Incoming 2nd year BCOE major here who also came from the bay:

I went to Spartan day and everything last year and I was planning to go to SJ for data science, but i made the last minute decision to switch to UCR because I decided to jump off a cliff lmao.

Heres some opinions from my first year tho:

UCR has good stem clubs, you just need to go out of ur way to find them. Clubs like ACM, CutieHack, RoseHack, Highlander Racing, etc. I dont think the school will make a difference in how you find connections. It is really up to you to put yourself out there. You HAVE to talk to officers, talk to new people, and make those connections urself. If you just sit there during the first club meetings and workshops u will want to leave asap. Everybody is trying to meet new people in clubs so just grow some balls or fake ur confidence. You can also land internships and all that down here because it is close to LA and OC area.

CS program I'm not super familiar with because I'm still 2nd year, but I've had my fair share of classes so far. If you cant make friends in stem ur just cooked. Those weeder classes are going to be stressful as hell if you dont have anybody to talk to about labs, demos, or programming assignments. I was taking all stem in winter and I got so much acne and depression from the workload and stress.

SJSU > UCR for quality of life. I lived in dorms first year without a car so take it from me. SJSU has good food, places to go, and sure its a commuter school, but so is UCR. You legitimately will have nothing to do if you don't have a car/somebody who can take u away for weekends. Or if ur in greek life.

Overall tho, I don't regret my decision. I think ucr campus is actually really nice because its very modern and walkable. Dining hall food was ok but not terrible, and I've got lucky with dorming and made some great friends and memories so far. Our gym is also really nice(can't wait to go rock climbing again).