I am an asian-latino from out of state. I want to go to a UC school but I come form a lower middle income family so I will have to take out a student loan. I am currently an undergraduate and looking to transfer. I have a 3.3 GPA. Do I have a change for University of Cali Irvine? How is the social scene, racial diversity, nightlife, teachers, and overall campus? Its it worth the money in your option and do I have change?
Is there a lot of concerts around this area and how far is it form LA?
OOS students get NO financial aid from the UC’s so you will be paying around $60+K/Year. You as a student can only take out the federal loans in the amount of $7500/year for Junior and Senior years for UCI. Will your parents co-sign for the difference? Will they take a plus loans?
Intended major? A 3.3 GPA is low for many of the majors you can transfer into at UCI and since you are OOS, you are low priority for transfer.
UCI is about 1 hour away from downtown LA depending upon traffic.
i strongly encourage you to finish your BA/BS in your home state, then come to CA to begin your career. Especially since you are going to have to borrow the money.
I think it is probably NOT worth the money.
To answer your other questions, the racial diversity is good at UCI but the campus is pretty dead on weekends because many students go home. It’s considered a commuter UC.
And if your main questions are about night life, I’m thinking you probably don’t really want a UC anyway.
For Fall 2017, UC Irvine’s transfer admit rate for non-CCC (California Community College) applicants with a GPA of 3.20 to 3.59 was: 23%
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfer-admissions-summary
The UCs give preference to CCC applicants for transfer admissions, then to other in-state applicants. If you are from out-of-state, then the odds may actually be lower than 23%.
UCI is probably one of the most racially diverse universities in the country. Asians and Hispanics collectively are in the majority; only 14% of incoming freshmen were reported as white for Fall 2016. Also lots of international students. As noted above, many students are commuters; the campus is not known for social activity in the evenings or on weekends. Nobody goes to football games, for example, because there is no football team.
UCI is in a suburban area that is affluent and safe, but perceived by some as bland and uninteresting. In general, Orange County is noted for shopping malls and Disneyland, not so much for a hip urban scene. You could probably get to downtown LA in about an hour if traffic isn’t bad and if you have a car (public transportation is not a good option).
UCI is popular with Californians and internationals (particularly from Asian countries), but not for students from other US states. This is probably because the high out-of-state tuition, high cost of housing, and total lack of financial aid makes it unaffordable; $60,000/year is realistic. College Navigator shows only 2% US out-of-state in the Fall 2016 freshman enrollment.
The previous posters have all given you good information.
You also need to know that the public universities in California cannot use ethnicity (affirmative action) to admit students; it’s illegal. Being part URM does not give you an advantage at the UC’s nor at the CSU’s.