The University of Louisville

Date: Dec 28 2009
Major: Economics (This Major's Salary over time)
I'm currently a second year student from New York, and here's how my personal experience and others opinions of U of L has shaped up my evaluation of the university. For me, U of L has been both a negative and positive experience, and this will hopefully serve as a decent indicator as to if you feel this school is the right fit for you.

Academics: Clearly, it's no Ivy League, or Public Ivy for that matter. There are varying difficulties among majors. Business majors (like myself) can coast through lower level electives and find their course loads fairly full when they hit their 300 level classes. Speed School is over saturated and the first year is spent weeding out the unfit and unmotivated. However, those that stick with it will be rewarded (one of my friends will start an internship with GE at $19/hour, $6 higher and a whole of a lot more prestigious than a friend of mine back home whose an engineering student on internship at Lehigh). Nursing is just as competitive yet rewarding as speed school. The SPAD program is one of the best in the country (when compared to other SPAD programs). Overall, the university has some extremely bright individuals you see at your top classes, yet they seem to be lost in the crowds of the lower level classes that are indeed dumbed down (everything I learned in CHEM 101 was recycled from my high school class). Though good grades will get you far, it?s almost just as important how well you do as to how well you know others on campus.

Resources: They exist, and the may be some of the most under utilized of any college I have heard of. The people I?ve worked with through the career center and the study abroad at the College Of Business have been very helpful, yet they are buried in the basement and easy to dismiss as they do the bare minimum to make themselves noticeable. Though professors seem to be very well connected, they will not seek out students past the occasional in class questions. However, they love when their students approach them and will be very helpful if you use these relationships towards recommendations down the road. The university is very well connected with the city, and lots of career opportunities will present themselves to those that take advantage of the aforementioned resources.

Student Body: A decent percentage of the student body wants a more residential campus, yet a lot of students hold an apathetic view towards school. Many use poverty as their excuse for attending U of L and see it more as a jail sentence rather than going to college. Though my freshman dorm experience at Stevenson Hall suffered due to this being the reserved space for these types of students, this hall has since closed so others won?t suffer from such. Similar to the professors, new students will have to seek out new friends, and the best way to go about this is joining some sort of RSO. Had I not joined a fraternity and a club sports team, I would not still be at Louisville. It?s almost too easy to completely bypass social interaction with anyone on this campus. When you get involved in groups that force social interaction and commitment, you are able to meet new people and build relationships. Greek life is not nearly as intense as at other colleges, as many people who end up in Greek organizations had no original intentions of doing so. Yet most will agree it was an excellent decision. Overall, the student body is very mixed; those with the right attitudes can have fun and enjoy their college experience, while those that further themselves from the university and its body will leave the school with bitter feelings.

Overall: Regardless if the University of Louisville is a commuter campus or not, it is still home to 20,000+ students, and it?s easy to become another number. As with any large university, you have to distinguish yourself by learning to become outgoing and forcing yourself into awkward social situations. Being an extremely shy person, I ?jumped? my first month here and followed the aforementioned advice, and it has made all the difference between being here and back home in New York. I found U of L an example of real life. Many people match and exceed expectations they set for themselves. Many people let themselves fall by the wayside and blame the school for not doing all it could do to ensure they succeeded. You could apply this sentiment to undergraduate performance, post collegiate preparation, and social connecting. The sky?s the limit: challenger yourself in these aspects and you will be rewarded. Do the bear minimum with these aspects, and you will find yourself ill prepared to enter the real world, because those that have 2.6 GPAs, no affiliation with any on campus organizations, and are seen as a ID number by their professors will not get the votes of confidence from future employers they?ll need to succeed in the real world.

A final word of advice: U of L is not a perfect school for everyone. If you do not think this school is right for you after a year, I would encourage transferring (as I would to any student). What I don't suggest is letting four years go to naught, and then blaming the university for not providing the experience you hoped to acquire. The U of L experience will result very differently for many people. Hope this review will help you evaluate yourself as a U of L student.