<p>Hi, everyone, </p>
<p>I saw a post elsewhere on CC that suggested that many of the forums for individual colleges have too little activity. I decided to do something about that by posting a thread welcoming applicants to the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. I got two degrees there. My son (still in high school) attends classes there part-time. </p>
<p>I'd be glad to answer any questions you have about the U of MN and the Twin Cities.</p>
<p>Great! I applied to UM, and I'm still waiting for a reply from the admissions office. I'm planning to study journalism - is the UM journalism program considered strong? Big school eh?</p>
<p>I don't follow rankings of journalism schools closely, but I think the U of MN journalism program is reasonably competitive, having a separate admission process from the main College of Liberal Arts admission process. The Minnesota Daily, the campus newspaper, is a real working newspaper with quite a large circulation, so it's a good work experience to have while you are studying. </p>
<p>Yes, the U of MN is a big school, with something close to 50,000 students in a large urban area. To me, that is a feature, not a bug, but not everyone is looking for such a real-world experience in college. I enjoyed that though, as it made for plenty of opportunity to meet interesting people from all over the world.</p>
<p>That's good to hear. I don't mind being in a large school, but I'm sorta worried about the snow and stuff. My first choice is UNC-Chapel Hill, but if I don't get accepted there, I might go to Minnesota.</p>
<p>How nice would you say the campus is? I understand it's in the city and everything, but are the buildings all run down, or no?</p>
<p>I've visited the campus a couple of times, once when my sister was applying to college, and once this past summer for myself. It really is a pretty nice campus, the buildings are massive (atleast the ones I saw) and are distinct from one another. From all the schools I visited this summer (with the exception of Georgetown) I was most impressed with U of M's architecture. There was quite a bit of construction going on this past summer, and from what I understand the college is always working on something new/repairing something. Believe it or not, during my recent trip we were hit by a massive lightning/wind storm, and they put us inside the library for a few hours until it passed. Well our group elected to try to travel the campus using the tunnel system, but it was actually partially flooded due to the heavy rain. I don't know if that was a frequent occurance or not, but definetly didn't impress me.</p>
<p>Thinking of applying - I come from a small town in Wisconsin (ahhh hicksville!!) and I really want to get to a place with a bigger population, but...there are SOO many undergrads. Can it be overwhelming? Am I likely to find my niche? I'm just nervous that I may end up falling between the cracks...ugh. </p>
<p>Does the social life consist of mostly the city or more on-campus stuff? Is there a feeling of community at all? Are people friendly?</p>
<p>I didn't find the U of MN overwhelming, but of course I grew up not too far from it in the Minneapolis suburbs. There is a lot of on-campus social life. My wife and I went on a date a couple months ago that happened to be right next to campus (a good ethnic restaurant zone) and we walked across campus after dark in both directions from where we parked. There were a LOT of students going out with one another in various size groups at 7:30pm and again at 9:00pm. Probably more goes on on campus after dark than did when I attended back in the 1970s (undergrad) or late 1980s (professional school).</p>
<p>I applied to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and have been accepted the the College of Biological Sciences, and I plan on attending next fall. I am very excited. Let me know if there are any other pre-med students out there attending the U of M next year!</p>
<p>I was accepted into Honors in February, but I've decided to go to UCLA instead, since it's slightly cheaper, warmer, and more prestigous. Minnesota has an awesome Econ program though...but I'm not sure I'd be able to stand the weather, since I'm from California.</p>
<p>I must admit that Minnesota definitely has given me the most out of all the colleges. They sent me a Class of 2010 LSA T-shirt, called me almost right away about my acceptance (and I got to ask questions, the college sophomore calling truly was enthusiastic), and I got a $7500/yr scholarship, as I'm out-of-state.</p>
<p>Since I feel guilty about rejecting Minnesota Honors, I am resurrecting something on this board...</p>
<p>melhasnofries: im also attending the College of Biological Sciences. I'm thinking of pre-med - not sure if i want to be a doctor or teach doctors :). But I'm very excited.
I also got that 7500/yr scholarship yoyo. congratulations on ucla.</p>
<p>tokenadult: what are the dorm buildings like?</p>
<p>Oddly, I've only rarely been in the dorms. I was a commuter. I've heard that Middlebrook Hall (built in the early 1970s) is the place where most of the honors dorm rooms are. I also hear that now one of the dorms is a freshman-only dorm, so that first-years can stay together. The one dorm I visited most was for meals with my girlfriend of that time--I thought the food was quite good, better than I would have expected for dorm food.</p>
<p>whats the social life like?</p>
<p>I thought the social life was fine when I was a U of MN undergrad. I think studies by the University administration have repeatedly shown that people who live on campus feel more connected to the college community than the commuters, but I made friends with other students even as a commuter. The campus is a center of a fairly large theater/restaurant/sports district, so there is plenty to do.</p>
<p>awesome. im very excited about going.</p>
<p>How is the math department at MNTC?</p>
<p>It's my impression that the department is a top-40 department, possibly higher ranked, at both the undergraduate and graduate level. One source of strong students for the math program at the U of MN is the talented youth mathematics program run by the department, so there are a lot of Minnesota students who start multivariable calculus at age sixteen or earlier. The math library collection is reasonably strong; I just borrowed some books from that library today. There are quite a few new undergraduate math majors each year at the U of MN, and lots of graduate students too. It's too bad I didn't see your post a few hours earlier, as I was just in the math department building today, and maybe I could have done a quick count of students from some list there. Oh, and the department claims to have scholarship support for undergraduate students, above and beyond general "merit scholarship" awards from the university as a whole.</p>
<p>i am either going to the u of m or to carleton. i loved them both. its hard to choose because they are so different.</p>
<p>Well, since someone asked (albeit a couple months ago)- I stayed in the dorms for a summer swimming camp a couple years ago and the room I stayed in was small but very nice. I also applied to the U of M and was accepted to the Honors Program with what was essentially a full scholarship. However, I have decided I really need to get out of Minnesota for four years and will be attending either Dartmouth or Notre Dame next year.</p>
<p>Bumping up for more posts-hopefully.</p>