University of Kansas — Local services in Lawrence

My situation provided me with some perspective that most other students didn't get. I spent two years at Fort Hays State University competing in athletics when I decided to give that up and concentrate on academics. I transferred to KU with the understanding that I was going to get the best education in the state.

When I went up there to enroll, I felt like a second class citizen. Since I didn't start at KU, people treated me like I wasn't good enough to go there in the first place. I expressed a desire to take astronomy and was told that it would be too tough for me because it required math (I'm now an engineer and graduated with honors). While that hurt, I took their advice.

Next, I found out that 29 credit hours from Fort Hays wouldn't transfer. When I went to the administration office to find out why, they said that they commonly don't accept transfer credits from less-demanding junior colleges. Fort Hays is NOT a junior college.

My class experience wasn't any better. Two of my teachers were some the snarkiest people I've ever met. It wasn't uncommon for them to humiliate one or two students in class for no apparent reason. I was raised to show respect for my teachers, referred to one of them as "sir" during a class discussion, and he made a sarcastic joke about the military because of it. Something about being too smart to be a drill sergeant.

On top of that, the classes were the easiest I had ever had. I was pretty frustrated that I spent the highest tuition in the state for classes that required no critical thinking.

Socially, I fit in pretty well. It didn't take long to find a group on friends. But people didn't make eye contact and smile or greet strangers like they did at Fort Hays. Also, a lot of people smoked.

I decided I had enough and wanted to transfer out and go back to Fort Hays. Of course they charged the highest transcript fee I had ever seen, because KU is more of a business than an education institution.

I finished out at Fort Hays. FHSU took all of KU's credits and worked to apply those credits to my major. I learned way more at Fort Hays than I ever would have at KU.

To sum this up, I've gone to Barton County Community College during high school and a summer, Deakin University in Australia, KU, Fort Hays - where I graduated with honors in Media Studies, and K-State - where I graduated with honors in Mechanical Engineering. As a school, KU was easily the worst. Both Fort Hays and K-State are much better. Fort Hays is the best value for your money, and K-State has the best atmosphere.

In my experience, the only thing KU has going for it is Lawrence. Lawrence is a nice place.

Do yourself a favor and review these school ratings here on Google. Also, see if schools are docked because of athletics and completely ignore those reviews. Unless of course you are a star athlete and are only using college as a springboard to the pros. Good luck in your...

You'll notice all the positive reviews tend to focus on the basketball program, and there is definitely a reason for that. I grew up as a KU fan for my whole life, living only 30 minutes from Lawrence, but the school has nothing on Kansas State, if you are between these two(as many are), KSU is the better choice for most: Pros: incredible basketball program, a game in Allen Fieldhouse is truly an experience you will not find anywhere else in the country, best place on earth to watch a game in my opinion. Mix that with a storied, perennially competitive program, and it's an amazing place to be a fan. Excellent medical school, bar none the best medical school in the state, probably in the entire Midwestern US. Very solid business school, nothing incredible, but it'll get the job done. Beautiful campus, it's a big place, and has a lot of hills, but I think the landscaping and scenery around KU is great. Lawrence, Lawrence is great, that's all there is to it, on the other hand, Manhattan is too.

Cons: Expensive, KU has a reputation for being more expensive than other state schools in Kansas, and it's one it has earned, they also don't give as much financial aid as KSU, others. Atmosphere, you get the feeling on KU's campus that no one really cares for you, the school does not go out of it's way to welcome students and lots of kids from the nearby Johnson County area attend KU and often already have a friend group and it can be hard to make friends. Administration, KU does not make themselves accessible for students, they don't frankly care about your experience as long as you continue to pay your bills, and they don't hide that fact well. Other academic, KU is not a bad academic school, but if you are looking for engineering or other STEM track degrees there are better choices. Medical is their best program easily.

Conclusion: Kansas is a solid school with a great basketball program in a good college town, however, it suffers from the apathetic approach that it seems to take towards its student body. All in all, not a friendly school, they don't care if you're there, and unless you're a med student, you can do just as well elsewhere...

I attended the University of Kansas for one year and was very sorely disappointed with my whole experience (needless to say, I also am now a year behind). KU seemed to operate themselves more as a business with an eye for money. Throughout my schooling there, I received a relatively poor education taught primarily by TA's who seemed to want to focus on other things and not the class. I also ended up having over five advisors, with no notice of the change, making it very confusing and leaving me to navigate my first year of college alone. The longer you attend, the more you will see how they try to suck as much money out of you as possible. The cost of fees are higher than any other college I have seen, they give hundreds of students to just one advisor (cuts down on employment costs), and you feel as though students who are not athletes (not making the school a lot of money), are left to bite the dust. I ended up deciding to transfer out of KU to Arizona State University, which I found is much better school educationally and in value. If you want a better local option, take a look at Kansas State University, they offer many of the same degree programs and I have heard the quality of education is good.

So if you couple the fact that the education is poor, the university seems to care more about your money than anything, and that there are better options than KU, I can see no reason why you would want to attend...