UC Irvine (UCI) class of 2010!

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So I called UCI this morning, it seems that they won't have housing at Verano or Palo Verde ready for med students (except PRIME-LC students) until mid-late August. Anyone else know anything about this?

thx
 
That doesnt make sense. Did they give a reason?
 
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BAM! said:
So I called UCI this morning, it seems that they won't have housing at Verano or Palo Verde ready for med students (except PRIME-LC students) until mid-late August. Anyone else know anything about this?

thx
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That's better than Vista del Campo - housing won't be ready for med students until early September :eek:

How crappy are these housing delays? I definitely dont want to have to live out of a hotel for the first week of med school.
 
I spent a while on the phone today, here's the scoop:

Vista Del Campo Norte won't be ready till Sept 16 - it's brand new, and that's their opening date

Vista Del Campo leases end Sept 16, so unless someone leaves early, you'll have to wait.

Verano and Palo Verde both offer guaranteed housing to grad students (not med students, unless you're PRIME-LC). It's a new thing they're doing this year, and they haven't ironed out all the wrinkles yet. In mid August, they'll take people off the waitlist, meaning that's the earliest med students could get housing from either of these university housing complexes.

I think UCI is planning on sending an email in ~2 weeks that will have some sort of housing list for students to meet one another and figure out how to get short term (month to month) housing. Personally, I'm thinking about camping out on the beach.
 
This housing crap is enough to make me withdraw from UCI. It seriously pisses me off. It's one thing to be up front about it and tell students early in the season that they are going to be hung out to dry for a while, and its a whole 'nother thing to keep silent about it until the whole thing is less than two months away (as they are currently doing).
 
to be fair, every UC graduate should expect these types of beaurocratic inconveniences. it's nothing new.
 
I went to a very large middle school and high school and then to UCLA for undergrad. I thought that maybe for once I could have a little bit of hand-holding as one of ~100 entering med students. Plus, I was looking at craigslist for off campus housing and almost started to cry. It was all just as expensive as westwood, and for my own room it's ridiculous!
 
BAM! said:
to be fair, every UC graduate should expect these types of beaurocratic inconveniences. it's nothing new.
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Amen to that! (UCSD grad here). I know it doesnt reflect on the quality of the medical education, only on the quality of the tertiary beauracracies, but it still makes for a few additional (and unnecessary) headaches.
 
i'm reading all these posts, and i can't believe it! so NONE OF THE MED STUDENTS (except PRIME) are getting housing until mid-August???? that doesn't make any sense to me!! is there ANYONE out there who got assigned palo/verano? ugh, i'm so frustrated after hearing all of this...i really thought that i should hear from my housing anytime now..grr
 
pdiddy348 said:
i'm reading all these posts, and i can't believe it! so NONE OF THE MED STUDENTS (except PRIME) are getting housing until mid-August???? that doesn't make any sense to me!! is there ANYONE out there who got assigned palo/verano? ugh, i'm so frustrated after hearing all of this...i really thought that i should hear from my housing anytime now..grr
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Oh the joys of housing...

I have already been through this drama and this is what I have learned...

1) IRVINE IS OWNED BY THE IRVINE COMPANY, so if you want to find a place to live in Irvine (not on campus), you better go through them (www.rental-living.com) or the UCI version (www.campusrental-living.com).

2) While most of their apartments are expensive, some of their buildings do offer subsidized housing. I believe you need to contact each apartment individually to find out if they have "affordable housing" available. The best part is that all affordable housing units are on MONTH-to-MONTH leases. (The 2 person maximum salary is around $51,000 based on your 2005 tax return or recent pay stub). The rate for a 1 bedroom is about $1300/month and 2 bedroom is about $1460/month, but the 2 bedrooms are a lot harder to find than 1 bedroom.

3) I would also look into subletting a place in irvine. Like most of the UCs, Irvine will be out on summer from mid-june till the end of sept, so if you are planning on moving into VDC in the middle of sept, this wouldn't be a bad option.

I am living with my fiancee next year, and we had actually found an affordable housing unit at Newport North (one of the Irvine Company Buildings). It is technically in Newport, but just on the other side of the 73 so it is very close. However, I started calling UCI housing (after knowing about the whole no guarantee for MDs) and actually moved into PV last week. They weren't going to give away housing to the guarantees until June, so if I moved in super early, I could have a place. It worked out well because my fiancee already started a job in Irvine, but I am still paying double rent because I am still working in LA. So the benefit is that I have a place, but I am spending a lot of money on rent right now...oh well.
 
Thanks for the info! I'm starting to think that a short sublet (maybe even on campus) will be the way to go. How is Palo Verde? Have you seen Verano and is there a difference in quality between the two?
 
