UC Irvine vs UC Santa Cruz

I’m having a really hard time deciding between these two, for the past week or two I’ve been constantly going back and forth between these two schools and I can’t make a final decision. UCI is know to be a more prestigious school compared to UCSC and I think that has some fault into why I’m struggling. Not only that but UCI has always been the school I wanted to attend but since the beginning of this year I slowly started to fall in love with UCSC more and more, and it baffles me to think that.

I’ll list a few pros and cons for each and I want to see where you guys would stand or choose:

UCI Pros
-Biological Science Major
-Great campus and (to me) easy to navigate
-Sightly better financial aid, I would pay less
-Close enough to home but far enough to dorm at (I live in Long Beach)
-I absolutely LOVE the Mesa Court Towers
-Great teachers and programs

Cons
-I don’t know anyone else who is attending there
-I feel that it would be way more competitive and harder to earn the grades I would desire

UCSC Pros
-Human Biology Major
-The campus is BEAUTIFUL and I fell in love with it
-It has the type of environment I like since it’s very calm, chill, and has so much nature
-My bestfriend is going there and it would probably be the only place I would see him now because his family is moving away to another state
-It’s really close to the beach
-I feel like I could excel academically better there

Cons
-Farther away from home (like 6 hours)
-Slighty more expensive, I would have to pay just a bit more than UCI
-The dorms seemed smaller and older

Any advice would be most appreciated, thanks!

UCI all the way. You know you like UCI and it’s a much better school It’s also cheaper sealing the deal and making it a no brainer.

I looked at undergrad research opportunities at both schools. It appears that UCI is dedicated to offering research to undergrads and is more organized and able to mentor students than UCSC. Both are good choices. I would weigh my decision on your proposed major and what you would like to do with it.