Norman, an Awesome College Town

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Oklahoma
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<p>Well since I'm basically the only one on this forum who considered/ goes to OU, I figured that I essentially have total domination of this thread. Also very bored right now as it's summer, and I don't know anyone in the city. </p>

<p>Anyways, thought I'd share that Norman is an excellent college town. The bars, restaurants, and nightlife activities are cheap but fantastic. Stores everywhere sell OU gear, and students wear them with pride. If you ever get bored of Norman, OKC, which has a fantastic art district, cool museums, and other attractions is only a thirty minute drive away. Even if you or your child doesn't have a car, students seem to frequently arrange carpools to get to the city. </p>

<p>So, if you're looking for a gorgeous school with a ton of school spirit, in an awesome college town check out OU!</p>

<p>Btw, I'm not affiliated with admissions at all. I just transferred here and thought I'd rave about my new home.</p>

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<p>My son will start this fall 2013 at OU in PE. Actually, he’s leaving early for a month at the end of June to attend an engineering summer program there. Thank you for posting about OU. We’re from Northern CA and knows of no one going to OU or even out of state so your post was even more special to us.</p>

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<p>Woo, another Californian! OU’s PE program is absolutely spectacular and companies from all over actively recruit its grads. I’m in the Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy (the one your son was admitted to) and am consistently impressed both by its facilities and the undergraduate research opportunities provided. There’s even a small library on the second floor with about 20 dual monitor computers and plenty of large desks for studying. My adviser has been nothing but helpful, the professors I’ve spoken to are very personable, and most of the major specific classes (at least for geology) have less than 30 people. </p>

<p>Good luck to your son and congrats on such an excellent choice!</p>

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<p>Alright @Whenhen, lets hear some recommendations as I will be taking D2 up to Normal twice in the next month, once for the Shell Engineering Day and then for Sooner Day. On a prior trip for D1 we ate at a burger joint on the other side of the rail road tracks… it was awesome, and NM office took us to lunch at Fuzzy’s. That’s our culinary experience thus far and I welcome your recommendations.</p>

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<p>@mytwods Here are some places that I like or are considered OU favorites broken down by distance from campus:</p>

<p>On campus:
-OU’s cafeteria
-Bedrock Cafe located in the bottom floor of Sarkey’s (love the specialty coffee drinks, the food is pretty awful)
-Pancake Place in Cate Main (the name escapes me, but the pancakes are pretty good)</p>

<p>Within walking distance of campus:
-Fuzzy’s Tacos (also have great margaritas)
-Balfour of Norman (good if you just want a quick hot dog)
-Cafe Plaid (coffee shop with fantastic scones and unlimited coffee refills)
-Tea Cafe (I’m not a fan although a number of my friends like it)
-I Sushi (after work, I often go there and get the spicy seafood ramen)
-Greek House (across from the engineering quad, the baklavas are excellent although note that it’s cash only)
-Coriander Cafe (only ate here once, pretty impressed, although it was a bit over priced)
-The Mont (the drinks are better than the “Mexican” food)
-Pad Thai (this is where I go if I’m taking a visiting professor or family friend out to eat)</p>

<p>Within a mile and a half of campus
-Classic 50s (the Sprittle, which combines Skittles and Sprite is an OU favorite)
-Thai Kum Yoon (I love the soup and Thai Tea)</p>

<p>There’s also a good BBQ place and a great donuts shop within 2.5 miles of campus, although I can’t remember their names. </p>

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<p>Is the Shell Engineering Day the one designed to get women interested in engineering? If so, a couple of my friends will be volunteering at one of the booths. </p>

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<p>Thanks for the list! You provided a great variety of options. Yep, the Shell engineering day is targeted at HS girls interested in engineering. She is looking forward to it. </p>

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<p>Whenhen, My son is considering transferring from N. California. He won’t have a car. How is the public transportation in Norman? Is it easy to get public transit to the airport and to downtown OKC?</p>

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<p>Just realized that I claimed Balfour was a hot dog place. The actual name of the store is Diamond Dogs. Whoops. </p>

<p>@Hel951 Public transport isn’t great although most of the interesting parts of Norman are located within biking distance, which many students do. Compared to the Bay Area, public transit in Oklahoma is woeful, and it getting to downtown OKC is difficult if he just plans on using the bus system. Getting to the airport is typically not an issue since many students offer to drive others to and from the Will Rodgers Airport, especially during the major breaks. </p>

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<p>Hey whenhen! I am an international incoming freshman for Fall 2014, and I’m actually a boarding high school senior in MI. </p>

