Hello!
I need your advice. I’m really having a difficult time deciding where I should go. I of course haven’t heard from UCLA or Cal yet, but I want to be prepared for the decision I have to make if I do get accepted. What are the pros and cons of declining Regents from UCI, for transfer to UCLA or Cal with no Regents? I’m only a comp lit major and am not sure what research opportunities, if any, are available to me. I’m a bit oblivious to a lot of this college stuff namely because I never thought I would go to college in the first place. So, when I got Regents I didn’t know what it was, and still don’t completely understand its implications. I’m not even sure what career path to follow! I know I don’t want to teach, though. But, I’m really into languages, which is part of the reason why I chose this major, and might do something with that for grad school if I can. Would declining the Regents opportunity hurt me for my future attempts at applying to grad school? Do I even need to have done research prior to enrolling to GS? And, I didn’t apply to UCSC because I didn’t know it existed, and apparently it’s one of the top schools for my major followed by UCLA, Cal, UCI. So, would it matter much if I didn’t go to the top school for my major? I appreciate any of your advice, thank you 
You’ll be alright wherever you go for undergrad. Grad schools mainly care about research you’ve done(opportunities for such are abundant UCs in general), grades in upper-div classes, letters of rec, and so on. Declining Regents is not a big deal at all, but it does mean less money for financial aid that isn’t loans.
Don’t stress too much about it, really.
So it isn’t really hard to get research opportunities without regents then?
I’m currently in a similar situation, just with Davis instead of Irvine. Of course if I haven’t even been accepted to Cal and/or LA yet, but under the assumption that I do get accepted, I’m leaning more on going to Cal or LA. This is b/c the way that I see it, the reason why I’ve worked so hard at CC thus far is so that I can transfer to a school like LA or Cal. I feel like there is a greater chance of a “regretful” feeling if I choose Davis w/ the scholarship over going to LA/Cal, versus the other way around. Plus the UC schools are pretty similar across the board in terms of academic rigor, so if one can do well at a “mid-tier” UC, one should be able to excel at a “premier” one as well. But I’m still really pondering over it, it’s funny cuz everyone I talk to who’s already in the UC system/has been thru it tells me to go with the scholarship. But almost everyone I talk to who has never been in the UC system tells me I should take the most prestigious school instead. It’s an extremely hard decision and we’re just gonna both have to wait until all the decisions come out. You never know how you’re gonna feel about a school until you actually get the results from it. I’m personally going to visit all the schools to see. But I can tell you from personal experience living in Irvine that it is a great place. It gets the rep for being a “boring” town but there are plenty of opportunities to have fun, and it’s an extremely safe environment. I’d take “safe and boring” any day over “fun but dangerous”
Thank you for responding. I saw you in the UCLA transfer thread. It’s really nerve wracking this whole process! It’s nice to know we’re not alone I’m going to visit UCI soon and I’m pretty sure I’d be very happy there. So close to the beach ;). I think I’m starting to view this as a win win opportunity for us. I hope you get into your dream schools