University of Alaska Anchorage. (Houston, Central: high school, stats, move)

[Lildevited]

Hello all. Currently, our family just moved from NC to Houston, TX. I hate it here, it's way too hot and the city is ghetto. I've always liked Anchorage through photos and videos. It seems like an excellent city. Anyways, I'm currently in high school and looking into colleges to attend. On my list are: LSU, UNCC, Ole Miss, University of Minneapolis Twin Cities, or UAA. Since it's for college, if I don't like Anchorage, I could just move after the 4 years. So it's kind of like a life adventure.

My few concerns are that it might feel isolated and the cold.
-While I LOVE cold weather, I've heard horror stories about the cold in AK.
I'm used to the lows being 25 degrees in the mornings in North Carolina, so how do you think I'll do in Anchorage?

Also, does Anchorage feel isolated? I grew up in a town of about 15,000 but we were 35 minutes away from downtown Charlotte.

And lastly, do you recommend the college for someone from the lower 48?
Anyways, Thanks for the advice in advance.

[noimagination]

UAA is nowhere close to UMN-TC or some of the other schools on your list. Even UAF isn't, and it is a far better school.

What are your stats from high school?

[richelles]

I have been on each of the campuses you mention except for Minn. UAA is quite small if you're comparing them to North Carolina, LSU, or Old Miss where my daughter is on the faculty. The size of the campus seems small to me but then I went to UF, South Florida and Central Florida, which is now the fifth largest University based on enrollment. That might make some difference to you but the weather is going to be the thing that is different. I spent the last twenty years in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee and during that period of time I came to Alaska at least once or twice a year. The Winter trips had weather far worse than you're used to in North Carolina but you can dress for that. The thing I found the hardest to get used to was the lack of daylight. In June it is still daylight at 11 PM and by 3 AM it is light again. Reverse that during the Winter with very short periods of full daylight and that only when the clouds aren't covering things. Right now it gets dark quick for me having left North Carolina at the end of August this year. Plus you might have to get used to snow on the mountains all year when you look up at them. But I've also seen Anchorage with much better weather than the 90+ degrees I saw when we left in August a few weeks ago.