Durham, NH: At the end of August, I visited UNH for a day. If you are looking for a school near a cozy town but with a huge campus life, UNH is your school. The 10,000 population of Durham doubles during the school year. The main street of Durham runs through the 200-acre campus of UNH and hardly disturbs the students' campus life-style. UNH is 90 minutes from Boston, the closest major city, while the beaches of NH are only 30 minutes away.

The 35 campus dorms are a good size, coed or single sex, and are grouped together at three points around the perimeter of the campus. Each of the three areas has a dining hall nearby. Some of the dining halls or cafes around campus serve calzones that I could live on if I attended UNH. The facilities are adequate at UNH since it is such a large school. There are a variety of majors, 200 to be exact, and the class size is average. Their library, a part of the intercollegiate network, consists of over 900,000 volumes. The athletic program offers 12 varsity sports and many other intercollegiate sports.

Even though I am considering schools in the heart of a major city, I could see myself at UNH because of the warm feeling one gets from the school, due to small things, such as the bell tower that rang each half hour and the fact that the dean stopped and talked to our tour group during the tour. He spoke to us vaguely but was very friendly. I'm quite impressed that he stopped and talked with the group. The tour guide, a student, provided an informal yet informative tour of the entire school, the classes, the athletic facilities, and even the types of parties.

A large percentage of the students attending UNH are NH residents and ski. If you don't ski or aren't from New Hampshire, don't fret. UNH is an excellent school, with excellent academics, and an excellent campus life.n




Reviewed in 1990