UCI Libraries Gateway Study Center

Pros —
1. Bright lighting
2. Nice desks
3. Good WIFI
4. Open until 3 AM (very important for me)
5. Short distance away from the parking lot
Cons —
1. Can be loud (Not really a problem if you have
your own study music with earphone)
2. Very limited number of outlets to plug in laptop
3. Can be cold (Also, not really a problem if you
bring extra clothes to wear)
===============================================
Response to Danielle K.‘s comment (11÷2÷2015 | Thanks for your review! And yes, we know it can be cold at times, and we wish we could fix it!) on my review :
I’m more concerned about the insufficient number of outlets to plug in my laptop than the air conditioning problem. Air conditioning issue can easily be redressed by me wearing a hoodie or something, but there just needs to be more outlets.

Decent Wifi, lots of computers, and lots of desks. However, it gets loud in there for a quiet study zone. The rooms are nice, but they are always filled with people, and so I can’t go inside one. There are a lot of outlets hidden under the tables which are nice. I don’t have to fight for outlets. Great place to study overall though.

If you want to come here to «study» aka hang out and talk to your friends, then Gateway is the place to be. It’s always packed with students (especially during finals week) chatting away, doing anything but studying. You’re bound to hear another group of friends chatting away
Don’t get me wrong, it IS a good place to go and study, in that there are tables, study rooms, computers, and internet access, but it’s not as quiet as the Science Library or Lanston.
Plus, the one time I stepped foot into Gateway, it smelled like piss.

Definitely NOT an ideal place for your studies. Like many previous reviews, the Gateway center is always packed with students everything but studying. You see groups of students at a table, either at the tables or in the private study rooms talking away. The walls are not sound proof, so you can hear clearly what the others are talking about. The rooms are first come first serve, which means you will have to get lucky if you want a room, as early as 9am on midterm/​finals week. There are tons of computers and tables. I think this place is an amazing resource honestly, if the students here would use it respectably! I think its a promising study area, great location on campus, hours, but students just don’t use this place the way its meant to.
What a shame really. I could probably study better in the middle of Aldrich Park than the Gateway center.

Wait, people actually study here?
In theory, this place is a study center. It has everything that a college student might need– desks, tables, study rooms, computers, internet access, etc.
The reality is that no one studies here. Why? For whatever reason, students treat it like a lounge. I know because I was one of them. I hardly ever saw anyone use the computers to search school-​related material. People would congregate at the tables with their books out, but would proceed to spend the next 2 hours chatting about Greek life. It was also really hard to get a study room since they were limited in number. Kind of like getting a table at a club?
This place was also a total mess around finals time. It was open ²⁴⁄₇ so people would literally camp out here. Trash would pile up, the room would smell like an assortment of junk food, and you might even see someone sleeping on the floor. Fun times I guess?
Don’t get me wrong, I have quite a few fun memories from Gateway. They just don’t have anything to do with school.

Can get crowded but otherwise it’s a pretty useful study area. Hard to find a private space but as a visitor to UCI I’m not complaining.

Not a completely quite place to study, but its a good place to go if you’d prefer your friends with you for late nights until 3am.
I like how lively it is.

This is one of the three study centers on campus. (Langson, Science, and Gateway). Honestly, this is a pretty dirty place. I don’t like Gateway all that much and the environment there is not meant for studying. Maybe I’m biased, but I like science and Langson much much better.
Outlets are hard to find so it’s kind of hard to plug in your laptop. The place is dirty. It’s loud. I like that they have a lot of study rooms, but I think you should head over to Langson or even walk across campus toward the science library to get yo studyin’ on.
Oh, and it’s always packed. –_​_​–

I love studying here. It’s spacious and it’s modern. There are plenty of computers to use. They don’t overcrowd the space and make you feel claustrophobic. I hate studying at places where I can literally feel the guy next to me breathing on my neck because he’s so close. Ugh. too close for comfort. But I digress…
I dislike the staff that just sits there on facebook and doesn’t regulate on the noise level. DO YOUR JOB!
They also need to get more outlets, and the ones they have need to be repaired! I mean, students are paying thousands, the least you can do is give them working outlets.

