<p>I'm really stuck between which school to go to. I'm from Norcal and I'm leaning more towards Irvine but I'm unsure because it seems like Davis has a closer student community and more things to do if you don't have a car?
But I like the weather/location in Irvine and it does seem pretty peaceful.
I just don't know! :[[[[</p>
<p>What major are you?</p>
<p>I’m from Norcal too and I had the same decision. The overall rankings are similar and it really comes down to a personal choice. I think that UCI recruits more for Socal while Davis would recruit more for Norcal. Have you visited the campus yet? Which makes you feel more comfortable?</p>
<p>LOL that makes 3 of us.</p>
<p>I’m a really big fan of the UCD campus although I went to UCI (I was not given the chance to choose UCD five years ago =[). It definitely has a more close knit culture since it’s a college town atmosphere while UCI is jumbled in the rest of orange county. However, I would never trade my four amazing years of experience at UCI! Visit the campuses and see which one will make you feel the happiest in the next four years of your life. It’s directly proportional to how much you will grow on an academic and personal level. </p>
<p>I am from norcal (San Jose) as well, and I can say it has been great to be able to explore the southern California area. My personal advice is consider breaking free from the known territories of norcal and see a new area although it may be not as different as, say, Pittsburgh. You will meet a ton of new people and be able to say, “I have lived in both parts of California” in case you move back up north. Also, get a car. You won’t get to explore either areas without one! Having friends with cars will work as well.</p>
<p>Lastly, each UC doesn’t recruit specifically from any area. It just happens that norcal people prefer to go to UCD while socal people prefer to go to UCI.</p>
<p>what about internship opportunities?
there are many businesses surrounding UCI, while I guess there aren’t so many around UCD.</p>
<p>How about, “It’s not on a farm?”</p>
<p>Irvine used to be a farm. Just visit both campuses.</p>
<p>Hahaha, I was just kidding about that (not really) but Irvine replaced itself onto a farm while Davis is nearby one? But yeah, you gotta visit both campuses before making any real decisions. Most people who were leaning in one direction or another were drastically changed after going to the campus itself, such as people getting into UCSD and such who hated the campus and came here or people set upon going to some UC college being from California then completely changing after visiting the colleges along the East Coast. Just take the time to take the drive there, and if your decision isn’t made yet, then just go with UCI…</p>
<p>P.S. Don’t bring your NorCal slang down here ;)</p>
<p>I’m about to go hella hyphy.</p>
<p>You gotta be kidding me, 4 letter words get censored but hella still shows up…Anyways, haha, I actually had to look up hyphy before I could respond to this thread…never heard that word down here, even from NorCal people =0</p>
<p>Lol yea same here, I’m in the san fernando valley, I just heard it in one of E40’s songs</p>
<p>HELLO, I’m Irma, my son was accepted in UCI (in SDSU too), we don’t have a lot money, he got a entitlement cal gran A, but I’m scare about next things:
He is has a hispanic background, his primary language is Spanish, his very dedicated at school with a lot of effort, he got a GPA 4.0 at HS, his ACT composite 23, his SAT 1520 (total), so always he has been to improve at school, his is taking IB English class, my doubt is UCI could be so difficult to him and maybe he doesn’t keep his cal grant A for his second year or third ?you has been studiying there could you tell me something about it, we need to decide as soon as possible. He is serious, UCI has all suppor to help him to success and not drop out school?
thank you</p>
<p>What do you need to keep the Cal Grant at UCI? Classes aren’t that bad at UCI and there is a lot of help if he does need it via tutoring, the office hours of the professors, and even other classmates and friends. Not sure what exactly you’re asking for, but if your son got a 4.0 in high school, it should be alright at UCI, too. It’s just work that he needs to put in and I don’t think the problem with Spanish being his first language will cause that much trouble.</p>
<p>yobetab,</p>
<p>You definitely need to keep a “good” academic standing for financial aid, but the bar is sufficiently low. You will not get stripped of your cal grants immediately – you will be warned first. I’ll be honest in saying that UCI will bring in more competition by nature, but I wouldn’t recommend it pushing you away from attending UCI. Is SDSU closer to home? Is it a kind of campus your son would enjoy more? From my experience, happiness in a school equals good academic performance. I do realize UCI has a lot less Hispanics than SDSU which could be troublesome. However, the there are definitely spanish speakers around everywhere! In fact, your son can register for Spanish courses and meet other Spanish speakers to help his transition into UCI.</p>
<p>Oh and companies from Sacramento, Vallejo, Bay Area, etc. recruit from UCD heavily =].</p>
<p>i visited both campuses already, and what i saw was that UCI was…cleaner. They are both extremely beautiful campuses but both have a very different atmosphere. UCD seemed more peaceful and down to earth. But UCI’s building were better kept and more organized. I found UCD’s building were very separated and i had to walk a lot to get from one place to another. They gave us a map but it was still very confusing.
UCD pros:
Very beautiful
seems more secluded from everything
nice people
bicycle system
UCD cons:
more costly than UCI</p>
<p>UCI pros:
less costly than UCD
Zootwheels
Beautiful
Closer to the city so higher job outlook (in my opinion)
more organized
facilities were better kept</p>
<p>UCI Cons:
Car seems to be more essential after first year</p>
<p>From your profile, I take it that you chose Irvine. I’m from SoCal and making the same decision, leaning towards Davis. I feel like the slight expense of Davis over Irvine [1-2 thousand] can maybe be negated by choosing a triple dorm room and saving a little [I think about 1-2 thousand] on housing.</p>
<p>So many of my friends (myself included) have been put in this position. I went to visit both campuses and I thought that Irvine just seemed like a more active campus in general. People at Davis seemed to congregate in cliques while in Irvine it was more scattered. Asian population is about the same at both though…</p>
<p>UCI. concerning needing a car, i have friends there who don’t have cars and take the train, etc. good transportation. i’m probably not bringing mine. and on the tour we were told theres a bus that takes people to newport n stuff</p>
<p>I went to check out UCI during Celebrate UCI… </p>
<p>You know, the pictures don’t do the area justice at all. It’s a REALLY nice area, and the college has a very nice atmosphere. That said, I was a bit shocked at how few people seemed to show up for Celebrate UCI vs the stuff I’ve heard about UCD’s Picnic Day (which I ended up not going to lol).</p>
<p>Still, UCI was nice enough - I could walk from Engineering to the rest of Campus (the park and the food area, for example) in a matter of a couple of minutes, and the parking seemed quite convenient if I take a car. I liked it, and then there was the whole thing about being near the beach…</p>
<p>After going to UCI, I went with my family down to Huntington Beach and Newport Beach… keep in mind I’ve spent all of my life for the most part in the Bay Area… …</p>
<p>There is NOTHING like that near UCD. </p>
<p>I wanna go there so bad!!! Here’s to hoping I get a B in physics so I can go to Irvine <3</p>
<p>Also to those worried about not feeling a “college town” feeling… Irvine has UCI, a college called IVC, a private uni or two and Fullerton State - all are about 10-20 mins away from each other tops? If you go out at night to the stores or whatever in the area all you see are college students o_O and they were all pretty cool to me.</p>