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beffers8888 said:
Thanks for the info! I'm starting to think that a short sublet (maybe even on campus) will be the way to go. How is Palo Verde? Have you seen Verano and is there a difference in quality between the two?
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Palo Verde seems really nice and clean...newer buildings. Stove, fridge, storage closet...no dishwasher though. Verano looks a little older, but definetely not bad by any means. Verano is a little cheaper which is cool, and all utilities (except telephone) are paid. We have to pay electricity and telephone in PV. I was going to take whatever they would give me, and it just happened to be PV.
 
bruinH2Oskier said:
Palo Verde seems really nice and clean...newer buildings. Stove, fridge, storage closet...no dishwasher though. Verano looks a little older, but definetely not bad by any means. Verano is a little cheaper which is cool, and all utilities (except telephone) are paid. We have to pay electricity and telephone in PV. I was going to take whatever they would give me, and it just happened to be PV.
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so you already got assigned to palo verde? are you an PRIME student? when did you apply for housing?
 
pdiddy348 said:
so you already got assigned to palo verde? are you an PRIME student? when did you apply for housing?
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yes. no. i called and told them i would move in now (2 weeks ago). They wouldn't let me move in June, July, August, sept...but if I moved in May, it was ok. so I have to pay almost 3 extra months of rent, which is a bummer...oh well.
 
bruinH2Oskier said:
yes. no. i called and told them i would move in now (2 weeks ago). They wouldn't let me move in June, July, August, sept...but if I moved in May, it was ok. so I have to pay almost 3 extra months of rent, which is a bummer...oh well.
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looks like that option is shot.
 
:idea: when you say you talked to UCI do you mean UCI housing or the medical school? becuase if it was housing, whoever answers the phone might not know if there are any arrangements being made for med students. I find it hard to believe there is a housing SNAFU for 100+ med students....
 
rowdybow said:
:idea: when you say you talked to UCI do you mean UCI housing or the medical school? becuase if it was housing, whoever answers the phone might not know if there are any arrangements being made for med students. I find it hard to believe there is a housing SNAFU for 100+ med students....
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I talked to the Director of Admissions, Gayle Pierce. Granted she's not in charge of housing, I think she has a pretty good idea of what's going on. I also talked with someone from Palo Verde, who pretty much confirmed what Gayle had said.
 
I got my acceptance packet yesterday but no financial aid info was included. Has anyone else not received their financial aid "award"?
 
I have received my aid award, it came about a week after I turned all my paperwork.
 
yikes! that really sucks about housing. although i dont live on campus, i hear one of the reasons med students got SCREWED this year was because no one from the med school sat on the student housing board so the grad students took over and we ended up with the lowest priority.

anyway, one option that might be worth looking into is renting a house out at newport. i haven't looked into it, but from what i hear the "winter" rental rates are reasonable. you'd probably have to go in together with a few friends, but its an alternative and you can't beat living on the beach. if any of you are interested, let me know and ill see what info i can find out for you guys.
 
I sent an email to UCI's Assistant Dean for Housing, and also the Executive Director of UCI housing. I laid out the situation and respectfully requested assistance in the matter. How far will that get us? Probably nowhere. But, hey, its worth a shot...
 
Hey all, I'll be an MSII next year at UCI and was reading you guys posts. Sorry to hear you are having probs.

I live in Vista and I was also told last year that you cant sign a lease until sept. However, there were places available that I could move into earlier and just pay finish out the summer in. You guys may want to see if this is possible. Vista is a little bit of a pain cause you have to sign a year lease whereas Verano and PV are month to month. Some people move out early though, making places vacant for July and or August. The only problem with this is that you may move into one unit for a month or two then have to move again in Sept. This isnt as bad as it sounds because Vista comes furnished so all you are really moving is clother, kitchen stuff, etc. On that note, some of my classmates in Verano and PV are probably moving out this summer, but housing has no idea since they may not have given their 30 days notice yet. It may be worthwhile to get on the waitlist but dont hold your breath.

There were some people in my class who were looking for sub-letters for the summer, but I dont know what the status of that is now. If you guys are interested I can send out an email to the class to see if there may be any places for you guys to sub-let until sept. In case you dont know, you guys start about 5 or 6 weeks before we do. They did the same thing to our class since last year they added the 6 weeks to the fall quarter to stretch it out. Our class generally like this so they kept the idea for you too!

Let me know if I can help!
 
Does anyone have a first-year schedule, or at least a rough idea of class time (e.g. when class starts in morning, rough hours lecture/day, etc.) Thanks!
 
Hey guys, I got my housing situation figured out, thought I would share it with y'all in case someone could benefit from it.

