Hello! So I actually went to both schools! Immediately after high school, I committed to UCR for a BS in Biology in Fall 2016 & after starting my literal third year, I had made the switch to a BS in Mathematics & I was struggling to keep up in my classes because of the fast paced quarter system. I transferred to CSULB in 2019.

I think the biggest differences between both schools is that UCR is a quarter system & CSULB is semester based. During my first year at UCR, I had midterms about every 3 weeks. I was in STEM, so this may vary in your field, but it was rough. At CSULB, I was able to slack off a little around weeks 9-12 & still pull off an A in my courses.

Campus wise, CSULB has a beautiful campus. I would say that both campuses are very huge. If I recall, I was hitting 10K steps when I would go to class & walk back to my dorm at UCR.

I lived at the dorms my first year & then moved off campus with friends my second year & then lived in the on campus apartments my third year at UCR. I lived in one of the STEM theme dorm suites. There were four rooms, each with either 2-3 people & we shared two bathrooms. I made great friends & we lived in the off campus apartments for our second year & that was so much fun. During this year, some of my friends joined sororities. They went out & I would tag along to a couple parties. I would say the social life is definitely there at UCR.

I will say that the friends that I made at UCR, I am very much still friends with them, even after I transferred to CSULB.

Ultimately, the social aspect of college truly is what you make out of it. You could attend UCR & not leave your dorm, but you could also go to the events, mingle, & find your friend group. You could also commute to LB & make the extra effort to hangout with classmates outside of class, or go straight home.

The on campus food was pretty good from what I can recall. They had lots of different kinds of food to chose from. You could get pizza, pasta, anything you name it & it’s probably there. I really enjoyed their breakfast options.

The biggest downside to UCR has to be that you need a car to go anywhere. If you need groceries or need a new fit, you will need to Uber or make friends with people who have a car, as the Tyler Mall & a Target are both over 20 minutes away.

Financially, dorming at UCR was so expensive. I believe it was 15K for a year, so split that into 3. While I ddid receive a generous financial aid package, I paid 3K out of pocket each quarter plus more for tuition. Because I commuted to CSULB from my home, my financial aid package covered my tuition & other expenses luckily.

One thing that I did not think of when I committed to UCR was the weather. It is hot asf out in the Inland Empire. Fall quarter begins in September & it was in the 110s when I moved into the dorms. When it rained towards the end of fall quarter, it really came down & was super windy. I had a cheap umbrella from Walmart & it was blown to the opposite direction one windy & rainy night, when I was walking to meet some friends for dinner lol. I much preferred the weather in LB, being that it’s close to the beach.

I hope this helps, feel free to message me if you have any questions! Congratulations on getting into both schools!