The University of Houston

Going to this university has to be the biggest regret of my life so far. I don't know where to start with the negatives. I am 3 credits away from graduating with a biology degree (which is useless, I must say, unless you are planning to go professional school), but I am in the process of transferring to a different university and finding a new major.

1)... UH is a MONEY hungry school. Many times (too many to count) I requested official transcripts to be sent out to my other school. It costs $10 per request. I requested about 7 of them one to just for ONEEE school, and the finally got one on the 7th attempt!! I had to call them almost everyday just to see if they sent it out... They recently updated their system so that they can send out transcripts electronically, and it STILL COSTS $10 per request and it's not even guaranteed to be sent!! And no, I did not get my money back.

Also, tuition continues to climb. You are going pay a high price for low quality education. I'm a biology major, math and health minor, and 95% of the professors just don't give a damn about you. You ask them a question and they respond, "i suggest you read the textbook." 80% of the professors can't even speak English correctly. This school is TRYING to compete with tier 1 schools like UT, A&M, and Rice... but they are no where close to being as good as them..

2)... SAFETY doesn't exist here. It's so dangerous here, there are crimes happening around campus or near campus like everyday. We get emails about rape, being gunned down, cars being stolen, etc... etc... Too much to list. If you want a safe campus, RUN AWAY NOW. I used to take the Metro Bus and one of the stops goes through the campus. THERE WAS A GUY SHOT and KILLED AT THE BUS STOP!! I'll never forget those white sheets over him... The parking lots are located in a 3rd ward area (very dangerous!!)

3)... TRAFFIC/PARKING. If you're not going to live on Campus, driving to school will suck. I started driving to school my 3rd year. I paid almost $200 for an annual parking pass. 95% of the time, it will take you 30+ minutes to find a parking spot (unless you go extremely early). And did I mention that many of those crimes of stealing happen in the parking lots? I finally purchased a garage parking for ~$175 per semester... and it takes me about 20 minutes to walk to my class...

On mapquest, google maps, etc... I live about 30 minutes away from school. HAH! I wish! With traffic, it takes me more than an hour just to get to school (not including finding parking). If I leave school around 4pm-6pm... I won't get home until an hour and a half later... And that's without those frequent crazy drivers who causes accidents...

4)... It's easy to get into. Not a good thing. I slacked off in high school, skipped a couple months of school during my high school years, had a few F's... was in the LOWER 25% of my class. I got a 22 on my ACT, because I didn't study and I just didn't care at the time. But you know what? I still got into UH. It makes you wonder...

5)... In my major, the classes are 100+ people per class. Enough said.I can list many others, but those are the five that pop into my head first.

4th Year Female -- Class 2011

Surrounding City: B+, Friendliness: F

This school doesn't seem to care about people feelings. Even before going to orientation it was a living hell for me they give you poor information regarding the your academics (everything online) the staff treat you horrible no help at all leave you with more question and less answer. They don't inform you regarding what classes to take and if you do qualify to get into classes. They drop classes before informing you but yes they do charge you big time. They took classes from me for reasons that where really stupid but yet they let me register why they didn't informed me that i don't qualify to take it. Now I am stuck being a part-time student with only 9hr. Parking is a living hell it doesn't matter if you get buy the student parking you are going to end up parking in economy everyday save money and don't buy it. No social life very hard to make friends classes are too pack. In my opinion they are just admitting more student to be recognize like UT and Texas A&M like a big power house I honestly think it will never going to happen they see every student as more $$$ for them. Its a great school for people that are less sociable.

1st Year Female -- Class 2014

Education Quality: D+, Useful Schoolwork: F