I'll be taking a room in VDC Norte starting September 16. The original VDC campus (according to the lease manager) will have extra rooms available before undergrad class starts, so I'll take a room in VDC in early August before Norte opens up. They will pro-rate the monthly charge for as many days as I stay.
On September 2nd, VDC students will be kicked out so VDC can be prepped for the school year. Norte may be ready by then, and if so, I'll take my room; if not, I'll have to crash on someone's couch for a couple weeks :)
Good luck with housing everyone!
 
SanDiegoSOD said:
Hey guys, I got my housing situation figured out, thought I would share it with y'all in case someone could benefit from it.

I'll be taking a room in VDC Norte starting September 16. The original VDC campus (according to the lease manager) will have extra rooms available before undergrad class starts, so I'll take a room in VDC in early August before Norte opens up. They will pro-rate the monthly charge for as many days as I stay.
On September 2nd, VDC students will be kicked out so VDC can be prepped for the school year. Norte may be ready by then, and if so, I'll take my room; if not, I'll have to crash on someone's couch for a couple weeks :)
Good luck with housing everyone!
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Hey, thanks for letting us know. Did you arrange all of this by calling the housing office?
 
beffers8888 said:
Hey, thanks for letting us know. Did you arrange all of this by calling the housing office?
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By calling VDC. The housing office is useless: "Ummm.... sorry, I really have no clue when I'll be able to help you with housing.... maybe call back in mid-August? Oh class starts for you before that? Ummm.... That's too bad..."
 
Hey is anyone considering purchasing a small meal plan? I'm thinking of getting a voluntary meal plan to use when I'm on campus. I love to cook at home, and will do so every day, but check this out - UCI Dining is all-you-can-eat per meal (unlike UCSD, which was charge-per-item). You can get a 165 meal plan for $809 for the year, working out to $4.90 per meal. Think of the possibilities! Eat a normal breakfast, eat a snack for lunch, and then gorge yourself at an early dinner on campus. You can have, like, three meals in one sitting, if you're so inclined. The potential cost savings are literally blowing my mind... :eek: :D
 
SanDiegoSOD said:
Hey is anyone considering purchasing a small meal plan? I'm thinking of getting a voluntary meal plan to use when I'm on campus. I love to cook at home, and will do so every day, but check this out - UCI Dining is all-you-can-eat per meal (unlike UCSD, which was charge-per-item). You can get a 165 meal plan for $809 for the year, working out to $4.90 per meal. Think of the possibilities! Eat a normal breakfast, eat a snack for lunch, and then gorge yourself at an early dinner on campus. You can have, like, three meals in one sitting, if you're so inclined. The potential cost savings are literally blowing my mind... :eek: :D
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If youre not careful youre going to gain more than the freshman 15!
 
cHocoBo 118 said:
hmm good idea. never thought about the meal plan since dorm days.

on a separate note, is anyone going to that retreat in palm springs? I wonder how many first years are expected to attend this thing.
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I hadn't heard of it. Do you have any details?
 
beffers8888 said:
If youre not careful youre going to gain more than the freshman 15!
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Yes, but think how cost effective those 15 pounds will be! ;)
 
You could even be our first case study of diabesity! But on a more serious note, do you really want dorm food again? I don't know if I can ever go back to that and the UCLA dorm food was fairly good. $4.90 should be able to buy you a delicious burrito, maybe even with guacamole.
 
i know in san francisco $4.90 probably won't get you a decent burrito. $4.90 for all you can eat sounds like a pretty good deal. You probably couldn't even buy a sandwich for less than five dollars (without really shopping around).

Is there any other plan, like 50 meals/year or something with fewer meals? It'd be nice to save money there but not have to eat in a dinning commons every day.
 
beffers8888 said:
But on a more serious note, do you really want dorm food again? I don't know if I can ever go back to that and the UCLA dorm food was fairly good. $4.90 should be able to buy you a delicious burrito, maybe even with guacamole.
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The meal plan I'm going to buy works out to 5 meals per week, so it would be for the occasional on campus meal; it certainly wont be my primary source of food. And while $4.90 may buy me a delicious burrito, will it be able to buy me 17 delicious burritos? Because that's what it would buy me if it were burrito day at the dining hall :D

And BAM!, yes, there are smaller plans, but the average price-per-meal rises a little. Check out the voluntary plans at http://www.ucidining.com/indexNewUCI.cfm?cmd=MealPlans
 
BAM! said:
i know in san francisco $4.90 probably won't get you a decent burrito. $4.90 for all you can eat sounds like a pretty good deal. You probably couldn't even buy a sandwich for less than five dollars (without really shopping around).

Is there any other plan, like 50 meals/year or something with fewer meals? It'd be nice to save money there but not have to eat in a dinning commons every day.
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Are you from San Francisco? There are all kinds of cheap burrito places in the mission. I'm from Berkeley and Gordos is my favorite. There are 2 around Berkeley and 2 in the city. Anyone know of good burrito's around UCI?
 
