<p>@920810 I think if you keep anything within reason, every college campus is prob pretty “liberal” in that sense (EDIT: might want to exclude campuses in the bible belt). We do have various crazies exercising free speech and anti-abortion, pro democratic Iran, etc etc exhibitions every so often, so it’d be hard to visualize gays being discriminated against. It’s also a massive campus so even if you’re a gay african american dwarf libertarian, there’s probably at least 2 of you around.</p>
<p>How is the CS Undergrad program there??Ans is it supposed to be better than ASU??</p>
<p>Aaaaagh… I’m panicking. UA JUST received my transcript which means I won’t hear back until early april. What are my chances of getting housing at all? I really don’t want to have to find somewhere to live off campus.</p>
<p>Also, I submitted the FAFSA a day late, on March 2nd (most CA schools have it due on the 2nd and I thought UA would be the same). Is this gonna affect whether or not I get that scholarship? If i meet the requirements on their scholarship website, doesn’t that guarantee I get the money, or does the fact that the FAFSA was late screw me over?</p>
<p>Hi , I am an international student admitted to UoA for fall term 2011 … I still havnt received my admission package and I am worried that i wont be able to get the hall i want … even now it says 70% of the housing is full… what are my chances of getting the hall i want ? I am really interested in sky view apartments bcuz they look spacey and better than most of the dorms (IMO) … are the sky view apartments favored by the UA students ?? .</p>
<p>So far as I know, I don’t think Sky View is popular because it’s pretty much off campus. In other words, you’re paying a lot for something that would otherwise cost half as much if it weren’t being offered by the UA.</p>
<p>UAKid, can you answer my thread about provost academy? Thanks =]</p>
<p>I am thinking of majoring in either chem engineering or material science , do you know anything about those departments ? I am in a dilemma bcuz I got into a small LAC school with scholarships which makes the school’s fees about $10,000 less than my UA (out of state) fees. I will have small classes if I go there but the problem is the LAC doesnt have engineering so I’ll have to major in physics/chem and then engineering in M.S or sth … As a current engineering student at UA , do u think ditching the LAC and choosing UA instead is worth it ? how about the academic reputation , class sizes , job opportunities and other benefits I will have at UA ? </p>
<p>Thanks! ^^</p>
<p>I’m guessing LAC means liberal arts college and isn’t something like louisiana art center. Yes, I wouldn’t go to a school that doesn’t have an engineering program if that’s what I want to do. A BS in physics and chem will not get you a job in engineering, so you’ll be forced to get a masters which might not be what you want to do after you get your BS. Start with your BS and you’ll see how much you want to be done by your junior year.</p>
<p>Furthermore, employers are far more likely to recruit at “neighborhood” schools with an actual engineering program…in an analogy, you don’t go looking for dogs in a litter box.</p>
<p>Reputation…decent…middle of the roads…not ivy, not garbage
Class sizes…lower level / gen eds = huge huge huge (200+ people). mid level (for EE) = 50 people. upper level (senior level) = 10-20 people.
Job Opportunities…plenty in my major…well not guaranteed, but lots.</p>
<p>thanks UAKid! it helps alot =) and by LAC i mean liberal arts college …
one last question though … is paying OOS tuition for UA is worth it ? or at least in your opinion ? I saw a lot of reviews and comments on how UA is not worth OOS tuition and all …
Thanks again! ^^</p>
<p>Full OOS rate, no I don’t think it’s worth it. I might be a bit old fashioned and still think everything should be cheaper than it is nowadays, but $20k a year for a state school that’s relatively average ranked would be a turn off for me. Oh and tuition across the board is going up a ton next semester…which makes it even less worth it. “The economy is good, there’s inflation…raise tuition”. “The economy is bad, there’s less tax revenue…raise tuition and add a temporary surcharge that we’ll make permanent next year”.</p>
<p>Unless you get some sort of scholarship then I’d aim for a state school in your own state, unless you live in north dakota (/middle of no where), in which case coming to UA might still be worth it. I’m actually wishing a bit now that I went to ASU (OOS) instead since every EE job is up there (just got done applying to 8 places and 6 were Phoenix, 2 were California).</p>
<p>do you know any architecture students in the honors college? i took a tour of the arch studio a couple days ago, and the lady made it seem like it’s pretty impossible to be in both. should i just drop out of honors now? also, if i drop out of honors during the school year, do i still get to stay in the honors dorm?</p>
<p>I seriously doubt they’d evict you just because you dropped out. IMO the honors college is not worth the $500 fee. The only reason to join it would be to write an honors thesis for graduate school. I have a feeling, though, that an honors thesis won’t help you much for architecture grad school (unless you switch your major).</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply UAkid and goodluck with ur jobs!^^</p>
<p>@toohopeful Honors is really not hard. Because of AP credit + engineering / senior design project, I’ve only had to take 4 honors classes to finish it up, and only 2 of those were actual classes (which I had to take for major anyways and I just did the H section). The other 6 credits I did via independent study / research with a professor. </p>
<p>So yeah anyone telling you it’s impossible to do honors + something else is lying. In my exp. honors classes if anything are easier than the regular ones because profs don’t waste your time as much and give you more benefit of doubt.</p>
<p>@UAKid: You don’t just “happen” to become a National Merit/Hispanic/Achievement Scholar. Sure, you’re first put in the running based on your PSAT scores, but to become a finalist, there’s a very thorough application, just as any scholarship (if not more thorough). They look at your grades, your SAT/ACT scores, teacher evaluations, and even the difficulty of the classes you take. So sure, it might not be fair that someone with all the qualifications except a Finalist doesn’t get as much money, but that doesn’t mean that the Finalists didn’t also work their butts off in HS and somehow, in the committee’s eyes, deserve to be a Finalist.</p>
