University of St Thomas-Saint Paul Top Questions

What's the most frustrating thing about your school?

Katherine

The main frustration I have found at the Univeristy of St. Thomas is that there are so many extra-curriculars and opportunities that I am unable to participate in every activity that I am interested in. It is a great problem to have, but I wish I had more time to be in multople places at once!

Ryley

The most frustrating part about St. Thomas, is it feels very disconnected from the outside world. There aren't a lot of off-campus things that are within walking distance. Another frustrating part is the emphasis on religion at this school, I realize it is a private, catholic university, but sometimes it can be overwhelming. No one is forced to go to church or participate in prayer, but it gets a little weird when you're walking to class and there are 50+ seminarians singing hymns as they walk through the plaza.

Ngoc Thoa

Time management. There is so many fun events on campus, so the focus of going to school can be distracted.

Perrin

Walking to class on cold winter days. Although, they did cancel J term classes this month due to dangerously cold temperatures.

Kellie

The most frustrating thing about attending this school is defintely the cost. It costs approximately $40,000 to attend this college. Although they are very helpful with providing internships and do offer financial aid, it is stil hard to realize how much debt you can acquire in such a short period of time.

Vera

The campus shuttle has a terrible schedule! its supper hard to know when the bus will come and how long it will take for it to get to the Minneapolis campus. Also, there are no bus stop "shelters" at the bus stop areas. wish there was a place to stand during winter and warm up.

Alicia

The most frustrating thing about my school is that it is a Catholic affiliated school. It is also a liberal arts school. These two things mean that there are completely different requirements in order to graduate rather than a normal state school. Although these things make it tougher to get your requirments, it helps you in the end and the students at my school have the drive to complete these requirements.

Ashley

The most frustrating thing about St. Thomas is how far I sometimes have to walk to class. I can have one class on the northern campus of the school and the other on south campus. Even though this is frustrating I learned how to manage my time to get to class on time.

Meghan

I think the most frustrating thing at the University of St. Thomas is how hard it is to find parking. The only parking facility is on south campus and there is nothing on the north side unless it is a teacher's parking lot.

Julia

The most frustrating thing about my school is the multiple computer programs that are used to organize personal information. Though there are seperate programs over the internet organizing email, account information, and course information, they were easily understood after a few weeks of school. After those few weeks, the frustration with understanding how each program worked disappeared, and all that was left was the hassle of switching from program to program!

Ciara

The most frustrating thing is that many students do not go into it with an open mind and that after the first week, the school does not offer a lot of activities to allow freshmen to get to know each other.

Jackson

Each evening at the entrances of dorms are stationed employees of the University that check-in the opposite gender after a certain time. Thus, these people have to leave before a certain time as well. I understand the liability the University has, but it is very annoying to have to do that. Single-sex dorms are frustrating, but the University-owned on campus apartments are co-ed by floor.

Nick

The lack of community within the music department. The music program has the potential to grow into an even greater program but the lack of community amongst faculty and students alike causes the program to remain stagnant. With a stronger community and indentity the department could have and should have recieved better facilities long ago.

Sarah

St Thomas is advertised as a Catholic College, but in reality, there is a "Catholic bubble". Those who are praticing Catholic tend to all be friends, and while I am a part of the "bubble", we don't reach out to the rest of the campus as well as we could. Also, the Theology department departs from church teaching, which for a "Catholic University" is inexcusable.

Chris

The weekend life. Many people at UST are local students who go home some weekends. This means campus can be quiet on weekends, but if you're an out of state student, there are also many other out of state students to get to know.

Hannah

The most frustrating thing about St. Thomas is that while I am working very hard and getting a great education, I constantly worry if I will be able to afford another semester at St. Thomas. I love the education I am recieving, the teachers I have, the friends I have met, and the opportunities here, but it is very expensive. I am paying for school almost entirely on my own, and I constantly stress about my financial situation.

Ashley

The most frustrating thing about the University of Saint Thomas is that it is extremely expensive.

Dan

The most frustrating thing I can think of is that there does not seem to be a student center where students can all go and hang out on the weekends or at night to socialize. There are not many near by social even buildings for students. However, there is a huge new student center being built now which will change that all. ANother frustrating thing is when we are limited by what equipment we have or what books we do or do not have. With the amount of money we spend for this education we should never be limited.

Shane

It is very expensive even with finacial aid.

Kirsten

The most frustrating thing about my school is the lack of friendliness the students have.

Alyssa

The most frustrating thing about St. Thomas have to do with the meal plans and tenure. If you are living in an on-campus dorm, you are required to get a certain meal plan, which is usually, at least for women, more than you will ever use, so it goes to waste. Also, there are a few professors here ( not the majority) that you can tell are here just because they have tenure. You can tell this because they seem out of touch with how students learn today. I have personally had this experience with only one professor.

Taylor

There does not seem to be very much school spirit. There are also many cliques of people that look down on others and are judgmental to people that they do not even know. People are stuck up.

Stephen

The fact that sometimes the administration is more concerned with the prestige of the university than the well-being of the students, especially the catholic community.

Kevin

The most frustrating thing about the University of St. Thomas can be the amount of work the professors assign. At some periods during the semester, the professors will have large assignments and projects due during the same time period.

