<p>Uc Irvine!</p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz has an outstanding Pre-Med program and I have been researching into it for about 3 weeks now. I am very impressed with the e-mails I would be getting back from the counselors/professors. I am going to go with UC Santa Cruz!</p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz, hands down. Why?</p>
<p>Atmosphere --> UCSC definitely has the feel of a small liberal arts college (and you get the sense that people really love it there and actually want to be there and live on campus) whereas Irvine... Iono... for some reason, it reminds me of a community college or even my high school on a weekend when nobody is there. That's probably because I visited the campus on a Sunday when supposedly everyone has gone home to visit.... and the campus was pretty much DEAD, I kid you not. My parents and I drove around the campus circle, and we saw only one student walking outside... and it turns out she wasn't even a student, but an admitted freshman, confused like me, wondering where the heck everyone was. Honestly, it was kind of creepy not seeing students around the campus. So Irvine... basically, if you want the feel of going to a super large community college with a ton of resources with students who go home to live, then voila, there you have it at Irvine. Don't forget that there is literally nothing to do in the city of Irvine; it's not LA, after all. Pretty much it's like a huge suburban neighborhood with a ton of large McMansions and nothing else.</p>
<p>Compare that to Santa Cruz, where you definitely have this community feel due to the fact that everyone lives on campus in one of the residential colleges. You definitely feel a sense of community with everyone else who lives in your residential college (about 400+ for each college, depending on which one) and at least know their names and stuff. (At Irvine, I assume you don't get that opportunity b/c everyone goes home very often.) Plus, the CAMPUS alone at Santa Cruz is superior to Irvine's; at Santa Cruz, you're located in the beautiful lush redwood mountains overlooking Monterey Bay (Cowell College has one of the best views in the country - you are right above the hill with the athletic field, which is right above the incredible ocean backdrop of Monterey Bay). At Irvine.... er... well all I can say is that there's this business park/apartment/manicured city park feel that's really nothing special if you've ever been to your own city park. Plus it's surrounded by dry desert shrub due to the fact that it's in Socal and supported by the California aquaduct and not by its own natural water resources.</p>
<p>Food --> SC's food is AMAZING. Pretty much everything they have is organic or grown in the city or on campus (due to their agricultural sustainability program). Plus, they have way more variety. I tried out Irvine's food as well and theirs didn't seem as fresh or great; it's largely impersonal and has the feel of, say, a workplace cafeteria. But dining at SC in the residential colleges definitely has this community feel; the food areas themselves are super cozy and have a homely atmosphere. Plus, SC's salad bar and vegan options (if you're into that stuff) beat Irvine's, hands down, due to the growing demand from their rather large vegan population (which I like; it definitely gives you waaay more healthier options than say, at Irvine, where it seems like where there's more junk food/Freshman 15-inducing stuff).</p>
<p>Education wise, I'd say both are equal - remember that Irvine's high rankings are primarily due to their GRAD programs. Plus, due to Santa Cruz's very, very low grad student population, their research is pretty much all done by undergrads; there are definitely way more research opportunities for undergrads at Santa Cruz than at Irvine, where you'd probably have to compete for them with grad students. Anyways, they're both UCs, so you can't go wrong with either. Plus, the name of your undergrad does not matter, especially if you're applying to grad school. Keep in mind that if you do apply to medical school, they look solely at your GPA and give VERY little weight to your undergrad school name (as anyone with a 2.9 gpa at Berkeley can attest to) - in fact, they cut the first and second rounds of applicants based on GPA alone... so if you apply to an elite school and don't have that 3.5 GPA that your peers who went to say, San Jose State, have, because you got a 2.9 at Berkeley, well, sucks for you 'cause that San Jose State person has a far superior chance at getting past the cut than you. Research med-school admissions for yourself and you'll see what I mean. Thus, the "prestige" difference between SC and Irvine here is completely trivial.</p>
<p>In the end, Santa Cruz definitely has more of a "college" feel - people are more friendly and tolerant there than at Irvine, where the social atmosphere seems kind of reserved. The balance between social life and academics is definitely superior at Santa Cruz than at Irvine. Yes, people at Irvine can be friendly, but they won't necessarily go out of their way to be so. Keep in mind that they're only there to graduate. At Santa Cruz... well I can attest that they are genuinely very chill and friendly to pretty much everyone, just because the campus atmosphere is relaxed and outdoorsy and natural and supportive and community-based... plus there is a TON of school spirit at SC; everybody genuinely loves the school just b/c it's very supported and has a community feel with an unbelievable physical campus setting. Plus few SC people are gonna stress or be cutthroat about their grades like people at Irvine, who are mainly there just to get a diploma and get out (which is good news if you're applying to med school; it's probably easier to get good grades at SC than at Irvine since people are chill and not waiting to backstab you in the back).</p>
<p>Also, the city of Santa Cruz has more of a college-town feel to it than Irvine; you can get anywhere you need to by bus, which is free to you as an SC student, whereas at Irvine, you pretty much need a car to survive or at least go anywhere that doesn't pertain to studying. Plus, the UCSC is minutes away from the ocean and the Monterey Bay (you can see the bay from the dorms) whereas Irvine is completely landlocked. Its sole physical connection is the 415 freeway.</p>
<p>I'd advise you not to based your choice not on rankings but on actually visiting the campus and observing student culture and the quality of life there yourself. Keep in mind that your life will be based around the campus. Rankings, especially between the different UCs, are trivial since they're all mainly based on grad programs anyway. You want to find a campus where you can actually enjoy and love your undergraduate life.</p>
<p>UCSC all the way.</p>
<p>thanks a lot for that thorough description, candywave. It will help make my decision</p>
<p>Bravo Candy. Its nice to hear someone who does not trash Santa Cruz.</p>
<p>I was watching Pulp Fiction today and John Travolta wears a UC Santa Cruz shirt with a bananna slug on it.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>