>Yea, it could have been worse, just that I screwed up in 10th grade since I hated this one teacher and that class particularly and ended up with a 3.5 that year. The following year, I made it up with GPA of 4.5 first semester and 4.6 second semester to have a decent GPA. Anyways, thanks for your information guys and I do expect college to be somehow hard but I took almost all the AP classes my school offers so it shouldn’t be really bad.</p>