Greetings,
I am preparing to transfer and am considering U of A as one of my options (it’s more so a safety school). I am a student here in Texas and I will be pursing ECE (Electrical & Computer Engineering) there. I have heard both good things and bad things about the school. So far as bad I heard it is a HUGE party school and how frats and sororities dominate. I have also heard how rough the math classes are there? I was intrigued by the people and the vibe I got from U of A. I wanted to ask those of you who go there or went there how your experience was, if you do/do not recommend it, why/why not, what you learned from your experience, and how it has helped you in the job market. Any other information would greatly be appreciated 
Thank you!
My son is a freshman. Unequivocally, frats and sororities do NOT dominate UA. Actually UA has a relatively small greek system. Only 15% of undergrads are in a frat or a sorority. 85% are not.
@bloomfield88 good for him! Oh really? I heard that is was more than that…maybe they have toned down since I last heard. Have you been to the campus before? What does your son think of it?
UArizona does a reputation as a “party school”, but one can still do well academically.
I have very little contact or experience with the undergraduate school other than through recruited football players & a few National Hispanic Scholars.
About 2 years ago I contacted the UA Honors College for some basic information on behalf of a couple of students. The honors college student who answered the phone did not have a clue about anything.
The facilities are nice & the weather is a bit cooler than that in Phoenix.
As an engineering student, your experience may be a lot different than for non-engineering students.
Everyone I know who has experienced Tucson, likes the city–but that really is a matter of personal taste.
Broadly speaking, large state universities are what one makes of the experience. With almost 30,000 fulltime undergraduates and about 6,000 part-time undergrads, you should be able to find what you want.
It is all about perspective. Someone involved might think greek life is big, because greek might be their own little circle.
However, the facts from the greek.arizona.edu website and 2019 Annual Report are: 5,464 greek out of 35,233 undergrad pop which is only 15%. If you cannot find friends in the 85% of the undergrad population that aren’t greek, then … well…
I consider 50-80% of undergrads greek as dominating. At 15%, Arizona is not even in that zipcode.
He loves his math class, but he is in business math, not engineering math, so I cannot help you there.
He really surprised me. He was accepted to Michigan State, Oregon and Arizona (obviously climate/geography was not even a mild priority for his applications). After the Oregon visit I would have made a big bet he would go to Oregon. I was sure of it, but he flew down to Arizona the following week with his mother and enrolled!
I’ve been to the campus and drove all around the Tucson area. I don’t like traffic/congestion, I like a cool town right up against a university, and I like deserts. Tick, tick, tick. It is a laid back atmosphere like most western campuses. Desert and sun are great when you are a student and get to skip the scalding summers. My son had the usual freshman fall semester struggles of figuring out college life (laundry, ha!) and finding new friends, but he likes it a lot now, says UA is home, and won’t transfer out.
Has anyone graduated from UofArizona with an online engineering master’s degree or know someone who has? I am just wondering if there’s a designation on your transcript that it’s an online degree. Also, I am curious to know how effectively the thesis can be completed in an engineering online program within a reasonable period of time. Any information that you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
@cal2il I don’t know about UofArizona but I do know of ASU. I know people who got online engineering masters elsewhere though. Also, no it will not say that it is online. It will say just like if you were on campus (to my knowledge). I think the thesis could be complete effectively depending on the student and their discipline. I am more than happy to ask my advisor who handles engineering there and ask these questions or I can give you their number if that will help you out.