University of Oklahoma | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Reese

Class: Alum
Major: European Studies
Gender: M

High School: Mounds High
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

My time at OU was great. I enjoyed my scholastic experience, however, towards the end of my education I began to notice some glaring oversights and misplaced priorities. I began to realize that OU was being managed as a business rather than a place of higher education. Many of the benefits and programs were not aimed towards students like me, who were searching more for a liberal education that was both interesting and challenging. I got the feeling that most of the younger students were coming to OU to "make it through" rather than enjoying a college experience. That was a huge difference compared to the first couple of years I spent at OU. I think the pride is there and a great deal of interest, but the blight of campus is that there is too much to lose politically if the school doesn't fit into the right mold. I would have appreciated my time at OU much more if there was more of a vision for the future of the school more than being a political tool for the president of the university. We all loved football at OU, but there is something to be said for a school that can raise hundreds of millions of dollars within a year, yet tuition continues to rise and professors are still underpaid, the exception being one of the schools most popular and overrated professors, who was more interested in spreading political ideology rather than instructing and allowing students to make up their own minds. All in all, OU was an amazing experience. Through all the crap, there really is a core of interesting and amazing people. You can't allow yourself to get caught up in the hype and just enjoy the freedom of being on a college campus. There is a lot of pressure to join clubs in the first year, but resisting initiation into an organized club was one of the best decisions I made.

Academic Life

I had many amazing classes at OU. Among the best of those classes was Creative Writing, History of Afro-Brazilian music, and French food and film. I also really enjoyed the camaraderie of all the language classes I took. It was really wonderful being in an environment where everyone was motivated to grow and learn. I spent most of my time with friends when I was studying or when I wasn't. I made conscious decisions to take classes my friends were taking or had taken. This gave me the opportunity to study with them. My least favorite class was definitely Freedom in Greece. I had always heard that the class was a lot of fun, and that the professor was extremely engaging and informative, yet all my experiences from the class are negative. The professor was well versed on the subject of historical Grecian democracy and the origins of democracy, yet he was obsessed with the modern ideology of American democracy and also war. He was always manipulating the facts from the past and past victories in Greece to coincide with the current turmoil that American government has placed upon many American citizens. In his tests, he would write questions that could only be answered correctly if we agreed with his ideology. There was no room for independent thinking. This was fairly indicative of the way very few of the professors at OU operate, however, this particular professor was a campus favorite and loved by the president of the university, and his importance is over-inflated and solidified throughout the campus. I was more interested in learning, yet I believe OU is geared more towards job training. The students that are drawn to OU seem a little more practical an well-suited to that kind of education, however, my particular training was more contemplative and geared to prepare me for grad school.

Student Body

There are so many religious groups and Greek organizations on campus. It was frustrating at times, but it wasn't hard to ignore them. My freshman year at OU I was involved with the BSU and then later House Church until I realized that both of these clubs were very polarizing and exclusive. I was more interested in an organization that was inclusive and social. I started playing ultimate frisbee with the university's club team and found that it was the right fit for me. It was involved and fun. I made hundreds of friends with relative ease, but you have to be open to the possibility of making friends. Had I joined a fraternity my freshman year, I may have met a lot of people immediately, but I wouldn't have had the freedom to continue making friends throughout my time at OU. I was in the European Students Organization for a while, I played ultimate frisbee, I was in a band, I literally came out of college with hundreds of great friends. I still make fun of what girls wore to class at OU. Everyday I saw a girl wearing a North Face, pink fleece jacket with sweatpants and UGG boots on. Everyday I would see that. I just wore what I had around, but I do think there is a huge pressure on young girls at OU to conform to this weird over-done, poorly dressed mass of other girls on campus. This may have something to do with most of the girls (and guys) at OU coming from primarily suburban towns. There wasn't enough of the crazy stuff on campus that would stir the pot. I hoped everyday that we would have streakers or some loonies yelling at other students on campus. It would have made things a little more fun, but people on campus are really terrified of standing out. Once, my friends and I were accosted on campus by the police because we were having a head-stand competition and they thought we were on drugs. I don't blame them, because they must have been extremely bored. No one ever does anything. Ever. Thinking back, maybe I should have done some drugs while I was in school. It may have been a lot of fun... Just kidding.