Gateway has so many computers and they also have study rooms that students can come by and do their projects in.
However it is not as quiet as langston and science library. so you can come here if you wanna chatter a bit. and also you cant make reservations on the study rooms here like you do with the courtyard studyrooms.
overall, it’s a really nice place the study :)
random fact: one time i had a gap and i came into gateway to play starcraft 2 and league of legends :) lmao

This was the Last place on my choice of study locations at UCI. Although it looks and feels a lot better than the old Gateway, it’s still filled with a cold feeling. If you’re fine with studying in an environment with a horde of students around you, then you’ll like Gateway.
Computers are never opened or available here either, once again there’s just way too many people studying here.
Another thing, that walking area where you walk through when you get out of Gateway and Langson – it is the worst way to feel relief from studying. You think you’re coming outside for fresh air but you’re bombarded with students smoking and puffing non stop.

Gateway was my third favorite place to study on campus, behind Courtyard Study Lounge at the Student Center and Starbucks. This place looks so much nicer now than it did my freshman year… it used to just be dirty tile floors, almost no desks that had outlets, older computers with the old box-​like monitors, no study rooms, uncomfortable chairs, and dirty bathrooms.
The bathrooms are still always dirty, but just about everything else has improved here. The computers all have nice flat-​screen monitors and they all run pretty quickly, there’s more desks with outlets in them, they have a very large area with study rooms, they have some lounge chairs/​comfy chars to sit on, and it’s fully carpeted! I’m glad that UCI decided to invest in upgrading this place despite all the budget cuts — it certainly gets pretty good use by students.
The only thing I’m not a fan of are the overhead lights in here — the ceilings are high and the lights are flourescent and not so bright and give off a very faint buzzing noise, so this place can be pretty conducive to sleepiness late at night.
Don’t be too startled by UCI’s resident homeless lady that comes in here! Sometimes she’ll burst out laughing at something on the computer and give the people sitting near her quite a scare.

This is a good place to study.
They have accommodations to fit all study parties (tables, cubicles, or even a separate room if you need to be a little louder). There aren’t too many outlet plugs though, so I would definitely bring an extension cord if it’s finals week.
The bad thing about places like Gateway is that I feel like TOO many people go here. As in, your friends do, and that’s especially bad if you are trying to study because you end up socializing anyway. I prefer going into one of those conference rooms instead so that I’m not people watching.
The renovation brought their cleanliness up to a 3, but they should have fixed up the bathroom, too.

This place is AWESOME, late hours, great lighting, choice of seating: long tables or individual cubbies. FREE internet, whether or not you’re a UCI student (at UCLA you can’t even log in without a UCLA ID). I’m not even a UCI student, I just come here to study. You can get away with eating in here and there’s a starbucks just around the corner on campus, or you can walk across the bridge to access all the food at UCI Marketplace within 10 min, or even take a study break by walking to adjacent Aldrich Park.
Things to note:
1. It’s FREEZING in here, bring appropriate clothing
2. Beware of Parking at UCI Marketplace and walking across the bridge to get here, many friends have been towed and have had to pay up the $$$$$$. My recommendation: ride your bike here, walk here, get dropped off, or shell out the cash to buy a UCI parking pass

not really a study center… this place should be called CLUB Gateway… in the future, this place will be the ON CAMPUS lounge location.
UNTIL THEN! ^-^

I study here a lot too just to kill time in between classes as well. There is a lot of computers if you need to use one, and there is also a lot of study tables you can choose from. Heres the downside, most’y everytime I go is when its packed and its hard to find a spot to sit so you gotta come early or have a quick eye. I usually just find my friends and sit with them. This is a good place to study til late at night cause it’s usually the only place on campus thats actually open late.(UCI really needs a place thats open 24 hours btw). There are NOT a lot of plugs in the wall especially for the long tables, so lets hope you have a Macbook or your laptop has a very good battery life. Just sayin’. It is hard for me to focus here only because I see a lot of people I know here but other than that its a great place to attempt to study, or socialize, whichever you prefer.

Great for having a place to study late into the night. Like 3am during the week and during finals week its 24 hours. Woo-​hoo!
There are plugs in the walls, but not too many so it would be wise to bring an extension cord to plug into the wall and share the electricity for many laptops. There are individual tables and tables for groups and even study rooms now (13 of them).
The cleanliness of this place… is not very. People, or students, leave trash around and when the weather starts getting hot, sometimes the AC does not work, leaving the center stuffy.
They have a lot of computers for students to use (90). You need a UCInet ID to log into the computers, aka you need to be a UCI student. There are also printers available that you can use for a small fee, or $.12 per page, with the use of a library copy card.
The bathroom is downstairs, or there is one on the main floor.
This location is close to food places so you can easily go grab food!