The University of North Carolina - Charlotte

Date: Aug 23 2012
Major: Art & Design Department (This Major's Salary over time)
First of all, before I got into the school: During orientation I was herded like a sheep in a flock for a day in a half straight. I had not signed to board over night, and they forced me to anyway, and they guarded the doors to make sure no one escaped from frivolous things like the resource fair afterwards. The college left me alone for a month or two, but then a WEEK before moved in, they chucked an email my way, telling me that they had not received my final transcript. I called them, and they did, but they said that there was nothing that said I had graduated, then directed me to someone in a different office. The worker attending that office called me back several hours, I explained what had happened, and she took a few minutes to look at my transcript. Then, very embarrassed, she told me that my date of graduation was in fine print, so the office may have not seen it… It really shows how professional things around here are…

Well, I've been here for a week now, and I already have a negative outlook on this place. It's been a bit of a disappointment form the day I got here. There SO MANY people at UNCC, and very few interesting ones. Which is not usually bad, but there are always constant crowding of public places, and endless lines for food. The salad bar selection is pretty dull, but the cafeteria is full of carbohydrates and desserts.

As a freshman, I'm forced to park like a mile and a half away from the highrise dorms, yet still paying a hefty fee of $415 for a parking pass. I have a job just right down the street, I have to get ready over an hour in advance, because of the time it takes me to get to my car and then the time it takes me to get off campus due to the horrific traffic on the little roads. The campus is just a dangerous place at night, they warn women to go in pairs, or to carry pepper spray or a pocket knife if visiting the parking decks after dark. I am not from Charlotte, but one of the towns surrounding, I was aware of Charlotte being a sketchy city, but I expected a little more security around the outskirts of the university after hours.

Class wise, my Art History and English do seem very promising.. All of my teachers seem pretty friendly, but I don't know if I like that very much. However, I have not needed to put much more than a toe nail clipping worth of effort into my current studio classes. Because I'm an art major, I expect some informative feedback from the teachers, regardless of my previous training, but for my past studio classes, when they came around, all I've gotten out of a teacher was something like "very good" like they want to say something but they don't know, and to my peers they give actual advice. Who knows? Maybe it just annoys me, because I went to an intensive art school, and I'm used to be constantly criticized.

So far, the social life sucks. Because there are so many people, I feel treated like I'm a number. Maybe UNCC is just not the place for me, I'm more ashamed of myself for going here because it's a beautiful campus and close to where I grew up… However, I'm already getting my transfer applications ready.