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College town Great People GORGEOUS campus Lots of school pride Good academic rep Great Main Street
UD is a great mid-sized school that offers something for everyone. With nearly 16,000 undergrads, it's not a small school, but it's also not overwhelmingly large like Penn State. UD has a beautiful campus that features a vibrant main street running directly through it. In my opinion, Newark, Del., is your textbook definition of a college town. Football games are the best example of students showing off their school pride. Everybody always wears their blue and gold. Racial tensions always seem to be a big issue, mainly because of the state's history as well as the university's relatively small black population.
Steve Alum
Overall, I absolutely loved UD. I miss it so much-my friends, the college lifestyle, some professors, my apartment, my roommate, sorority involvement, and I miss everything about Main Street. UD is a great school-it's a beautiful campus, has a good reputation, plenty of resources for students, and plenty of fun to be had. I loved the size of the school-always new people to meet but you always had smaller groups of friends amongst 17,000+ students. When I look back on my college experience as a whole (which is really sad that I can do that now), I can't identify anything missing from UD. I honestly feel that I couldn't have made a better choice and I really miss being there!
Melanie Alum
The best thing about UD is the location. I love how I can be home in an hour. It's also only a few hours away from Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. I think the size is just right. I graduated with 750 other seniors, so I was used to large classes and many students. I also came from the suburbs so I was used to being in a town. (Actually, I think Newark is smaller than my hometown.) I spend most of my time in my apartment and the library. When I was in the dorms, though, I spent some time studying on The Green. It's really beautiful during the Spring. It is definitely a college town. On the weekends on Main Street, you'll see all the 21-year-olds and older going to the bars. I think UD's administration is doing an okay job. I don't really have any complaints. The biggest recent controversy on campus was the whole FIRE-diversity training thing. There are people on campus who have a lot of school pride and people who don't. But I think for the most part, people do have school pride. Homecoming is always fun.
Elena Senior
The best thing about Delaware is the quintessential/classic college experience it offers. We have our little Main Street, beautiful green, large but not dominant Greek life, solid academics, a good bar scene and we surely know how to party. If I could change one thing I would switch the 60/40 girl/guy ratio in the other direction. Good guys are scarce. When I tell people I go to UD they either don't know much about it, have heard there is a good social life, or "have a friend who goes there as LOVES it!" I spend most of my time on Main Street. While I spent more time in Trabant while I lived on campus, not that I live off Main Street I definitely spend more time there. UD is definitely in a college town. I loved Roselle, the former president who just retired this summer, but jury's still out about Harker. He seems nice enough, but I'll wait to see what he does before I judge him. The biggest controversy of recent was the closing of The Stone Balloon, the historic bar and music venue. They had mug night every Thursday, and I think the bar scene took a hit when it closed. There is definitely a lot of school pride. Kids are proud to tell everyone they go to UD. Football games are fun, though many just make it to the parking lot to tailgate. When we went to the championship this year students traveled to Chattanooga TN to see the game. I can't think of anything that is too unusual. I will always remember watching the championship game at Grotto's (even though we lost horribly). The most frequent complaints are that there aren't enough bars on Main Street, we don't recycle, and it's not safe.
Meg Senior
The best thing about UD? There is literally something for everyone. If you just get out of that dorm room and research some stuff going on, you'll realize how many groups, activities, sports, etc. there are to get involved with. You can start your own club if you want. You can go see new movies in our theater, see special acts like Jon Stewart and Dane Cook. You can eat at our famous restaurant Vita Nova which has been given 4 stars and run by the hotel restaurant and instutional management students. You can get a job on main street, at the mall, or on campus. You can write for the newspaper, become involved with a club that reflects your academic interest, play on an intramural sport, take dance lessons, take music lessons, take art lessons. Anything you have in mind, we have it. One thing I would change about the school...the parking. It seems stupid but it honestly is a mess and very frustrating. Where ever you park you have to worry about getting a ticket. But if thats the worst thing about UD...well then I'd say we have it pretty good here. My school is just right. People hear 16,000 undergrads and almost die. They think it is ridiculously too big. I think it's perfect. If you give it a chance you will soon realize how small it really is. As the days, weeks, months, and years go by you recognize the same people in your classes, out at night, or just walking around. You create how big or small it is...how many colleges can offer you that? People always react positively when I say I go to UD. They either say "Oh wow that school is so hot right now everyone I know is applying, but its hard to get in." or "oh I hear UD is a lot of fun and everyone I know that goes there loves it" and of course "UD...thats in Newark right? As in Newark NJ?" As an ungrad I spent most of my time at my resident hall/appartment, my friends places, Sharp lab (for physics) and of course the beautiful and wonderful main street. COLLEGE TOWN 100% UD has a rather new administration this year since President Roselle has recently retired and President Harker has taken over. My parents are co-presidents of the Parent Board here and I have had the pleasure to meet everyone high up in administration. They are without a doubt the nicest and most intellegent people I have ever met. Although it may be hard to show with a larger school, they really do care about the students. Every morning President Roselle took a walk around campus with his wife, Louisa, to show his love for the school and its students. Roselle has brought in a ridiculous amount of money for research and renovations. There are new buildings going up everywhere for classes, administration, and dorming. There are so many opportunities to do research for the school and GET PAID FOR IT. All the Deans are so pleasant and constantly ask me what THEY can do to improve their school. The new President, Dr. Harker, started off by going around to each dining hall and eating with the students for weeks to talk to them, get to know them, show them he's real, and ask them what he can do to improve their experience at UD. There is nothing bad to say about the administration and if you can think of anything I challenge you to let me know...I'm sure I can prove you wrong. Biggest recent controversy...this past fall a former student of UD wrote for ESPN (I think) that UD is racist and refuses to play Delaware State because we don't want to be associated with them. There are so many things wrong with this assumption that if I get into it, you'll be reading for hours. Besides the fact that the person is a former UD student which shows how pathetic and disgraceful he is, the accusation was completely out of line and just plane wrong. To prove so we did play Delaware State this past fall in Football...and beat the *** out of them. There is a TON OF PRIDE at UD...from the students walking around campus with UD clothing on to the pride shown at our sports games. Just go to a UD football game and you'll see how much pride we have...but get there early or you'll find no seats. UD has an unusual smell. I'm not kidding. It has been around since I started school here and I'm pretty sure longer than that. There is some talk that it comes from mushroom farms down south, but who really knows. It is the worst in the cold winter mornings. You get used to it though I will always remember the month I studied abroad in Australia and New Zealand. UD is ranked #1 in study abroad. We go to every continent and over 100 countries. It was the best month of my life. Other than that...graduation...I will never forget it. The most frequent complaints from students are about the parking...like I addressed above.
Alexis Alum
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