<p>I have been accepted to both for chemical engineering. I am from California and don't really want to leave the state but UMN is ranked the 4th best school for ChemE while Irvine is unranked. I will visit UMN in the upcoming weeks but I have visited UCI and I'm not too much of a fan. It seems dead and unexciting to me. UMN has what I want I want in terms of a social life meaning Big Ten sports and lots of parties. However I do not know if I can handle the weather there. Like I said I will be going soon so I'm going to see if I can deal with it. Cost wise I qualified for in-state tuition at UMN so they're about the same. 25 at UMN and 29 at UCI so with flights it would be about the same. Any suggestions on what I should do or what to look for at UMN to help me make my decision? Any and all comments are welcome. </p>
<p>Only that you seem to be looking at your decision with great clarity and maturity. You’ve laid out the various factors well and in the end I think that you’ll know in your gut which one you prefer. One point, visiting Minnesota in April will not help you figure out if you can deal with the extreme winter weather – which appears to be your only major drawback to Minnesota.</p>
<p>Here is the other thing I want to live in California after college so will it still be possible to do this if I attend the UMN?</p>
<p>Anyone else?</p>