UCI 是 1960 年代依照加利福尼亚高等教育主计划新建的三所加州大学之一，另两所是 UC San Diego 和 UC Santa Cruz。在 1950 年代，一方面非常多的二战老兵需要回到校园接受教育（大部分是因为 G. I. Bill），另一方面预期战后婴儿潮会引起入学人数增长，加州大学看到了对新校区的需求。一个新校区被选在大洛杉矶区域。

与大部分其他加州大学校区不同，UCI 不是根据她所在的城市来命名的。在大学初建之时（1965），现在的欧文市（ 1975 年建市）还不存在。欧文这个名字指的是 James Irvine。他是一位管理著面积为 94000 英亩的欧文农场的地主。在 1960 年，The Irvine Company 以一美元的价格向欧文加州大学出售了1000英亩土地，因为一项公司政策禁止向公共实体捐赠资产。在 1964 年，UCI 又购买了 510 英亩土地以用于住宿和商业发展。在此期间，UCI 亦雇佣了 William Pereira 作为这一片欧文农场区域的主设计师。

UCI 的第一位校长是 Daniel G. Aldrich，他为大学制订了以艺术文学与科学学院、管理学研究生院、工程学院为中心的学术计划。艺术文学与科学学院由二十个专业构成，分成了五个区块：生物科学、美术、人文、物理科学、社会科学（今天这些区块已经成为了独立的学院）。

现在

作为橙县最大的雇主，以 2008 年为例，UCI 当年对经济的贡献为 42 亿美元，其中包括有近 1.9 亿美元的经营预算。此预算含价值 3.28 亿美元校外科研经费。欧文加州大学医学中心在许多领域提供了不计其数的教育和培训机会，包括从医生的实习项目到社区证书课程及其他扩展课程。

在 2011-2012 学年，欧文加州大学总共颁发了 8443 个学位：6766 个学士，1105 个硕士，413 个博士，102 个医学博士，以及 57 个法学博士。

将来

作为为了达成“旗舰地位”之长期努力的一部分，UC Irvine 已经开始了校内的建造项目（预计在下个十年内将会耗资 13 亿美元），期望能够加速校园建设，且能够充分利用校园赠地余下未被使用的部分。

UCI继续教育部（DCE）致力于通过提供高度重视的，创新的和实用的学习体验，在生活的任何阶段促进个人和专业上的成功，为我们的全球学生社区提供服务。秉承对诚信，质量，责任心和个人领导力的承诺，我们的团队营造了一个包容性，协作的环境，以增强和改变我们学生以及彼此之间的生活。

加州大学尔湾分校原校徽

加州大学尔湾分校新校徽

截至2018年，UCI拥有超过188,000名校友。这些人包括运动员史蒂夫·斯科特，斯科特·布鲁克斯，格雷格·卢加尼斯和34位奥运选手，百老汇，电影和电视演员鲍勃·冈顿，詹姆斯·勒格罗斯，乔恩·洛维兹，布莱恩·汤普森，蒂尔·威克斯，温德尔·米德尔布鲁克斯，技术创新者罗伊·菲尔丁 ，保罗·莫卡佩特里斯和帕特里克·J·汉拉蒂，教育家埃琳·格鲁威尔，音乐家凯文·关·洛克斯，科学家米卡·托斯卡和宇航员特雷西·考德威尔·戴森。

物理科学学院的Frederick Reines Hall以UCI一位教师的名字命名，获得了诺贝尔奖
共有7位隶属于UCI的人员获得了诺贝尔奖。 1995年，两位UCI教授获得了诺贝尔奖，其中弗兰克·舍伍德·罗兰赢得了诺贝尔化学奖，弗雷德里克·赖因斯赢得了诺贝尔物理学奖。 F. Sherwood Rowland帮助发现了CFC对臭氧层的有害影响，而Frederick Reines因发现中微子而获得了诺贝尔奖。 2004年，医学院医学院教授欧文·罗斯以及来自Technion的教师被授予诺贝尔化学奖。罗斯因其在生物蛋白质方面的工作而获得了诺贝尔奖。

该大学总共获得了7项普利策奖得主：3名教职员工和4名校友。其中包括迈克尔·查邦和理查德·福特，他因《卡瓦列和克莱奇妙历险记》而于2001年获得普利策小说奖，而理查德·福特于1996年因独立日而获得普利策小说奖。克劳德·雅伯，又名乔纳森·彭德拉贡，76年级，是20世纪和21世纪最有影响力的魔术师之一。托马斯·肯尼利于1985年（在他教授研究生小说作坊时）曾是UCI的客座教授，并于1991年至1995年再次任职。肯尼利以他的《辛德勒的方舟》，后来改版为《辛德勒的名单》而闻名，该书获得了布克奖，并且是史蒂芬·斯皮尔伯格执导的电影《辛德勒的名单》的基础。

雅克·德里达是最常与后现代主义和后结构主义哲学联系在一起的哲学家，他于1986年至2004年去世前不久在加利福尼亚大学欧文分校任教。Ralph J. Cicerone是地球系统科学教授，UCI前任总理，曾于2005年至2016年担任美国国家科学院院长。

UCI的三名教职员工被评为国家科学奖章获得者。2009年1月，UCI教授Reg Penner因其对纳米线的研究而获得了法拉第奖章。

Your personal insight questions should be exactly that – personal. This is your opportunity to tell us about yourself, what matters to you, your hopes, ambitions, life experiences, and inspirations. Key points about the personal insight questions include:

• Freshman applicants choose four out of eight questions to answer.
• Each response is limited to a maximum of 350 words.

