The University of Arizona (also referred to as UA or U of A) is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885 (twenty-seven years before the Arizona Territory achieved statehood), and is considered the flagship of Arizona's three public universities, as well as a Public Ivy. UA includes the only medical school in Arizona that grants M.D. degrees. In 2006, total enrollment was 36,805 students. UA is governed by the Arizona Board of Regents.
The University of Arizona was approved by the Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1885. The city of Tucson had hoped to receive the appropriation for the territory's mental hospital, which carried a sum of money slightly larger than the $25,000 allotted to the territory's only university (the antecedent to Arizona State University was also chartered in 1885, but it was created as Arizona's normal school, and not a university). Tucson, having a smaller contingent of legislators than cities like Prescott and Phoenix, was granted last priority and was awarded the university, which disappointed many city residents. With no parties willing to step forth and provide land for the new institution, the citizens of Tucson prepared to return the money to the Territorial Legislature until two gamblers and a saloon keeper decided to donate the land necessary to build the school. Classes met for the first time in 1891 with 32 students in Old Main, the first building constructed on campus, and still in use to this day.
Because there were no high schools in Arizona Territory, the University maintained separate preparatory classes for the first 23 years of operation.
The main campus sits on in central Tucson, about one mile (1.6 km) northeast of downtown. There are 179 buildings on the main campus. Many of the early buildings, including the Arizona State Museum buildings (one of them the 1927 main library) and Centennial Hall, were designed by Roy Place, a prominent Tucson architect. It was Place's use of red brick that set the tone for the red brick facades that are a basic and ubiquitous part of nearly all UA buildings, even those built in recent decades. Indeed, almost every UA building has red brick as a major component of the design, or at the very least, a stylistic accent to harmonize it with the other buildings on campus.
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| Percent of Students International: | 6% |
| On-Campus Housing Available: | Yes |
| Percent of Students Living On-Campus: | 17% |
| Freshman Students Required to Live on Campus: | No |
| Member of: | NAA, NCAA |
| Sports Include: |
Football (Pacific-10 Conference) Basketball (Pacific-10 Conference) Baseball (Pacific-10 Conference) Track (Pacific-10 Conference) |
| Tuition & Fees (undergraduate) | In-State | Out-of-State | |
Published Tuition and Fees: |
$ 4,498 | $ 13,682 | |
Average Tuition for Full-Time Undergrads: |
$ 4,394 | $ 13,578 | |
Required Fees for Full-Time Undergrads: |
$ 104 | $ 104 | |
| Financial Aid | Avg. Amount Received | % of Students Receiving Aid | |
Federal Grants: |
$ 3,153 | 19% | |
State and Local Grants: |
$ 886 | 1% | |
Institutional Grants: |
$ 4,481 | 48% | |
Student Loans: |
$ 3,688 | 26% | |
Any Aid: |
67% |
| Acceptance Rate: | 88% (Selective) |
| Test Scores | |
| SAT Scores: | |
| % of Students Submitting SAT Scores: | 83% |
| Bottom 25th Percentile: | Verbal: 500, Math: 500 |
| Top 75th Percentile: | Verbal: 620, Math: 630 |
| ACT Scores: | |
| % of Students Submitting ACT Scores: | 41% |
| Bottom 25th Percentile: | Composite: 21, Verbal: 20, Math: 20 |
| Top 75th Percentile: | Composite: 26, Verbal: 27, Math: 27 |
| Application Fee: | $ 50.00 |
| Formal Demonstration of Competencies: | Recommended |
| High School Diploma or Equivalent: | Recommended |
| High School GPA: | Recommended |
| High School Rank: | Recommended |
| High School Record: | Required |
| Recommendations: | Not Required |
| TOEFL: | Required |
| Test Scores: | Required |
College Advice
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and no extra curricular activities. and i go to a private catholic school out of state that makes us do service hours.
community college isnt really an option with my parents i just need an okay college thats out of the state of utah and on the west coast
also i'm just going to be a junior when school starts again, so i've got time still to raise my grades right?
14 months ago
Best Answer
Take it from someone who has done her research an Is planning on going to either ASU or UofA next year. Pretty much everyone gets into ASU. They accept 92% of their applicants each year, but what can you expect from a party school? LOL. UofA on the other hand is a bit tougher to get into. Their acceptance rate is 80%. I'd say you're probably a decent candidate for either of the universities. Oh, and use your junior year wisely. Time is of the essence. Try to bring those grades up! Also, do your best on the SAT's!!! They use your scores for class-level placement and scholarship opportunities!!!
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I'll be attending this fall as a transfer student from Phoenix. I also probably won't have a car. Your advice will be greatly appreciated.
17 months ago
Best Answer
"Best" is rather subjective when it comes to university housing at UofA. All of the dorms, except for the Sky View Apartments, are quite small. Coronado and Navajo-Pinal Stadium Hall are the largest, at 200 square feet. But all of the buildings along Highland Ave (Graham-Greenlee, colnia de La Paz, Villa Del Puente, etc) are popular, both because they are new and because they form a critical mass of activity. Then, while the Sky View Apartments are large (and pricier), they are also further away and are prone to frequent fire alarms from kids who haven't learned how to cook.
For most students, "best" is an off-campus apartment, and many are in walking and biking distance to campus. They're cheaper than university housing, too. But it can be harder to meet people that way, so staying in the dorms for a year is a good idea.
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Is this a hard school to get into if youre an Arizona resident?
and also the University of Arizona as well.
17 months ago
Best Answer
They are both not incredibly selective, but University of Arizona is more selective than Arizona State University. If you do decently well in school, you should have no problem getting in especially since you're an in-state student which also makes it easier.
