<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>