UC Irvine visit

Parent Cafe
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<p>Just returned from a visit to UC Irvine. Spent all day Friday there, took the campus and the housing tour, and attended a dance performance on campus that evening. We did a lot of people-watching, talked to a few students, walked all around campus, and sat in the park until the strong Southern California turned my face lobster red. I'll try to briefly summarize my impressions. First, I was surprised at the beauty of the campus. It's modern, spacious, and clean. The park in the center of the campus is lovely. Someone described the campus as very "feng shui" and I can see what is meant by this: lots of winding pathways and circular patterns- it has a real flow to it. The students seem clean-cut, kind of preppy, with a bit of Southern California glamour. We saw several students dressed in mini-skirts and heels. We saw almost no body piercings, no unconventional dress or hair colors, no tattoos. The dorm areas were attractive, lots of green space, and again...clean. Having said that, it had a bit of the Stepford Wives feel to it. No chalking on the sidewalks, no student murals, no messy student feel to it, no exuberance, no apparent student passion about anything. Everyone seemed pleasant enough, but no one seemed excited about their experience. We had heard that the campus empties out on weekends, and that UCI's reputation is a commuter school. We went on a weekend to specifically see if that was true. It seemed to be. We entered the dining hall on Friday night around 6 PM- dinner hours are 5:30-7:30. The dining hall typically serves about 850 people (according the dining hall manager we spoke to), but we saw only about 100 students (at most!) eating there. It felt empty and kind of desolate. None of the whirl and buzz we saw at other schools. Something else I was struck by was the ethnic segregation. Asians hang out together, Indians hang out together, Whites hang out together, and the very few Blacks seem to be walking alone. This was true when walking about on campus and eating in the dining hall and campus eatery. I tried to eavesdrop on conversations, and I didn't hear any animated intellectual discussions take place. Students seem to carry large backpacks, suggesting to me that many students bring all their books for the day since they live off campus. The dance concert, which was all undergrad choreographers and dancers, had about half students and half adults- many of which seemed to be parents. We wanted to like the school, and although we live in Northern California, my in-laws live about 15 minutes from Irvine, and it would be nice for my daughter to have family close by. But it was hard to love the school because it just didn't seem like "home" to anyone there. I can't put my finger on it exactly- but it felt like a combination office park, suburban mall, and Disneyland U. It's still in the running....but it seems that one would have to work at creating a social life on campus.</p>

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<p>Yup, that's UCI.</p>

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<p>Same feeling we had. We visited during open house-loved the place, loved the excitement the beauty. On audition day which was a Saturday, son was excited to visit Middle Earth and check out the dorms. We had something like 2 hours to walk around the campus-saw almost no one, it was like an empty park. Son was very disappointed since he wanted to be on a campus that didn't empty out for the weekends.</p>

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<p>Yeah, this and other reasons are why D finally decided to drop UCI from her application list...it was the last school she dropped.</p>

<p>The school looks very good on paper and for a large number of students it's probably a good choice relative to their others.</p>

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<p>For students who want a commuter school - and there are some- UCI is a very good option.
I have friends who attended UCI years ago, and it was the same story then. Kids often rented houses together on Balboa Island for the winter ( reasonable rates then) or in other local neighborhoods, and often worked while going to school. It's certainly not the college experience most parents on this board seem to want for their kids, but it does appeal to a certain kind of student. It's almost more of the kind of life that graduate students experience.</p>

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<p>It's for some very protective parents who want their kids to go to school nearby. I never live in a dorm, however I did live in apartment nearby my school with roomates. So technically, I never experienced dorm life (had to work 30 hours/week),however I'm a little bit afraid/uncomfortable of the drug/sex/greek scene. I can also see why some culture would not want their kids to have these kinds of experience. Is that true for some parents(non-American born) are a little bit nervous about the dorm scene?</p>

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<p>My older D goes to UCI and we had started the app process looking at "real college experience" schools.</p>

<p>For a number of reasons, UCI ended up being the choice, though initially it was the "you must choose one UC" as a safety app. We had not expected her to end up there at all, when the apps were submitted in the fall.</p>

<p>UCI only guarantees housing the first year, so most people live off campus thereafter. Defintely live in the dorm the first year and get to know lots of people. It can be a real blast to live on Newport Beach, the winter rates are not too bad (for California) There are tons of fellow students, so your neighborhood can be fun. Parking can also be an adventure! You have to go early to get a space, even if your classes are later. Once you are off campus, a car is a requirement in most cases.</p>

<p>There is a greek scene, though it does not dominate the campus. It is a good way to make some friends.</p>

<p>There are tons of Asians (45-50%) and there is some segration- when the Asian kids are culturally Asian, speaking Asian languages to each other it is tough to mix. When the Asian kids are "Americanized" there is more mixing.</p>

<p>UCI is a good school in terms of academic education. The curve is just as killer there as at UCLA or Cal ( I have kids at both), but UCI will not give you the same "cultural" experience as UCLA or Cal. Can your kid still make it a great experience? Yes. I think most of the UCs, other than UCLA & UCB, do not have that elusive LAC/Ivy intellectual community. In some ways, I think my D would have been better served at an LAC, but she would not apply to any!</p>

<p>In summary, you can learn great things, including about yourself. You can have a wonderful time, join a sorority, get involved in club sports, school sports, etc., and make of your experience what you want, but YOU have to make it happen. There is not an LAC style buffett of goodies, you have to find the opportunities and partake of them.</p>

<p>One thing about developing as a person into a responsible adult. The whole idea of the intellectual community is great, but I must say, paying rent, utilities, getting your security deposit back, paying gas & insurance, etc., is a real "growing up" experience if the student has to do all that themselves. Some kids just seem to have daddy's cc and are learning nothing. My D is learning tons- she & her roommates have decided TV is too expensive, not worth it! When she graduates and is on her own, she will have a pretty clear understanding of what it costs to live and how easy it is to run out of money at the end of the term!</p>

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<p>Yes, I agree that those life lessons are a vital part of growing up. I saw the most dramatic maturation in my oldest daughter when she went to Australia by herself between her soph and junior years of college. She learned more in those two months than she did in her two years at Stanford. However, I can't help but think the college life at UCI sounds more like what one would do in your 20's or in grad school. It's as though you just fast-forward through the "in loco parentis" of residential college life. And I can't help but worry about my daughter feeling lonely and alone in the freshmen dorms if so many students leave on the weekend.</p>

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<p>Somemom, that was an excellent post. Thank you.</p>

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<p>My husband went to UCI for grad school, waaaaaay back when. We lived in married student housing for 5 years, it was all very enjoyable. I worked for student housing there and at the time the dorms were rather dismal but are now much improved. However, I am not sure this is the place for a traditional freshman experience. The school feels very commuter-ish and sterile, much more so than it did when we lived there. Yes, there are a million Asians, it's very cut-throat in the undergrad sciences ( tho husband had a very good experience in the doctoral program.) My son went to summer school at UCI last summer and really disliked the ho-hum city of Irvine and environs. (Balboa and Newport much more preferable.) He did like his giant dorm complex that was made up of about 20 themed "houses" plus Greek chapters.</p>