The University of Kentucky

Date: Oct 22 2011
Major: Education (This Major's Salary over time)
I graduated from a very small high school in Kentucky (I was first in a class of 24). Naturally, I expected it to be hard for me to adjust to the atmosphere of such a large school. I did not expect, however, to learn so much about UK that I wish wasn't true. I have only been at UK for almost one semester now, but I know my complaints aren't the typical complaints of freshmen. I truly do not like UK. While it is hard for me to summarize my experience so far here at UK, I will try to do so.

Greek life is HUGE at UK. Don't let anyone tell you that you are guaranteed to be fine if you do not go Greek. While I'm sure there have been a few people enjoy their time at UK without going Greek, I doubt there are many. Since the school is so large, it is extremely hard to meet people. Let me reword that: it isn't that hard to meet people, but it is very hard to meet people that you would actually enjoy spending time with. Sure, Greek life is big on any campus. However, I would be much more apt to rush for a sorority at EKU (where I will be transferring next semester) than at UK, since my friend at EKU pays $250 a semester for sorority fees, whereas my friend at UK pays around $900 a semester for sorority fees. And let's not even talk about how much the fee for the first semester is at UK.

If you don't feel the need to drink and party every single weekend, Thursday through Saturday, then UK probably isn't the place for you. I feel as if there are very few places you can truly bond with people because all people do is party. They obsess over drinking. If you aren't like that, then chances are that you will be bored at UK.

Teachers at UK don't care about their students - at least most of them don't, anyway. A lot of them are arrogant and only at UK to do research. There is no room to develop a personal relationship with professors or other instructors. This was a huge change for me, as most of the people who have made the biggest impact in my life were teachers.

Also, there really aren't that many ways to get involved. I was the captain of two varsity sports and the president of five clubs my senior year of high school, and I still didn't even get called for an interview for a freshman leadership program,. However, a girl I know who has fewer accomplishments than me was accepted into the program, what I think based solely on the fact that her sorority sister was the president of the program. There are intense politics involved in everything here at UK. It's all about who you know, or rather who you can afford to know.

To sum it all up, I'd say do not come to UK if you were an involved member of your high school. Do not come to UK if you are in the lower class of society - most kids here are rich and snobby. Do not come to UK if you want to stay active in sports - I didn't even know anyone to get intramural teams together. Do not come to UK if you care more about real friendships than meeting people at parties. Do not come to UK if you plan on going anywhere at night, because it's dangerous. Do not come to UK if you don't prefer to leave your car parked at the Stadium all week long. Do not come to UK if you don't have friends coming with you. Basically, just do not come to UK.