<p>I agree that schools such as UCLA, USC, and UCSD are more competitive than UCI. But from my understanding, if you want to live in a desirable area like Orange County, it's a good idea to graduate from an Orange County school. For instance USC is an awesome school, but downtown LA is a crappy place for a college. UCI is a good school and its surrounding is great. Actually, now that I think about, I would've preferred to graduate from UCLA rather than UCI. </p>
<p>For an Honors student, UCI is not that competitive. But for the average high school student, UCI is very competitive.</p>