University of Minnesota

Institute of Reading Development
Summer Reading Skills Programs offered through University of Minnesota
I was referred by Forest Lake Area schools to attend these classes hoping to improve reading skills of my child. The Sumer Reading program organized by Institute of Reading Development and also by University of Minnesota (Minnesota Center for Reading Research) did not help my child to succeed. Upon calling to provide number, I was promised to boost my child’s reading skills, make him love to read. Even after told them that he hates reading, they said that they promise after these classes he will love to read, and will actually ask to read. They said the speed and accuracy will improve and in generally his reading will be total different. I told them that he is an very active child, very curious and he needs a teacher who can keep him attention on high. They said that teachers are very professional and they dealt with all sorts of students and I should not worry.
Nothing of that happened.
My child’s attention was not continuously kept; he had not interest in what was going on, He hates reading as he did before. Waste of money.
I would not recommend these classes unless your child has an absolute perfect behavior and sits still no matter how boring is the class.
Sorry, folks, maybe better to try Huntington tutors or other resources which wild not peel as much money for this and would actually keep their promise.

Do not attend this school as an undergraduate. Start out in a community college, then transfer to a state college, but not this one. You will never get a decent GPA or help (especially in IT) if you go here. Huge classes and very little interaction with professors, who are too busy with their research and graduate students.

Fantastic location – urban setting with a traditional college feel, close to large fortune 500 companies, tons of things to do on campus and off campus for students (food, entertainment, sports, etc) and beautiful maroon and gold landscaping to accompany your walk to class.

The campus is pretty. It can be confusing to find buildings. Most people seem willing to help give you directions as needed. It will be nice when the new light rail line is open. It will be easier to get around driving then.

My husband graduated from the U of MN so we spent a lot of time here and it is a nice place. It is very sprawling and therefore can be difficult to get around. There are many lovely places on campus though. Good place to go to school but does have a city feel. If you like Minneapolis you will like the U.

Most professors I encountered were decent and knowledgeable, however there are always a few that don’t seem like they should be teaching. Getting help for advising, mental health, course planning, etc is far more difficult than it should be. It is college, and yes, that does require you to get things going — but I was literally ignored/​waved off on multiple attempts to set up an appointment with an adviser or counselor.
Tuition will keep going up (obviously) and campus will probably keep expanding. It’s a decently sized school that is relatively well-​respected (for what reason, I don’t really know). Courses are slightly more rigorous here (depending on the prof) but I had far better access to all kinds of assistance at Arizona State. And yeah, that’s saying something.

Best bang for the buck undergraduate public education rating this year in a prestigious publication.
I went here on and off for years-​graduated from NYU. I loved the classes, campus and teachers.
Draw backs:
–teachers-​NOT profs for under grad classes-​got tired of TAs
the most dist. profs had classes in huge auditoriums
–lack of help if struggling
–large class size
Advantages:
–learned a lot
–great city and transportation-​light rail right through campus starting in 2013
–great healthcare
–very diverse-​jocks, geeks, drs, hipsters, artists-​you name it
I’d go here for grad school in a minute
CLIMATE– it’s okay, you learn to deal with the cold for 3 months-​its worth it

I’ve met a lot of lazy employees at this university. I am not talking about the professors or the teaching assistants, but I am referring to the ones who work in the administration offices like graduate admission office. If you are lucky, you will get help from dedicated advisers like from ISSS (International Student Services), but if you are not, you will meet lazy people like in the grad admission office.
I ever asked for their help for admission deferral, once. My emails were not replied, my calls were not returned. Their automatic reply gave me false hope in waiting. I waited for almost 3 weeks! And finally one day when I was able to reach them, they told me that the email posted in their official website
EMAIL ADDRESS:

only gave automatic reply and will not be read by the officers. WTF! why you posted the wrong and useless email address in the official website. What a shame University of Minnesota!
Now you know how lousy they are. This office is just a piece of shi* that should not exist and waste operational money!
When I asked them why my call was not returned. Their excuse was that they are always busy responding to students’ emails. What emails? they never responded to emails!
Shame on U of M admission office!

I’m writing this review from a visitor’s perspective. I attended a conference on the UM campus and was impressed by how gorgeous the buildings are. There are tons of buildings and all are very beautiful — a great combination of brick and stone, with modern buildings mixed in with old ones. I enjoyed walking across campus and seeing the buildings and students.
The free Weisman Art Museum, designed by Frank Gehry is a must-​see, no matter how short your visit. The building is AMAZING from the outside and just as cool from the inside. It’s a small museum that can be visited in a short time. There’s also a walking bridge (covered and uncovered) by the museum, leading to downtown across the river.
There are also a variety of sky bridges across campus that can be accessed from buildings, so getting around on a cold day is not a problem — and makes it rather fun to explore!

I wholeheartedly give full five stars for my academic adviser, the DGS from my Dept, my labmates, and the most helpful staffs at ISSS.
However, I have experienced pretty shitty stuff at the U.
The staffs at the Grad School are never helpful. Whenever I call for some advice, I would just refer to the guideline from online. Hmm. if you are not helping students, why even bother having any staffs? I had to deal with the Grad School office quite often during the last month. The last incident was when the staff rejected one of my forms mainly because of her ignorance.
I hate to say this but some profs here are racist. I experienced that first hand when one prof that I attended her class said ‘your writing is quite good considering you dont really speak and write anything English!’ Seriously, how could anyone say something like this to a student? If I hadnt spoken English, then what language did I speak to you? Reading mind? This same prof had said some other awful thing to other international students too. It’s very demeaning to see a big university like this hire someone like her.
Well, after more than 6 yrs at this school, i think it’s a good school but not at all that great, IMO.

