Irvine is a very bland community - laid out in a master planned format with little of cultural interest. My mother commutes to Irvine and complains about the blandness and horrible traffic with regularity. If you're willing to commute Long Beach offers a more metropolitan experience and northern Orange County (Santa Ana, Anaheim etc) has some pluses. Irvine is basically nothing but UC-Irvine, business parks, and sub-divisions and you're looking at $700 a month for a room off-campus. If you end up having choices I probably wouldn't choose Irvine unless Orange County has some special appeal.