Editor:
If you read Brandon McKay’s letter to the editor, “Reflections of a Sixth-Year Senior” in the Sept. 9, 2002 Chronicle, you probably cried a few tears after hearing about his six-year prison sentence as an undergraduate at the U.
Among many of McKay’s hardships were parking and construction woes as well as a lack of “value and competent staff” at the university. Furthermore, McKay felt that it was his duty as a “sixth year senior” to bestow this knowledge on entering freshmen.
I too am a senior and now feel obliged to offer a different opinion about doing time at the U. First, the “parking situation” is a dead horse. Don’t beat it anymore, it’s not going to go anywhere. Get on TRAX or the bus and save some money and sanity by not having to find a parking spot.
Second, the U offers an excellent education at a relatively low cost. Look at in-state tuition at most other state schools and you will see what kind of value you get. The University of Colorado costs $3,350 for two 15-credit semesters and the University of Washington costs $3,761. The U, though, only costs $2,774. You do the math.
My last suggestion as a senior to all those freshman is to get involved. If you get in the commuter mentality of coming to school and fleeing back to suburbia as soon as your classes are over, you probably won’t have many positive impressions of your time here. In fact, you may hardly remember going here at all.
If all you have to show after four years of college is a piece of paper on your cubicle wall, then I guess you might feel ripped off. But perhaps there’s value to be found in aspects of the university other than the grades on your transcripts or the diploma on your wall.
How do you place a value on heckling BYU fans at the annual football game? How much is it worth to bask in the sun while sitting in those great Adirondack chairs on the Union patio? What is the value of goggling at the beautiful women on a warm spring day? There are some things you just can’t measure the value of.
These are the things that you get just by being here at the university, and the more involved you are, the more value you will walk away with.
Jon Blutarski
Senior, Biology