I am an undergraduate business school student from UNSW Australia and I am looking to do a semester exchange at a US university in the second half of 2020. After looking at some of the universities UNSW is in partnership with, I have narrowed it down to a few, which are listed below:
American University
Arizona State University
Georgia Tech
Iowa State University
Kansas State University
Northern Arizona University
Texas Tech University
University of Alabama (Birmingham)
University of Colorado (Boulder)
University of Kansas
University of North Carolina - Kenan Flagler Business School
University of Virginia
Virginia Tech
University of Connecticut
George Mason University
I am looking to go on an exchange to a university that:
has a nice campus which is not just buildings. Meaning the uni has quads and grass.
has regular cool parties.
has a strong american football culture. The team doesn’t have to be good, I just want to experience the atmosphere of the game and the crowd.
is in a college town (I’ve heard college town universities are more into sports?)
Seconding that UConn and UC Boulder are probably the two best fits. I’d say UConn is the better fit to what you described but Boulder has more going on outside of the school itself if that matters.
However UVA isn’t that big wrt football nor snow. It IS a traditional American campus.
What about UKansas?
My recommendation for football+snow would be to look at Big10 universities.
More than half your list is in the South so you wouldn’t have snow.
Kansas State meets most things. They have had snow twice this year so far and it is supposed to snow again this weekend. It has a campus with green area, fun football, lots of parties which are not exclusive, wonderful college town, traditional American college experience. Students are happy and there are lots of study abroad students there that are happy and included! I honestly believe you would love it there. My S is a sophomore there now and will be a Jr. when you go. If you have any questions message me and you can ask questions directly to him.
Some of those universities have much better academic reputation than others. Does that not enter into your calculation at all? Are you purely looking for the “American college experience” rather than any academic considerations? (Not judging - just checking we’re not leaving something out.)
Anyway - another vote for Boulder here. Gorgeous place and a definite “college town”. Have you ever skied? That would be a fun thing to try on your semester abroad (you’d be surprised how many Aussies end up working on the ski slopes in winter!) I’m from a warm Southern Hemisphere country myself, so I totally get the fascination with snow
CU would be a fun choice depending on how you feel about the pot scene.
Virginia and North Carolina jump out based on your other criteria, gorgeous campuses, fun football weekends though not the most winning of teams, you could catch the start of basketball season, Chapel Hill getting my vote for top college town.
Iowa State will probably see snow while you would be there. Nice football culture. Traditional campus. College town. Two of my nephews are recent graduates and both go back regularly for football games.
Do remember that the continental US is roughly the same size as Australia. If you want to visit other parts of the US during your time here, that might affect your choice of study location.
When I read the list, before reading the goals of football and quad experience, I would have said one of the schools near DC because there is so much going on and transportation between cities is easy.
If you want the American college experience and you do not intend to leave campus much, then almost any of them will work. CU is close to Denver and an airport, so getting to the city to go to shows, professional sports, concerts, theater is very easy. Iowa State, Kansas, Vtech, UVa are all going to be campus centered activities. Lots of them and fun, but farther to connect with another type of experience like city museums, ocean, mountains for skiing at that time of year (Colorado resorts are almost all open already). Football tailgating is best in the south, so Vtech or GaTech. The football experience will be quite different at U Ala Birmingham), American, and even Northern Arizona. You will also be there for the start of basketball, which is quite exciting at Kansas, UNC, and UVa.
Do you want to study business? Leeds School of Business at CU Boulder has undergrad programs
in finance, accounting and marketing.
CU Boulder has a huge entertainment scene and division 1 football, basketball, women’s soccer and more,
although some students do trek down to Denver, its hardly necessary.
Boulder Theatre has live shows, music/dance/theatre at Dairy Center, Macky offers many dance and guest artists right on the Boulder campus. Bars are better in Boulder than Denver for the most part, although Denver has
a new young professional bar/restaurant scene and all the professional sports. There is even an opera company at CU Boulder and Shakespeare Theatre in the summers in an actual outdoor Shakespeare theatre in the round.
Boulder Drug scene is not terrible, Denver is actually worse with opioids, but rents are very expensive in Boulder. Few upper class students live on campus, but public transportation, by bus, is free all around campus, and down to Denver is inexpensive and to the international airport too. Downhill skiing is not that close to Boulder, but cross country skiing and snowshoeing is closer. There is one downhill resort in Nederland,only 30 minutes away, though, with some steep terrain. Lots of ski clubs to take you to A Basin
and Loveland, the closer resorts west of Denver. Fancy ski resorts are further afield, Vail and Aspen, also very expensive.
