EMU: cheap tuition, cheap quality.

Introduction
I chose Eastern Michigan University because it provided me with a cheap oportunity to get a degree while being very close to the fabulous city in Michigan, Ann Arbor. I originally lived in Lansing Michigan, home of Michigan State University, and would have gone to MSU except i had already lived in Lansing for a long time and was sick of it, and that tuition was a bit too high for my liking. I also chose EMU because i had heard that it had an international trade program, which was not offered at MSU or even University of Michigan. My biggest piece of advice to high school students is, if you are looking to go into the teaching or business field and have a low budget, EMU does have good programs in those areas. However, outside of teaching and business, there are really no other quality programs availible. Students looking to follow my path and go into a major in Japanese, should be warned that the program moves at an extremely slow rate. The average EMU student graduating with a Japanese degree will most likely have the equivalent Language level as a 3rd year Japanese major student at schools such as Michigan State Univiersity.

Campus Life and Social Life
Eastern Michigan's campus is very tight knit and most people live in dorms on campus. Of course, drinking is not allowed on campus so there are almost never parties within close distance. Also, security is very high and very alert when parties are present on campus. Apartments outside of campus are not within walking distance, so to get to a party you must have a car, and it does not make going to parties easy for everyone. There are of course sports teams, which don't seem to have good records, and as far as clubs go, there are a good bunch, but at the same time there are a lot more that i would like to see such as a fencing or breakdancing club. Advertisement
Academics
From what i have heard from my peers, the business and teaching programs are great, but I have not had a good experience in the Japanese program. I transfered to EMU after going to a community college for 2 years, and when i came to EMU, i was placed into 4th year Japanese because the program is extremely slow at Eastern. However, most professors that I have taken classes from, Japanese and non-Japanese related, have been rather easy. I graduated highschool with a 2.98, but have been able to get a 3.78 at Eastern with relatively no studying whatsoever.

Student Body
At Eastern Michigan, there is a large African American population, and most of the students would like to go to the University of Michigan (which is about 10 minutes away) but can not afford it. Also, unfortunatly most students spend most of their time sitting around doing nothing, becuase there is nothing fun to do in the immediate area, and the dropout rate from EMU seems to be on the high side.

In Closing...
Most schools have at least one good thing that they can boast about, and Eastern Michigan University used to be able to brag that they had the largest swimming pool in Michigan. Of course, 2 years ago another school built a pool about a foot longer than EMU's pool, so now Eastern has absolutly nothing going for it. If considering a college in Michigan with low tuition, stick with Centeral or Western Michigan University.