Student Profile
Delilah
- Class: Alum
- Major: Biology
- Gender: F
- High School:
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
Outside of academics, UCI's biggest strong point, particularly in busy southern California, is the beauty of Aldrich Park, which is in the center of campus. There are lots of trees and paths, creating a nice setting for walking across to your next class or for just spending time outside. Because of the large student body, it is difficult to get personalized attention for general administrative matters. However, some organizations like the Career Center, Counseling Center, Health Education do cater to students, which is nice. If you're a part of Campuswide Honors Program, it's really easy to get to know the staff, and they are VERY responsive to your needs. UCI is definitely a large public university, which is great in the huge diversity in academic offerings and student organizations. Along with that, though, come long waits in line for administrative things and anonymity, which can be good or bad. Most people do not know UCI outside of California. I generally say that I went to school in southern California or Orange County to not confuse them. In Cali, though, I think most people are familiar, but they think of UCLA or Berkeley first as their favorite UC. I was really fortunate to have awesome roommates and to have on-campus housing the whole time I was at UCI, so usually if I wasn't in class or something, I would be in my dorm or apartment complex. However, the student center, eating places, and the library were pretty popular during lunch. Although the school is UC Irvine, it's actually on the edge of the city and is practically in Newport Beach. Irvine is an upper-middle-class planned community, and Newport Beach is a pretty ritzy beach city. As a result, UCI doesn't really have a nearby ghetto area, and there isn't as much interaction with these areas as there could be with the exception of some pretty large donations from the rich businesspeople who live in the area. Some people are extremely involved in student government, but from the outsiders' perspective, it mainly benefits those who run it (e. g. boosting the resume or lavish spending for their personal use), especially since many of them are also involved in Greek life. UCI has no football team. Instead, we have a strong baseball team and a really nice science library. As a biology major who studied a lot, I had no problem with that, but it does kind of bring down school spirit as a whole. However, there is the enthusiastic Completely Insane Anteaters (CIA) organization that encourages people to go out to basketball games and such. Nevertheless, zot zot! Probably one of my most unique UCI experiences was participating in Alternative Spring Break where a group of us went to a new location to do community service over spring break. I met such a great, diverse group of people and accomplished a lot while having fun too. Since I've gone, the program has done even bigger and better things, including restoring an area in the South affected by Hurricane Katrina. As for complaints, everything is expensive: cost of living, tuition, parking, books, etc. Administration can be a hassle too.
Academic Life
If you just blindly go through your classes, no professor is ever going to know your name. There are just too many people in the classes usually, especially the intro classes or required classes for science majors. There are some freshman seminars that have limited enrollment to encourage professor/student interaction, but there is usually little reason to have a bond after the class is over. However, I did get to know a few professors well through being the tutor for their class or through showing interest in their subject. Most students start out as bio majors, and by the end, most of them end up in other majors either because they couldn't cut it or because they weren't that interested in the subject. As a result, non-science majors get a lot of the science (and also some engineering) rejects. Students aren't usually too aggressive with the exception of the premed people, which constitute a large proportion of the school and of the bio majors. Although I never experienced having notes stolen or pages torn out of books as I've heard from other institutions, the premed people are pretty hard core about making the grade, establishing connections with professors for letters of recommendation, getting in the extracurriculars, etc. Many classes also grade on a curve, which can encourage competition, but I was always helped by the curve. Biology is a very popular major at UCI as the majority of the students start out wanting to be doctors. As the years go on, though, many realize they may not have the stamina to do so, but at the end, a lot of people do end up following through to medical school. If you don't have priority at registration, it can be hard to get the classes you want, but there are waiting lists. Academic advising can be hit and miss in the biology department. A few of the academic counselors have been very helpful to me, but everyone I've talked to has had some traumatic experience in the biology student affairs office. With the huge number of students they serve, I can kind of see how that could be, but they can be kind of harsh if you're not the best student. Most of the professors are very accessible with office hours and through email. On-campus housing also makes a conscious effort to get professors into the housing complexes to interact with students. However, most students probably have very little interaction with their professors outside of class time. On the other hand, if you engage in undergraduate research as I did, you'll probably develop a very strong relationship with that professor with whom you do research. I know I've been out to eat with my PI (principal investigator=head of research lab) several times and have kept contact with her even after graduation. UCI has a laundry list of breadth requirements, which are kind of a hassle, but I suppose they are a necessary evil. Probably the most well-known breadth class is Humanities Core Course, which is a year long class that involves reading lots of literary works and writing lots of papers but also fulfills a lot of requirements. The school builds it up to be a great thing, and I suppose if you're into the humanities, it is. If you don't really like all the reading, writing, and analysis, it's really not that great. I guess I strengthened my writing skills, but I wouldn't really recommend it to someone unless they did like the humanities.
Student Body
UCI is definitely racially diverse, but it's not necessarily the diversity that you would see in most of America. There are a lot of Asian people and quite a few Caucasians, but African Americans and Hispanics are definitely in the minority on this campus. The races generally stick together, probably accentuated by all the ethnic student organizations, but I never witnessed any animosity. Because it is southern California, people are pretty chill in fashion style. Sometimes people where PJs or business style clothes, but most wear shirt (which may have UCI on it), jeans, and flip-flops. The vast majority of UCI students are from California, but a few out-of-staters trickle through, including a significant showing from Hawaii. Of the Californians, some are from northern Caifornia, but most are from southern California either near LA, in the OC, or in the Inland Empire. Financially, most of the students are middle-class, but there are always some fancy cars in the student parking lots.
The Best Things
lots of opportunities, scenery
The Worst Things
administration