<p>I’ll be honest here. Never in my dreams would I have thought I would end up going to OU. I was very against it (that, i won’t elaborate on). Definitely I am bias, but Im starting to look forward to it. </p>

<p>I really want to know the settings around OU. It is suburban right? What is there to do around campus? Is the campus like a secluded college town, or is it very much involved with the others. And what I mean is like…you know what, never mind. I don’t know how to phrase it. </p>

<p>How’s the food? I’m Asian, I love Asian food. But I’m totally fine with American food, as long as they are well-cooked (I honestly don’t get how my boarding school can mess up cooking so badly T^T)
In the past when I think of Oklahoma, I think of farmland. I’m sorry, but that’s just biased. I know.
I have looked through pictures of OU, but I still can’t quite get my head around what’s it like there.
Will it be easy for me to transfer to PE? Academically no problem. Im currently in geology major since I was so afraid that PE will be limiting my choices too much, but I’m reconsidering it. I just gotta be the best of best right (since there’s been a huge increase of people enrolling in PE). </p>

<p>I’m mostly concerned with the surroundings since I will be there for 4 years. I’m sure I’ll like it and will get used to it, but there’s this anxiety/anticipation for me right now.
Off campus housing? I don’t want the university apartments, since they are so damn expensive. I plan to move out after 1st year. </p>

<p>Please just elaborate on anything, really. I just want to know more about OU. </p>

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<p>@littlePooPoo‌ Yes OU is in a suburb of Oklahoma City, but Norman is not like a typical suburb since it’s also a college town. That means that although students spend most of their time socializing in Norman or at OU’s actual campus, some occasionally go to OKC if they want to see a Thunder game, go to Bricktown, escape Norman for a night, or do any number of activities which Oklahoma City has but OU does not. A couple classmates also do internships in Oklahoma City </p>

<p>

Short answer, a lot. This weekend was the Big Event, an annual volunteering event where 5,500 OU students came out to assist various charities, a free alternative rock concert, and a Renaissance Fair. This doesn’t include the numerous club specific activities that occurred which included a Shabbat dinner at a local restaurant, a slacklining competition, various parties, Holi, a Vietnamese Student Association benefit dinner, etc (and these are just the ones I know about!). </p>

<p>If you want to get a nice meal just off campus, Campus Corner, which houses a variety of restaurants and coffee shops, is always an option. However, there are plenty of other places to go although most do not cater explicitly to college students (remember, Norman has around 100,000 full time residents). I believe there’s an 18+ club although I don’t know much about it. </p>

<p>

IMO students at the University of Oklahoma do tend to live in a bit of a campus bubble although this is partially due to the fact that most activities attractive to 18-23 year olds happen within a mile of campus. However, there are numerous outreach opportunities which connect OU students to the greater OKC community. For instance, since you said you’re entering as a geology major, the Pick and Hammer Club (a geology club at OU) regularly schedules geology outreach programs to students across the OKC metro area. Some people in my sorority help organize STEM outreach programs, while other organizations volunteer in poorer areas of Oklahoma City. However in my experience, most students tend to stick to the Norman proper area.</p>

<p>

On campus food is great although there’s maybe one place which does Asian food right (the on campus Chinese place called Wong Key is atrocious). If you do visit, try to schedule a visit to the cafeteria where there’s an all you can eat Chick Fil A, a gyro stand, a salad bar, a Chinese station, steak area, and other culinary options. Off campus, there are a number of good Thai and Vietnamese places to choose from. I outlines some of my favorite Norman eats in the post above. </p>

<p>

Psh, why would you ever want to be a PE major? Geology is where it’s at! (I’m a geology major). However if you do decide to switch from the most awesome science ever to petroleum engineering, all you currently need is a 2.5 in your major courses. Even though petroleum engineering at OU is top notch, getting into the program is not terribly difficult. </p>

<p>

Ranges from crappy apartments, to unfurnished houses, to outstanding apartment complexes. If you want to live in a non university owned apartment, there are plenty of great complexes, many of which are either part of the apartment loop bus schedule or have their own private shuttle(s). I lived in Crimson Park this summer and never had a bad experience with the management. Check it out <a href=“http://www.crimsonpark.com/”>http://www.crimsonpark.com/&lt;/a&gt; Other good complexes include The Edge, Reserve on Stinson, Campus Lodge (a bit too far from campus for my taste), and probably a few others I’m forgetting. A fair number of students also choose to live in Greek housing if they’re in a fraternity or sorority.</p>

