University of Houston | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

DeltaGamma2005

Class: Senior
Major: Other
Gender: F

High School: Stockdale High School, Bakersfield, CA
Transfer Student: Y

Big Picture

The best thing about UH would probably have to be it's wide range of majors and centrally located campus. I think that the campus is perfect size, students are able to walk across campus in a reasonable amount of time and on their way to their next class can view the beautiful trees, landscape and fountains on campus. When I tell people that I attend UH their first reaction is normally, really?? Why are you going there? After I tell them how great the university really is, they normally change their perspective and want to attend here themselves. I spend most of my time on campus either in the lobby of the Hilton (on the comfy couches), in the UC or in the Satelite. I would probably say that Houston's not a college town, there are bars that I know the college students attend but since its such a large city college students are only probably a small percentage of the entire population. My opinion of UH administration not including professors is very bad, whenever I have spoken with a UH employee they are normally rude and very short and do not really care about what your problem is. The biggest controversy on campus for me would be that they are going to eliminate the majority of the parking lots and require students to take the metro to get to campus or they are going to build parking garages in order to allow for more space for classrooms and such. Until I signed up for Dr. Bott's class I had little to no school pride. I had pride for Hilton College but not for UH. Dr. Bott has really made me see how great UH is. The pride that I see on campus is not as strong as for instance at A&M or UT. I think it's pretty unusual that it is a commuter campus. One experience that I will always remember is, during my first week of classes walking around trying to find my classroom and getting completely lost and almost about to cry and Dr. Gogue came up and asked me if I was lost and I told him that I was and he escorted me to class, at the time I had no idea who he was but after finding out that he was the chancellor I felt pretty stupid, it meant a lot to me that especially considering how busy he is, he took time out of his day to walk me to my class. My most frequent complaint is, that Professors while lecturing will not tell students who are talking to be quiet. I have a learning disability and it is extremely hard for me to concentrate if more than one person is talking. Another complaint is that, Professors are not willing to answer questions concerning either lecture or homework problems and act as if they are too busy and too important to even be bothered.

Academic Life

I make a point every semester to make sure that every professor knows my name and knows how hard I am trying in their class. My favorite class right now is chemistry, I really enjoy Dr. Bott's teaching methods and how is keeps the class interesting but also funny. In past semesters my favorite class was probably either Tourism or Convention & Meeting management. My least favorite class is economics due to the professor not keeping the material interesting and zooming through the lectures so quickly that all you have time for is to fill in the blanks in the powerpoint and your not able to actually pertain the information being taught. I, myself study approximately 15 to 20 hours a week but I think most students study 5 to 8 hours. Class participation is not common at least in the classes ive taken. When I have asked professors why they don't use more class participation they normally say that it takes too much time. At least in my circle of friends we don't normally have intellectual conversations unless its concerning a study or homework question. Students are very competitive, their always trying to one up one another and set the curve in the class. The most unique class ive taken is either, Wine Appreciation or Etiquette. I am a Hotel and Restaurant Management major and I personally think its the best and most interesting major on campus due to the unique classes and personally involved professors. HRM offers students memberships in organization related to their specific concentration and also provides it's students with an internship coordinator who will try to find students the internship of their dreams. I have spent time with professors outside of class, I've had professors take me to lunch and actually still go and visit professors that I had during my first semester at UH back in the Fall of 2005. I think the fact that I am a HRM student that we should not be required to take two sciences... I think the education at UH is greatly geared towards getting a job, every semester at least in one of my classes we have a person come in to talk about getting an internship or how to write a resume properly, I think the goal at UH is to see its students succeed.

Student Body

I don't have any experience with racial or religious groups on campus. I don't think that any kind of student feels out of place on campus, I think that there are a good amount of every race of student on campus. Most students wear t-shirts and either jeans or sweats. I try to interact with every type of student and in my smaller classes race and religious preferences have never been a barrier for me. The four types of seating in the UC are, bar stools, 2 person tables, large tables and comfortable lounging sofa chairs. Most UH students are from Houston and it's surrounding cities, I think that the majority of students at UH grew up only 20 miles or so away. Most students that I know who attend UH are from poorer or middle class families and are paying for their education through loans. I think political awareness is very prevalent on the campus, especially with the tight presentational race that is currently going on. Surprisingly since UH is in Texas and Texas is right winged I think that UH is left winged. I think that most students would like to become millionaires and they talk about that but besides that it's pretty much a unspoken topic.