Hi everyone! I've recently been accepted to The twin cities campus and would like to know if someone could help answer some of my questions:
1) How's the facility in TC? Since I interviewed at Duluth campus, I never got to see what the set up is like and there's no virtual tour of the building's interior part that I could find online.
2) I heard a mixed response about how reliable the bus system is in Twin Cities. I'm not entertaining the idea of driving or biking in the blizzard, so I'd like to know what the common mode of transportation is for the majority of you who go there.
3) This question might be a bit difficult to answer, but I'd like to know how accurate the financial figures are for the estimated cost of books and supplies per year at UMN. Based on the info that I got from my interview, it's a staggering 1.6k per year. Is this right?
Please let me know. Thanks in advance!
I'll answer 1 and 2 since RxMPLS answered 3 (and I live out of town so I would not be the best to answer that question anyways).
1. I've actually spent a few class days at the school in Duluth. The facilities are comparable. One thing that I like about their building is that it has a lot more windows and light in it in general. Their lounge is smaller with more lounge-y chairs whereas our lounge is mostly tables with chairs with some comfy couches on the edges. Duluth's lounge computers are along the edge, whereas the TC's are in an attached quiet computer lab and another computer lab with the printer. Both lounges have some small attached study spaces. One thing that Duluth has in their lounge that the TC doesn't have is reference books. Most of our reference books are in the lab, so you can only access them when there is not another lab going on... but you can also access most of the reference books online anyways.
Duluth and TC both have comparable lecture halls. They both have tables and chairs and ITV. Neither have windows. That's about all there is to say about them. Duluth does decorate some of their lecture rooms though... which I am jealous of
Both campuses have a library that is attached to the building. The difference is that Duluth's is a general library and TC's is the biomedical library. Duluth's also more natural lighting in it and is architecturally appealing, whereas the BioMed library is just your average library.
The TC's lab is one large room with four sections, whereas Duluth's is on main room with a separate IV and compounding area. Both have some attached private counseling rooms for patient assessment labs. This is also the one place that the TC does have windows that Duluth doesn't. Both can be accessed by the students pretty much any time.
Both have coffee shops. Very important.
In the end, both campuses have comparable facilities. There isn't really anything that stood out to me that would make one campus "better" than the other within the buildings... except Duluth's windows. I'm all about windows and natural light (in case you couldn't tell) and that's something that is definitely lacking in the TC.
2. Most people walk or bus. From my experience, the bus system is pretty reliable, but I don't bus around the city too much. I've never heard anyone have serious complaints about it either, though. There's plenty of student housing within walking distance and Minneapolis is a very bike-friendly city. One thing that's a big PITA right now is that the city is putting in the Central Corridor lightrail, which runs right next to Moos Tower. They are supposed to finish the Minneapolis construction within the next year, and then Washington Ave will open up to bus routes again, but not general traffic. In 2013 or 14 (can't remember) the construction will be done and then they have a year of testing to do before the roads and lightrail open up again for public use.
I'm not sure, but I don't think they can record you without your explicit permission?
