Originally posted by: Brentx
How do you like UW River Falls? I passed that school this year when I was headed to Mall of America this summer, before that I never even knew it existed

. One of my friends transfered from there to UW Milwaukee. Main reason was because he was bored out of his mind without a car there.
It's a mixed bag. It really depends on whether you prefer a small or large school.
My longest walk to class is a little over 5 minutes, whereas a lot of my friends at the U of M have 20-30 minute trips to get to some of theirs (which makes you really want to skip...). Class sizes are pretty small so you can get one-on-one help and the professors actually get to know you. I went to the community college back home for my last two years of highschool and the classroom environment is fairly similar, just at a higher level and with less apathetic students.
It's pretty much a 'suitcase college' where a lot of people go home on the weekends-- it seems like 1/3rd of the students are from Twin Cities suburbs, 1/3rd from hick towns in WI, and the rest just random areas of the upper midwest. Because of this UWRF isn't a 'party school' per say; we probably don't keep up with LaCrosse or Eau Claire as far as the sheer amount of alcohol consumed, but there hasnt been a weekend (Thu,Fri,Sat) night that I haven't been able to find a keg. Another nice thing about living in a small town is that crime isn't much of an issue. I end up walking back to and across campus alone and intoxicated anywhere from 1-3AM once a week and it doesn't worry me at all. My friends at the U of M don't go anywhere outside of large groups that late at night, even sober.
Does it suck not having a car? You better believe it...I understand exactly where your friend was coming from. It's frustrating as hell being half an hour from Minneapolis/St. Paul and not being able to get there whenever you want. If we had a bus line or shuttle service it would be perfect. It's not that River Falls is a bad town, but with a population of 12,000 (not counting the 6,000 students) there's not a lot to do off-campus.