1.Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.  

Things to consider: A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities? 

Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?

 

2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.

Things to consider:What does creativity mean to you? Do you have a creative skill that is important to you? What have you been able to do with that skill? If you used creativity to solve a problem, what was your solution? What are the steps you took to solve the problem?

How does your creativity influence your decisions inside or outside the classroom? Does your creativity relate to your major or a future career?

3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?  

Things to consider: If there’s a talent or skill that you’re proud of, this is the time to share it. You don’t necessarily have to be recognized or have received awards for your talent (although if you did and you want to talk about it, feel free to do so). Why is this talent or skill meaningful to you?

Does the talent come naturally or have you worked hard to develop this skill or talent? Does your talent or skill allow you opportunities in or outside the classroom? If so, what are they and how do they fit into your schedule?

4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

Things to consider: An educational opportunity can be anything that has added value to your educational experience and better prepared you for college. For example, participation in an honors or academic enrichment program, or enrollment in an academy that’s geared toward an occupation or a major, or taking advanced courses that interest you — just to name a few. 

If you choose to write about educational barriers you’ve faced, how did you overcome or strive to overcome them? What personal characteristics or skills did you call on to overcome this challenge? How did overcoming this barrier help shape who you are today?

5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

Things to consider: A challenge could be personal, or something you have faced in your community or school. Why was the challenge significant to you? This is a good opportunity to talk about any obstacles you’ve faced and what you’ve learned from the experience. Did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone?

If you’re currently working your way through a challenge, what are you doing now, and does that affect different aspects of your life? For example, ask yourself, “How has my life changed at home, at my school, with my friends or with my family?”

6.  Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom. 

Things to consider:  Many students have a passion for one specific academic subject area, something that they just can’t get enough of. If that applies to you, what have you done to further that interest? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had inside and outside the classroom — such as volunteer work, internships, employment, summer programs, participation in student organizations and/or clubs — and what you have gained from your involvement.

Has your interest in the subject influenced you in choosing a major and/or future career? Have you been able to pursue coursework at a higher level in this subject (honors, AP, IB, college or university work)? Are you inspired to pursue this subject further at UC, and how might you do that?

7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?  

Things to consider: Think of community as a term that can encompass a group, team or a place — like your high school, hometown or home. You can define community as you see fit, just make sure you talk about your role in that community. Was there a problem that you wanted to fix in your community?

Why were you inspired to act? What did you learn from your effort? How did your actions benefit others, the wider community or both? Did you work alone or with others to initiate change in your community?

8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

Things to consider:  If there’s anything you want us to know about you, but didn’t find a question or place in the application to tell us, now’s your chance. What have you not shared with us that will highlight a skill, talent, challenge or opportunity that you think will help us know you better?

From your point of view, what do you feel makes you an excellent choice for UC? Don’t be afraid to brag a little.

Your statement of purpose will be used in conjunction with your application for consideration for graduate admission and financial support. Specific requirements (500 word limit) and prompts are listed in the application and include

• What is your purpose in applying for graduate study in your specified degree program? Describe your area(s) of interest, including any subfield(s) or interdisciplinary interests.
• What experiences have prepared you for advanced study or research in this degree program? What relevant skills have you gained from these experiences? Have your experiences led to specific or tangible outcomes that would support your potential to contribute to this field?
• What additional information about your past experience may aid the selection committee in evaluating your preparation and aptitude for graduate study at UCLA?
• Why is the UCLA graduate program to which you are applying is the best place for you to pursue your academic goals? If you are applying for a research master’s or doctoral program, we encourage you to indicate specific research interests and potential faculty mentors.
• What are your plans for your career after earning this degree?

Instructions are provided in the application and include a 500 words limit (approximately 1-page, single spaced, using 1-inch margins and 12-point font)。

Prompts:

• Are there educational, personal, cultural, economic, or social experiences, not described in your Statement of Purpose, that have shaped your academic journey?
• Describe challenge(s) or barriers that you have faced in your pursuit of higher education. What motivated you to persist, and how did you overcome them?
• How have your life experiences and education informed your understanding of the groups that are underrepresented in higher education?
• How have you been actively engaged in programs or activities focused on groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education?
• How do you intend to engage in scholarly discourse and engagement during your graduate program that has the potential to advance diversity and equal opportunity in higher education?
• How do you see yourself contributing to diversity in your profession after you earn your advanced degree at UCLA?