Univ of Arizona:
UP.
Went on campus tour and an honors college info session & tour yesterday w/D24. Our only other college tour so far as been ASU this past summer. Here are some general thoughts and highlights:
- DD said she could see herself going here.
- liked that campus was more compact than ASU. Not so spread out distance wise.
- also preferred how there’s 1 campus instead of 4.
- tour guide also walked at a normal pace instead of the “almost run” pace that our ASU tour guide had. Lol.
- it rained a bit at one point during the campus tour and a staff member came around on a golf cart offering free ponchos for everybody. That was kind of nice.
- liked how a lot of the lecture halls/classroom buildings, etc were centralized around the main mall.
- got to go inside a dorm room. DD liked it. Dorm room was bigger than mine when I was a freshman elsewhere many moons ago.
- tour guide said that the Highland dorms are the most desirable and go first, so be sure to put in your $150 non-refundable housing deposit as soon as possible if you want first pick on your dorm in May when they open up housing selection to incoming freshmen.
- campus has something like 7 (maybe she said 5?) different libraries on campus. Top floor of main library is a silent floor. Handy if you need to study in total silence.
- got a hand out re: in state auto merit tuition awards, which remain NOT based on test scores. Only based on non weighted GPA through end of 11th grade.
- tour guide was friendly, knowledgeable, thought she did a good job. She was a physiology major and had 4 minors. I asked her what her largest class has been so far. She said 1st semester Chem lecture (about 300 students).
- freshman English and math classes are all about 30 students per class.
- all freshman have to take a 1 unit “UNIV 101” class their first semester. Honors students take an honors version of this.
- finally learned why UofA people say “bear down.” Never understood that the whole time we lived in Tucson.
Honors College:
- about 40% of honors college students come from diverse backgrounds. Thought that was pretty great. This was a big plus for DD.
- admissions counselor mentioned that the univ is a Hispanic serving institution. This bothered one of the…interesting and entertaining…parents on that tour/info session. We consider it a plus. Lived in Tucson for several years.
- there are honors-only study abroad opportunities and scholarships you can apply for to help pay for it. All apps for that are on the university’s Scholarship Universe website.
- honors village dorm is more expensive than reg dorms but it’s not by much.
- honors college fee is way lower than ASU’s
- just under 4000 honors students at UofA. ASU has about 7000-8000 (can’t remember total for sure).
- Honors college students enroll in classes at same time seniors do. Honors college seniors end up enrolling at same time athletes do. Non-honors students often have to have a plan B or C for their course enrollments in order to get the classes they need.
- honors college looks for students who are going to be engaged. So if you just want to show up to class and not participate in discussions, think twice.
- honors app requires just 1 letter of rec, 500 word personal statement, and an activities list.
- admissions counselor said that they can tell whether you purposely took easy classes in order to get a 4.0 and there are times when they will select somebody else with a lower unweighted GPA because that person took harder classes. Also said that they are very knowledgeable about different high schools all over the place and which ones have more rigorous curriculum options than others. What all of that boils down to is that if your HS offered a bunch of honors and AP classes yet you took none, that will not be looked on favorably.
- honors college has the only in-dorm dining hall on campus. Similar to ASU’s, it’s right on the 1st floor.
- lots of study spaces and hang out spaces. Similarly chill vibe to ASU’s honors dorm building.
- some students opt to stay in the honors dorm multiple years.
- honors dorm can house about 1100 students. Returning students get first dibs at that, then incoming freshmen based on when they paid their housing deposit.
- #1 tip - get you honors app in by 11/15 priority deadline. You will be notified on 12/15 of the honors app decision.
- honors app opens up a few days after reg campus app opens up in July each year.
- honors village dorm on the map looks like it’s super far away from rest of campus but on foot, it’s really not. There was lots of student activity at the honors dorm building. There’s a fancy new fitness center right next door with a smoothie bar.
- entryway to honors village building was very inviting, lots of places to sit and hang out and there were students doing that when we were there. Student manning the front desk was very friendly.
- some honors freshman classes are, like ASU, taught in a couple of classrooms on the first floor. Professors also have some offices on first floor. Honors college administration offices also on first floor of this building. Very handy to have it in same building as the dorm. Similar set up to ASU but smaller total space (one building compared to a 3-4 building connected complex at ASU).
DD will definitely be applying. Said that she could see herself there for 4 yr.
To me, the vibe at UofA is more relaxed than ASU. I’m glad that we found an in state option that our kid likes.