Wow,
where do I start with this place? The University of
Houston has duped many an aspiring college graduate into their
educational meat grinder. Let's just say the brochure is nothing
like the actual experience of being in this dump.
I'm going to start out with the very few positives
about UofH. I tried to grade fairly, and would have
given all F's all around if it weren't for a
couple of really nice things about the campus. First, the
campus itself is beautiful. The damn place is covered with
fountains and student artwork. It is also CLEAN! The campus
overall is well maintained, and i can't think of i
time i have been on campus where the trash cans
were full, the bathrooms not clean, or even see a
cigarette butt on the ground. It's clean people...I assumed they
had robots doing the cleaning overnight, but I pulled a
late night in MD Anderson and found out they have
an impressive graveyard crew who gets the job done. They
are easily the hardest working people on campus. So good
on you Cleaning Crew! Another positive is CASA tutoring at
Garrison building. It can totally save your ass in those
upper level math courses. Be advised- VERY FEW TAs speak
English as a first language. So while they are def.
smart about the subject, you can easily get confused by
their explanations. On occasion, you will spot a Math Prof
in there... that is who you need to talk to.
Professors at UH are HIGHLY elusive. Much like giant squids,
or unicorns. I was told by a prof to just
google how to do certain Calculus problems since they did
not have time to explain further. Teaching fail.
The
extracurricular activities here are so-so. The students try really hard
to try and pull together events. It feels as though
they only have half-assed support from the faculty and staff.
Also, there is no way to notify the ENTIRE student
body of an event. So many things happen and go
unnoticed, unless of course you read the bathroom wall literature
people hang up. The student body really isn't that bad,
but I honestly wish the Greek side would get their
act together. This is my 3rd college, and the only
one where the Greeks aren't bout-it bout-it with their frattiness
and sorority business.
UofH is obviously based in Houston,
Tx. The city of Houston overall is a pretty nice
place although it has the ghetto areas. One of these
areas is the 3rd Ward....conveniently placed right next to University
of Houston. Seriously, about 2 blocks away is the straight
up ghetto. During the day time, campus is totally not
scary, but once the sun goes down bring your pepper
spray/taser/gun/whatever. People's cars get broken into and campus police really
can't do anything about it...if they can, they are too
lazy to actually do. While we are on the car
subject. Parking is a total mess. For around $200, you
get a parking pass which doesn't guarantee you a spot
in the designated lot, nor does it provide you with
any form of protection or security. Basically, if you don't
get to school by 8am, good luck finding a spot.
Now, the meat and potatoes of why i HATE
this college. UofH does this thing where if a student
does bad on an exam, the prof can drop them
from the course without notice. Not just bad on an
exam...for any reason really. This is to fake the schools
academic success rate.. i suspect the school also makes cash
hand over fist with this since a W in a
course still requires you to pay some money. I predict
that if let alone, you would see a WAY higher
failure rate coming out of this college.
The Professors
here, for the most part, DO NOT GIVE A DAMN
if you learn the material or not. They care about
making a paycheck. Now, i'm sure that their are a
few exceptions to this rule. I have consistently heard good
things about 2 professors...The rest of 'em? All negative. Most
of the course work is done online, or with a
huge chuck of the material being dished out online. This
is ridiculous, if i wanted to take online classes i
would have taken online classes. The problem is, is that
you are expected to show up to class when the
lecture notes, homework, tests, quizzes are all found on the
internet. It gets infuriating when you are forced to go
to three different websites, login to each one, and try
to figure out what class has an assignment due and
when. This hand-fisted system makes it easy for assignments to
get lost in the internet clutter. Yes, you are capable
of organizing your tasks to get it all done, but
its a huge pain.
I'm a non-trad student, meaning i
am 26 and returning to school after being in the
military. This is my 3rd college and until I went
here, my grades were around 3.5 with a 3.8 in
my major. Now, halfway through this semester i am looking
at taking loans to retake these classes. I am passing
sure, but i am not learning the material. I'm learning
for the tests since they are weighed so heavy in
most classes(one particular class 80% of grade). THe college loves
busy work. I don't mind homework when i actually get
something from the material. Its to the point where i
go to class for attendance, and leave asap because I
will be told to look online for help... instead of
getting it in the classroom from someone who is paid
to prepare me for my career. Like i mentioned
earlier, the profs are rarely in their offices and will
normally punt you to a TA. I like TAs, but
sometimes they need to learn to make their own decisions.
They are all baby grad students, so many know nothing
except school.
UofH sucks pretty hard overall. I would have
written more but i have to study some stuff my
Profs only skimmed over, that apparently is a huge portion
of a test. Wtf.
DO NOT WASTE YOU TIME OF MONEY HERE!!! If you are stuck in Houston go
to community college for your prereqs and transfer someplace else.
There is nothing prestigious about this place. It is a
lot of stress for a city college. UH is more
worried about appearance than academia. DO NOT GO HERE! Even
if its the only place you got accepted. Retake those
SATs and try again.