StudentsReview :: The University of Minnesota Twin Cities - Extra Detail about the Comment
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The University of Minnesota Twin Cities

How this student rated the school
Educational QualityC+ Faculty AccessibilityA+
Useful SchoolworkA- Excess CompetitionA
Academic SuccessC- Creativity/ InnovationB-
Individual ValueB University Resource UseA
Campus Aesthetics/ BeautyB FriendlinessA+
Campus MaintenanceA- Social LifeC-
Surrounding CityD+ Extra CurricularsC-
SafetyA+
Describes the student body as:
Friendly, Arrogant, Closeminded

Describes the faculty as:
Friendly, Helpful

Male
ACT:34
id='quarter' class='snapshot' style='color: #970016; line-height:80px';float:left;
SAT2110
Quite Bright
Lowest Rating
Surrounding City
D+
Highest Rating
Faculty Accessibility
A+
He cares more about Surrounding City than the average student.
Date: Aug 26 2012
Major: Chemical Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
I hate this place. I'm in the honors program and I feel like I'm the only one here who doesn't look down upon those who aren't in Honors. By that I mean I have to hear honors students complain about the "stupid people." All the in-state students here mostly hang out with their high school friends, which isn't to say that they don't have college friends, but more that they never let those two worlds mix. I came here with NO friends and found it difficult to make in-state friends. State pride is a huge deal here, and as an out-of-state student I have to hear about it all the time. In-staters consistently ask me to compare how good Minnesota is compared to the other places I've lived, which I didn't experience when I moved to Texas in middle school (for context I'm originally from the Phoenix area). In fact, the famous Texas pride is nothing compared to how in-your-face Minnesotan pride is. In Texas people just talked about Texas every now and then. In Minnesota people are always telling me how much better Minnesota is than Arizona/Texas. Also, whenever people introduce me, they tell me name and that I'm from Phoenix, because they still sort of see me as an outsider. This is way different than what I experienced in Arizona or Texas, where you could go months without actually knowing where someone is from. Where your from is a huge thing here, down to the city.

A good amount of white students here are pretty racist. As a white person you may only see it once or twice in your time here (it really depends on who you know), but for minority students I'm not ENTIRELY sure if I would recommend attending unless there's no better option. It's a decently diverse campus, and racism isn't really HORRIBLE here, but I know it's better at other places. For example, I once walked with another student by a couple of black people and he honestly turned to me a couple seconds later and asked

dude, how scary was that?
which shocked me. It's not really overt, but it's there.

Academically I feel the school is above average. In terms of test prep I've had many professors who will give out sample exams and then say

most of this will not be on the exam though,
but homework and quizzes are decent prep. It could be better, but it could be a LOT worse. Every time I go into office hours professors are INCREDIBLY friendly and if you finish your discussion and nobody else is there, they ALWAYS ask about you, where you're from, how's life, etc. Very nice people.

I ranked the surrounding city a D+, but that's dependent on where you're from. If you're from a small town or Midwestern suburb, you'll probably find it amazing. If (like me) you spent time growing up in inner city areas, you may find it a bit more boring. I grew up on plenty of delicious Tex-Mex and later barbecue on every corner, and while Minneapolis and St Paul have some great 5-star restaurants downtown, there's not much to eat besides Chipotle, Jimmy Johns, a few (good!) campus restaurants, and many (also good!) Chinese/Korean/Vietnamese dives. It has a good culinary scene for the midwest, I'll say that. All nightlife is centered around Downtown, which is within view of campus but still a ways away. Uptown is nice, but even further. There are some nice little indie stores, which is cool. Most everyone here is obsessed with the Mall of America, which is like any other mall but really big and, in my opinion, tacky. There isn't really any "money" areas in the city (I've heard it's like an hour or so outside in the suburbs), which wasn't too good for me because I used to like to take strolls through mansion-lined streets and see how the other half lived. Honestly the city is fairly homogenous though, culturally and ethnically, with a few slight exceptions. If you sound anything like me, you'll grow bored with it, but if this sounds like the place for you, go for it.

My advice is that if you're from around here, have any sort of connection here, or there is no better place to go, you'll be fine here. If you're not from around here and got into a school that's about the same or better, I would go there.

Responses
responseIf you want to walk through a neighborhood filled with old mansions, check out the Kenwood neighborhood over by Uptown or Summit Ave over in St. Paul. Though they aren't exactly mansions, I used to enjoy biking and running through the St. Anthony Park neighborhood next to the St. Paul campus of the U of M. It's a quiet neighborhood on a hill with lots of neat houses with modernist architecture.
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