The University of North Carolina - Greensboro

Date: Feb 23 2018
Major: English (This Major's Salary over time)
The academics are an extension of my high school classes. Look, if your strength in school is memorizing information and repeating what teachers tell you, then you will enjoy your time here, at least academically.

As an English major, I was hoping for intellectually stimulating classes that involved real discussions and thought provoking ideas. Really, I've had three classes like that, and the rest are just memorizing mundane facts from literature that was written 300 years ago.

Don't get me wrong, I love literature. But most of the classes just go into very surface level ideas. I have had some professors who go against this norm—but even then I found that, while I loved those classes, my fellow classmates hated them.

Students here tend to like highly structured environments with little critical thinking, and most professors comply with this. I know a lot of people who basically admit to me that they aren't very smart/don't think for themselves and yet they have 4.0 GPAs here. (I'm not saying smart people can't succeed here, it's all about if you're willing to put the work in)

You might be thinking—what? This guy's wrong. UNCG is known for it's creative environment!

Yes, UNCG does have a reputation for being creative/artsy. But here's the thing—I have been in multiple creative writing classes, and most of the students are just flat out terrible at writing. I would feel guilty saying that, except those same people are also incredibly arrogant about their work. The creative writing professors are cool, but it's not un-common for students to lash out at the class and professors for not liking their crappy stories.

I have friends in the art department (who are highly skilled themselves) who tell me that many of their art classes are also like this.

Basically, my perception of the student body here is that it's largely made up of people who think they are a lot brighter than they really are. Like most UNCG students, I'm progressive. But I think even the progressive students here largely don't know what they are talking about.

Honestly, it might be that all colleges are like this. Or all colleges of this level. I didn't apply myself in high school and I ended up here, and so if this is where you are going to go, and you feel you're a creative, original thinker, all I can say is try and make the best of it despite your surroundings. I liked the experience because of a small group of friends that I found that I will cherish forever.

Overall, I came to UNCG with high hopes of finally finding an environment I felt comfortable in and people I liked. I will leave UNCG at the end of this year, ultimately with the conclusion that human beings are disappointing.

The school itself I guess is an average college. But I expected college itself to be a lot…smarter?