Love my college! The campus has some very beautiful buildings, new and old alike. I love to stroll through East Bank in the Fall months. And the people watching is prime.
Some may complain about the tuition, but it is comparable to all other state colleges with this prestige.
Take a tour, you will love it!

I had a full academic scholarship, and maybe that has affected my opinion of this lovely school. I also graduated in three years and worked
for the Police Dept. So there.
Its not a «go to» school anymore, its quite hard to get into nowdays.
Your experience here is what you make out of it. There are soo many opportunities and you will be rewarded for taking risks.
As far as academics go, its alright. First year classes are about 300 people each, TA’s dont really care, but I think thats every university. Once you get to upper levels, its better, professors care and know their stuff.
However, there are some bad apples, if you want their names, let me know.
Social life is pretty good, but once again its what you make out of it. There are organizations for everyone, including the sweat pants club.
Campus is beautiful, minus some dorms and most of the west bank. I love the mall area, Coffman is great for a short nap or a visit to computer lab. Dont fret the winter, most buildings have connecting underground tunnels. Love MINNESOTA!!! And there are buses if you dont want to walk or need to head over to St. Paul, yep there is a St Paul campus and its quite big.
The bad — parking is scares, freshman are scary, costly technology fees and paid printing, eek.
Overall, its good, but I hope my kids will get into Yale!

Good school yet tuition keeps going up and up. Books are very expensive and the rental program is not very good. For a four year university it is good yet for way less of a price UWRF across the river is way cheaper and offers a four year degree.

I’m a bio major here at the U — and for what it’s worth, I love it. The bio program basically has a whole campus to ourselves (okay, so the CFANS and design people are here too… I guess.) in St. Paul full of awesome. The biology program is badass — it’s tough, but you learn a LOT. You have to, the competition is pretty fierce with the pre-​health people and all of the graduate wannabes.
The school is big. The campuses are big, but manageable. No one is going to hold your hand. Harden the fuck up and come to a big school like the U of M… there are so many opportunities that you wouldn’t get elsewhere. If you aren’t from the Twin Cities area (I wasn’t) you also get to discover two brand new cities and all of the awesomeness they contain while getting an education, if you take the opportunity. Don’t stay on campus all 4 years and not venture out into other neighborhoods… you’ll regret it!

I liked going to the U much better than Macalester because I fit in better at the U. I only gave it 4 stars, though, because the U is so freaking cheap. I was a bit spoiled by Macalester. I went from a free ride to having to pay for everything. I couldn’t believe we had to pay to print out papers at the computer labs, even if we were using the computers in our specific college. I know that I didn’t use the computers enough to cover what I paid in technology fees. Parking prices were quite a shock, too.
The good stuff: I enjoyed getting to know a truly diverse student body. The professors were almost all fantastic (only 2 exceptions come to mind). The research being done at the U is very exciting — the atmosphere at the U is stimulating. I enjoyed being at the U so much that I got my master’s at the U … and I’m still hanging around the U (though I get paid for it now).

OK I am a little bias, this is my alma mater after all. But the U isn’t just the Twin Cities’ «go to» college anymore, in fact it is quite difficult to get in these days. I spent five years here studying marketing, communication, and biology (go figure!) and I loved all of them.
The professors are either actual professors with their own research or graduate students doing research simultaneously. It depends on the person if they actually enjoy teaching, sometimes they just teach for a requirement or to save money on tuition.
Either way they are leaders in their field and know what they’re talking about. Also you will meet a lot of great people that are enthusiastic and driven. If you want to go to four year college, consider the U.

This university is pretty decent as schools go.
I ended up returning here after I was accepted into a top private college and discovering that no one cares what you do there until grad school.
I also discovered that I hated engineering. Hated it a lot. I thought that it would be fun like a pure science, but the applications made things messy and chaotic. The thought of trial and error to solve problems when you had equations was revolting to me.
So anyway. The university has decent, though not the most challenging or updated, curriculums and staff. What it does have is a bunch of guys who couldn’t get into a better school, so it’ll make you look really good if you try at all.
Don’t bother trying to find much in cutting edge anything as an undergraduate. That’s not what American college is about. It’s about learning what your professors learned twenty years ago with all the bits they got wrong as well.
Pick your classes with care. If you’re not getting along with your TA or professor, drop it immediately and do something else. College is not about learning, it is about succeeding. In this it is real education for real life.

I transferred here from UW Stout (now UW Stout Polytechnic) and I haven’t looked back. I’m in the Asian Languages and Literature program, and the department has been nothing but awesome to me. I love that this school has about 45 languages offered. I could take Coptic if I wanted to! Actually, I’m taking Hindi, and I’ve learned more about Hindi in a semester and a half than I learned from 8 years of Spanish instruction.
It’s also been a great place to work. I have gained so many skills from my work study job in the Chemistry department.
The campus is pretty much awesome. It’s huge, but easy to get around with the use of buses and UNDERGROUND TUNNELS! HOLY CRAP. There’s also a huge amount of restaurants and it’s own itty bitty downtown, aptly named «Dinkytown.»
One of my favorite things about the U of M is that there’s an incredible international population there. There are all sorts of clubs and organizations for people of different countries, cultures and traditions. For me this is an absolutely wonderful change from my other school, which was about 99% caucasian.
Basically, I love this school!