University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Location

Although University of Minnesota is pretty much a city by itself (they have bars, cafes, coffee shops, everything!), there’s also a lot to do in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul. Since the college is right next to Downtown, students are just a short bus ride away from a plethora of time-wasting opportunities. Of course, you can also go hiking, or take a bike-ride by the lake. There’s plenty to do, but there’s not much more once you get out of the twin cities. The nearest ‘big’ city would probably be Kansas City, and that’s a good 400 miles away.

Campus

The magnificent campus of the University of Minnesota is spread over roughly 2700 acres of land. Though it is a pretty old school, constant rebuilding and renovation means that all the buildings are architecturally and technologically up to date. The campus is state of the art, with well maintained classrooms and athletic facilities which would put many Olympic stadiums to shame. They have a fantastic library system, which has over 3 million volumes in all. There is excellent sports infrastructure for students which include all sorts of grounds and recreational facilities.

Residing Options

As for living, well most grad students tend to live off campus, since it’s far more convenient, and definitely cheaper (if you manage to stuff in as many roommates as legally permissible). The most popular areas are Dinkytown, Como Avenue, and Stadium Village. These places allow students to live in close proximity of campus, and thus, they are convenient places for college students. However, because these places are always in demand, it gives the landlords a way to exploit and over-rent the housing. Most of the houses are rundown and in need of renovation, but the rent is not any less

Faculty

Where University of Minnesota lacks in location and weather, it more than makes up in terms of academics. It’s one of the toughest universities to get into for a reason, and that reason is probably the fact that it has some of the finest professors in the country. Students manage to maintain excellent rapports with their teachers, but the one thing they might take some time to get used to is the large sizes of most classes. Individual attention is nearly impossible in a class of about 200 students, but professors still take out time for students if they go to them during office hours with doubts.