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I grew up 15 min away and UCI did used to be a commuter school. But its international reputation has steadily increased in the last 2 decades. It has transformed quite a bit with campus expansion and partnerships with industry. It trades ranking with UCSD depending on the year. Even in-state, both schools has less than 10% acceptance into engineering majors (Gumbymom can provide more specifics) and they are definitely not safety schools, even for CA residents.
Both campuses can be cut throat competitive, but both do foster great learning environments, lots of research opportunities, social scene is not bad.
That’s just my own observation.
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Okay, I appreciate this, thank you. Just trying to get a feel for how Californians view UCI. So amazing how your state has so many incredible universities!
Nice weather and 5 minutes from the beach definitely helps.
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Californians respect the academics at UCI.
Close to 75% of UCI’s undergraduates are from southern California. While students might not commute on a daily basis, many students live close enough to go home on the weekends. UCI doesn’t have a big weekend scene like other universities. It tends to be more quiet and mellow on the weekends.
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How does UCI CS compare to Purdue CS?
Both are very good. Purdue CS is more well-known and slightly better ranked - after all its one of the oldest CS departments in the US.
Sarah - depending on the year - UCI is ranked third or 4th in prestige/difficulty in getting in amongst the UC’s. The UC system is considered in the top for Public Schools nationwide so I’m not sure you can compare them to UT Austin. My daughter went to Irvine in 2020. I don’t want to taint anyone’s impression because it was a Covid year and I wish we would have chosen a Gap year. The campus was completely dead on weekends. It was very difficult for my daughter since we were not from SoCal so she was very lonely. Again, it was Covid year but it was shockingly empty on weekends and not much to do during the week.
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Thanks for this, appreciate your perspective and sharing your daughter’s experience.
When do we think UCI will release applications??
2023: Friday March 17, 2023 4 PM PST including Regents and CHP.
2022: CHP admits March 11, 2022. The rest of the Decisions on March 18, 2022.
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My son was accepted and offered CHP on March 17th last year, but not awarded Regents until April 11th. Not sure if he was a special case but just wanted to share for those anxiously waiting.
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That is interesting. When he was accepted, was there a Campuswide Honors Collegium (CHC) banner in his portal? How did they notify him about Regents?
I’m not sure about the banner in the portal for Campus Wide Honors, but I do recall he received an email maybe an hour or two after his acceptance that congratulated him on his acceptance to the Campuswide Honors Program and gave more info on the program. He received email notification of an update in his portal and it was the Regents award on the afternoon of April 11th.
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Thanks. Could you please tell me the same for UCSB, UCD, and UCSD? My family bought refundable plane tix for March 23-27 so we can hopefully visit one if I get in. I hope I hear back before then
Sent a PM since I do not want to derail this UCI discussion thread.
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Uc Irvine accepts students as second major?
There was written it on portal.
Yes, UCI will consider the Primary and Alternate major for admissions.
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Interesting … do Regent awards get reallocated if original freshman who received award do not enroll in college? Seems this is an example of this scenario. @Gumbymom do you know if this happens?
No, usually the Regents Scholarship is awarded only once so not reallocated if a student turns down admission.