University of Connecticut Top Questions

all the school cares about is making money off of their basketball and football athletes. uconn will also take money from students in any way, shape, or form. instead of putting every ounce of money they have into D1 basketball, they should consider students trying to get a college degree to make a living and put money into reslife.

The best think about UConn is how many people there are and how much stuff there is to do. If I could change anything, I would make it not a dry campus, and I would have campus cops (which are also state cops) to chill out about drinking and weed-smoking regulation. At first UConn seems too big, but if you're a sociable person you'll have fun. When I tell people I go to UConn, everyone knows what I'm talking about, knows us for our good athletics (football and basketball are our star teams-- Big East and everything) and party reputation, but also that it's a pretty tough school academically speaking (at least for out-of-staters to get into). UConn Storrs is in the middle of a cow field-- the only thing to do in Storrs, other than go to the one or two bars and stuff that cater to the students, is to be at UConn. The administration leaves something to be desired, especially when it comes to resident life and getting stuck with crappy housing, or picking classes and getting stuck with a bad pick date and not being able to get into any of your classes. Also, parking on campus is impossible. Having a car is more trouble than it's worth if you live on campus, but useful if you live in an off-campus apartment.

The best thing about UCONN is that there is always someone there to help you out. People think just because UCONN is a big school, that you don't get the resources to help you in your time of need. This is not true. There is a lot of help out there, you just have to go get it. When you first get here, the campus seems huge! After a while, it doesn't seem as big as it used to be. Storrs, CT is basically UCONN. UCONN is its own town, which is a cool thing. One thing that you'll love about UCONN is the amount of school pride. The food isn't that bad either.

This sounds weird, but the best thing about UConn is that even though it's pretty large it can often feel small. Additionally, the large size can really work in your favor (unless you're in an obscure major) because you can avoid bad professors. You can find stuff on almost every UConn professor on ratemyprofessor.com and sites like that simply due to the fact that there are so many students taking so many classes. I suppose the thing I'd change would be that I'd prevent the geese from inhabiting mirror lake for the entire fall semester (they make a mess on the grass and can be noisy) and I would make my freshman dorm closer to the rest of campus. These, however, are trivial things. There are lots of things to do on campus, but you have to take the initiative to involve yourself (go to the involvement fair, pay attention to bulletins and your email, etc). That's one of the big upshots to UConn: it's such a big school that the administration doesn't individually coach every student to success. Instead, the school lays out all of the opportunities and activities for the students and we have to go make decisions for ourselves and manage our own lives on an academic, extra-curricular, and social level. I feel like they leave us to our own devices more than some other school's i've seen, but they still have safety-nets in place if we need help. Every department i've been in has a tutoring center if you need it, and there are groups and organizations to help you for every kind of problem you could possibly get yourself into. Despite the size, they really do care about the students and they make a noticable effort; they just want you to get used to managing your own life because that's what you have to do after you graduate. There is a decent amount of school pride. Whenever you go to an event, you usually get a UConn t-shirt of some type thrown in your direction. Also, because it's a Division I school there are tons of sports, and a lot of them are just on the club or intramural level. I feel like that's just one of many ways students showcase their school pride. Most frequent complaints? That you have 10 minutes, max, to walk from MSB to Arjona in the middle of the winter. But that can usually be solved by some fancy scheduling.

UConn definitely has a large student population and an even larger campus. This can be intimidating, but only if you let it. Once you find your "niche," whether it's a favorite study spot or an extracurricular, you will immediately find that you fit right in. I personally felt welcome here the moment I stepped onto the marching band rehearsal field. It's where I belong.

When I came to UConn it was like being transmitted back to 7th grade. All of the people are superficial and low - no one wants to have real, personal, caring relationships. Rather, the life of a UConn student contains doing enough school work just to get by and then drinking as much as possible during the weekend.

Housing is a big problem and Reslife isn't very understanding or accomodating to those to don't live in CT and need answers and guidance. UCONN likes to say they have school pride but few students do. How can they when we are allotted tickets to football or basketball games. I came here for the teams and the comraderie but I've been to one game in all my years here. I know freshman who got tickets before me as a senior. Transferring here was not fun. While I understand the loss of credits in changing schools, I don't understand how I (and every other transfer I know) was placed in suites rather than dorms. It's difficult to make friends in that type of environment.

There's nothing around except the school. Luckily it's huge, although in the first few months that's intimidating, though now any smaller school would feel constricting for me. There's always something to do if you know enough people/pay attention. It's a bit close to home, as I live in the same state. Most students are from Mass/Conn. We hate on Jersey a bit. The gay culture isn't as prominent as I expected compared to high school. People are accepting, or at least those I associate with are.

Uconn is way too large. I have had a lot of problems getting into classes that I need because they fill so fast. Many classes have 100+ people in them and you do not get to know your professors at all. Socially, due to being such a large school it is hard to form lasting friendships from year to year because you are costantly placed in different groups in such a large amount of people.

When I tell people I go to UConn their eyes always get a bit wider and they smile and nod and say "Oh, UConn's good!" but shortly after that, they ask me how the parties are. I don't go out and drink (i stay in and imbibe, thank you very much. No need to hike to carriage/celeron just for some bad beer and stupid frat boys). But, most often people are pleased, they know uconn's a good school and a prestigious one (even if it "is only a state college") and that I work hard to stay here and do well.