<p>I recently sent in my SIR and am now having second thoughts. I have lived in norcal my whole life so I thought UCI would be a good change.
But the more I read about it the more I keep hearing that you need a car because it is a commuter school. I really do not want to bring a car and if the campus truly does die on the weekends because everyone goes home, than I don't think I want to be there.
I was also accepted to Davis but its to close to home for me but if the campus will be alive there than I would rather be there.</p>
<p>Hey, popeyoung5. You’re like 50 or something right? How about you go get a life? Or I guess you could just continue to spend your days posting on a web forum populated by high school seniors 30 years your junior.</p>
<p>plattypus, don’t listen to this moron. UCI is NOT a commuter school. If it is, then so is UCLA, SD, and Riverside. A huge portion of students stay on campus every weekend. There are concerts, movie screenings, musicals, a farmer’s market (every weekend), awesome locations you can bike to that are only a few miles away, and some event going on on campus nearly every weekend. Anyone who tells you there’s nothing to do at UCI has no idea what they’re talking about. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.</p>
<p>If you live close to UCD, at least go take a look. Then judge for yourself. You don’t need a car for UCI, but you’re going to have to make friends with people who do have cars.</p>
<p>As long as you’re proactive, any school will be lively. 80% of my friends dormed or housed near UCI and as a commuter myself, I missed out on a lot of events because I wasn’t on campus. Get into the right group of friends and you’ll have a blast!</p>
<p>When we took a tour of UCI the guide said the “commuter school” stat was inflated because if a student lived in the residence halls (Palo Verde, Vista de Campo and so on) instead of in the dorms they had to be counted as “commuter” students.</p>
<p>Our tour guide is a RA and he said that there are always folks on campus, and lots of things to do, on the weekends.</p>
<p>I’ve been visiting UCI for the past two years since most of my friends go there (transferring to UCI this fall). There are plenty of things to do…Irvine Spectrum…Diamond Bar…Newport…UTC…idk bunch of crap to do. UCI has a shuttle system that will practically take you close to all of these places. Also there is a bus system OCTA that will take you all over OC. It’s a pretty good system. But if you don’t like the whole taking the shuttle or bus then yeah just find a friend that drives. There are plenty of things to do in Orange County.</p>
<p>Just to clear things up I have visited both campuses for their decision days. I like the idea of being in a college town like Davis but I would really like trying to live in socal which is why I want to go to UC Irvine.
Thank you very much for your replies I am feeling a lot less worried now. :D</p>
<p>If you wanted to SoCal experience UCSB will give the best to be honest… the beach is walking distance… For UCI, you need a car to go to newport beach and majority of the things to do in Irvine is shopping. But being a college student not everyone has time and the money all the time. I chose Davis over UCI and UCSB b/c I lived all my life in SoCal and wanted to experience something new. There’s 5 malls within 75mile radius from my house and it gets tiring when everything around me is materialistic goods. I felt Davis will be a whole new experience and I can’t wait! There’s no malls close enough to get distracted and plenty of activities to do! </p>
<p>You really do need a car at some point at UCI… it seemed dead. (I went during open house and on a random weekend) and I can tell the emptiness… BUT Disneyland is around 20 minutes away so there are perks of going to UCI. </p>
<p>The SIR just guarantees you a spot in UCI. You can still send SIRs’ to other colleges like Davis if you need the summer to think over it.</p>
<p>You just lose the $100 deposit. You could theoretically SIR to more than one school (except like my school says, that would be unethical). There are shuttles to most of the places near UCI that people would want to go to, like most UC’s. At some UC’s, you won’t be allowed to bring a car your freshman year anyway. You might want to invest in a car as an upperclassman, but parking is quite expensive, 50-75 bucks a month depending on location and time. That being said, you’ll still be fine without a car as the transportation system is quite extensive.</p>
<p>Wow thanks nikker. I’m going next fall, and although I knew there was stuff to do, that was a lot more then I thought and none of it is tough to get to. GAAAH why can’t it be orientation yet???</p>
<p>plattypus, (sorry if I’m redundant – I didn’t read the entire thread)</p>
<p>As long as you find some good friends or join a club/frat/sor/organization, you’ll have a loooot of fun. Trust me. Sure, it’s a commuter school, but there are always fellow norcal students (like me) that don’t commute home! There will always be someone who has a car. UCI is awesome, don’t worry! But yes, UCD is awesome as well :].</p>