Outside of the education, however, is another story.  I very much feel like a 'number' when dealing with administration and advisors (other than professors).  The campus is unattractive at best, although in fairness there is a lot of construction going on right now and the campus will probably look very different in a year or two.  Parking lots are inherently ugly, but unfortunately, as a commuter campus, they are unavoidable.  The commuter aspect brings me to another topic, namely what I would call the “college experience”.  Students on average are older (I am 30 myself, and rarely the oldest in my class).  Because the great majority of us go home after class, there is not a real college atmoshpere compared to many other places.  There are a few clubs and organizations, but you will have to do some work to be involved in that sort of thing.  As an example, I've been to school at UH for two years, and I don't even know if there is a greek system or not.