The University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Date: Feb 17 2014
Major: Psychology (This Major's Salary over time)
I received my BA in Psychology back in the '80s, so I won't comment about specifics since they are likely to be out of date anyway. I had some outstanding professors (my Shakespeare prof) and some real duds (my Art History prof).

U of M, Twin Cities is a big campus. It functions more like three campuses: two that bookend the Mississippi River and one way over in St Paul, available by shuttle bus. Each campus caters to different majors, so one will become your "home base."

Pick this school if you are self-motivated, assertive (academically and socially), and clear in what you want to do with your life. The advantage of this school is it's size: it can cater to the needs of someone who wants a more customized education or has an unusual major. You also have lots of classes to choose from. If you don't like a particular professor, chances are that someone else also teaches the class. My first economics TA was a dud, so I dropped it and took the class with a different prof who was fantastic.

The downside to UMTC is it's size. You will be just a number in the system. I don't think I saw the same student twice in my major classes. It can be hard to make friends from just your classes. Join organizations to bump up your social life. Another downside is the bureaucracy. You will have good opportunity to learn how to get what you need and want from a large, impersonal system. That can be a useful skill in life; but go in with eyes wide open. As a former military brat, I did not find the bureaucracy daunting, just an annoying part of life. You also will be in large classes with hundreds of others, in your lower division classes (freshman & sophomore years). But the classes were smaller and more personal in the upper division courses.

A word about the weather?it is cold in Minnesota, really cold! And it snows a lot! Many of the buildings are connected by underground tunnels but you still have to go outside at some point. The last year I was there, there were three blizzards in a row over three weeks in January with wind chill in the -40 to -90 range. The natives were running around commenting on how things had gotten back to normal after the "abnormally warm" winters of the previous few years.

The Twin Cities are like any big city with many cultural, social, entertainment opportunities. For people from New York, it may seem provincial by comparison, but there is quite a bit to do and see, although it's not as sophisticated as, say, Chicago.