The University of Houston

I am a UH alumni and is working as an engineer at Reliant Energy. I noticed in the US News and World Report, UH is ONCE AGAIN ranked 4th quarter. When I attended UH, it was in the 2nd quarter. For some reason, UH keeps on dropping and dropping. Maybe you current students would understand that better. As far in the work place, UH is not regarded at all. In my opinion, I feel that the training at UH is worse than Lamar or SWT. This is just the facts. My advice to UH is to cut the bullshit about how good the university is and I guess to listen to the negative comments in here to help it get better. I am surprised there are so many negative comments. Must be something wrong with UH;; otherwise, why is the university STILL in the 4th quarter?

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

The University of Houston is a horrible school. Point Blank. Period.
ONLY go to this school if you are already living in houston and the surrounding areas and for some reason can't go to a school elsewhere. Even then you may want to think about a community college.

The institution itself is a large nice looking campus that is oddly sorted out. Buildings that should be close together [like the financial aid office and bursar office] are completely spread apart and require lots of walking to navigate to. I "attended" this school for two semesters and ended up getting SCREWED coming out with ZERO credits and a big hefty fee. Fall 2006 I went to U of H somewhat as a last resort and regret every minute of it. During my first semester I had a big family emergency come up that required a lot of my attention and required me to drop out of school. BIG MISTAKE. Apparently at U of H if you have problems outside of school THEY DON'T CARE! I dropped all of my classes BEFORE the final drop date in order to avoid being held responsible for payment of the courses and was still billed for them!! However the school didn't inform me that I would be screwd into paying them until I went back the following spring semester and was already two months into school!! They made me appeal for my spring financial aid which seemed SOMEWHAT logical because I had dropped before. The approved me for the appeal, I accepted my grants and loans, and even had a scholarship from my church coming in but the university NEVER DISPERSED my money!!! Their claim was they were waiting on academic improvement but I was NEVER on any type of probation! I had all A's and because they didn't give me my financial aid in the end I was expected to pay for EVERYTHING myself [fall and spring semester and I didn't even fully attend fall!!] My aid was NEVER sent out and they kept the money my church gave me!!! I was dropped from all courses for failure to pay, even though thats what financial aid is for and was told I would recieve no grades for the semester. WRONG!! They not only WITHDREW me but gave me F's!!!!! This school is horrible and are only out to get over on you. All the staff and faculty I spoke to regarding my matter were rude and unhelpful. I would NEVER recommend anyone attend this school.

Even after leaving they still haunt me. I made the mistake of putting U of H down as a school I was ENROLLED in on another college application and am now denied admmission because they require either a transcript or letter of withdrawl for U of H and they REFUSE to send one. Ever mentioning them on any application was my OWN falut and now I know to never mention them again. It is keeping me out of the school I always wanted to go to most!!SUMMARY: The University of Houston SUCKS!!!! DON'T GO!!!

1st Year Female -- Class 2011

Surrounding City: A, Education Quality: F

Let me preface this by saying that the following isn't all inclusive about the entire UH campus; but rather the biology department. In my opinion the University of Houston has one of the worst biology programs out there. The professors really don't care too much about motivating and getting students involved. Instead most of them are more concerned about their own research.

After talking to friends who are pursuing or have obtained biology degrees from other schools, I feel that UH really did a poor job of educating the students. Those of my UH friends who got into or are planning on attending professional programs such as dental or medical school would often comment on how studying for the MCAT or DAT was like starting from scratch. This speaks volumes about the faculty and the lack of qualified instructors. This is extremely disappointing, considering Houston's standing within the medical community. In all seriousness the ONLY quality education I got out of UH was spending countless hours on OTHER university websites reading higher quality learning materials.

Now let's talk about the advisers. They are about as helpful as a box of bricks. When they give you advice MAKE SURE you verify it with your own eyes...in fact just skip the advisers all together and do your own advising. They provide you with ample misinformation and half truths about very important items such as course requirements and required paperwork. If an adviser does tell you something make sure you get it written in blood because their stories will change depending on who you talk to.

Finally, as bad as UH is in terms of quality, they REQUIRE that all biology majors go up to Calculus III. When I approached the head of advising about this, I was simply told that Cal. III is required because of the medical center. If anyone out there can find a everyday use for anything beyond Calculus II within a hospital setting (excluding fields like say, radiation dosimetry research), then I'd like to hear it.If you have the means, I highly recommend going outside of Houston for your biology undergrad. Save yourself the pain of ho hum professors, misinformed advising staff and outrageous tuition gouging.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000