The University of Alaska - Fairbanks

Date: Nov 09 2004
Major: Anthropology (This Major's Salary over time)
It has been about 10 years since I attended UAF, so my opinions maybe moldy.

UAF is one of the coolest universities—this is meant in a meteorological sense. If you are looking for palm trees and trade wind extracurricular activities, you better apply elsewhere. Fairbanks has a cold reputation and that's the way the Sourdoughs like it. It not uncommon to have a week of -30 F. Winter can be brutal. When not confined indoors, the wildlife and scenary are awesome.

UAF has some excellent instructors. The Philosophy Department was one of the best in 1994.

UAF also has a few salmon berries. One Journalism Prof.—I feel—gave me a bad grade because of personal, not academic, reasons. Fortunately, I retook the class at another college and turned an unjustified "D" into an "A." If you don't like a particular instructor or an instructor doesn't like you, the chances of taking a second required course—with the aforementioned instructor(s)—are very good. You have a better chance at a larger University to pick your instructors.

Last issue, job placement! Forget UAF's help. I left UAF to find work and pay off the student loans. Lower 48 employers laughed at a UAF degree. If you graduate from UAF, find work in Alaska or go into graduate school. I paid off the last of my student loans in 2002!

My Alaskan friends—who I still write—became a gold mine of "old memories." UAF made me a more rounded individual. I left UAF an idealistic individual; the real world taught me the rest.