When I read my UW acceptance letter as a young high school senior, I feel that my reaction was less than typical. I remember feeling extremely disappointed. I applied as a courtesy to my mother who is an alumnus of UW and full of the “brown and gold” pride most of us know well.
I had no intention, at the time, to pursue my undergraduate career in the state that had fewer people than my entire hometown of Austin, Texas. I had planned out a perfect college experience staying in my perfect lone star state going to Texas A&M or some other Texas university.
Fast forward, four months later; there I was standing in front of White Hall wondering how on earth I had gotten here.
Fast forward one more time to today. Five years later to my senior year.
Many in-state students know all about the importance and value UW has in the state, or have opinions about how they want to leave yada yada. This is more about focusing on a Texan transplant who loathed the idea of moving to this state and how, looking back, moving here was the best thing I could have done.
UW is so much more than the “affordable” reputation it boasts offering state of the art learning facilities and top professors in their field.
Why should you choose UW? What does this small town university offer you, the Coloradan from the big city of Denver or the athlete from California?
- It is cheap. Obvious, but warrants mentioning. UW out of state tuition is often cheaper than in state with scholarships in student’s home state.
- UW has one of the highest rated engineering schools not just in the nation, but in the world. Holla!
- We have an extremely diverse campus with a high population of international students from countries all over the world and we offer an insane number of study abroad opportunities for most majors. Fantastico!
- A large number of our professors are nationally recognized in their fields of work and many have been published in reputable academic publications.
- Class sizes are small but not too small. Lecture halls have a capacity of about 100 at most. What does this mean? Professors know your face, know when you come to class and actually care about their students.
- Our athletics program offers insane scholarships to our athletes. Heck yah!
- Many of our academic programs have a high job placement rate. Our political science program? Rated top 50 in job placement after graduation. Killer.
- UW pride runs deep. The alumni association continually tells us graduating seniors that other UW graduates are more likely to hire us! Solid.
- Many of our buildings have been donor funded offering the university with even more opportunities to better our academic opportunities and athletics. Right on!
- Finally, in case you needed another reason to value UW, we are located in the perfect location for outdoors enthusiasts. No more than a 30-minute drive to the Snowy Mountain range and world ranked rock-climbing areas you could find a passion for the outdoors you never knew you had or needed.
For those of you snubbing your nose at this, I understand. I was you. All I can say is that moving to Wyoming showed me that college could be so much more than an academic opportunity. College became an eye opening experience showing me I had a passion for things I never would have been exposed to staying at home.
Do not knock something until you try it. If you think UW is just the cost effective option, you are sorely mistaken.
