I am considering these schools and I was wondering if you all could give me advice on which school would be better for me. Now, I am an admitted student for Cal Poly however for both UCSB and UCI I am on the waiting list. But anyway, let’s assume that I got into both from the waiting list after hearing from them.
My major is statistics and I really like it. They offer a statistics major at Cal Poly and I went to the Open House and I loved it! I loved the statistics department and faculty and I liked the courses that they offer (they actually offer some master’s courses too!). The courses are geared towards jobs and practical settings which is why they offer consulting and computing courses which are typically a master’s degree, and I really like this! Also it is a small major and I want to be close with students and faculty and they seem really nice. They will be offering a minor in Data Science in a year or two years later so I can get my minor in that which is really awesome cause it will add to the stats major.
For UCI unfortunately they don’t have a statistics major or data science minor 
so I put Undeclared. I can major in applied math there but I don’t want to major in that cause my main interest is statistics and Applied math only has like 2 or 3 stats courses in it. I love UCI and I live near it so I don’t need to pay for a dorm and I just love the campus and the libraries there. But my preference is to get a job and my second priority is research and graduate school, but I heard UC schools emphasize research and masters more.
For UCSB, I have my financial statement and it seems like it will end up costing less than Cal Poly which is a good thing for me cause money is a factor for me. They do have a statistics major (not a data science minor though) and it looks very nice! However, I like the fact that at Cal Poly, I can take statistics courses right from the beginning and at Santa Barbara I would have to take a bunch of GE courses all for 2 years and then start on my major. Cal Poly spreads out the major courses and GE courses and I highly prefer this. Also, UCSB does not have some of those master’s courses that Cal Poly offers in their bachelors program so that’s a bit of a disadvantage.
I love all 3 schools and I would not regret going to either one of them. I just think that Cal Poly is the best choice for me, but what do you guys think? Any personal experiences? ANYTHING IS APPRECIATED!