Old Dominion University

Date: Jan 09 2013
Major: Engineering Department (This Major's Salary over time)
ODU, like every other school, is exactly what you make of it. I'm not going to lie and say that ODU's admission standards are high, but the school ultimately prepares you very well for the real world for an excellent cost. Some say ODU isn't academically challenging, but I think that depends on the major you're in. Like other schools, the STEM subjects (math, engineering, nursing, sciences, etc.) are tough and will require you to challenge yourself academically. If you're going to do communications, art, or another liberal art, then I imagine you can probably coast by…but I've known kids who went to Ivies and were able to coast by in those subjects. In the end, it's what you did in college instead of where you went and I feel like ODU provided the resources to be successful.

As for the life at ODU, it's great. The campus isn't that beautiful and the food isn't too amazing, but there's a real feel of community at the school that's lacking at many other universities. In addition, the surrounding area has embraced ODU as the hometown university so there's a lot of internship opportunities and post-graduate jobs available, at least in the technology and manufacturing sectors. Sports are also really important at ODU and you can definitely feel that at games, especially in regards to basketball and football. Again, the community feel of the school is out in full force at those sports (tailgating at ODU is awesome and up there with the BCS schools).