Nicolas

The fact that this is a Catholic University, but we have students who don't necessarily follow Catholic or even Christian morals/values. I believe St. Thomas Aquinas would be fairly disappointed if he were looking at this school whom he is named after.

Sarah

How the campus shuts down on the weekends. There are some campus club sponsered activities, but they are either short or not every weekend. Also, there is nothing open on campus. Most of dining services shuts down. They are open in 2-3 hour time frames. It is difficult as a student to eat on campus on the weekend because of the awkward timing of dining services. Weekends can feel very lonely, especially for out of state students.

Nicholas

Stuck up girls

Michael

School here is really expensive.

Nichole

The cost of school is a huge burden on me.

Alyssa

Some teachers do not pay attention to student's reactions and understanding of the material and therefore do not explain topics clearly enough. This leaves the entire class lost and a sour taste in my mouth for the teacher. However, there are many great professors at St. Thomas that have a genuine interest in student's and are very tuned in to when they can move on with a subject or when students are not understanding are more time needs to spent on that topic.

Hayley

The most frustrating thing for me about my school are the dorms I live in.

Eryn

Some people do not grow out of the superficial high school mentality.

SHIRLY

The most frustrating thing about the University of St. Thomas is the lack of research availability.

Charles

That we are building multiple huge new buildings that cost tons of money but are not entirely necessary. I would prefer the money to go to a more useful cause such as undergraduate scholarships. These buildings are also causing St. Thomas to go against their mission statement with regards to how they treat the people that no longer have a job due to the new buildings.

Ashya

The most frustrating thing at my school is the cost. Our tuition increases year after year and my financial aid package is not on the high end. I believe I should receive more financial aid due to my race/ethnicity, as well as my high school grade point average and the extra-curricular activities I was involved in. I believe St. Thomas has an excellent reputation, but often times I think of transferring to a community college due to my financial circumstances. However, I'm standing on God's word and believing in Him for resources and scholarships!

Mondraya

Although UST was not my first choice in what college I wanted to attend, I have grown to enjoy my time at the school. I think the most frustrating thing is the cost of my tutition, classes at about $4000 for 4 credits. I do not come from a wealthy family so this is something that affects me most.

taylor

It is a "suitcase" college: a lot of students go home on the weekends and it is difficult for those who live out of state (such as myself) to make friends and stay involved. There needs to be more activities on campus over the weekends.

Abby

The most frusterating thing about this school is registration and the fact that if your classes fill up you have to figure out new ones to take. It is difficult if you did not come in with any credtis because then you are not able to register until later than everyone else.

Mallory

The most frustrating thing about school is the times that the cafeterias are open. Sometimes they are not open when you are able to go. During your freshman and sophmore years they make you have a meal plan. The times were not convient for me to go and I wasted money on a large amount of meals because of that.

Hana

The people are very cliquey and it is hard to get involved.

Joshua

The most frustrating thing about the University fo Saint Thomas is the inconsistency between teachers. Some classes of the same subject and material have professors who are very easy and others that are extremely difficult. If there was a consistency between classes, the satisfaction of the overall education would be superb. Also, the campus provide food is horrible. The food is less than decent and they way over price the meal plans.

Brittany

The religious aspect of it.

Kristen

The most frusterating thing about my school is coming up with the money that is required to attend here.

Andre

Although, it is probably the most frustrating thing about every college or university, the most frustrating thing about the University of St Thomas is that it seems like one never has enough time in the day. There is always so much going on; including sports, clubs, classes, study sessions, and so on. It becomes very difficult to manage one’s time beneficially. And, of course, there is also sleep that one must take into account. Many sessions and obligations overlap and I find myself sacrificing important priorities for more important ones. Time management is very frustrating at St Thomas.

Christine

They alter students financial aid packages after freshman year, so as a sophomore I didn't receive a certain loan that was vital to making my education at St. Thomas affordable. Other peers of mine also experienced this dilemma which has caused students to transfer and/or have to take out further loans. Due to the core requirements of three Theology and two Philosophy courses, I think UST should be more generous with their financial aid to allow students who aren't wealthy to attend without excessive worry.

Layla

The most frustrating is that some professors are not fully devoted to helping their students. They don't reach out to their students and help them when they need it sometimes.

Kyra

I will be transferring for Spring 2011 to the University of St. Thomas. The most frustrating thing I have found about the previous school I attended was the amount I have to pay in tuition in order to attend a private college.

Jesse

The most frustrating thing about the school is the work load. It leaves little room for other aspects of ones life that you might have enjoyed before college, such as extra curiculars and hobbies. Though it is possible to still take part in other activities, you need to be able to manage your time and create time slots to do your work soundly and efficiently. It is a challenge, but if you don't procrastinate, you'll strive to reach your academic goals while still enjoying life.

Tom

There is an atmosphere here of tradition, that there is only a certain range of ways that the school will approach a situation or react to a problem

Amal

The most frustrating thing about my school is boring lectures that professor's can turn into interesting discussions. We as student's are willing to expand our knowledge however; professor's that lack creativity just bore me to death. School should be a facility where creativity and originality are expressed. However, my lectures consist of regurgitated facts and statistics that can be found surfing on the internet. So the question is why even attend class? This frustrates and makes waking up for class more painful.