Life at UMN

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Minnesota
1

<p>I'll be transferring from UC Berkeley to either Virginia Tech or UMN next fall, so I was just wondering what the overall feel of the place is like. Is it a closed campus? How do you get around? Eating places? School Spirit? Partying/Nerdying? How do you like it there?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>(Same questions as this thread: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/virginia-tech/606470-any-internationals-vt.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/virginia-tech/606470-any-internationals-vt.html&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p>

2

<p>I found this site very helpful, may answer a few questions:</p>

<p>[University</a> of Minnesota at Twin Cities : Free College Videos, Student Reviews, East Bank, transportation, tour guide, Professor Matos](<a href=“http://collegeclicktv.com/college/58]University”>http://collegeclicktv.com/college/58)</p>

3

<p>Thanks, but the videos didn’t really help all that much. Any UMN student here who can help me out?</p>

4

<p>After watching some of those videos it looked as though none of those people were really excited (I watched 4 or 5 lol) about attending the U.</p>

5

<p>why are you transfering from berkeley?</p>

6

<p>Financial difficulties. UMN = approx. half the cost of Berkeley.</p>

7

<p>OK so hopefully a parent of a student’s opinion counts here.
My D is about to finish her first semester at the U and she LOVES it. Funny, she almost didn’t apply there, said she didn’t want a big school, and wanted to go to school in a small college town or suburb…LOL, well, then on her THIRD visit to UMN, she just clicked.
At first she had a rough time, but that was because her expectations were unrealistic and she hadn’t considered what it would be like going to school where she knew no one (she did that on purpose mind you) after coming from a school (and a small town) where she not only knew everyone, but everyone pretty much knew her too. She actually called me crying four days after arriving (during welcome week BEFORE classes had started and BEFORE anyone other than freshmen had arrived on campus) and asked me, “How long did it take you to make friends in college mom?” I had a hard time not laughing as I told her it sure took longer than FOUR DAYS!!! (she is a smart girl, just very idealistic and had romanticized my college experience from stories she has heard and what she has seen of my lifetime friendships with friends from college - LOL).
ANYWAY…back to your questions:
What she loves-
+The concentrated and traditional campus feel (green quads, Dinkytown, river, stone, trees)
+ALL the benefits of a beautiful cosmopolitan city that is thriving(shops, restaurants, theatres[+++++], galleries, jobs, very functional bus system)
+The proximity of quality outdoor recreation (skiing[water, XC, alpine], lakes, rivers, bluffs, bike paths
+An improving football team with a brand new incredible stadium opening next year
+a TRULY diverse student population (socially, demographically, politically, ethnically, fiscally)
+surprisingly small class sizes and VERY available professors (she is an art major)
+residence halls (they are NOT high-rises as they are at some large universities) and they are MOSTLY concentrated in one area of campus(around the superblock quad and the union a couple blocks away; plus they have two ALL freshmen residence halls which brought all those students sharing their first experience with college together)
+Her roommate, they found each other thru the U’s roommate matching service and are perfect as roommates - they have different interests and mostly different friends, but LOVE each other and don’t spend all their time together (almost like family), they are confidant to and nurturing to each other, and sometimes they even get on each other’s nerves (like siblings); but when they are apart overnight they rush back to share everything that happened to each other in a big gab session :slight_smile:
+despite being huge, the campus is very contained and concentrated, she sees everyone she knows on a pretty regular basis and can get to anywhere except the St. Paul campus(where she currently doesn’t, and maybe never will, have a class) within 10 minutes of walking or catching the shuttle.
+HUGE variety of opportunities for activities, clubs, interests, associations, internships, research studies, just about anything you could be interested in. Just as an example, foreign language is required for some majors but she could have filled that with Swahili or Sign Language!!!
About the only things she doesn’t like is:
+TOO much to choose from
+She has to sleep and come home once in a while so she misses some things
+As in every school, she has to go out there and go after what she wants, nothing comes to you
+The school year is going too fast</p>

<p>Hope this helps!!!
OBTW, she is a CLA BFA Art Major, Psych Minor(added that after she got there) whose stats were:
3.6 UW gpa
25 ACT (although her writing/reading were high-can’t remember specifically how high)
only top 22% of class
2 AP classes
numerous honors classes(but they weren’t weighted grades)
Tons of leadership & ECs
(2 varsity sports, team captain[twice], MVPonce, leads in musicals, class officer, community committee member, selected for trips abroad)
What I’m saying is no where NEAR the 30+ ACT & top 10% that you all mostly read about here, and although she had the HS gpa, she was never tapped for NHS.
So everyone who hasn’t heard yet, keep the faith, I believe the U knows how to evaluate the applications for more than just the stats.</p>

8

<p>Four more things—
+Partying - it exists if you want it in whatever form you want it and there are dance clubs that have 18-21 nights too (although I am not naive enough to think that is the only time students under 21 go there - LOL)
+Campus is very easy to get around and the metro transit system conveniently takes you anywhere off campus you may want to go, even the suburbs (student metro unlimited ride pass, which includes the light-rail, is around $80 per semester). D recently visited another Big Ten campus(UW MADISON) and it drove her nuts the whole weekend because the campus so was spread out all over the city, every time a friend would call her cell to try and meet up, that friend was invariably on the opposite side of town and there was no easy way to get there AND it was cold. She has friends at UW-Madison that haven’t seen each other all semester because they don’t live near each other and once it got cold, no one wants to walk too far. Friends that visit her love how easy and quick it is to get to everyone and everything because it is all together.
+Most people stay on campus most weekends as there is so much to do and see(other than Thanksgiving, she only came home one weekend, and went to UW for a football game and at that she felt like she missed so much).
+Greek life is going through a re-birth and is very positive right now (focusing on leadership, philanthropy and academics). I was very impressed as a parent with how rush was handled and how they take care of the new members. Oh and yes, they seem to have some fun parties too :)</p>

9

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<p>It’s an open campus. It is mostly just east of downtown Minneapolis, surrounded on most sides by urban residential or industrial neighborhoods. The campus is larger than the campus at Berkeley, but also more spread out. </p>

<p>Most students get around by walking. Some bike. Students can get a heavily subsidized bus pass that lets them get all over the entire Twin Cities metropolitan area. (I got to off-campus work by bus when I was a student.) </p>

<p>The Stadium Village, Dinkytown, and Cedar-Riverside neighborhoods next to campus all have excellent dining, especially fast food and ethnic food. Downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul offer any kind of fine dining you might like, and both cities have great ethnic restaurant zones on bus lines. The on-campus dining includes a lot of convenience stores and fast food restaurants where you can use campus dining “flex-dine” dollars. My son is NOT impressed by the residential hall dining in Middlebrook Hall. I was more impressed, years ago, by a different dorm where I used to visit a friend for guest meals once in a while. </p>

<p>There can be a lot of partying, especially in the Superblock dorms or in the near-campus neighborhoods. There can be nerdy fun like Dungeons and Dragons games in the nerd dorm, which is Middlebrook. There is a HUGE variety of student organizations for making friends based on common interests. </p>

<p>I was mostly a commuter, and very poor when I attended, so that colored my impressions, but I sure liked the U of MN a whole lot better than I liked high school. My son seems to like his dual-enrollment classes and dorm life well enough. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

10

<p>Tyler, I’m not a student at the U of M, but I am a graduate, and I work at the U of M.</p>

<p>You did not mention your major. The assumption of the posts is that you will be on the Minneapolis campus, and that is probably the case. But, depending on your major, you may be on the St Paul campus. It has a very different size and feel.</p>

<p>Go gophers!</p>