Arizona State University - Tempe

Date: Apr 07 2006
Major: English (This Major's Salary over time)
ASU is what it is—a gigantic state school (now the largest in the nation) with a sub-par academic reputation, in a city that is fun and abound with activities, but far too hot for most of the year. If anyone says "its not that hot", they are lying. From August to November you will be sweating as you enter your classes. It never truly gets cold, and sometimes you won't see weather changes for months (as in this past winter in which it didn't rain once from early October to mid-March). The campus itself is, well, ugly. You won't find brick buildings, red tile roofs, gothic towers, or shining white colonades. Instead, you will see more gray concrete and aluminum than you ever thought possible. Vegetation is almost non-existant, though it is above average for what is generally found in the Phoenix-metro area. In terms of classes, it is about the same as you will find at any large state university. However, as a prospective student you should know that there is a decent chance that you MAY NOT BE ATTENDING THE TEMPE CAMPUS. Rather than trying to lower the number of admitted students and heighten the reputation of the school, ASU's president is on a mission to admit as many students as possible in the coming years. For ASU students, this means #1. An even lower national opinion of the school, and #2. Not everyone will fit on the land-locked Tempe campus. Thus, your college experience might consist of little more than attending classes in an office building in "ghost-town" Downtown Phoenix. That said, student life in Tempe is pretty solid. Mill Avenue has a great college-town atmosphere, and football games are always extremely fun. Dating at ASU can be tough though. Certainly there are tons of beautiful women at ASU, but this also means it can be very difficult to find down-to-earth people. Serious dating is scarce here, and a lot of out of state students from areas such as the midwest often complain about the "fakeness" of ASU students (both in physical appearance and personality traits). So, ultimately, ASU is definitely not for everyone. Its huge, ugly, miserably hot, and it will be more difficult to get into the grad school of your choice outside of ASU. Outside of all of that, it can be a fun place to go to school, but if any of the above are even slight concerns for you, I recommend looking at schools outside of the state of Arizona, as the UofA is essentially ASU, only with a medical school and in one of the trashiest parts of one of the trashiest towns in America. Lastly, I recommend visiting campuses when class is in session and students are on campus. Otherwise, its tough to guage the actual atmosphere of a university. Good luck.