University of Delaware | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Meg

Class: Senior
Major: Communications
Gender: F

High School: Fontbonne Academy
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

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.

Academic Life

Freshman year few professors knew my name, but not that I am a senior all my professors know my name. My favorite class is a politics in entertainment communication class. Our professor got her doctorate in political humor and we analyze the new, watch daily show clips, and joke around a lot in class. I hated calc freshman year, it was awful. I study when I have exams, but I don't send all my time doing work. Class participation is common, few intellectual conversations happen outside of class, and you can find your competitive students, but things are not cut throat here. My politics in entertainment communication class is probably my most unique. The comm department is small and competitive. You start for 2 years as a comm interest major and then after taking 4 core courses they put your "comm gpa" against everyone else's and take the top 100. I really like the professors & I like that it is small. I don't spent time with professors outside of class, but I know people that do. The requirements are a fine, a lot of breadth requirements though. I would say the education leans toward getting a job.

Student Body

UDEL is extremely homogeneous. It is comprised almost completely of white middle to upper middle class kids. There are very few minorities represented at UD. Ethnic students may feel out of place. We have a LGBT population, but they are not prevalent. There aren't many different groups to interact so no, not really. In the dining hall the tables would be filled with a group of preppy girls in polo's or spandex, some fratty boys in polo's or T's, probably a mixed group of students in sweats, and another group of white middle class kids with maybe a token black student. Mostly UD students are from DE, MD, NJ, NY, (LONG ISLAND!) PA, New England, and a few from other places. The financial background is middle class to upper middle class with a few rich kids. Students are embarrassingly NOT politically active. No one seems to concerned with how much they'll make, but I bet some do.