The University of Dayton

Date: Apr 15 2011
Major: Psychology (This Major's Salary over time)
The University of Dayton sucked me in the moment I first stepped foot on campus for a tour. UD is a beautiful campus (which they keep making prettier), and during the warmer months, you'll see many students lying out in Kennedy Field doing schoolwork or professors conducting class in Humanities Plaza.

Academically, I've always had it easy until UD. With effortlessly having a 4.0 in high school, UD challenges me a lot with the vigorous courses. Part of the reason I came here was because of the high standard they set for students. As a soon-to-be junior, I have scheduled courses in a way that will finish the requirements for a B.A. in psychology after the first semester of junior year. Afterwards, I'm planning to spend time taking more classes in my three minors of Philosophy, Human Rights Studies, and Women and Gender Studies. I'd say about 90% of the professors here are helpful and actually will give you one on one time. The other 10% are knowledgeable but aren't the type to give you one on one time. I've had professors help me study for their exams and discuss different aspects of life and psychology with them. As a psychology major, I have been given the opportunity to participate in conducting research studies for the psych department. It is both excellent experience and does not take too much time away from school (it counts as credit if you want).

Social life here is awesome. It's one of the best party schools. If you think you can maintain the party lifestyle here, I wish you luck. Huge parties you can just walk into every weekend night (Thursday-Saturday) makes meeting people easy. There are plenty of extracurriculars, clubs, and service opportunities. The students tend to act like a big family, ironic since many of them are from wealthy upper class families. I've never seen any discrimination due to race or socioeconomic status. Everyone seems to get along. UD has one of the best programs for international students. Many of my closest friends are from out of the country, my best friend being the president of the African Student's Union on campus.

I would say the negative aspects are due to the fact that tuition is costly (around 40K), in correlation with the expenses, UD is not as diverse as it could be (though, they are trying to change that). As many people are upper class or high middle class, it is somewhat frustrating with students since many of them have their tuition, cars, and drinking money funded by their parents. (I have found that it's easier to not get into conversations about money with them as many have no idea of the value of a dollar).

One last thing for parents: UD is a safe school. As a young, white female I have never felt unsafe on campus. While the slums of Dayton aren't too far away, we have the "UD Bubble", that is, the student housing is owned by and fully surrounds the university, so walking back from the library late at night you don't feel alone. Campus police are always driving around checking on things, so they make you feel safe, too. And on those nights you are just too tired or not feeling good about walking home, you can just call public safety, the student run car service, affectionately called "Mom's Limo" as they pick you up for free from wherever you are on campus and take you where you need to go.