Hello, everyone! I was accepted into four out of the seven UCs that I applied to (Irvine, Davis, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz) and waitlisted at UCSD, but have narrowed my choices down to Irvine and Davis. I was completely set on going to going to Irvine since it was my dream school and loved it when I went to Discover UCI. I went to Decision UCD with an open mind. I really hadn’t thought about attending Davis, and really only went because my parents wanted me to go. However, when I went, I loved the school as well.
I want to go into business, but was not accepted into the Irvine program. I’m under psychology and social behavior but am planning to switch to either business economics, business administration, or business information management if I attend there. For Davis, I was accepted under international relations.
I like the vibe of UCI, but I’ve only ever been there on days where classes are in session. I’m from the Bay Area, so I won’t be able to commute home every weekend. I’ve read reviews that the campus is pretty quiet on the weekends. Is that true, and what do you think about it? I like the OC weather, the business program, the vibe of the campus and students, and the campus itself. I wasn’t too keen on the city itself.
Lots of people say UCD is in the middle of nowhere, and it sort of is. It’s twenty minutes from Sacramento and an hour from San Francisco, but the town itself is small. It seems like a very inclusive college town. I’ve been there on Saturdays, and it always seems dead (aside from Decision UCD). I liked the dorms at Davis better, the fact that they have a frat row, and that it felt like a real college town. The location, or surrounding area beyond the city, was also a slight problem with this school.
What are the pros and cons of each (your own perspective)? Is anyone in similar situation? How are you handling the decision and what are you leaning towards?
Thank you, everone!
I graduated from UC Davis, but I am from Irvine, so I can tell you what the area is like. It is true that the campus is pretty quiet on weekends. I used to visit there a few times on weekends, and I rarely saw students on campus. Unlike UCD, UCI is considered a commuter school. The Irvine Spectrum is a popular hangout location among students on weekends and nights, due to its movie theater (including an IMAX screen), various restaurants, and various stores to shop at. If you want to get out of Irvine on weekends, the beach cities like Newport Beach and Corona del Mar are about a 30 minute drive away, and Anaheim is also about a 30 minute drive away.
@sopranokitty What was the student life like at Davis on weekdays and weekends? I’ve only been there on weekends, and it has always seemed so quiet and boring. How was your experience at Davis?
As for Irvine, how quiet is it? Is there really not much going on outside of class? I’m not planning on bringing a car until my second year, so how easy would it be to get around with a bike?
Irvine is much bigger than Davis. You won’t be able to get far in Irvine with just a bike. UCI to Irvine Spectrum, for example, is 6.5 miles, unless you’re willing to bike that far. UCI to the Irvine Verizon Amphitheatre is 7.7 miles. There’s the public bus system called OC Transit, but unlike Davis, which has Unitrans that only serves Davis, the OC Transit serves all of Orange County, and unlike Unitrans, which is rarely late unless it’s peak hours and they’ve got extremely full buses, OC Transit is often late (sometimes up to 20 minutes, sometimes by a whole hour). And unlike Unitrans and Yolobus, where UCD students get unlimited free rides just by showing ID, college students in Orange County don’t get that perk with OC Transit–you have to actually pay for a bus pass.
I don’t know about what goes on at UCI outside of class–as I’ve said, I’ve only been there on weekends. And unless you go to places such as the Irvine Spectrum or Diamond Jamboree (popular hangout place among Asian-Americans in Irvine), the city is very quiet. It’s not a college town like Davis. It’s also rather conservative compared to, say, Davis, mainly because Orange County is probably one of the few conservative counties in California. However, there are a lot of businesses in Irvine, which is good if you’re interested in gaining a business internship at any of the companies. But something about Irvine is that everything is, well, prim and proper. There’s a reason why Irvine residents call the city “the Bubble”. There’s basically no real city culture in Irvine.
If you’ve only been to Davis on weekends, that’s why it seems boring, because there are usually no activities going on on campus during the weekends (with the exception of Picnic Day, which is tomorrow). Most of the activities happen on Friday night or during the weekday. There’s a facebook page in the UC Davis community group called Events & Parties where people post about upcoming events. Lots of clubs are having fundraising events at various restaurants in Davis. Houseboats, a popular event for frats and sororities, is coming up (don’t ask me what Houseboats is like, because I wasn’t in a sorority during my time at Davis). Most of the parties happen either at frat or sorority houses or at the Avalon lounge at Avalon Apartments in South Davis.
But if you want to know more about student life on campus at UCI, you might want to ask in the UCI section.