(ASU-Tempe) First off, ASU gets a bad rep for having

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Female

Quite Bright

Date: May 02 2006
Major: (This Major's Salary over time)
First off, ASU gets a bad rep for having only pretty, stupid people. The pretty part is true, but I took some tough classes in my major that I loved. All of my comments refer to my major/minor classes since the gen ed requirements are just plain silly to me, no matter what school you're at. I graduated with my BA in Journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunications in 2002. All of my professors had real-life work experience, which I admired, although two had some sort of superiority complexes. But, I loved all of my classes and learned more than enough to get some good jobs out of school and eventually start up my own PR company. Okay, now the good stuff... The people - Just about every student is very nice and friendly. Some are kind of fake, but they were still cool enough to work on class projects with. I'm not sure if other majors are different, but I found the people in my journalism classes to be bright and able to carry on intelligent conversations. I can't stand stupid people, and no one in my classes fit that description. ASU has one of the best journalism programs in the nation, so it makes me mad when people talk down about my school. The campus - Being from Chicago, I loved the palm trees, esp Palm Walk. I loved that campus. I thought it was beautiful. But the kids from AZ thought it was boring. Some of the buildings were outdated, but some were updated. Same as all campuses. Social life - Is it a party school? Yes. But I visited my friends at Illinois schools several times and saw them partying hard, too. If you want to go to bars, find yourself a fake id, get hammered every single night, etc... you'll find a way to do that no matter where you go. I went out all the time, even I'm amazed by myself these days, but still made Dean's List. You just have to get your priorities straight. Bottom line: Get your homework and studying done, then start pre-partying. Dry heat - There is no such thing. I mastered the art of driving with my hands covered by my shirt because touching the steering wheel barehanded would've brought instant blisters to my hands. In Chicago, we have hot days with 100% humidity. Picture that, magnified 10 times but with your hair not coiling up into a frizzy mess. And, the dirty gossip... - A lot of the kids at ASU have rich families, more so than I saw at my friends' schools. I never felt out of place, and I was far from rich, yet far from poor. Granted, I never walked around decked out in Tiffany jewelry and Kate Spade bags (I'm not a brand-name kind of girl), but I never felt looked down on because of it. - I rushed, but never really felt I belonged in any of the sororities so I didn't pledge. Greek life wasn't that important when I was there, so it didn't matter. I got my fair share of the Greek experience when I dated a frat boy, though. I found the people who hung out at the Greek bars to be nice and never got dirty looks for being an Independant. They never asked anyway, usually some girl would say she liked my purse or shoes and we'd just chit chat. - Pretty people - Yes, ASU had some hot students. If you have major physical hang-ups, don't go to this school because you'll never feel skinny enough, pretty enough, not tan enough, not blonde enough and everything else. I was always happy with the way I looked; I like to dress nicely, wear make-up, do my hair, all that stuff. But believe me, there were days I would roll out of bed and throw on random items of clothing and drag myself to class and that was fine by me. However, I did have year-round tan because I studied by the pool and I weighed ten pounds less because when it's 100 degrees outside you just don't feel like eating anything besides rainbow sherbert (or at least I didn't). The worst part - I missed my mom. Yes, it sounds dorky, but I'm close to my family and friends here and my mom is my favorite person in the world. I had good friends at school, but my "real" friends were the people at home. When I had a bad day, I couldn't drive 10 minutes to see my best friend and I only talked to my mom five times a week, not five times a day like I do now. To high schoolers and people thinking about ASU...visit. Talk to everyone you pass by. Maybe sit in on a class. I didn't do that, but it seems like a good idea. I loved ASU. I'm happy I'm not there now, but I loved going to school there. I'm home now, but it was great to just go away from everything I had ever known and find my wide open spaces.

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