Valparaiso University

Date: Apr 23 2008
Major: Meteorology (This Major's Salary over time)
The educational quality of Valparaiso University is largely excellent, but in order to attain your coveted degree, you will have to endure four years of bad conditions.

First the good: the professors are approachable, and usually very good. If the professor has tenure, he or she can pretty much be expected to be a solid teacher and good with students.

Now, without the good, the bad would make this university completely intolerable. First, the campus has got to be one of the ugliest suburban campuses in the country. It is HORRIBLY maintained. Sidewalks are cracked everywhere, flood significantly every time it rains, and are rarely put in a place that actually follows the most likely walking path for students. Second, the all-round management is terrible. This is made clear by the terrible misappropriation of money. The campus technologies are horrendous, the dorms are almost all shabby and poorly maintained, professors frequently complain about their low incomes, and little to no money is spent on landscaping. Thirdly, the surrounding city is AWFUL. There is literally nothing to do any day of the week besides go out to eat. And that's what you see - it is nearly impossible to get into a restaurant in this town of 30,000 on a Friday or Saturday night. Also, until recently, there were and still are almost no sidewalks connecting the campus with the city, forcing students to walk on the roads (in the winter) and in the grass/dirt in the fall/spring. There ARE a number of good restaurants right off campus, but given the lack of sidewalks and crosswalks, it is very difficult to walk to them. Lastly, the surrounding region of Northwest Indiana is arguably the ugliest section of the United States. Not helping this at all is the fact that it is snowy, cold and muddy for about half of the school year, making it about as drab as could possibly be conceived.

To summarize: if education is the only thing important to you in a college, then this school is worth a look. If you're looking for a aesthetically-pleasing, enjoyable, memorable college experience, then you could pick nearly any other college in the country and do better than Valpo.