The University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Date: Nov 28 2005
Major: Journalism (This Major's Salary over time)
My department was a bright spot in an otherwise faceless, unpleasant university. I dislike the U of M intensely. The weather is horrible… they raised tuition by double digits every semester I was there, so I ended up in serious debt despite having saved up enough in advance to cover my education… the students are bland beer-swilling midwesterners with sweatpants and no interest in the world outside Minnesota. The University seem to be using the obscene amounts of tuition money to build new edifices, and fund the sports teams. I'd resent that less if I cared remotely about sports. The faculty is good, but the university is so huge that it is difficult to accomplish anything easily - paperwork and everything else is a real nosebleed, and it's difficult to get around or figure out who to ask if you have a question. I have three academic advisors for different things, and they don't communicate with each other for anything at all. Parking costs a ton, student medical insurance (required) costs a ton, and there is no affordable housing whatsoever. Nonetheless, the Journalism department is very nice. Most of the teachers in that department are dedicated and helpful, and focused on offering a valuable and applicable learning experience. The U has funneled some money into the Journalism department, so the equipment is pretty good, even if the facilities are inadequate. Still, if I had it to do over again, I'd have gone to the University of Missouri. They have better resources for journalism, and their program is one of the best in the country. If you go there, you get to skip the first two years of crummy grunt-work in a minimum-wage small-market job. Having gone to the U, I'm stuck paying off enormous student loans with an extremely unpleasant $8.00 an hour journalism job for two years. It could be worse, though. My husband paid $60,000.00 in student loans for his graphic design degree at the U of M, and he can't even find a job in his field. At least I found something in my field, even if it does suck. Bitter? Me? Naw…