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Yah I've looked into Oregon but it seems to have a big granola/hippie scene, and that is definitely not me.
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I’ll address this point first since I originally thought the same thing. I am pretty conservative politically and I was put of when I heard that Oregon was hippie. I decided to apply anyways, just in case I didn’t get into University of Arizona (which was originally my top choice). Then I visited the campus and completely changed my mind. A lot of the students at U of O are liberal, but the student population isn’t much different than UCSB, UCD, UCLA, or U of Washington. I spotted a few “hippies”, but they were few and far between. The people on campus that I talked to told me that the hippies usually don’t go to class and end up failing out. They are also not liked much by the rest of the student. Eugene is a great college town. It is much nicer than You should still apply. It’s an easy application to fill out and you might end up visiting.</p>
<p>Here’s what I wrote in another post comparing ASU to U of A
Academics- UofA- in some programs, ASU is better than UofA, but in terms of academic reputation as a whole, UofA is superior. ASU lets in almost everyone who applies but makes it difficult to get into certain programs once you are at the school. UofA is quite a bit more selective, but not nearly as difficult to get into the top programs. At ASU, you often have lower division classes with 600 people! If you are in the honors program, you would probably not be in classes of this size.
Campus: UofA- I liked both campuses, but UofA’s older brick buildings are very nice. They make you feel as though you are at a college with a lot of history. The facilities at both schools are outstanding. Both campuses are big, but ASU is huge (on almost 600 acres of land!)
Weather- UofA- at their hottest, there is still a noticeable difference between the two schools in terms of weather. Tucson is about 10 degrees “cooler” than Tempe.
Sports- UofA- there’s no doubt about it that UofA excels in basketball and has an improving football team. ASU’s basketball team is terrible, but their football team was pretty good this year (better than UofA’s)
People (I’ll divide this one into two categories)
Looks- ASU- the girl’s at ASU are the hottest I’ve seen at a college; they are even better looking than the ones at San Diego State. The girls at UofA are also excellent, but really can’t compare to the ones at ASU. The ugliest girl at ASU would be the hottest at University of Chicago or MIT.
Brains- UofA- while there are some who go to ASU for its excellent honors programs and generous scholarship offers, there are quite a few dolts at ASU. The students as a whole are more academically oriented at UofA. The mentality at UofA is “work hard, play hard”. There are people at ASU who think the reason they are going to school is to tan and get drunk every night.
Town- Tempe (ASU)- ASU wins in a landslide here. Tempe is one of the coolest college towns around. You are only about 10 miles (15 minute drive from Phoenix). There are so much to do in Tempe; great shopping, restaurants, bars – everything. Tucson is pretty much a dump. Right next to campus, there is 4th street which is where all the bars are located, but other than that, it’s not a college town at all. There is a lot to do on campus at both schools, but you don’t have a lot of outside options in Tucson. The restaurants are quite good in Tucson, but that’s about it. The police are really cracking down on off campus house parties at UofA, even using helicopters to find and break up parties.</p>
<p>You also have to consider the size of both campuses and the amount of personal attention you’ll be receiving. UofA has about 28,000 undergraduates, while ASU has about 51,000.</p>
<p>Both have their positives and negatives. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which school you like better. I would have seriously considered going to ASU if it wasn’t so big. As it is, I didn’t end up applying, but did apply to UofA.</p>