The University of Arizona

Date: May 25 2009
Major: Architecture (This Major's Salary over time)
The University of Arizona was at the bottom of my list when I was first applying to colleges. The only reason I even applied was because my mom wanted me to. I hated the fact that it's in the middle of the desert, it has over 35,000 students, and it's ranked #96 out of all the national universities. I had applied to ten colleges and had been accepted to all of them, most ranked in the top 50. After visited my top colleges I was very unhappy to find out that I felt no connection to any of them. My mom decided to fly me down to Tucson just to see what I thought about the place. It was love at first site. Tucson is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I never would have thought that I, an ocean-loving California boy, would have a sudden obsession with the desert. Tucson is right in the middle of the Saguaro National Park. The city itself is flat, but go 15-20 miles in any direction and you'll find yourself hiking up one of the highest mountains you've ever seen. But back to education and stuff… So the reason why I didn't want to go to a big school was because I was afraid it would be too crowded and hard to get around. The University of Arizona is so organized and compact that you can walk to any of your classes without breaking a sweat. (I understand that another worry is the heat… it's only noticeably hot for about a month during each semester, the rest of the year is perfect as long as you're not taking summer classes) Arizona is also not as crowded as you would think. Most of the students live off-campus in apartments or houses. The school remains calm for most of the day outside of lunchtime and in-between class periods. The most important issue I had with the school was the quality of education. When researching schools I never really thought to look at the individual program rankings, so my reason for thinking I could go to a "better" school was biased. I'm studying Architecture at The University of Arizona and I'm proud to say the program is ranked twelve in the country. It's a program that only accepts sixty students a year into the professional phase. So, in a way, I get the advantages of the small school I was originally attracted to (low teacher to student ratios, hands-on learning) , as well as all the advantages of a large university (incredible resources, state of the art educational and recreational facilities). Attending The University of Arizona had been one of the best experiences of my life. I've never felt as proud as I am to be a Wildcat.