Hi! I’m currently unsure about attending the Carlson School of Management. Could some people who have also been in CSOM tell me what the campus is like? Thank you!
My D17 was accepted to Carlson last year and while she chose another school, it had nothing to do with CSOM’s campus or program (she had applied ED to an elite uni. out of state and was accepted). We’ve been in Hanson Hall and also the West Bank of the UMN campus on many occasions. First of all, UMN is right in the heart of Minneapolis which is very unusual for a big 10 school. But while it’s in an urban environment, you definitely get a campus-y feel to the university. You should visit and check out for yourself whether this is the right environment for you. Personally, I love visiting the university community and the numerous restaurants in the area. Light Rail runs right through the campus from Downtown over to St. Paul, and you can also catch LR to the airport. That and the U bus system, not to mention MTA in general, really make getting around very easy.
Regarding Carlson, it’s located on the west bank of the campus (the Mississippi River separates the two sides and you can walk, bus or LR across the Washington Ave. bridge to get to Coffman or Dinkytown or wherever you need to go on the East Bank). Hanson, which contains the undergrad program (including classrooms, career placement center, etc.) is only a few years old and is a beautiful, open atrium-like building. There’s a Starbucks on the 4th or 5th floor with fantastic views of downtown Minneapolis. The walkway to the Carlson building (where the grad program dwells) allows you to access their food court and other resources as necessary. We would have been fine with my daughter attending Carlson. She would have lived in the honors LLC at Middlebrook which is just down the street from Hanson, about a 5 minute walk. There’s also a Carlson LLC in one of the other dorms (can’t remember which one). During your first year you take a lot of pre-reqs and gen. ed. so hard to say where all your classes will be for sure. One or two will definitely be in Hanson, however, as Carlson has you take your first business class as a freshman. Carlson also requires you to do a study abroad and makes that VERY easy to do.
You should be receiving some invites soon to Carlson/UMN accepted events which will include a tour of the UMN campus, receptions, and info. sessions of various sorts. Hopefully you can attend one or two of them. Congrats and good luck with your college choice!
Edit update: almost forgot - they boast an extremely high job placement rate for their grads. Worth checking out!