<p>I am a junior in high school. I've pretty much have my choices narrowed down to Irvine and SB. I'm confident I'll get into both schools based on my stats, but here is the issue:</p>
<p>Irvine:
PROS
- right by LA and SD
- they have a BME major unlike SB
- I'm Indian, so finding ppl like me at UCI is not hard at all lol.
CONS
- closer to home than SB
- not so big a party scene like SB
- commuter school - a ton of ppl are gone on the weekends
- WAYYY too many azns. no offense. </p>
<p>Santa Barbara:
PROS
- social scene is off the charts
- an average guy like me could get some pretty hot women
- pretty good science program
CONS
- i might get carried away with all the parties
- nearest big city is LA which is an hour and a half away.
- they dont have BME. closest major is Computer Science w/ Biology emnphasis</p>
<p>I like to party and have fun. I would def want some chicks. I am a pretty serious guy with ambitions, though. I want to go to med school. </p>
<p>I was thinking between Irvine and SB too, and replying to this thread obviously showed which school I’m picking.</p>
<p>Firstly, I talked to a med school graduate and he said that what they teach you in undergrad doesn’t help you at all in med school( not sure if its 100% true but coming from a med grad.) so just keep a high GPA in college since you can apply to med with any major- though I understand that bio major would help more than film/media studies,etc.<br>
Secondly, just because you’re Indian, don’t think you’d fit better in Irvine. I did hours of research and concluded that people at Irvine/LA/OC area are generally stuck-up. I visited UCSB and everyone smiled at me and asked me if I had any questions during Spring Insight( and I’m a minority so there’s definitely no/not much racism/stereotypes). I hear that people are really accepting/welcoming in SB too, since everyone is here just to learn/ have fun. Irvine’s social life is dead during the weekends, unless you have a car.
Lastly, just don’t get carried away in SB, the party scene definitely is huge. You’re only going to college for four years, assuming, so might as well reside on a beach! SB is an amazing combination of social/academics. Irvine is a great school too, but it depends on your personality and probably better in academics than SB.
These are just my thoughts, and what made me choose SB.
Pretty bias, not going to lie but dig around the net and find some interesting discussions. Gauchoinsider.com - check that site out, they have good articles/discussions too!</p>
<p>Yeah, as tjdabeast mentioned, Irvine having a medical school doesn’t really mean much. After all, Berkeley doesn’t either, and plenty of pre-meds go there too… you might want to check out this topic:</p>
<p>That topic touches on the intern opportunities at the Cottage Hospital system (which has branches in Goleta and downtown Santa Barbara) as well medical research that is done at UCSB. Just check out this article from last week’s DailyNexus for an example:</p>
<p>I don’t think being far away from a city is a disadvantage either… Honestly, you’re probably going to end up living in a major area for the rest of your life, so you might as well enjoy the benefits of living in a smaller area, as well as living in a student-dominated town. Irvine doesn’t have a tight knit student community near campus like UCSB does, and as you mentioned, tends to empty out on weekends. It’s also set among a residential neighborhoods where families don’t like all the noise that students bring… while UCSB has an active social atmosphere and tons of businesses that cater towards students. Good luck on your decision.</p>
<p>that is a desperate sounding title considering you have a year to decide. you can’t even start the app for 5 months. You’ll have time to visit both campuses (hopefully), and that will help. If you can’t decide after thinking about it for the next 350 days, flip a coin. If you like the result, go for it. If you don’t like it, that’s your answer. </p>
<p>But you have a year. A lot can happen in that time. Its best to not get too set on any single place anyway. people fall through the cracks.</p>