university of delaware

<p>considering attending udel. Anyone know anyone's experiences there? Seems friendly with good academics. Opinions?</p>

<p>My friend went to UDel for Art Conservation. Not for the art, for the conservation he says. He graduated fifth in his class and took some really heavy-duty science and math courses and also knows everything about history. He's also a very strange guy - old-fashioned, nerdy, politically incorrect, antisocial but a really nice guy. Anyway, he got into the honors program and he didn't like the school for the first semester because everyone drank way to much (he's not into that) but he said that they settled down after that because it got old and they wanted to bring their grades up. He made some great friends in his residence hall (Russell), which got voted "Best Community of the Month" in December. I figure if he can find friends there, anyone can. Academically, he spends most of his time doing schoolwork, and a significant amount of that writing up chem labs. I went to some of his classes and the professors were GREAT. I don't know what you want to major in, but the head of the chem department is an awesome old guy named Dr. Munson. He complains that the general student body is extremely apathetic, with a few pockets of Christian, environmental and human rights fanatics sprinkled in between. Mandatory courses that "teach you how not to be offensive" are plentiful, annoying, and counterproductive because they turn students off to being politically correct. I thought it was a really good school and right now I'm trying to decide between it and Bryn Mawr. Where else are you looking?</p>

<p>As a parent, what you said about everyone drinking concerns me. Son is not into the party scene. Thanks for your comments about the science dept. as my son is interested in majoring in that field. He's accepted in the Honors program and thought the school was academically strong (in honors) and friendly. The town was close enough to walk to, not too far from home (NY) and warmer than upstate schools. He was also considering SUNY Bing. I appreciate your comments about the labs as he will be spending a lot in time in them. We met the chem dept. chair during our visit. My husband liked him more than my son and I.</p>

<p>A lot of kids are between UD and SUNY Binghamton. UD is a dry campus meaning no alcohol is allowed but they still do it. In Binghamton no one cares how old you are even if you drink but the school is less of a party school. I loved UD and I am going there over NEU, UConn, ertc.</p>

<p>I don't know what NEU is but I know UConn. I think UDel. or Binghamton are more challenging schools. were those your only choices? He also considered Geneseo, but crossed it off his list when he did some thinking about how rural the school is. He liked the school a lot, but the surrounding area concerned him greatly. That factor and also the distance factor (we're on the Island).
It's a tough choice, but either way, both Bing. and UD are good schools. It's all about fit. He liked both schools, but Bing. seemed dreary and the campus at UD was so much nicer. He could also walk to town. Why did you choose UD?</p>

<p>My choices for college boiled down to BU, CMU, UDel, and NYU. I knew I was interested in chemistry. CMU and BU got crossed off the list relatively quickly because they were more costly than my parents were sure they could pay - at that time, my dad couldn't be certain that he'd still have his job after any given Christmas.</p>

<p>I thought UDel was quite beautiful, and it certainly didn't hurt that the chemistry department there had the backing of duPont family, great research opportunities, good recruitment rates, etc. I also had scholarship money, so it would've been about $13k per year for my family, room and board included. But I couldn't get over my impression that the school wasn't ethnically or racially diverse. That really bugged me.</p>

<p>I chose NYU because of the environment, as well as the big fat scholarship I was offered. It was still $5k more expensive that UDel would've been, but NYU really seemed to emphasize living with people from backgrounds different than yours and being a part of the greater NYC community. Those things won me over.</p>