The University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Date: Dec 07 2010
Major: Architecture (This Major's Salary over time)
This school is basically a large city within two larger cities. The three campuses provide for an active, adventurous day. This is especially true during freshman year hopping from campus to campus going to random lib-ed classes. The one thing about the U of M is that is completely what you make of it. As a junior, I have been in three of the colleges (CFANS, CLA, and CDes), and will graduate from the College of Design with a Housing Studies major.

Here are a variety of things that come to mind about the U:

It is a huge school, over 52,000 students this year.

Pretty much every kind of person you could possibly imagine go to this school. Its a great place to express yourself, the majority of the people at this school are extremely open-minded (it's in bad taste not to be).

Its a very, very liberal school. Just pick up the daily newspaper on any given day and you'll see what I mean.

There are a lot of gays. My roommate is gay, and there hasn't been a single person to express any sort of discomfort towards him. Everyone is very open and welcoming, even the staff.

The school is actually fairly divided by there colleges. After your first couple years at the U, you could probably look at somebody and guess what college they're in 7 times out of 10. This is especially true on the St. Paul campus (home to the College of Design and the College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences. (Oh, and half of the College of Biological Sciences). It's pretty easy to spot the design kids.

Yeah, it's true, CLA is a real pain in the ass. I was in CLA for one semester and got the heck out of there. Besides cycling through like three advisors who weren't ever of much help, the sheer size of the college and departments are extremely overwhelming.

I love the College of Design (I'm currently in it), but its small size leaves it somewhat neglected in the shadow of the U's more prestigious colleges (CSOM, CBS, IT). The College of Design (excluding architecture) is located in what is essentially a clusterF of 4 conjoined buildings over on the St. Paul campus. Once getting to know the school a little, it is fairly evident that the College of Design should be on the West Bank.

The West Bank, although probably the size of a regular college/univ., is considered to be small. The cohesive and systematic system of tunnels and skyways that connect pretty much the entire West Bank are amazing in the winter. It's pretty funny how on winter days the only people outside are CLA students smoking cigarettes. My classroom in Blegan Hall has the most gorgeous skyline view of downtown Minneapolis.

Yes, Carlson School of Management students are pricks.

70% of people living in the dorms are freshman. When I lived in the dorms I only met two sophomores that lived there, and I met a lot of people.

Live on the Superblock. Nothing better than getting rid of the parents and moving to a residential block with 2,500 freshman living on it.

Be careful. The U keeps their campus very safe, but you have to always keep in mind that you are indeed in the center of a large metro area. I remember some kid got shot outside of Centennial Hall, which the building next to where I lived. Just be careful, if you're not stupid you'll be just fine.

There are a lot of Asians (like, from Asia), thousands of them actually, and almost all of them are very smart and very good students. I am not trying to be discriminatory at all here, but if you get stuck in a class with an Asian majority, drop it. You won't make the curve.

There are so many ways to get involved that it will literally blow your mind. Anyone who says this school is boring is obviously not trying. Yes, I understand that the large population at this school makes it hard for some to make friends, but the U has to be the best school as far as finding a niche goes. There is a student group for nearly every interest you could have ( I was in the People Watching Group).

If you can't for some reason find anything to do on campus, don't even get me started on the things Minneapolis has to offer outside the University, the list is endless.

Great internship opportunities. My sister just graduated from the Journalism School in CLA with 5 internships under her belt. Most of the were paid.

I don't have a car, and don't want one. You can get around the entire city as well as anywhere on campus just fine. A car is definitely a hassle to have on campus, the Minneapolis campus is so dense that they barely have enough room for streets let alone parking.

Class size is dependent on the department. Intro Psychology classes are held in a 710 person lecture hall (although taught in amazing way with multiple professors).

My biggest issue with CLA was those notorious TA's conducting the courses. Some are good, but many are god awful. Not strict graders, but if you want to take something away from the class, forget it.

There are 23 libraries on campus. The Walter Library is probably the most beautiful university library I have ever seen with my own eyes.

CEHD is kind of a joke. People tend to poke fun at you if you are in CEHD.

The U is getting harder and harder to get into. CFANS use to be the backdoor into the U of M, but now restrictions are starting to get tighter (several of my friends didn't get in).—Because of this, though, the majority of people on campus have a somewhat above average intelligence level over the general public.

The sorority girls are ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

The every neighborhood surrounding east bank is completely full of students for at least two miles in every direction.

Very few students live on the West Bank, its pretty hood over there at night.

The U claims to be tight on cash but continually drops millions and millions of dollars (literally) on new facilities. The campus is constantly changing and improving, in 2014, there is going to be a light rail running down one of the main drags of campus.

It usually takes forever to get to class, even if you live on campus, but you get use to it. It takes me 50 minutes to get to class in St. Paul every morning from my off campus apartment. Small price to pay for living in such an awesome city.

Yes, there will be days where you go about your daily routine on campus and not see a familiar face outside of classes. This is one of my favorite parts, though. Coming from an extremely small high school, its nice to see that there is literally no gossip outside of your core friends group, unless you make the newspaper or something.

The coursework is very demanding. The U hates grade inflation, and I don't know anybody that has over a 3.7. I have a 3.5 and that generates many 'wow's when people ask what my GPA is.

Don't major in Biology or anything in CBS unless you're obsessed with biology and want to go to med school. It's extremely hard and the average ACT score of the current freshman class is 32.

If you're pursuing engineering, best luck to you. Several engineering programs here are among the top ten in the nation, and the College of Science and Engineering (everyone still calls it IT) tends to weed out those who aren't really smart in the first two years.

If you're going to be in CLA like the majority of undergrads at the U, be prepared to take 4 semesters of a foreign language. We have over 30 languages to choose from.

Most summer classes are extremely challenging. I took the accelerated intro to Russian course and had to drop it because it required 4-6 hours of homework every night, and that wasn't my only class.

We have an excellent art department and facility, but the instructors don't seem to care much for non art majors taking electives.

Middlebrook Hall, on the West Bank, is full of ridiculous people and everyone knows it.

If you're from out of state, I hope you come prepared for the winter. Minneapolis often has colder average temps than Anchorage Alaska. Snow in October and April is to be expected.

Why do we get beat by Duluth in hockey? Because you can't get into this school with a 19 ACT.

Don't get angry when your professor tells you that god isn't real.

You honestly see something absolutely ridiculous every single day. After a day of being out and about on campus and in the city for work, I always have a good story to tell my roommates when I get home.

The U is really unlike any other school. Starting out as a freshman, you're sure to hit a rough patch somewhere along the way, but the fast-paced life at the U is addicting and eventually makes everything smaller seem boring. Although the school is huge, the U of M is still a world-renowned university that produced several nobel prize winners and two vice presidents. If you're serious about school, willing to make new friends, and looking for a fast urban lifestyle, the U . I would cry myself to sleep every night if I went anywhere else.