The University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Date: Jun 16 2011
Major: Urban Planning (This Major's Salary over time)
I only was at U of MN for a semester, and sometimes I wonder why I left. I think for the most part timing was bad and I wasn't ready to move on from high school (I have moved before and didn't feel ready to so soon).

The students overall are very friendly on the surface, there is school spirit, and most people you don't even know are approachable and will respond if talked to. But many of them were hard to relate to since they went to large suburban high schools and their parents paid for everything (mine would too if they were able to). It's hard to find motivation when everyone else isn't as worried about grades since they aren't paying their own tuition. I was probably in an easy major (Environmental Design) so I didn't have to deal with the mess that is Physics and Calc that all my CSE friends had (non english speaking profs, full classes always). Also there can be one shooting and soon everyone is paranoid and calls West Bank and University "the hood". Having lived in Michigan (been to Detroit many times) and Ohio, I never felt unsafe at any time (there are still your typical homeless beggars here and there, but Minneapolis has to be one of the safest USA metro areas). So it was hard for me to picture what it was like for small town and suburban kids to have their first big city experience because I wasn't as surpirsed/scared by anything that happened.

Once it snowed to much for biking, walking got really old. Busses are not reliable, and you will need waterproof boots. I spent 2.5 hours a day walking to class, and other bikers are stupid and give the responsible ones bad names by running into people. The bike trails that run around Minneapolis were my favorite part but that ended soon when winter came and I had to go to the always busy rec center. The facilities are nice but seem to not be able to handle the large capacity of students. Also, Washington Ave. gets in the way of everything, you always have to cross it to get anywhere.

My professors made every realistic effort to accomodate student schedules with their office hours, to learn students names, and loved sharing what they knew. I worked really hard but I felt I got the grades I worked for (while listening to everyone else wuss out and whine about how hard their classes were even though they didn't start homework until 2 am).

I hated dorm life but I know I'm in the minority for that one. I love being around people all day but at night I need to just be alone. Side note: It was easy to be involved with music ensembles as a non music major, but I was only in the basic programs (U Band) Lots of smart profs in the school of music.

Minneapolis is awesome! But I hate cold weather (and by cold I mean less than 70 degrees) so that got to me really bad. I hate climate there but the city is still awesome.

There is an overall sense of entitlement. Tuition is ridiculous and you only get scholarships for being a certain race or being disabled, not much is given to lower income students. Your tuition pays for things you either don't use or could responsibly buy on your own (dvd rentals, free condoms, etc) so yeah the school spends your money to let other people mooch, but complains about state budget cuts on the website's homepage. Too much liberal brainwashing and everyone is afraid to have an opinion because the Minnesota (fake) Nice makes everyone feel guilty for not accepting every new idea. It forces people to believe that agreeing with liberal ideas makes them more educated. (this happens more than just here though)

Overall I often wish I would have stayed but I really was looking for a smaller atmosphere that I could be more involved with instead of wasting half my time walking and being charged a fee for everything you could imagine.