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Hi everyone! I'm a 19 year old female going to community college in Southern California, about an hour east of LA. I'm trying to transfer and my parents really want me to look at University of Utah. They really rave about SLC and Utah in general. I have a friend (well my brother's friend) who goes to U of U from my city and he really loves it. They are coming up to SLC for a week and I decided to go with them for the weekend to explore the city and to check out the U of U. I might as well give it a chance. I was thinking of meeting up with him, but I'm not sure. I don't talk to him that much, he's my brother's friend. We are going next weekend and will tour the university the following Monday.
Anyways I'm worried that SLC and the U of U won't be a good fit for me. First of all, coming from SoCal and being a transfer student, I'm worried about making friends. Obviously I want to make a great group of friends, and it's really hard to meet people at my "community" college. I only know that one guy, but I don't think I want to hang out with him that much, because me and my brother are completely different people and his friend and I don't have much in common. Also being a transfer student a lot of people will already have made their friend groups. I'm worried that I will have no one to befriend. Is this a valid concern or will I be just fine? I'm a nice, caring person and really fun and funny, but can be shy, especially with new people and big groups, so it's kind of hard for me it make new friends.
As an atheist, I'm also worried about not being mormon or religious. I don't mind being friends with religious people and mormons, but I don't want just mormons and super religious friends. I'm also not super conservative either, I consider myself more libertarian than anything. Will it be hard to find like-minded people?
Also how would I like SLC? I am a huge lover of big, urban cities with diversity and lots of things to do. I'm worried about SLC being too small and not urban enough for me. However my dad explained that for college your whole life will mainly consist within a two-mile of the campus, so I guess it doesn't matter too much. I will definitely want to get off-campus and explore the city though. Will I find a lot of things to do in SLC? Also I know SLC would be much better than my boring small town I've lived in for the past 13 years, so even if it's not New York, I think I'll enjoy it. Also it's only for 2-3 years, I can always move after graduation if I don't like it. However I do want to be in a fun city I can tolerate living in for the next 2-3 years. It's college after all, I do want to have fun!
I know Utah is big on outdoor activities, like hiking and skiing. However, I'm not an active person. Well I go to the gym 5x a week and I like to walk outside, but I'm not that big on outdoor activities. I like city life way more than outdoor activities. I don't even take advantage of the hiking, beaches, and mountains in California, so I doubt I'd do it in Utah.
Anyways how are the academics at U of U? This is the most important question. How is the business school there? My major is marketing, but I still am thinking of a bunch of different other majors (accounting, finance). So I might want to add a double major or a minor in there to make me looks as competitive as possible to future employers. Is the school looked highly upon outside of Utah because I'm not sure I want to always live in Utah and would probably want to move to a bigger city after graduation.
How are the classes sizes too? This is a reason why I don't want to go to UC's or cal-states. The classes are impacted so it's very hard to get the classes you need and most people never graduate on time. I'm already behind so this is a major concern for me. The class sizes are very big too. I learn much better with small class sizes and discussions. Also I don't have enough credits to transfer to them anyways so I'm looking mainly at out of state public schools and private schools. I'm leaning more towards private schools because I love small class sizes and I don't want to feel like just a number.
So if anyone could address my concerns about U of U and SLC that would be great. Would I be happy there?
Also is there anything we should check out or do on our visit next weekend? Thanks so much!
The U won't really be affected by the religiosity at all. I am told it is a commuter school, not really a campus feel, SLC is not a big urban diverse city, to me is is like a rather white country town that sprawls out to the burbs. The U area though, is nice to visit from the burbs LOL.
Re academics, do you have the ability to be selective? I am sure there are better venues to research that than here. Look at ratings (UNSWR etc, business press outlets) and try college confidential (the u doesn't even have it's own page there though). Look at the common data set for graduation rate, you probably won't even find 4 yr quoted, more like 6, or maybe 7.
Is the U a cheap option for you, are you aiming at ease of residential status as a cost factor? I mean, I LOL (!) but business, accounting, etc that is BYU's thing.
Utah is outdoors, it is fabulous, to come here as an indoor person seems really counter intuitive. To me, the U is cheap for instate or high stats kids with scholarships but seems a lot of money for out of state without any sweeteners. University of Utah: Eccles School of Business - Undergraduate Profile - Businessweek
The U won't really be affected by the religiosity at all. I am told it is a commuter school, not really a campus feel, SLC is not a big urban diverse city, to me is is like a rather white country town that sprawls out to the burbs. The U area though, is nice to visit from the burbs LOL.
Re academics, do you have the ability to be selective? I am sure there are better venues to research that than here. Look at ratings (UNSWR etc, business press outlets) and try college confidential (the u doesn't even have it's own page there though). Look at the common data set for graduation rate, you probably won't even find 4 yr quoted, more like 6, or maybe 7.
Is the U a cheap option for you, are you aiming at ease of residential status as a cost factor? I mean, I LOL (!) but business, accounting, etc that is BYU's thing.
