Quote:
Originally Posted by box_of_zip_disks
It's definitely for a specific person. Most of the people I know who went there dropped out, far more than people who went through the regular undergrad program. On the other hand a few people absolutely thrived who probably would've been disinterested or otherwise hated a more "normal" college experience.
As far as the experiencing other cultures stuff, as with all cultural activities at App, it's very limited as the school is not very diverse. Not that people don't mean well or try, but in my experience the people in charge of those things seem very limited in their own worldview, which in turn affects the programs they're in charge of. Still, if you're coming from an environment where all you've known is your tiny town out in the middle of nowhere, as was the case for most of the university's student body up until very recently, it can be a life-changing experience all the same. But if you're from a more metropolitan area or have experienced other cultures and countries, you'd likely be disappointed.
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I agree. After spending some time at Apps I realize diversity is really a huge problem.
Fall 2010, 17,222 students total, 1,568 out of state, 10% ethnic minorities
Most students are from WNC.(North Carolina counties most represented (all students): Wake, Mecklenburg, Watauga, Guilford, Forsyth, Catawba)
If you are not from this area, you may feel like you are alien... Get an idea and then realize everyone stares at u thinking u are out of ur mind... Everyone from similar background, with similar looks and values. This area is so isolated, which is not great for a college experience. And nobody outside this area has heard of Apps...... maybe they heard about it from the game vs Michigan
However too many students to share the limited resources. Freshmen are no longer guaranteed with on-campus housing b/c of shortage. How ridiculous it is to let students to live in the lobby(so-called waitlist......). Library is so packed that before finals there is even no space to sit(on the floor...)
gonna wait a good while to use computer/printer/scanner sometimes
Class size: If a class has too many people(like 65), that's because general education requires students to take this class which may have nothing to do with this major. I get the point of general education, but students should have their right to choose what they are interested to learn, instead of getting forced into some horrible classes. If the class size is 3 to 4, the class is not popular for whatever reason.
And the budget cut hurts the university so badly.
Cutting good professors and hire those Apps graduates to teach classes(for the sake of cost...), budget is the excuse for everything wrong.
General education is horrible here, which is almost designed to kill students' creativity. Physics labs, just do whatever it says in the lab manual(need to be purchased from university book store, full of errors but not cheap tho...), and write lab reports with imaginary error analysis.
Because of general education, to graduate students needs to finish general education classes taking years, and less than 2 semesters for classes in major.Want to transfer credit to here? It's really hard to transfer credit for classes in major because not a lot colleges require students to spend 3+ years outside the major...
The cost for out of state students is almost as high as NC State. It looks low on the website because the university only count tuition&fee, room and meal. A lot dorm rooms are so old and tiny, meal plan barely enough for half an semester. Some professors requires books to be purchased(even tho they have free rental problem for a lot books). I spend a lot more than what they estimate cuz they ignores all the living cost while a lot colleges don't. Best value? What a joke... Housing in Boone is expensive, so does parking... freshman cannot park on campus, parking waitlist is long like h...
Paying a lot, get little(for some classes, really learn nothing) and can't find a job... or maybe work for the university and face the risk of getting cut at any time.
At Apps, every person can only register 2 devices on the university's network, meaning if someone wants to use both wired and wireless Internet on the laptop, there's no more room for an ipod or anything...... They say the university is going to pay more if they allow everyone to use more than 2 devices....... Wi-Fi speed is really slow, and they set speed limit on students' Internet speed on wired connection( Internet sucks at college, really?) Most public computers still running Windows XP and software a couple years back
What is going on now is they are cutting faculty & staff, offering less sessions/classes, and raises the tuition&fees. The quality of education goes down every year but the tuition keeps raising 10%-20% every year.
Generally most ppl are nice but bureaucracy drives u nuts when something doesn't go as expected... going to offices and different side of campus back and forth for the stupid procedures. They could have done a lot to make the world a better place..... I hoped they would, but usually that doesn't happen.
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