<p>UCI is one of my choices for college among other UCs like LA and SD, and I just have some questions about UCI.</p>
<p>1) I looked up the Housing website, and I'm confused. They have floor plans for single, double, and triple occupancy, and then some floor plan with suites or something? How does this work? </p>
<p>2) I'm in CHP and I know there's Honors housing. Do we usually get put in doubles or triples?</p>
<p>3) How's the dorm food? Is there a good variety at both Mesa and ME?</p>
<p>4) Is it possible to double major and/or minor outside of your school? For example, I want to double major in economics and political science, and minor in something like a language in another school. Is that okay or no?</p>
<p>5) Is it easy to double major and graduate in 4 years at UCI like the other UCs?</p>
<p>6) How is the political science/economics department? The strength? The difficulty? The competition?</p>
<p>7) Do top UCI students in their fields often go on to top graduate schools? Any stats to see like UCSD's website?</p>
<p>8) Overall experience at UCI - as CHP, Regents, or any other UCI student? Recommended? Any tips?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>1) In the dorms most people live in doubles but there are suites that several rooms belong to so you'll have 9-10 suitemates or around there, depending on the dorm.</p>
<p>2) Doubles.</p>
<p>3) I like the dorm food. Overall I believe that Middle has better dorm food, but that's just my opinion.</p>
<p>4) Yes.</p>
<p>5) It's pretty common especially since you have priority registration with CHP. You can get whatever classes you want.</p>
<p>6) I'm a CHP polisci major and so far I like it. Some of the intro classes can be dry though but I recently took at upperdiv class that I really liked. I don't know much about econ.</p>
<p>7) I know they do but I don't have the stats.</p>
<p>8) I am certainly enjoying my experience here and would choose it again. You will be less of a number with CHP than at the other schools as a general student in the herd. That sounds kinda cliche or something but it's true. Well I don't actually know that because I've never been a student at another university, but yeah.</p>
<p>I am a recent grad.</p>
<p>Yackityack gave great responses.(as always)</p>
<p>But I just wanted to add that I was a Poli Sci major and they have a very good department. My friend was a double major - Poli Sci/Econ Major and it worked VERY well for him. We both were in the UCDC program which was phemonal and UCI sends a ton of people. (actually, when I went, UCI was one of the UC schools that sent the most kids)</p>
<p>My friend who was a double major (non-CHP) - poli sci/econ, went on to work in DC, got his MBA at a top 5 school and is doing very well. I also have plenty of other friends who went on to top grad schools and none were CHP.</p>
<p>UCLA and UCSD are also great choices and I am sure you will do well wherever you go. However, let me add that programs like UCDC set you apart from the rest and I HIGHLY suggest looking into such programs while at school. Study hard and have fun!</p>
<p>I just wanted to reiterate the fact that the top UCI students can go to whatever graduate/professional schools that they want to. Name a "prestigious" school and I have a friend/colleague from college who went/goes there.</p>
<p>Harvard? Three of my best friends from the dorms did their M.D.s there, one of whom did an MD/PhD there (did the PhD at MIT). One girl I know who graduated from UCI last year is there doing a PhD in PoliSci there this year.</p>
<p>Yale? Another friend from the dorms graduated from Yale med school and a girl I know is 3L at Yale Law.</p>
<p>Stanford? A friend from my sophomore year graduated from Stanford Law and is now a very successful attorney in San Diego. Also, I knew a kid who entered UCI as a 14 year old back in 1999 and now he's a 3rd year PhD student at Stanford in physics (and I heard he's the #2 ranked physics grad student there, even at his young age)</p>
<p>Berkeley? Two of my best friends did PhDs there. One in chem, one in poli sci. </p>
<p>CalTech? I know two girls, one in Chemistry and one in Chemical Engineering, who did/are doing PhDs there. And keep in mind, not a lot of women go to CalTech.</p>
<p>Columbia? One of my best friends (I have a lot of best friends) from second year until graduation did a Master's degree there.</p>
<p>UCLA? My #1 best friend graduated from law school at UCLA, and I am currently an MBA student at UCLA. Two other good friends from my class graduated from UCLA med in 2003, one of whom graduated #1 in the class and is now a resident at Harvard.</p>
<p>I can go on and on. But the bottom line is that students who succeed at UCI won't have any problem getting to those "name" schools after graduation.</p>
<p>*disclaimer - I was in the CHP, as were most of the people I just referred to.</p>
<p>I am doing EAP (the UC study abroad program) in Chile for 6 months next year and then doing the UCDC program. There are many opportunities to be part of some awesome programs through UCI/the UC in general. Keep in mind that these programs will be available at ANY of the UCs you go to, not just UCI, but having the regents scholarship and such might just make them less burdensome if money is of concern. I know when I was deciding on college I factored in that I wanted to go somewhere that didn't put as big a financial burden on me and would make it easier to take advantage of some of these opportunities like EAP/UCDC.</p>
<p>First of all, thank you all for your informative responses!</p>
<p>yackityack - I'm not sure if you said this, but are you living in the Honors dorms? If so, was it the right choice for you? Also, are the CHP people intensely competitive or are they competitive enough to keep you on your toes but not enough to crush them? :)</p>
<p>la_demolition - I've heard about UCDC and studying abroad, and I am considering doing one or both of these options if I stay with the majors that I'm interested in. I was wondering if there are other programs like these two because these are the only two I've heard about.</p>
<p>alicantekid - Your stats really helped me in clearing up any rumors I'd heard about UCI ("if you choose UCI over other UCs, you won't get into the same graduate schools as the LA/SD kids") so I just wanted to let you know how helpful you were with concrete examples. I'm assuming most of these students were at the top of their majors here at Irvine?</p>
<hr>
<p>And some other general questions...</p>
<p>How is the sorority/frat scene? As in, is life at UCI dominated by sororities/frats? Also, what about the drinking/partying? I'm not heavy into that scene, and I'm wondering if I would be overwhelmed by it should I choose to go to UCI, because I have heard absolutely nothing about the school and its drinking/Greek life.</p>
<p>I lived in the Loma, the honors dorm last year in Mesa Court. This year I'm living in honors housing in Arroyo Vista. AV is definitely different than your first year dorm experience. I enjoyed my time in Loma and am good friends with some of my hallmates. In general CHP kids aren't super competitive, at least I don't think so, but pretty smart. That's my impression.</p>
<p>About 8% of undergrads are in fraternities/sororities. So they aren't HUGE on campus but they are visible. They have parties and stuff but most of them are at clubs or sometimes the houses which aren't near campus (except for the ones in AV but they can't really "party" there). Basically if you want it you'll be able to find it, if not you'll still be in good company. From my experience, overall CHPers party less (at least in the honors hall I was in last year) than typical UCI students in the dorms from what I hear from my friends who lived in normal dorms.</p>
<p>yackityack-</p>
<p>How do you like living in AV? I'm thinking of going there for the international village housing, which sounds kinda fun. I took a tour of AV today at Wayzgoose, and it seemed pretty nice. Didn't get a chance to tour CV, though.</p>
<p>AV is alright. Although as a freshmen I'd recommend living in either Middle Earth or Mesa Court if you can. The new international village sounds pretty cool though.</p>
<p>I'm actually an incoming transfer student, so I can't live in the res halls =P</p>