The University of Utah

Date: Feb 09 2004
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
My years attending Utah can best be described as mixed. I believe the campus setting is one of the most beautiful in the country. The girls were always attractive and the campus large with modern facilities, nestled between the mountains to the east and SLC and the GSL to the west. I felt like I got an excellant undergraduate education at Utah with outstanding and approachable profs and classmates to get me through. Being involved in AFROTC and attending church at the Newman Center helped as well. Sometimes it shocks me to see Utah ranked lower in USNWR's annual rankings then I think it deserves. Despite those positive factors, looking back, the negative factors seemed to outweigh everything else. I feel that Utah looses out because of the lack of diversity in the student body. There has always been a major lack of racial, religious, geographic and ideological diversity—hallmarks of any great public university (ref. Michigan, Virginia & Cal-Berkeley). And of course, the commuter and returned missionary student label placed on the campus has never helped the perception either. Socially, the campus always seemed to be sucked dry of any semblance of social life/activities on weekends, accept for when there were sporting events, and even then the social atmosphere was subdued. I went to my share of some off-campus parties near the U, but I did most of my partying up in Davis County or Ogden with friends who attended Weber State. SLC is a descent sized city, with many things to see and do if you look hard enough with a lot of potential to expand activities, but the LDS church seeps into almost all aspects of life in the city and Univesity therefore depriving many students of a real college-like atmosphere. Since graduation, I've been to Tempe, AZ and to Boulder, CO numerous times. SLC's 400 South, Main and State St have nothing on Mill Ave or the city of Boulder combined. With all that said, I feel that Utah will never be anything more then what it is; Utah's flagship University, serving Utah's mostly homogenous population with a solid college education. All the while the Administration offers lip service about wanting to increase overall student diversity. But the reality of the situation is that the Administration is not putting their actions where their mouth's are.