The University of Washington - Seattle

Date: May 22 2008
Major: Language - French/Spanish/etc. (This Major's Salary over time)
All in all, I have nothing but fantastic things to say about the University of Washington. I came to UW after spending a year and a half at at number one "dream school" in the country- NYU. While I loved NYU initially, I was truthfully miserable my sophomore year, found the academics to be highly overrated, overpriced, the city to be stressful, and the students cold and mostly pretentious or just weird. I have now spent a year at UW (I grew up here) and I absolutely love it.

While some complain about the giant lecture halls and TAs, it is important to remember this is mostly for introductory courses. I entered UW as a junior, and have completely avoided any super-sized lectures. I find my classes to be extremely challenging (much more so than NYU) and in the best way possible. I love my majors, Latin American Studies within the Jackson School for International Studies and Spanish, and have found my diverse array of professors to be mostly brilliant. While some classes are large and teachers must rely on graders to help with papers, professors are very accessible here. No matter what your major is here, there is a department for you (although you may have to work rather hard to be accepted into it).

Making friends here has been incredibly easy- people are fun, outgoing, kind, and helpful. Not to mention, campus here is BEAUTIFUL, especially after coming from the dreadful and dreary NYU cement prison.

My only complaints would be the massive and extensive greek system, which living in my present house in the midst of is kind of annoying. Popular to contrary belief however, you do NOT need to be in the greek system to have a social life. There is a large, much better :) community of students who have plenty to do on any given night outside a frat.

Depending in your department, advising can be rather unhelpful- there are often many many students per one advisor, so they will not hold your hand in helping you make academic decisions. That being said, being at UW is great for building independence. Also, if you are someon interested in study abroad- this a wonderful place for it. There are programs, and good programs, ALL over the world as well as an extensive internship program in countless countries throughout the world. If you are willing to search for them, the opportunities are endless at UW.

Again- I can't stress enough how happy I am here and how much I love it!! It is the perfect college experience, I am full of husky pride, and like any college experience it just takes some time to get used to it!