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I am not from Arizona I am from Pittsburgh but they both seem like nice schools and affordable.
17 months ago
Best Answer
U of A is generally regarded as a better school educationally. And, Tucson is definitely a better location than Tempe. Although both of these locations are very hot much of the year, Tucson is usually a few degrees cooler and less humid! Also, Tucson is a better organized city than Phoenix -- less traffic congestion and generally prettier and easier to deal with. There is a nice mix of students, working people and retirees. You can have a comfortable four years at U of A if you are willing to go to a school that is dominated by people from Arizona, consists of a lot of very large buildings with very large auditoriums filled with very large classes, and is not exactly Harvard!
My personal opinion is that you would be a lot better off at Penn State - a much more highly respected school than any of the Arizona schools. They're big, too, but they have higher standards and would be cheaper and better respected in your home territory.
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Best Answer
The U of A is a decent state university. That means, it is very large, there are many good students there, but also, many thousands of not very good students. There are some famous professors but also hundreds if not thousands of teaching assistants who teach many of the basic courses and discussion sections, and many of those grad students and upper level undergraduates are only mediocre in their subjects. In other words, it is pretty likely you will get a teacher who is not particularly good.
So, a lot of classes will be fairly easy to pass if you are a half-decent student and you take school seriously. If you approach school in a business like way, you should get a great GPA and graduate without ever having to work very hard. You will be able to party and relax and at the end you will have a degree. It won't get you much respect, but at least it will be better than ASU or U of Phoenix!
You are going to be treated like a number, and some of your classes are going to be really big - 500 students in a class would be nothing unusual. Unless you are in some odd major like Balkan languages or something, all your classes will be like that.
Tucson is an interesting city. The desert and mountains around there are pretty and a big change for anyone from back East. The weather is fabulous except for the summer when it is brutally hot.
I'd say U of A is a good school for anyone who wants to be somewhat educated but hey, let's not go over the top on this education thing!
ps a class of 50 is a big class. In many private universities the average class size once you get beyond the introductory level is more like 15 - 20, not 50. And in any school that has the student faculty ratio of U of A you are not going to get a lot of individual attention. If you aaare an in-state resident student you will pretty much get what you pay for. If you are from out of state, as the other answer suggests, you would be pretty much paying too much.
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Question:
University of Arizona?
Anyone know anything about the U of Arizona? I am a junior looking at schools. I want to study both spanish and education. I have heard they have a good foreign language program? I get straight A's on my report card BUT I don't take any honors classes. Do u think I could get in? Also, tell me anything you know about the school or if you know of schools with great foreign language programs that I should consider.
THANKS!!
18 months ago
Best Answer
There is a high correlation between a university's overall ranking and its ranking in foreign language programs.
The University of Arizona is a good second tier university. It is the best public university in Arizona -- but if you picked a state at random, tht state probably has a better public university than U of A. For example, all of the University of California schools are better (though none of the California State University schools are better).
If you have straight As and decent SAT scores, you will get in -- but you could probably do a lot better.
My advice would be to apply there as your safety school, and apply to a few first tier schools. Oh -- and take some Honors or AP classes as a senior.
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Question:
University of Arizona Students?
How is the campus life and the academics for undergrads, especially engineering students. I looking to go here next year, but I am not quite sure.
20 months ago
Best Answer
I'm a U of A drop out.
Campus life was great, a lot of extra curriculars like student Radio and the poetry club kept me busy. Great food (I love the pizza right off campus, I think it was Grama Tony's or something like that.) However, I didn't like the fact that there were so many potheads and heavy drinkers.
Uh, MeCHA is pretty strong there. They put an idiot in charge a few years ago, and so much rests on the football team. They actually cut departments when football isn't going well. And there was administrative headaches with them getting my SocSec number wrong and the credits not coming in... The politics did my head in and that's why I left after only one semester.
But I had a great time when I was there. I was journalism, the academics for engineering were probably better (science guys seemed happier with their classes then those of us in humanities)
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I really want to study there for college and I'm a bit worried that I might not get in. So is it hard to get in? What are the dorm rooms like? What are the students like? and on top of all I love arizona soo much
20 months ago
Best Answer
It's not hard, from my friend attending there, he's told me it has a 10-15% rejection rate, standard dormrooms that are too small, and stuents who are mostly liberal.
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22 months ago
Best Answer
Actually, the University of Arizona has many excellent departments and programs. For example, they have one of the world's best astronomy departments.
They also are nationally recognized for their excellent programs in anthropology, architecture, art, biology, business administration, drama, engineering, English, foreign languages, geology, nursing, history, pharmacy, philosophy, and psychology, among others. In short, you're likely to find a solid program in just about any subject of interest at U of Arizona. It's a GREAT school!
Carolyn Lawrence, www.AdmissionsAdvice.com,
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Question:
Compare Arizona state university and University of Arizona. what are benefits and drawbacks of both?
I'm looking at education quality, resources, and anything available that will enhance my college experience.
29 months ago
Best Answer
Recently all three of the Universities in Arizona have had to choose a mandate (so that they don't have to use scarce state funds in competition with each other). NAU decided to focus on forestry (big surprise). Tempe Normal (now referred to as ASU) became "the school for the masses." And UofA became the institute for higher learning (meaning that it would focus on more difficult fields such as science, engineering, mathematics, medicine...).
UofA has quality instructors in every department and does a lot of high end research (from biotechnology to optics to space science to wildlife). In fact, NASA has us on speed-dial (the most recent pictures of Mars come through the UofA to be processed).
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