Tell Me About The 'U' (Minneapolis, Dakota: house, dorm, public school)

[DannyBanany]

Hello all!

I am from South Dakota and after taking a year and a half off after graduation I am 80% sure that I want to go to the University of Minnesota. I am very good in French. It's part of my heritage and I visited France a couple years ago, so I know that it is what I want to major in. If another profession comes along too so be it.

My question is how good of a school is The U? Are the language programs very good? Is it easy to get around? Is there any advice you may have for me? I am from South Dakota and I get reciprocity so The U is a good choice for me financially too. I am an only child so this is the first time my family has had to deal with 'college decisions' and we're totally blind!

Also, can I get around in campus easily without a car? I have been to Minneapolis several times to visit friends so I know all about the cold. Can I get around campus without freezing my feet off?

That's all the questions I have for now. I may ask a few more later, but I just wanted to get the ball rolling. Thanks in advance for all the help and advice!

[talktobrent]

You'll probably get mixed responses but... The U is currently trying to market itself as a cream-of-the-crop school academically (elitist in my opinion). I really noticed it this year, just seems like more type A personalities running around, and a less visible slacker presence (I'm holding it down there). Even before the "transformation," I think the U was always respected and taken seriously. As far as reputation and academics it's a good school. With that said, be prepared for a soul-less bureaucratic institution. The school is too large for it's own good, yet they still have many more applicants than they can let in. Customer service is worse than the DMV, nothing but attitude, attitude, attitude. Like I said, people are banging on the doors to get in, so if you don't want to eat their s*it, some optimistic fresh high school grad will. I suspect the administrative/billing/customer service problems will only get worse.

[DannyBanany]

Thanks for the heads up. I have heard that UMN is a pretty good school and that in some cases it can even be hard to get into. I imagine a school with 50,000+ students is somewhat impersonal but I have a few friends in Minneapolis and I've been there plenty of times so I think that makes it that much easier to adapt.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

In regards to the car question. I think the bus system at the U is very good and you'll find alot of what you need is within walking distance. Also, if you have a bike you'll be able to get anywhere you need in September, October, April and May, but I think there will be times in the winter months where you feel stranded. If you're in a dorm on campus I think you'll be ok without a car, but having one will make life alot more convenient for you.

[Thedosius]

I didn't have quite such a negative impression as a previous poster, but I will agree with the "impersonal" aspect of going to the U. Of course, that's almost a logical consequence of being a school of 50,000+.

I actually started going to the U back in the 90's, and double-majored in French and German. I think the French program is fine- I just got to a point where I realized that I didn't want to do anything the degree was really meant for, so I stopped going to school and went to work full time. Once you get into the higher levels of language studies, you start doing literary criticism and the like, which for me was a little irksome since I felt like I got to a point where I was writing more and more absurd critiques and still getting A's. Ultimately, to learn a language, you need to speak/read/hear it a lot, and regardless of the exact course of study you take, that is a given in a language program. All classes from 2nd year on are almost always completely in French.

I got around just fine without a car at the U. In fact, I took the light rail to the stop nearest the U, which is a bit of a walk. The campus is divided by the river, over which a covered bridge runs. Once on either side of the river, there is a complicated little run of tunnels that connect the buildings. They take a little while to get used to- and can be a little creepy sometimes (some date back to the late 1800's...)- but on a cold day they're a life-saver.

Good luck- I hope it works out for you!

[DannyBanany]

Thanks again guys! You're all so helpful! Thed, do you do anything now with your French major? I plan on double majoring in another field along with French but I don't really know what to do yet. I thought a lot about marketing and advertising.

Can you tell me if professors and advisors are helpful at UMN?

[Thedosius]

I am not doing anything with my French major now, but I also did not complete it. For a while I worked at an ad agency where I placed ads for Medtronic's cardiological line in French magazines. That was pretty cool. We also pitched for a company in Quebec, so I prepped staff on some basic French terms (but we didn't get the business anyway).

I went through the French program a little over 10 years ago, and honestly my favorite teachers were visiting profs from France, so none of them are still there. That isn't to say that the department is poor- I never had a prof or TA I didn't like. It's just that my favorites are no longer around.

[Minnehahapolitan]

Originally Posted by DannyBanany

Hello all!

I am from South Dakota and after taking a year and a half off after graduation I am 80% sure that I want to go to the University of Minnesota. I am very good in French. It's part of my heritage and I visited France a couple years ago, so I know that it is what I want to major in. If another profession comes along too so be it.

