University of Kansas | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Katherine

Class:
Major: Other
Gender: F

High School: Blue Valley West, Paola High School
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

Best thing about KU--definitely the honors program. It lets students really have a chance to shine in an academic setting. In all my research on other colleges, I didn't find one that actually tried to give students a better education for being in the program. The honor program here allows for smaller class sizes, taught by professors, not TAs. If I had to change something, it would probably be the the classrooms. The buildings are beautiful--but walk into one of the classrooms, and everything is industrialized. Give us some color, not white walls! KU, as I said before, is just as large as you want it to be. Find the community that's your size. A lot of them say wow--don't you feel lost, coming from a small town? Nope, not at all. I have more close friends here than I ever did back in Paola. I spend most of my time in the schol hall community. College town. If you like dancing, drinking, and shopping, Lawrence is the place to go. If there's one thing I hate about KU, it's the administration. It's one place you'll never feel like anything but a number. I guess they have to do it that way, though--so many people. Controversy on campus--I think we're too diverse, too spread out for anything major. But KState beating us on their turf--that wasn't cool. Not cool at all. Well, yeah. Are you kidding? I'm wearing a KU t-shirt right now! The schol hall system is really unusual. Check out the web pages, or take a tour if you want to find out more--otherwise, I'll spend five pages just raving about it. I can't name just one experience, since I have new experiences every day. For the observant person, or just someone who wants to get involved, there's always something to do. Parking at KU is the most frequent complaint. The parking department is populated by Nazis. I'm not even kidding.

Academic Life

This semester, I don't have a single class with more than 20 people in it. And only one of them is taught by a TA--Spanish 111. But then, I was smart, and decided to take advantage of the honors program here at KU. Most favorite class is Econ 145, taught by a short Egyptian with a sense of humor like none other. He makes macro interesting and relevant--not the easiest thing to do in an entry-level class, where the only prerequisite is having passed an idiot's guide to calculus (Math 115). Least favorite would have been my Linguistics class last semester. I loved the topic, but it was a 8 a.m. class, so I only actually made it there a quarter of the time. Still got an A though--thank God for blackboard. OK, enough with the questions. I like the academics, otherwise I wouldn't have had KU as my first choice. I'm in the J department, got accepted as a freshman because of my wonderful ACT scores. I don't keep track of my professors outside of class, but that's mainly because I take full advantage of them in class, since most have an open discussion period. The requirements seem fair, although I don't see the point of letting freshman into the J school early and then not letting them take higher-up j classes right away. We were smart enough to get in, then we should be smart enough to take some of the classes a little early.

Student Body

I swear, there's a support group for everything on campus. No one should feel left out, unless they're completely inept or completely anti-social. In the latter's case, college may not be the best bet. You can wear whatever you want to class. I wear heels everyday, others wear flip-flops. It's the beauty of finally being all grown up--Mummy doesn't have to pick your clothes out for you in the mornings anymore. I don't eat in the dining hall, thank God, so I couldn't describe it for you. But I know the food sucks. Most KU students are from Kansas--go figure, although there are a lot of foreign kids, too. The whole diversity thing is popular here, although, it being Kansas and all, KU has a tough time bringing them here. Left, left, and more left. It's Lawrence, after all. What the crap? KU students have better things to talk about than how much money they make. It's called a life, and for most students, that involves booze, not a job.