Utah is outdoors, it is fabulous, to come here as an indoor person seems really counter intuitive. To me, the U is cheap for instate or high stats kids with scholarships but seems a lot of money for out of state without any sweeteners. University of Utah: Eccles School of Business - Undergraduate Profile - Businessweek
Well I mean my parents will be paying for college, and we get no financial aid, sadly. It's not like we're super rich or anything though. My parents are always stressing about money actually. I mean my parents say the cost of the college shouldn't matter, they want to support me no matter what, but I would feel bad going to a very expensive school since we don't get any financial aid. I think I would get some scholarship money at least, as my grades are competitive. Not sure how much though. Also I think U of U does the western exchange program, and since I'm from California I could get in-state tuition. That would be amazing, but again, I need to confirm that. But if I don't get in-state tuition or a scholarship I don't think I would be that interested.
Honestly my academic situation is different. I went to a 4-year college and dropped out (lots of reasons why) and I started going to community college but don't have many credits. So a lot of schools won't consider me a transfer student because I don't have enough credits. I have to use my high school grades as well. So I'm a little lost and honestly at this point begging for a school to take me in. I'm not really interested in going back to my other school either. I'm having a really bad experience at my community college and since my parents have the funds to pay for a 4-year college and I have the grades to get into some, they don't think community college is necessary for me. I agree with them and I certainly want to get out of here ASAP. Now I suffered the consequences of dropping out, but if I don't have to go to community college for 2-3+ years, then I definitely won't do it.
Business and accounting is BYU's thing? Now that's a school I'm just completely not interested. I will look into the ratings more and do more research.
To be rather blunt..with your parents paying for college, I don't think you should hesitate about picking the U or for that matter USU in logan which is much more cheaper
I graduated from the U of U in 2013 and absolutely loved it. SLC is big enough and diverse enough that you can find people that share common interests with you. The city of SLC is much more diverse than the suburbs with people from varying backgrounds and beliefs. As far as the business school, it was just rebuilt and its a really good program from what I have heard. It's an emerging university that has really exploded over the last decade, and especially since becoming a member of the PAC-12. I think you could be a good fit, and ultimately you can get whatever you want out of the experience. I would suggest that if you want to meet people on campus, join a club on campus as there are hundreds of them. If you have any questions ask away and I would be happy to answer.
I think you should look into the way you can establish instate so at least it would be cheaper (Utah is very generous with the instate establishment, unlike Cali etc). If you have dropped out of 4 yr and dropped out of CC, your parents sure are tolerant. Cali has such a plethora of great schools the idea of paying full OOS tuition in Utah, assuming you are in state for california, is kind of crazy. Are your parents pointing you at Utah for specific reasons? How old are you now?
Also how would I like SLC? I am a huge lover of big, urban cities with diversity and lots of things to do. I'm worried about SLC being too small and not urban enough for me. However my dad explained that for college your whole life will mainly consist within a two-mile of the campus, so I guess it doesn't matter too much. I will definitely want to get off-campus and explore the city though. Will I find a lot of things to do in SLC? Also I know SLC would be much better than my boring small town I've lived in for the past 13 years, so even if it's not New York, I think I'll enjoy it. Also it's only for 2-3 years, I can always move after graduation if I don't like it. However I do want to be in a fun city I can tolerate living in for the next 2-3 years. It's college after all, I do want to have fun!
I know Utah is big on outdoor activities, like hiking and skiing. However, I'm not an active person. Well I go to the gym 5x a week and I like to walk outside, but I'm not that big on outdoor activities. I like city life way more than outdoor activities. I don't even take advantage of the hiking, beaches, and mountains in California, so I doubt I'd do it in Utah.
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So if anyone could address my concerns about U of U and SLC that would be great. Would I be happy there?
Also is there anything we should check out or do on our visit next weekend? Thanks so much!
These are major red flags IMO. SLC is very very far removed from being a big urban city and the outdoor culture is very strong. There are lots of places that qualify without going to the extreme of NY. Also, using your father's logic a country-loving person would be fine at NYU. It's simply not the case. Your whole life will absolutely NOT be within a 2 mile radius, and even if it were wouldn't you want that area to be compatible with your interests and personality? On its face it sounds like a lot of other places would be a better fit. I love SLC, but it doesn't seem to match your own criteria very well.
These are major red flags IMO. SLC is very very far removed from being a big urban city and the outdoor culture is very strong. There are lots of places that qualify without going to the extreme of NY. Also, using your father's logic a country-loving person would be fine at NYU. It's simply not the case. Your whole life will absolutely NOT be within a 2 mile radius, and even if it were wouldn't you want that area to be compatible with your interests and personality? On its face it sounds like a lot of other places would be a better fit. I love SLC, but it doesn't seem to match your own criteria very well.
As a University of Utah alumna and a huge fan of Salt Lake City, I think you've made some pretty good observations.
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Now that's a school I'm just completely not interested. I will look into the ratings more and do more research. 