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<p>Yesterday, I traveled to OU with the family to tour OU. My D1 and I visited weeks ago but we wanted the rest of the family to see the campus. I arrived around 0900 to find a large crowd (several thousands) of students gathered, the band playing and eventually a cannon being fired. We were IMPRESSED to say the least. Probably the worse part of the visit was the recreation center. It is in desperate need of improvement to reach the quality of the better campuses out there like Ohio State and University of Iowa. We will be back for a summer or fall visit before deciding. The area around Norman was also nice and safe.</p>

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<p>You saw the opening ceremony for OU’s Big Event.
<a href=“The Big Event”>http://www.ou.edu/bigevent&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>By the Rec Center, are you referring to the Houston Huffman Fitness Center? If so, I don’t really think it’s in desperate need of repair. I mean it’s a gym. The machines work and there are plenty of regularly scheduled classes. I’d much rather the University of Oklahoma keep costs relatively low than spend my tuition dollars revamping a perfectly adequate gym. </p>

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<p>Yes, the HHFC. Doesn’t need repair, everything is functional from what I saw, but an upgrade would be nice. They could look for a donor who wants their name on the center. If upgrading leads to an increase in tuition, then I agree with you to leave it alone. But the center misses the “wow” factor that many schools have been desperate to convey to potential students. Unfortunately, none of those schools are on D1’s list. Here is what I mean by “wow” factor: </p>

<p><a href=“20 Most Impressive College Gyms And Student Rec Centers - Best Value Schools”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/20-most-impressive-college-gyms-and-student-rec-centers/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Wow, @frugaldoctor, those are some impressive fitness centers! </p>

<p>I agree that the OU fitness center needs an upgrade. We toured OSU (Oklahoma State) first and then OU. I was very surprised by the difference between the two fitness centers. OSU’s is much nicer. University of Tulsa has a great fitness center, too. </p>

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<p>I guess I came away more disgusted by that list than anything else. Most of the schools on the list are public universities which spent $40 million plus building a gym for college students. Based on the lack of last names, I’m going to assume these were financed through students’ tuition dollars. What’s worse is that some of the listed institutions rely primarily on adjuncted labor, and even then most students find it extremely difficult to get needed courses (I’m looking at you CSU Fullerton). Additionally, if a donor is so inclined to drop $10 million plus on a gym, perhaps he could also be persuaded to donate to actual academic departments. </p>

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<p>You make excellent points, @whenhen. </p>

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<p>Amen @whenhen. S1 felt the same about the big sports programs. I had to let him know that the top football programs add money to the colleges, not subtract. I don’t like that it is that way, but it is what it is. If you are going to a school for the gym, you have bigger issues (unless you are a PE major…and no, not the Engineering kind).</p>

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<p>Wow, those gym centers look amazing, too amazing in fact. Why would you need such a grand looking place for people who are working out and sweating. As long as the gym’s not disgusting or breaking apart, I think it’s fine. </p>

<p>And thanks @whenhen! What year are you in for geology major?
To be honest, I think geology will be very interesting, but there are a lot of factors contributing to my insecurities in that regards. </p>

<p>How are the transportation on campus? Additionally, are there buses that go from OU to the city? I read somewhere about that. </p>

<p>How does the meal plan work? I mean, does it differ whether you eat at Couch or other restaurants? Most people go to Couch? </p>

<p>And, it seems like that campus has bunch of good paths for running? From pictures I’ve seen, it seems that way. </p>

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<p>Transportation around campus is pretty good. It’s pretty walkable except to a few obscure locations. It’s even easier if you bike. I don’t know if there are many buses to the city. I know you can take Greyhound and stuff, but I’ve never heard of an OU sponsored bus (doesn’t mean there isn’t one though).</p>

<p>The meal plan works like this: you can choose from a certain number of meals (6/8/10/12) per week. The fewer meals you choose per week, the more “points” you have. Points can be used to purchase meals at restaurants around campus and at places like Starbucks. Meal exchanges can be used at Couch, Cate, and the Union (only after 2:00 in the Union though). The different meal plans are fairly similar in value, but I think the more meals you get, the more you get for your money. However, the more points you have, the more flexible you are. I think most freshman choose either 8 or 10 meals per week and feel like that was the right decision.</p>

<p>I actually wouldn’t say the campus is a great running campus, unfortunately. I ran pretty competitively in high school and am affiliated with the cross country and track programs here. Campus has decent paths for short runs (3-4 miles), but for longer runs, you’ll definitely want to drive somewhere else. There are a number of good sites within a 20 minute drive though for your 8+ mile runs. For a casual runner, I’d say campus is likely sufficient, but could get boring after a few months of consistent running.</p>