University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Top Questions

How competitive it really is.

I wish i would have known how liberal it is. I came from a small midwestern, very conservative town so it was quite a surprise to be surrounded by a very liberal environment. However, due to the large population, there are still conservatives around, just not as many as the midwest. I also wish I would've known how big the campus really is. In part it's awesome to have such a huge campus, but it makes for a trek to class if you have to cross campus. Bring comfy shoes!

I wish I would have known how "at home" I would feel at the University of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota was my essentially my last choice for continuing my education, and to this very day I still don't know what compelled me to choose the University of Minnesota, but today, I couldn't be happier to attend such a great school. I feel like I'm apart of a community, and that I have over 48,000 other classmates, and professors, that want to see me succeed as badly I want to succeed myself.

It is ok to fail, no one will hate you and it won't ruin your academic plans.

I wish I had known about the financial aid options available to me sooner. I decided to go to a smaller university for my first several years of college because I didn't think going to a large college would be affordable. I think I would have gotten a more efficient route to my degree if I would have started at the University of Minnesota rather than transferring. That being said, going to the smaller university first has allowed me to participate in a unique dual degree program that I would not have heard about otherwise.

More people.

I wish I would have known to try out a few different major paths before committing to one. The University of Minnesota has so many different degree options (including a create your own degree where you can pick portions from three undergraduate majors) that it would have been nice to try a few more classes before launching into my degree.

I wish I knew how helpful the professors were going to be. I went in thinking that they weren't going to care about me. I'm just one out of hundreds of their students, but they really do care about you and want to help you succeed.

One thing I wish I would have known is what food choices I had offered by my university. I do not find our dining hall meal system to be as good as it could be. Although this likely would not have been important enough to me to change my decision about attending my university, it may have been helpful to take it into consideration before comnig here.

I wish I had known about campus resources for financial aid, disability services, and had help about finding jobs.

College is not as easy as high school was. It is necessary to pay attention in class, take notes and study before tests. There isn't as much required homework in classes but it is still necessary to work on classwork every night and it's harder to pass a test without studying. It's also important to make friends when the school gives you the opportunities during orientation because it's hard to make them once the semester begins.

Nothing, the university seems great and I love learning all about it through orientations.

That some classes are unnecessary to take. They may be fun/easy but don't help you with your major.

Be ready to grow. You can achieve whatever you want. Sometimes it is easy to get into a fixed mindset and feel as if there is no chance of improving because you have to inheriently be good at something. Keep trying and know that you will improve at whatever you are struggling with. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

That I was going to have to push myself harder than ever. I've always been ambitious and driven but living on my own and not having that support of my mom there with me was hard. I think I knew that this time would come but I wasnt expecting everything to become a big reality check. Also the transportation is something I wish I would have known about. The campus is huge and not knowing how to ride the campus connectors can also be a great hastle. My classes would be so far apart and walking is tiring.

Though I already knew a fair amount about the University of Minnesota by taking some high school courses there, I was pleasantly surprised that the overall rating of the University is not representative of each individual college. I learned that the College of Biological Sciences (my college) was by far the most selective, and during Nature of Life (a summer course required for all CBS students), I learned that the professors were incredibly approachable and knowledgeable.

I wish I had known what it was going to take sooner.

I wish I knew more about the campus. I kind of attended it on a whim and you should never do that when choosing something that is going to have a big part in the rest of your life.

If you don't get to know people right off the bat, it can become really cliquey and hard to form friendships outside of the ones you made

Become involved in activities that you care about right away. The University of Minnesota is a huge school and joining extracurricular activities is a greast way to make friends and to make yourself stand out. There are so many things to do on campus that cover every area of interest that there is no reason to not be involved in something.