<p>Does anyone know how these schools differ from each other in areas like social/party scene, academic rigor, influence/importance of Greek life, cooperation of administration, niceness of dorms, food, ease of getting classes, ie, the more "hidden" qualities one can't really glean by looking at the college web site or on places like College Board?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Check the average admission stats of them to get some idea of selectivity. I think NAU will be the least selective of the 3.</p>
<p>They’re also in different areas of the state - Tucson (UofA), Phoenix (ASU), and Flagstaff (NAU). The weather and environment in Flagstaff is completely different than Phoenix/Tucson - mountains/trees vs desert.</p>
<p>I think ASU is the biggest campus followed by UofA followed by NAU.</p>
<p>ASU has multiple campuses, major determines choice of campus - downtown, west and polytechnic are small. Main campus in Tempe has an active, vibrant feel.</p>
<p>U of A has a more traditional approach in the sciences, ASU is more interdisciplinary. Both have good business and engineering programs. Greek life is more central to social life at U of A because there’s not much in the city to compete with it.</p>
<p>ASU has Barrett Honors College, beautiful 9 acre campus within the Tempe campus with very nice dorms. This requires a separate application but no additional application fee.</p>
<p>NAU has skiing nearby, is the smallest of the three schools and has some top notch programs in areas like forestry/botany. NAU is located in pine country - very pretty, plenty of snow in winter but can be sunny with snow on the ground.</p>
<p>What are you planning to study?</p>
<p>my H attended 2 of the 3. He was from a small mining town, did 2 years at a community college (that was the default path in his family) and then went to U of A for engr. Way to big and overwhelming for him and I think the earlier courses from cc didn’t prepare him well enough. He then transferred to NAU engr and couldn’t have been happier. Much better size for him, and he liked the area. NAU is so different from the other two.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies so far. Which school would be better for a business major (male) who isn’t interested in sports, and, which would be better for an engineering major (male) who might be interested in also playing soccer?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>If they’re serious I suggest a road trip to check them out since they’re in such different areas.</p>
<p>Last year I happen to go to ASU to visit a colleague. Brought kids along. As we drove through the very pretty campus they said something like, “it looks like a campus where Barbie and Ken would go…” Maybe they read that somewhere, I dunno but I could see their point: palm trees and a lot of very pretty people, long blonde hair, short skirts etc. I sensed a very fun, relaxed party school if it fit you. Maybe that isn’t a fair assessment but the appearance was enough for my kids to have no interest in learning more about it. </p>
<p>From a professional perspective, I could be quite happy working there as professor (great research in my field and I imagine could be great for students in that regard), but culturally it appeared on the surface that it would not be the kind of place my bookish, quirky kids. I wondered what U of A would be like in comparison.</p>
<p>Both UofA and ASU have strong programs in engineering and business - UofA has a pre-business portion (2years) followed by application to the Eller school. ASU admits directly but with a higher admissions criteria. UofA kids take all their pre-business classes in a building far away from the beautiful Eller building. ASU undergrads have their business classes in the same buildings and pass each other in the halls.</p>
<p>Princeton Review once referred to ASU as the university of Barbie and Ken (this was over a decade ago). Both schools have a party atmosphere if you want it, the structure of the honors college at ASU is more fully realized and the kids in that program are top notch students. UofA is currently constructing an honors dorm complex to compete with the Barrett campus.</p>
<p>Each school has some specific areas of interest in the engineering field - U of A has optical engineering/optical sciences, ASU industrial engineering - and both have all the usual, Mech. Chem. Aero. etc. engineering fields. </p>
<p>UofA requires all students to take at least two semesters of foreign language (or test out) some majors require more. ASU requires foreign language for certain majors and not for others.</p>
<p>Tucson and Tempe have a very different feel. These two are far more like each other than either resembles NAU. Tempe/Phoenix is far more cosmopolitan. Tucson seems closer to its southwest roots - lots of great Mexican food at Mom&Pop restaurants with oilcloth on the tables and red plastic tumblers for water glasses. More variety of how to spend your time in Tempe unless you’re outdoorsy and like hiking and camping.</p>
<p>^^ Tubing on the Salt river = outdoors! I even camped out there before. </p>
<p>(not far from tempe/ASU)</p>