from Saudi Arabia to Kansas then to Maine State (Portland: apartment, credit)

[MHBOB51]

hello every body
i have been In US for 2 years and half in Kansas and i'm thinking to move to Maine State.
I just want to ask about ( University of southern maine )
Is it a good school?
Also i want to ask about the weater in winter?
what was the lower digree of thermometer of last year?
and finally how is cost to live next to the university prob.?
I hope somebody can help me in that because I know no body in that area.

[Zymer]

Winter weather- here (just west of Bangor) this past winter for a couple of weeks the temperature was hitting 15 below zero (F). Naturally it gets less cold the further south you are, and/or the closer to the coast you are. It is currently 26*F where I am, at 6:15AM.

[flycessna]

comparing Normal High and Low Temperatures for Portland and Topeka

Months Portland
jan 31/12
feb 34/16
mar 42/25
apr 53/35
may 63/44
jun 73/53
jul 79/59
aug 77/57
sep 69/48
oct 58/37
nov 47/30
dec 36/19

Months topeka
jan 37/17
feb 43/23
mar 55/32
apr 66/43
may 75/53
jun 84/63
jul 89/68
aug 88/65
sep 80/56
oct 69/44
nov 53/32
dec 41/22


I do not know where you are from in kansas so i compared Portland Maine and Topeka Kansas and Portland Maine. Maine is on average colder...And although both states are classified as "humid continental climate" Maine also gets more snow and freezing rain...basically Maine gets more precipitation (wet)

good luck

Cost of living is subjective....depends what kind of money you plan on making. overall Portland Maine runs more expensive than topeka Kansas.

[MHBOB51]

thansk every body for helpyeah i'm from Pittsburg,ks. I know the living ganna be a lot more expensive than in Kansas but i'm just trying to know around how much is ganna be that.thanks again for helpis any body know anything about the school?????

[flycessna]

I personaly believe U maine is one of the best state universities...its affordable and gives you great education....but thats my opinion.

[lrfox]

I am a USM graduate. I transferred to USM from UMaine Farmington and I wouldn't recommend it all that highly. It's cheap, even for an out of stater, there's no question about that, but it's poorly managed (in significant debt) and I've been unimpressed with much of the faculty (there are some great members though).

Are you going to be a traditional student (right out of high school, age 18-22), or non-traditional (older, usually heading back to school after having worked for some years)? Masters or Undergrad? What do you want your degree in? Different programs vary in quality. This schools is best for commuter students and non-traditionals as it's easy to get to, has many programs targeted toward non traditional students, and is pretty affordable.

If I had to, I'd rank the school 3rd out of all of the UMaine system schools behind UMaine Orono and University of Maine at Farmington. That's also with knowing very little about the other Maine system schools (Machias, Augusta, Ft. Kent, UMPI). Again, I think your education is what you make it... USM is easy enough, so if you work hard, you can get your degree and have a high GPA without too much trouble. That being said, if you want to take that degree out of state, the value of it likely won't be as high as say, University of New Hampshire, University of Rhode Island, University of Vermont, UMass, or even UMaine or UMaine Farmington (this based on what I've heard from employers I've talked to).

Truth be told, I feel I would have been better off had I not transferred to USM from UMF, but what's done is done and I have my degree.

Like flycessna, that's one man's opinion... it's dependent on your needs and how hard you work.

If you get an apartment near campus, look to spend anywhere from $500-900/month for a studio 1 bedroom or 2 bedroom apartment (some of the bigger 2 bedrooms will go for over 1,000). I'm currently sharing a nice 1bedroom with my girlfriend close to campus for $795/mo including heat, hot water, electric, off-street parking, and trash removal. Cable is separate.

[flycessna]

I am sorry.....I was not thinking USM....vs UMF....why would there be such a difference...to be honest....I was really thinking of UMO...are they not the same university or at least governed the same...

[lrfox]

^Oh, the author said University of Southern Maine.

If you meant UMO, then I agree with you. It's one of the best state universities in the nation. UMF is very good too; but in MY opinion, USM isn't close to being on par with either of them.

They're all part of the Maine system, but they're governed individually and have very different fields of specialization. While all of the schools are part of the state university system, they operate pretty close to independently. Orono is the flagship school (officially, when you say, "UMaine," it implies Orono). Farmington is much smaller but it has a great education program. USM (which has campuses in Gorham, Portland, Saco, Bath and Lewiston) is a step behind. Poor fiscal responsibility has put the school an a significant amount of debt. Some programs are good (the accounting program is nationally regocnized) but others are not thought highly of nationally (i.e. the school of business where my degree is from).

It's not the worst school in the world, but it's very different (and in my opinion, not as good) as even some of the other schools in the University of Maine system. That doesn't mean it's impossible to get a good education there, beacause it's not; it just means it's harder and that piece of paper may not be quite as valuable as one from another state university.

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by lrfox

^Oh, the author said University of Southern Maine.

If you meant UMO, then I agree with you. It's one of the best state universities in the nation. UMF is very good too; but in MY opinion, USM isn't close to being on par with either of them.

They're all part of the Maine system, but they're governed individually and have very different fields of specialization. While all of the schools are part of the state university system, they operate pretty close to independently. Orono is the flagship school (officially, when you say, "UMaine," it implies Orono). Farmington is much smaller but it has a great education program. USM (which has campuses in Gorham, Portland, Saco, Bath and Lewiston) is a step behind. Poor fiscal responsibility has put the school an a significant amount of debt. Some programs are good (the accounting program is nationally regocnized) but others are not thought highly of nationally (i.e. the school of business where my degree is from).

It's not the worst school in the world, but it's very different (and in my opinion, not as good) as even some of the other schools in the University of Maine system. That doesn't mean it's impossible to get a good education there, beacause it's not; it just means it's harder and that piece of paper may not be quite as valuable as one from another state university.

I'll ask one more question and leave it at that so we're not too much off topic

What about transfering credits.....can you still earn a degree thorugh UMO with 1/2 your credits earned at say USM??

[lrfox]

^It depends on the program you're transferring from. I transferred my business credits from Farmington to USM's School of Business and while many of my credits applied, many others did not. On top of that, if you earn 75 credits at USM and transfer them to UMO, only 60 (50% of the 120 credits needed to graduate) will be applicable toward a degree.

For example, I had a business law class that I took at Farmington only count as an elective at USM due to different standards and course requirements for each university; I had to re-take Business Law at USM even though it was the same material as UMF. My Gen-Ed English Comp. from Farmington was no good and I had to take it again at USM... same exact course (even some of the same books) except USM didn't think my Farmington English was good enough. I had the same problem with a few other courses... they ended up only counting as "general electives" and not being applicable to my degree.

It really depends on the individual degree program. I would check with advisors from both schools before you considered transferring. There's a good chance that had I transfered from a NH or MA state school that more of my credits would have been applicable towards the degree than the ones from Farmington even though USM and Farmington are part of the same state university system.

The same situation applies for transfers between any state school (UMF-USM, USM-UMO, UMFK-UMPI, etc). No matter what, at least 50% of credits applicable towards your degree have to be taken at the school you're getting the degree from.