I used to eat gordo's all the time, i think there're like 3 or 4 in the city. it seems like every time i turn around, there's another gordos sprung up. my favorite is la taqueria in the mission. and yeah, i guess you could get a burrito for less than 490, but i like the really big ones with lots of stuff in it! :)
 
hell yeah I know where theres good burritos but they are all in Costa Mesa. Its like a 10 minute drive from campus. Its a pretty solid mexican area, and most take call-ins. There's also a good sandwich place nearby.

Hmm as I was perusing my UCI forms like a good little nerdling I noticed what seemed to be a problem....

fees are due August 7. (source: fees form from the email)
we enroll in classes Aug 7/8 (source: orientation information)
financial aid goes through once one is enrolled in classes.(source: uci financial aid and scholarship website)

so how I am supposed to pay my fees the same day I enroll in classes? cause I know they wont get it to me that fast...
 
cHocoBo 118 said:
I got a snail mail regarding it. Its some annual medical conference they have. This year's is called "Living Medicine: Live the Life You've Imagined." Apparently there are gonna be a bunch of talks, small group sessions, and hands-on workshops. It's from Sept 8th-10th at a resort near Palm Springs. One of my close friends at UCI went to it as a first year and told me its really fun.

I'm sure we'll hear more about it during orientation.
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I just checked this out, it looks pretty sweet, I'll definitely be going. Click on the last link on this page for the registration letter: http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/admissions/entering/

Like you said it's Sept 8th-10th, which is apparently the weekend after our "second major exam" (two major exams in a month? Ouch!). Its only $135 for two nights in Palm Springs with all meals included, which is a killer deal (if you've ever been to Palm Springs you'd know what I mean). Plus we get a nifty t-shirt! :D

The hotel:
14wbrpy.jpg


14wbsm0.jpg


14wbsxe.jpg
 
rowdybow said:
hell yeah I know where theres good burritos but they are all in Costa Mesa. Its like a 10 minute drive from campus. Its a pretty solid mexican area, and most take call-ins. There's also a good sandwich place nearby.

Hmm as I was perusing my UCI forms like a good little nerdling I noticed what seemed to be a problem....

fees are due August 7. (source: fees form from the email)
we enroll in classes Aug 7/8 (source: orientation information)
financial aid goes through once one is enrolled in classes.(source: uci financial aid and scholarship website)

so how I am supposed to pay my fees the same day I enroll in classes? cause I know they wont get it to me that fast...
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Alright, now that I know that there are good burritos I can be excited about going to UCI! The info from the email said that if you qualify for full financial aid then your fees will be paid electronically for you.
 
beffers8888 said:
Alright, now that I know that there are good burritos I can be excited about going to UCI! The info from the email said that if you qualify for full financial aid then your fees will be paid electronically for you.
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yeah but I thought it said that they get paid electronically once you are enrolled, and that you had to enroll to get paid. I actually just got off the phone with fin aid and they said that the school enrolls you before the 8th so that your financial aid comes through before then. So we don't actually enroll at orientation, we just pay our fees and become "officially" enrolled.
 
ok, good to know...but I still havent gotten my financial aid!
 
Is everyone here and old fogy like me?? I'll be 26 in October...
 
Hi folks... I decided to go to UCI but I got into USC as well.... should I have decided to go there instead of UCI?? What are everyone's thoughts?
 
The decision has been made, right? What's the point in looking back now?
 
SanDiegoSOD said:
The decision has been made, right? What's the point in looking back now?
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I still have a choice though. It's never too late... what's your opinion?
 
sammyusc said:
I still have a choice though. It's never too late... what's your opinion?
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Oh, I thought your earlier post implied that the decision has been made.
UCI Pros: Location, cost, teach to the boards
USC Pros: P/NP, organ based curriculum, County (works your a** off, but you learn a lot)

Personally, I would go with UCI if I had to make the choice and cost was a factor, but if I had a full ride at both, I would go to USC.
 
SanDiegoSOD said:
Oh, I thought your earlier post implied that the decision has been made.
UCI Pros: Location, cost, teach to the boards
USC Pros: P/NP, organ based curriculum, County (works your a** off, but you learn a lot)

Personally, I would go with UCI if I had to make the choice and cost was a factor, but if I had a full ride at both, I would go to USC.
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I thought UCI was P/ NP as well? And, aren't we getting new curriculum for MS I this year?
 
sammyusc said:
I thought UCI was P/ NP as well? And, aren't we getting new curriculum for MS I this year?
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UCI is H/P/F, and I think the curriculum is revamped, but not entirely new.
 
SanDiegoSOD said:
UCI is H/P/F, and I think the curriculum is revamped, but not entirely new.
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Are there many non-trads, like 25 and older in MSI??
 
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