<p>Way off topic alert:</p>
<p>I argue that the PSAT shouldn’t be used for any sort of award consideration. It’s a Preliminary version of a silly and easily gamed test that encourages cramming and concentration camp study sessions from hover-parents that serves to indicate as much about intelligence or success in college as reading tea leaves. Ironically all the techniques needed to ace the SAT are the exact opposite of what works in college for upper level classes. </p>
<p>With all that said I should have probably learned a bit more about the significance of the PSAT, but how many 9th/10th graders are thinking about college already and realize “this test gets you a ****-ton of money”? Alfred, warm up the time machine for me.</p>
<p>I think that’s kind of a good thing. Because not very many HS juniors (only 11th grade qualifies you) are seriously thinking about college in the fall, less people “study” for the PSAT and only use it as a guide of what they should work on before the SAT. So the PSAT scores are less influenced by studying, etc., and give a more “accurate” view of scores.</p>
<p>I do agree with you that a lot of weight is put on one test, and I’d probably be way more bitter if I wasn’t getting the scholarship in question. But that’s the way it is. And it is a great opportunity.</p>
<p>If this stays off topic any longer, we should make a new thread. Still, I couldn’t help but chime in to the National Merit discussion.
I am a National Merit finalist and agree completely with UAKid. The PSAT is a standardized test and no true measure of intelligence. I know that I got the scholarship because I already had experience with standardized testing. If I had not taken the test previously and had not spent several hours studying before my junior year PSAT (this was the perfectionist in me; I had no idea about National Merit), I would not have scored so well. Realizing what I know now, I recommend to all younger students who have the potential to score in the top 10% to study and practice; the chance of getting in the top 1% is too great to pass up. @kaitm7, if anything, the fact that most people don’t know to prepare for this test only makes it more weighted towards those who do. Most people’s PSAT scores aren’t influenced by studying, but then most people don’t get National Merit, either. Those with the highest scores are either quite smart (the goal of NMSC) or very well prepared (that’s me).
At the same time, I do see the value of National Merit. The use of one single qualifier allows the scholarship to include people that are smart but don’t fill in all the boxes. Also, the guaranteed scholarships draw attention to schools that these students would not have thought to apply to, such as UA for me. And, if the National Merit finalists are smart (not like me), they can see this guarantee as an opportunity not to stress about the college application process and focus on the things that are more important to them.
So I like National Merit, somewhat. (Actually, I love it, but that’s a personal, selfish thing.) In my opinion, the competition would be better if it was a little more objective. I would rather that the top 5% became semifinalists, and the application review be more intensive. There is no reason that of the 16,000 students who become semifinalists based on scores alone, 15,000 should be offered a full ride to the University of Arizona. Could I have passed a more thorough review? I think so, I checked the boxes (and not just for the boxes’ sake, although I might have skipped NHS without it). But with more of a selection process, I would know that I did not get the scholarship purely based on luck.
Is National Merit fair? No. But what is? An A in my AP World History class is not the same as an A on yours, valedictorian at your school might be 12th in the class at mine, someone can be very smart but not have essay writing as a forte, and a student without the insanely well-rounded profile UAKid previously mentioned (4.9 in high school, 2400 on your SAT, valedictorian, class president, a million hours of community service) probably thought about how it would look on college applications and may be no more intelligent or motivated than the kid who happened to ace the PSAT.
I know that I, for one, am very grateful for the opportunities that National Merit has given me.</p>
<p>@maybe23: You managed to say exactly what I was completely bungling. Bad day yesterday.</p>
<p>Back on topic: In general, how difficult is it to get the classes you want? </p>
<p>Also: Anyone know anything about either of the orchestras (besides what is listed on their web pages)? I’m not going to be a music major or anything, but I would like to continue the violin in college. I looked at the audition materials and they don’t seem to hard. Are they good? Bad? Competitive?</p>
<p>No idea about orchestra. Getting freshman classes isn’t as horrific as it once was. It used to be their system could only handle 50 people at a time registering…when 2000+ people were trying. Literally spend 4 hours hitting refresh and getting page timeouts just to see the class I wanted fill up. Now I think they replaced that system with a modern one.</p>
<p>Fortunately though at a univ this large there’s usually a thousand different low level classes with a thousand sections to fulfill a gen ed requirement. You might not get the subject you want, but who really cares whether it’s “The Religions of Love” (something like that I don’t remember anything about the class even though I aced it) or “Nation of Islam”. For ex. there’s also a million english classes because they know everyone needs engl 101.</p>
<p>First semester does suck though if you’re an incoming freshman. I registered for my classes as a senior a month ago, and current freshman finished a couple weeks ago. Incoming freshman get stuck with a lot of the leftovers so you’ll end up with a squirly schedule and 6-9 PM chem labs. They supposedly reserve some low level stuff for incoming freshman but I don’t remember at this point.</p>
<p>My advice…save as many gen eds for junior / senior year as possible.</p>