UC Irvine or UC Santa Barbara?

Kiyomi12
Wed, 23 Mar 2011 21:52:32 +0000

So I am stuck in a major dilemma right now. I recently got accepted to UCI and UCSB…and the thing is, UCSB is my type of school…I just know I am going to love it there, and I am going to have so much fun there. The more I read about SB, I know it’s the right school for me. BUT (yes there is a but) I have a boyfriend of 2 years who lives in LA and goes to USC. Thinking about my boyfriend, UCI would be the better choice because it’s only about an hour drive from LA whereas Santa Barbara is about 2 hours (or even more depending on traffic). Comparing the two schools, the two are about the same academically but SB is obviously a better college-environment (it’s next to the beach and has a beautiful campus etc.) The UCI campus is pretty sub-par, filled with asians…but my biggest issue with going to UCI is that I’ve heard over and over again that UCI is really boring and the people are generally not very happy with their social life there. But the BIGGEST upside of going to UCI would be that I would be close to Los Angeles and my boyfriend and I wouldn’t have to worry about getting sucked into the whole party scene and get completely distracted from my studies. If I do decide to go to UCI though, I would most likely transfer to UCLA in my second year.

So I am basically torn. Should I go to UCSB and have an amazing first year of college but do long-distance with my boyfriend and jeopardize my relationship with him…or should I go to UCI so I can stay close to my boyfriend and just focus on my studies and transferring to UCLA?