Why being a Wolverine is objectively better than being a Cougar

The best and worst of being a student at UVU

Over the last ten years, I have had solid experiences at most of the universities and colleges in the state, from enrollment to being a part of college student government. Through those experiences, I’ve been able to evaluate which schools are awesome, and which ones I wouldn’t dare enroll in, if I could do it all over.

Cons

UVU, unlike the U, Weber, or Utah State, does not offer on-campus housing, nor do we have a football team, and that sucks! Both are significant detractors from a student’s school pride and involvement.

Next is parking… Or should I say the lack thereof. It really doesn’t matter if your class is at 7:00 am or 7:00 pm, parking is still a challenge, and will remain one of the most sensitive and touchy subjects until some changes happen.

“It literally takes me 30 minutes to walk from the free parking lot to the Science Building,” said Junior Curtis Warren.

Now for my biggest con of UVU, the no deal with UTA. BYU, Utah, Weber State and even SLCC have all at one point had a contract negotiated with UTA to grant their students free transit (bus, trax, and frontrunner) passes. I’m not quite sure how UVU got the short end of this stick, but it’s quite lame.

Pros

Now that I’ve purged the flaws, let’s end this article on a happy note with some things I like about our fine school. First and foremost, we are the most inclusive and most affordable university in the state, with cheap tuition and open enrollment. Student to teacher ratios and classroom sizes are low and impressive, ranking at 22:1 for student to teacher, and 44.1% of all classes offered have fewer than 20 students in attendance. In Fact, less than 5% of classes offered have more than 50 students in them.

People are friendly as can be. I don’t know if it’s something in our water, or just the Happy Valley air that passes through Utah County; whatever it may be, one can always look forward to a daring conversation with a random stranger.

The size of the campus is beyond ideal and accessible.

“UVU’s campus is not huge like other universities, but it still feels like a college campus,” said Sophomore Kaia Puriri. “I also love that all of the buildings are completely connected. I never have to step foot outside to get to any building,”

Although we don’t have a football team, we do finally have a real futbol (soccer) team, and they’re actually pretty strong. They will continue their NCAA playoff tourney this week.

My final thought as to why UVU is awesome… At the end of every day, we aren’t BYU. It’s nice to go to a school where big brother isn’t constantly watching over us, if you know what I mean. It’s a privilege to say that we are the best school in Utah County, and to bleed Wolverine Green.

Tweet me your pros and cons lists @thereal_jsanch, and maybe I’ll investigate how we can make UVU better!