I was one of the UCI rejects as well, but I'm still hopeful about USC. You should tell them you're not interested in case you're ahead of me on the waiting list :-). I'm still hopeful about IU though. I'm very interested in going there as well, hopefully they'll take me!
Not to be a drag, but from what I heard "commercial/superficial/rich-bitch wasteland" is probably a fairly accurate description. I had a friend that lived in Santa Ana and said that Irvine basically just seems like a one rich suburbia like in Desperate Housewives.