Big enough to have it all, small enough to feel like home

Introduction
The most important thing to do is visit campus before you decide. I was on the fence about the UofA and had scholarship offers from a couple private schools to consider, but after I visited the school I realized that it had what I was looking for academically, and more importantly, I could picture myself here for four years.

Campus Life and Social Life
Campus is very active socially, no matter what you're interested in. One of the perks of a large state school is that enough people are involved in pretty much every kind of club, greek organization, or sport to provide something to do every night. Weekends are normally busy, but a lot of people do go home on weekends if it's not a home football game. Game Days are insane- the town's population doubles, traffic is terrible, but tail gating is a blast. Advertisement
Academics
The UofA has tons of money in Engineering, Business, and Animal and Food Science, and is really highly ranked in each. Has a top 20 Architecture program and 24th ranked business program, but architecture is difficult and very competitive. Arts and Sciences is a big college within the school that is improving it's facilities and has good faculty, but seems to have been ignored by alumni donations in recent years. Workload varies a lot by major- engineers, architects, and pre med/law students work constantly while some business and art majors go out every night.

Student Body
The student body is pretty diverse socially, racially, and economically. over 20% of students participate in Greek Life, so there are a lot of frat and sorority types, but there's a big mix of people from big city to small town, rich to poor. It's an interesting group of people.

In Closing...
For a large state school, the University of Arkansas has a surprising number of highly ranked programs and colleges, and I was surprised at how seriously they take their academics. The school has lots of programs in place to get new freshmen into the groove of college and help them evaluate/decide on their majors. Classes are surprisingly small and there's always something going on around campus. Game days are a lot of fun and tickets are dirt cheap ($1 football for students). If you're looking for a small private atmosphere, this may not be it for you, but if you want a college that is big enough to have everything but small enough to feel like home while delivering solid academics and a lot of fun, the UofA is worth considering.