<p>MrTrojanMan,</p>
<p>I'm glad you're happy at USC. Just because you were not happy at Irvine please don't assume that others are simply trying to be happy and are not actually happy. Everyone has different experiences. I'm sure there are people that were not happy at USC, and pretty much every college in the country.</p>
<p>ya i did coem off as a jerk. but its reasonable to assume that others wont be happy at uci. when i came to uci, i was excited, now i feel cheated. i see college as a golden age where the most important thing you learn is yourself. uci doesnt foster that kind of environment, and teh student body lacks that kind of dynamic. a vast majority, but not all. ive met many people who say they are happy, but really werent. i knew b/c it was for the wrong reasons.</p>
<p>ill try to say something useful for this thread: uci is a school for people who dont mind a commuter school, maybe to those who would rather stay home than live on their own. its an academic school, the smart kids that come out are recruited well b/c employers know they are focused. there is little distraction for your studies, a real advantage if you want good grades. its a bargain if you live at home and commute. if you want a social life, you have top go get it b/c it wont come to you. greek life is the best way to be social. irvine is a nice safe area, for those who value that.</p>
<p>There ya go! That wasn't so bad, was it?</p>
<p>But I do see what you were trying to get at. I think one difference about USC versus UCI or some of the other UC schools is that many USC students were born and bred to be Trojans and have worked their entire lives to get to that point, much like people at Stanford or Harvard. So when they get there, they are definitely excited about it. Because UCI is so young, it isn't part of most people's list of dream schools, so a lot of people get there and aren't so excited, and that carries over to the social life. </p>
<p>It definitely is a very strong school academically, like all of the UCs, and if you put in the time and effort you will get to have the future that you want. Many of my friends (including myself) went to UCI because it was a great value for the money, not because we were "settling" in any way. They all went on to great graduate and professional schools after college, and were able to do so without being in too much debt. The seven people I hung out with most at UCI are a UCLA law school grad, two Ph.D. candidates at Berkeley, a Stanford law school grad, an M.D./Ph.D. student at Harvard/MIT, a Yale medical school grad (currently a surgeon at Stanford University Hospital), and the top ranked graduate of 2004 from the UCSF School of Pharmacy. I myself just received word that I have been accepted to UCLA Anderson's MBA program and am waiting to hear from Stanford, Michigan, and your beloved USC. Am I bragging? Maybe a little bit. But I'm also saying that although we missed out on football and maybe some school spirit, we all accomplished what we came to college to do - get an education and set ourselves up for a good life.</p>
<p>Well put, and congratulations!</p>
<p>ya, i also forgot to mention: probably the biggest reason i feel so bitter towards uci is that i paid for everything out-of-pocket. my parents thought it would be good for me to learn some responsibility. i worked all first yr, part of second yr, and took out loans/scholarshiops. trying to apply for scholarships is like a part time job. i worked hard to be somewhere i really wasnt happy. that compounded things.</p>
<p>i also dont think there is a good chance ill go to grad school. like maybe a 50-50 chance. b/c hopefully in my field, such a degree wont be necessary. its an expensive degrre. im talking strictly about MBA. </p>
<p>congrats on UCLA Anderson, my cousin goes there. hes really stressed, he does part time. part-time sucks. he loves it.</p>
<p>how does the social life and location/experience of uci compare to that of davis?</p>
<p>Irvine is in Orange County in the suburbs. Davis is in a college town so is thus more "collegey", but it also is kinda in the middle of nowhere, although it is about a 20 minute drive to Sacramento. Davis is also much older than Irvine. I think Davis was founded in 1904 (?) while UCI was founded in 1965 but even so, they have comparable reputations academically. I think you could get a decent social life at either place, but Davis of course is older and has a frat row etc...so the parties will likely be more on campus. Also, there aren't as many people who commute or leave on the weekends at Davis. So I think they both have pros and cons. Would you rather be in a rural college town in Norcal, or a suburban town in Socal near the beach?</p>
<p>What GPA did the kids have at UCI to get into top grad schools?</p>
<p>kirmum - </p>
<p>I'm assuming your question is for me. I'm roughly guessing here, but these are what I remember their GPAs to be.</p>
<p>UCLA law guy ~ 3.75
Stanford law girl ~ 3.75
Harvard MD/PhD guy ~ 3.75
Berkeley chemistry Ph.D. guy ~ 3.97
Berkeley poli sci Ph.D. guy ~3.9
UCSF pharmacy girl ~ 3.92
Yale MD guy ~ 3.97</p>
<p>As you can see, all of these GPAs are very high. This just happened to be the group of people I hung out with. I knew other people from my class who got into decent medical schools with GPAs as low as 3.4. Of course, you're not going to get into Harvard with that GPA, but they were still able to get into MD programs at large state schools (i.e. University of Iowa, University of Nebraska, etc.). The same can go with grad schools. I knew a couple guys who got into the chemistry PhD program at the University of Wisconsin (from what I hear they're pretty good at chem) and they both had 3.3-3.4 GPAs. </p>
<p>As for me, my GPA wasn't super high, let's just say I was below 3.5, and I still got into UCLA's MBA program in the first batch that were notified. Their average undergrad GPA is 3.6. So I was below their average GPA and the experiences that I had at UCI were strong enough to get me admitted to a top 15 MBA program.</p>
<p>I think once you get into a decent UC and work hard, any grad/law/med/biz program is within reach.</p>
<p>Well, as long as your hard work leads to good performance, then yes, I'll agree with you. But sadly, there are a lot of people who work their butts off in college and barely scrape by with 2.0 GPAs. It would be difficult to get into grad school with that kind of record.</p>
<p>i personally avoided all the UC schools in so cal when applying. so cal as far as uc's go has nothing to offer. Santa barbra is about is nice as it gets and the girls there are fake and so is everyone and santa barbra is just weak. i mean wacko jacko lives there. best uc's are Berkeley followed by davis, and santa cruz if your kick back.</p>