I’m a new member (first post; be kind!), but discovered this site earlier this month and really appreciate the information and community spirit.
My daughter was accepted to UCI, and she’s excited for this opportunity. However, she was accepted for Earth System Science (ESS), which is her alternate major. Since this seems to be a more unique major than Biology (which was her first choice of major), we are trying to learn more about the major, career opportunities, etc.
If anyone reading this has any experience with this major, we’d love to hear from you! UCI is her first choice of the schools she’s been accepted, but the alternate major threw a curve her way (esp. if she gets a waitlist call for her primary major later on).
We will be visiting UCI next week and excited to see the campus in person.
Accepted: UCI, UCR, Cal Poly Pomona
Waitlisted: UCD, UCSD, UCSB, UCSC, Cal Poly
Declined: UCLA
Waiting: UCB, Stanford
Does anyone know if UCI is done with handing out merit Scholarships? I see some posts here but the website says by end of this month or early April. During the info session they were rather vague on timing.
Welcome! What does she want to do with a biology degree? The lower division courses for ESS are similar to biology but not the same. I don’t see intro to biology as a requirement.
Kids here usually find someone who has a car to drive them around, so not many are limited by lack of transportation. My daughter is at Chapman doesn’t have a car and is all over Orange County and L.A. on weekends. And we live in Orange County, LOL!
I think you mentioned your son got accepted to Biomedical Engineering? My son was accepted to Chemical. Here’s the webpage on the Engineering department site that has some more information for newly admitted students: Newly Admitted | The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UC Irvine
Her three career pursuits are meteorology, oceanography, and veterinary science, so Biology and Animal Science were her primary majors for most/all schools that she applied to. Since she was accepted to UCI’s ESS program, she’s still on with two of those three tracks, since ESS offers concentrations in Atmospheric Science and Oceanography. And I think she could still consider pursuing the vet path, if she wanted. She enjoys research, so this ESS program seems like it may be a good match… just looking for some more direct experience, since it’s more unique (and relatively new to what she’s been exploring).
What is the campus culture of UC Irvine? Is it more collaborative/supportive or more independently trying to figure things out on your own? (DD will be in engineering)
UC Irvine is one of the schools on my daughter’s acceptance list, and we plan to visit next week. Her memory of having visited it two years ago (when we went on a swing through So Cal to check out schools for her older brother) is that it was more suburban than she would love and that it seemed calm but “almost too calm.” We didn’t see a little neighborhood shopping street or something that you could just walk to (like you would have at UC Davis or like you have in Berkeley and Westwood). I think that will also be an issue in La Jolla and at Santa Cruz and even at Cal Poly SLO. So probably not a dealbreaker but something she’s thinking about.
So if you are a student at UC Irvine but aren’t into mall shopping, is there a way to at least take a shuttle to a cute little street with restaurants, cafes, thrift shops (do people thrift in Orange County lol?)? Is there anything at all walkable? I guess we’ll see again for ourselves next week but I’m trying to help frame things up as to what we might encounter.
The other thing I’m wondering for those in the know (sounds like @alicem88 you know the school well!). She applied for Anthropology and it seems like there’s actually a really good Anthro program at UCI. But she’s not “positive” that she wishes to major in that. Are social science majors really hard to change at Irvine? If she decides she likes sociology or something else better, is there enough room to explore and potentially change? If I remember right she had to pick a major to apply. All other UCs she applied Undeclared (in either Letters & Sciences or to Social Sciences).
Last weekend I believe they held in-person session across a few cities. They’d one in the Seattle area. They may have had the virtual session as well but I’m unaware of it.
My daughter attends, and doesn’t have a car. She walks/scooters or sometimes takes the on-campus shuttle (Anteater Express) to do her grocery shopping. The UTC (across the street from campus) has some cute shops/boba/restaurants but they aren’t funky/indie in the way your daughter might hope – Irvine is definitely very suburban and not a “college town” by any means. *Edited to add, there’s also a Target at the UTC (it’s small, not a super-Target by any means) and a movie theater.
In another shopping area near UTC, there’s also a Trader Joe’s. So not quite on-campus but definitely walkable for anyone staying in dorms or campus apartments.
The closest area for thrift shopping is probably in downtown Costa Mesa, which isn’t super close, but can probably be accessed by the OC bus/transit option. That said, my daughter has made some friends with cars, and they occasionally go to events/shows, etc., but overall she’s pretty busy with her classes/homework, even on weekends!
Sorry, I can’t speak to your questions about majors in the social sciences depts.
So helpful! Thank you so much. Is she enjoying UCI overall? We just don’t know a lot of people who have gone there! Fewer folks in my immediate circle to talk to about it.
