#UC Irvine vs UC Santa Barbara

5 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

keen knoll
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Schools: UC Santa Barbara vs UC Irvine

Intended major: Undeclared, currently learning towards psych or another social science

Similarities: Price, UC opportunities, similar distance from home, similar weather

I just got off the waitlist for UCSB and now I only have one week (until 5/27/2024) to decide if I want to accept! :0

UC Irvine
Pros:

  • Already committed and paid a couple hundred in fees
  • I like the circular nature of the campus with the park in the middle
  • Good undeclared program
  • They have both a BA and BS in psych
  • Not much Greek life
  • People seem to have a good work-life balance
  • There’s a nice little town right across the street from Irvine that has fun restaurants and things
  • I’ve researched more about UCI since I have already committed there, so I know things like what dorm I’m excited about and stuff — it’s sunk in for me that I’ve committed there and I feel pretty good about it at the moment (but I think I would if I had originally chose UCSB, too, and I don’t know if I would have chosen Irvine over UCSB if I’d originally gotten into both)
  • Good mascot
  • I’ve asked people questions in person and on a few discord servers, and everyone seemed really nice

Cons:

  • 40% of people I surveyed on UCI’s YikYak said they are not glad they chose to attend UCI and multiple people I've talked to have said they feel lonely
  • Commuter-like campus, so it’s pretty quiet on the weekends
  • You need a car to get anywhere off campus
  • When asked, people don’t seem super sure as to why they chose UCI over other schools
  • Orange County is more conservative leaning
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UCSB
Pros:

  • Everyone on campus was super welcoming and seemed to be enjoying themselves
  • 91% of the people I surveyed on UCSB’s YikYak were glad they chose to attend UCSB
  • Right on the beach and by a little college town
  • People tend to be far happier with their social lives here
  • People say that there’s a good balance of humanities and STEM and a good work-life balance
  • I felt more excited about UCSB than UCI when I first visited both schools
  • Some of my friends are going there

Cons:

  • I’m not a party person and around 65% of the people I surveyed on YikYak said they enjoyed partying, so that might be the main social life aspect and/or I might feel out of place
    • I’m also not a surfer or anything like that
  • It has a party school reputation more than a good academic reputation
  • They don’t have a great undeclared program
  • Besides the beach and the tiny little college town, it is also kind of in the middle of nowhere (although people seemed to complain about that a bit less)
  • Their dorm situation is pretty awful
  • I would be committing late, so would have lost some money on UCI and also I might end up getting worse housing and stuff because I’d be filling out those forms later
  • I currently know less about it so need to do more research

Tiebreaking considerations:

  • Academics and academic opportunity
  • Social life/would I be happy there?
sacred nymph
# keen knoll Schools: UC Santa Barbara vs UC Irvine Intended major: Undeclared, currently le...

Hi! I have some good friends at UCI so I can share a bit more about that. Your pros for UCI are super strong and I can tell you that both of my friends are very very happy at UCI. Ik it has a bit of a commuter reputation but both of them said that they always have friends/things to do on campus and one is pretty extroverted while the other is introverted so I’m sure if you are social you’ll be fine. They both chose UCI because it was the best school they got into but they most definitely don’t regret it

keen knoll
merry socket
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What's the cost difference for both?