Especially for Parents/Guardians »
Not a parent/guardian? We'll help get you started:
Thank you for choosing the Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences (ICS) at UC Irvine!
We know that helping your child choose their "home away from home" is not easy and we want to help.
We hope that we can help reassure you that the Bren School of ICS at UC Irvine is the diverse, academic environment that will help your student prepare for real world situations.
› What UC Irvine Wants to See
› How to Prepare
› Housing
› Financial Aid
› Campus Safety
› Did We Forget Anything?What UC Irvine Wants to See
UC Irvine's admission process is designed to select a highly talented, diverse undergraduate population. Your student's high school performance will be one of the main factors in determining admission status since it is the greatest indicator of their abilities.
In addition to grades, UC Irvine pays close attention to the difficulty of their schedule. We're interested in seeing that they challenged themselves within their secondary school environment.
STANDARDIZED TESTS
Standardized test scores add to our knowledge of your student's ability, but we don't make decisions simply on the basis of test scores.
The high school record and standardized test scores (SAT Reasoning Test or ACT with Writing and SAT Subject Tests) work together to make up the academic portion of their evaluation.
ACTIVITIES, JOBS AND OTHER INTERESTS
Your student's non-academic activities, including extracurricular accomplishments, part-time jobs or hobbies and community service also play a very important part of the admission process.
We also consider leadership, motivation, out-of-class recognition, community and volunteer service and other experiences when making admission decisions.
Our students make UC Irvine an exciting campus. The positive qualities and diverse experiences your child brings with them will enrich our community. By looking at this non-academic information, we develop a sense of a prospective student's personality, motivation and sense of responsibility.
OTHER PERSONAL INFORMATION
Because we want to have a sense of who your child is as a person, we look closely at the essay and personal statement the student is asked to write.
How to Prepare
The Office of Admissions has a website that is aimed at making sure your student is prepared to apply for admission to UC Irvine. Please explore this site and familiarize yourself with what is required.
Traditionally, the application process for the UC System opens up in November of each year for admission in the following Fall (ie, you would apply in Fall 2010 for admission in Fall 2011).
The best advice we can give you is to encourage your son/daughter to keep a calendar with all the important deadlines required of them as the admissions process moves forward. Since it is likely that your student will be applying to more than one school, it can become near impossible to keep all the deadlines straight in ones mind. Keeping a calendar will help ensure that deadlines are not missed.
Housing
UC Irvine now offers a two-year housing guarantee for Freshmen applicants and a one-year housing guarantee for Transfers applicants.
Please be aware that if your student misses the deadline to apply for housing, the guarantee will no longer apply. Please make sure your student is staying up to date with the deadlines by visiting the University Housing website.
Freshmen are generally placed in Mesa Court, Middle Earth and sometimes Arroyo Vista. It takes no more than 10 - 15 minutes to get from either Mesa Court or Middle Earth to anywhere on campus. Arroyo Vista is a bit further, but it provides ample free shuttling to the Main Campus. It also is close enough to walk, if your student wishes to enjoy the nice southern California weather.
Transfer students are generally placed in Arroyo Vista, Campus Village or Vista Del Campo. Campus village is located on the Main campus, while Arroyo Vista and Vista Del Campo provide free shuttling.
Financial Aid
Paying for your student's education can be expensive, and UC Irvine is committed to helping families in need.
More information on the types of aid available, as well as how and when to apply can be found at the Financial Aid website.
Campus Safety
UC Irvine (and the city of Irvine in general) has traditionally been and extremely safe place to live and study. However, in the wake of recent nation-wide tragedies, the safety of our student body is the minds of every administrator on campus.
In addition to having our own on-campus Police Department, we have taken measures to assure that we are able to swiftly respond to possible emergency situations.
- Intercom stations have been installed throughout campus that are easily recognizable by a large Blue Light on top. These intercoms connect directly with the UC Irvine police department and are monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Students can sign up for alerts and warnings to be delivered to their cell phones via text message. This enables the University to notify students of emergency situations as soon they are reported.
- Students may call the Campus Safety Officers should they feel they need an escort. This is made available as an alternative to walking alone at night.
To learn more about campus safety, please visit the campus safety website.
Did We Forget Anything?
If you have questions or concerns that were not addressed by the information available on this website, feel free to have your student contact us for more information.
We're available by phone at (949) 824-4156 and by email at ucounsel@uci.edu.
