The University of Houston Downtown

3rd Year Female -- Class 2015

Education Quality: A+, Perceived Campus Safety: D

I was pleasantly surprised with UHD. I went to UHD after attending Lone Star, and then attending HCC and graduating with an Associate of Arts degree.

Overall my experience at UHD was far better than the community colleges. Although they are not perfect, *most* of the administrative departments (admissions, advising, etc) are pretty good and actually seem interested in helping you. This was the exact opposite experience at HCC, for example.

UHD is a perfect school for an adult who works a full time job, as there are a great deal of night and online classes. UHD also now has two satellite campuses that you can also take classes at, which makes it even easier to get to after work.

UHD is mostly tailored to mid level social sciences/liberal arts. Although they do have a college of math and natural sciences, it is certainly not prestigious. If you are a prodigy/gifted in the natural sciences this is probably not the school for you.

If you are fresh out of high school this may also not be the school for you. There is *very* little in the way of student groups, social events, etc. It is almost exclusively a school designed for working adults. There are no crazy parties or lots of social events/sports if that is what you are looking for.

I have also taken a few classes at UH Central. I can say that the academic requirements at UH Central seem to be much more stringent than UHD, and honestly UHD can not compete when it comes to the variety of programs/classes/etc at UH Central. This does not mean that UHD is easy - it is considerably more academic than a community college, but it is definitely not as academic as UH Central. On the plus side, UHD is a lot less expensive.

I am a Criminal Justice major and business minor. I can say that the criminal justice classes seem "complete" and appropriate to the major. They are not super challenging. The business classes, however, can be extremely challenging. Many of the business classes do not play around and will not hesitate to fail you. If you get a business degree from UHD it will be a serious degree.

If you are worried about UHD being open admissions causing the school to fill up with remedial level students who disrupt/lower the standards..... well, don't worry.

Since I graduated with an associates degree at HCC I never had to take any 1000 or 2000 level classes at UHD. Therefore I don't know what the average student is like at those levels. (usually the weak ones will drop out at those levels) However, at the 3000 and 4000 levels the students have been much more academically prepared than your typical community college student.UHD also have safeguards to prevent open admissions from disrupting upper level classes. For example, the school will not allow a student to declare a major until they have completed the majority of the required 1000 and 2000 level courses. They also have priority registration periods that allows upper level students to register for classes earlier than those who are not yet able to declare a major. Overall I have found that this system works very well.

3rd Year Male -- Class 2012

Education Quality: A+, Surrounding City: C-

First of all, I want to point out that although UHD is open admission, it does not mean that it should be looked down upon. In fact, I am a current freshman at UHD and I chose to attend there because of the friendly enviornment and affordable tuition. I graduated from my high school in the top 7%, so I didn't come here because of the open admission, but for the many opportunities UHD provides. Yes, it may be small and developing, but it is a great place to start. The professors actually care and the average students in a class is about 25. Besides the school experience, UHD is right next to the metro rail line which provides easy access to restaurants and shopping. Take advantage of everything UHD has to offer.

1st Year Female -- Class 2014

Education Quality: A+, Campus Aesthetics: B-