Is Orange County Soccer-Mom-Ville? (Santa Ana, Fullerton: apartment, neighborhoods, buy)

[ComfortablyNumb]

Not going to grad school for history; going for Urban Planning or Law. Probably Urban Planning as my GPA is low for law (around a 3.5), and I'm more interested in Urban Planning.

Walking to class today epitomized why I need to get out of Wisconsin. With wild chill, it was negative two degrees out. I couldn't feel my hands until 10 minutes after I got home.

I was definitely considering UC-Irvine. I'm not picky about grad schools. If its a state college in CA, I'd be more than happy. It doesn't have to be Berkeley or UCLA, I just want to avoid having to go to USC (although they are very generous with aid, moreso than the public schools).

[snb3]

OC doesn't have any prefab sprawl but is full of tract housing into the $2 million range.
If you're looking for those loft or urban setting, the closest to OC would be Long Beach (downtown & Belmont area). I went to school there and it is pretty sweet: a good local town feel w/o the grittiness of somewhere else in LA.

Grew up in OC, living in LA since grad. Fun for hanging out but YAKK!, get me out of here.
Tired of cleaning up graffiti & trash on my property, hearing mariachi music after midnite, murders & drive-bys & car-jackings (all within 2 blocks in the past yr).

[majoun]

Originally Posted by newportbeachsmostwanted

Try either Costa Mesa, or Huntington Beach. Huntington Beach has a vibrant and younger bar life based around Main St, which is downtown HB. It can get loud on Thursday/Friday/Saturday nights. There's a ton of 20-something surfers there.

Are you in to surf/skate/alternative wear? That's pretty big with the younger locals in Hb. Many of the famlies in Hb are actually generations of surfermoms and surferdads/ SoCal punk music originated out of garages in Huntington Beach and Garden Grove. Bands like Sublime, and No Doubt. (sorry for the tangent)

Admittedly you have a "rose colored glasses" type view of OC, but the way you describe Costa Mesa does make it sound rather nice.

Sublime IIRC were from Long Beach - you probably mean Social Distortion?

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Sorry Majoun, OC is not always the first choice for liberals like yourself.

Yes, thank you for the correction: Social Distortion.

[hllnwlz]

I grew up in MV, went to UCI and got my grad degree there. Great school. Mostly commuters, so it's hard to make relationships with people at college. Like other posters have said, there is work here. However, becoming a loan officer probably isn't going to work too well anymore; many of the loan companies are seriously downsizing given slower housing sales in OC and LA. Get a roommate, live in Costa Mesa (if you're into partying, it's really about the only place in OC; LA's great, but it's far and the drive home is rife with CHP) and work part time.

BTW, UCI's a pretty competitive school now, even though it's not UCLA or Berkeley. You mentioned your GPA wasn't super... you might want to contact the grad department (do they even have a department in urban planning? I'm not sure) and see what kind of applicants they're looking for.

Hope this helps.

[ComfortablyNumb]

No, ha. My GPA is fine-ish. I will graduate with about a 3.3-3.4, but my last 4 semesters (which they concentrate on) will be more like a 3.5-3.6 or possibly even higher. I took some hard courses (Calculus, upper level con) to challenge myself, and I got B's in these courses and they pulled my GPA down a little. I could stand a chance getting into Berkeley or UCLA, too.

I want to work full time, though. Not part time. I don't want to become a loan officer really- I researched on it and it seems to be the route a lot of people without a college degree take, like a car salesman. What kind of full time jobs do you think I could get?

[hllnwlz]

Grad school at UC Irvine is pretty much a full-time commitment. There are no night classes, and seminars with your professors happen during the day. It's very difficult to find a full-time job that lends itself to that kind of schedule. However, if you get into grad school, they do pay you for teaching undergrad classes... although that is for your PhD. Like I said, I don't know what kind of offerings UCI has in your field, but in my experience, seminars are held during the day.

That pretty seriously limits full-time occupation. There are the usual suspects: Starbucks, baretending, waiting.. etc. Other than the big three, I don't know what else you could do. You may be far more enterprising than I, however, so maybe you can find something else.

And not to belabor the point, but UCIs a very competitive school for grad work. If you haven't already, I really recommend you check with the grad department before you make any hard plans to move out here. The southern UCs (except Riverside and Davis) are harder to get into than UCI, so you might be looking at Cal State. Still good schools, but I'm not sure which, if any, offer grad degrees in your field.

Then again, I'm not versed in your field, so I'll just shut up now. Good luck.

When I was in Wisconsin, I had something called Chocolate Cheese at the Mars Cheese Palace (or was it a castle??) Tres cool, if not tasty.

[ComfortablyNumb]

I think Mars Cheese Castle is just a highway stop between Milwaukee and Chicago, not sure. I think my friends and I stopped there when going to Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois (about 20 minutes outside of Wisconsin). Where you get your Urban Planning degree is not terribly relevent (like in Law, Business, Medical, etc), so I'm not worried about whether or not I go to UCI, or Berkeley, or wherever.

[James T]

I hate those obnoxious women on that show about OC wives. People like they are what's wrong with this country.

[ComfortablyNumb]

Is the traffic in Orange County awful/unbelievable?