My question is how good of a school is The U? Are the language programs very good? Is it easy to get around? Is there any advice you may have for me? I am from South Dakota and I get reciprocity so The U is a good choice for me financially too. I am an only child so this is the first time my family has had to deal with 'college decisions' and we're totally blind!

Also, can I get around in campus easily without a car? I have been to Minneapolis several times to visit friends so I know all about the cold. Can I get around campus without freezing my feet off?

That's all the questions I have for now. I may ask a few more later, but I just wanted to get the ball rolling. Thanks in advance for all the help and advice!

The U of M is strong academically. It isn't Mich. or Wis., but you can take the degree pretty much anywhere.
Getting around is OK. I would actually dissuade you from driving, even if you live off-campus. Parking is tight, not guaranteed and almost never near your classes. You can get a semester-long city bus pass for cheap. That, in conjunction with a bike, should get you around pretty good. There are people who bike year-round, too.
The Univ. is bureaucratic, but I found that staff at least tries. If you can fight for yourself and are proactive, it isn't much a problem. If you are the type who needs things planned out for you, don't come here. Do your homework before you meet with your advisor. Map out your plan in achieving your major, and then present that. If you just show up and sit at the meeting, they can only do so much.
Good Luck.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by DannyBanany

I have heard that UMN is a pretty good school and that in some cases it can even be hard to get into.

Whether UMN is a good school or not is going to be a personal opinion, although in the cases of athletics and scientific research, then yes, it is tops.

UMN is a public school. If it was smaller then it could be considered a public Ivy. Actually getting into UMN is not that difficult, however, universities are broken down into separate colleges and getting into a certain college at the U could be very competitive.

Originally Posted by talktobrent

The U is currently trying to market itself as a cream-of-the-crop school academically (elitist in my opinion). I really noticed it this year, just seems like more type A personalities running around, and a less visible slacker presence (I'm holding it down there). Even before the "transformation," I think the U was always respected and taken seriously.

The U has been a top research school for a long time. The rest of the university has been everything in between. But, yes, the U is currently standing at around the third best research school in the country, and is plying for second best in the world. Good stuff, but that does not amount to a hill of beans if you are a humanities major.

Just out of curiosity, why would you want to be a slacker in college? Back when Animal House came out that sort of mentality made more sense since college was a whole lot cheaper back then (even compared to the dollar of those days). I just do not understand why someone would be so willing to use others peoples money to accomplish nothing or to put yourself into some serious debt just so you could lounge around. Do you do the frisbee thing?

[DannyBanany]

Originally Posted by Thedosius

I went through the French program a little over 10 years ago, and honestly my favorite teachers were visiting profs from France, so none of them are still there. That isn't to say that the department is poor- I never had a prof or TA I didn't like. It's just that my favorites are no longer around.

Thanks for the heads up! I had a great teacher in high school and I'm hoping that I'll be able to test out of a few classes so I can move ahead more quickly. It's neat that they bring in profs from France. You're really making this decision easier for me! Thanks!

Originally Posted by Minnehahapolitan

The U of M is strong academically. It isn't Mich. or Wis., but you can take the degree pretty much anywhere.
Getting around is OK. I would actually dissuade you from driving, even if you live off-campus. Parking is tight, not guaranteed and almost never near your classes. You can get a semester-long city bus pass for cheap. That, in conjunction with a bike, should get you around pretty good. There are people who bike year-round, too.
The Univ. is bureaucratic, but I found that staff at least tries. If you can fight for yourself and are proactive, it isn't much a problem. If you are the type who needs things planned out for you, don't come here. Do your homework before you meet with your advisor. Map out your plan in achieving your major, and then present that. If you just show up and sit at the meeting, they can only do so much.
Good Luck.

Thanks. Luckily I'm pretty outgoing and I wouldn't mind asking questions and coming up with a plan. It's just that I'm an only child so my family hasn't been through this process before and we're a little blind and nervous of what to expect. I mean my parents went to college but that was in the 1970s-80s when things were different (cheaper ) and they went really close to home. That's another thing I need to plan out... FINANCES!

Originally Posted by K-Luv

UMN is a public school. If it was smaller then it could be considered a public Ivy. Actually getting into UMN is not that difficult, however, universities are broken down into separate colleges and getting into a certain college at the U could be very competitive.

The U has been a top research school for a long time. The rest of the university has been everything in between. But, yes, the U is currently standing at around the third best research school in the country, and is plying for second best in the world.

I have heard that it is difficult to get into the business school an the U but I have not heard about languages. I wonder if expectations are really high...

Unfortunately, I was in the lower half of my class and I did not realize how important high school was at the time. I had pretty good test scores but my GPA was for crap.