Las Vegas, NV

[sommelier]

Yes, Las Vegas, Nevada as a higher education selection... specifically, The University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

It was not my first choice for grad school, but after a few years off and the need for good income while attending, it wasn't a bad choice. I am attending for my MBA, and working for a major resort while doing so.

The University is located about a mile away from the strip, in a fairly urban area. UNLV is making great strides in their campus improvements. They have built numerous new buildings on campus, done extensive work on landscaping and aesthetics and of course have a superb division 1 athletic program. The new dean seems very committed to raising the bar as far as academics are concerned.

Here is a grocery-list style breakdown of UNLV:

Positives:

- Great work being done on the campus buildings and grounds. The facilities will be excellent when the program is complete in a year or two.

- Obviously one of the best hospitality and tourism schools in the world

- Top 100 Law School (Boyd Law ranked 88th in 2008)

- Under Grad Education program ranked 82 out of 180 in 2006

- The MBA program is no slouch! Trust me! (GMAT score and GPA requirement is rising drastically next year)

- Graduate Programs are being expanded every year

- Great athletic program

- A renewed commitment by the state and university itself to better its academic standing

- The new dean is committed to making UNLV a major research university

- Extremely low average debt upon graduation for both grad and undergrad

- Weather (if you are not here in July and August, Vegas has amazing weather!)

- A great place for internships and part time employment for undergrad and grad students. People in hospitality/hotel management, business, and law have great opportunities to learn outside the classroom

Negatives:

- It simply grew too fast from the late 90's onward, and struggled to keep up with demand

- Very poor student housing, although there is a new dorm complex being built

- Admission standards were too low, but now starting to come up (80% in '06, 72% in '07)

- Low PhD count for professors (but is quickly rising)

- 4th tier ranking in US News (which is important to some, but not myself)

- Not much Greek life (for those into that sort of thing)

- College gets pegged as a 'party school', when the reality is that you cannot drink in this town under 21 years old anywhere due to gaming laws

[teaganc]

Positives:

You can watch two fake pirate ships battle, with flames, until one sinks. Freaking pirate ships. In the desert.

Seriously, though, even if you don't like gambling, Las Vegas is a ton of fun, especially if you like your entertainment to be a little over the top. I never get tired of Vegas (except in the summer) and know some really cool people who loved UNLV.

[yexin1232002]

I was admitted by UNLV and awarded as a graduate assistant, it includes the out-state-tuition waiver and a stipend of $12000 for a year

I just wondered if these amount of money will be enough to live in this city. I've been there twice, like the city, I am sure I will have tons of fun if I go to that university. But just concern the living expenses. I will live off campus.

[Yang]

On 3/29/2010 at 9:22 PM, yexin1232002 said:

I was admitted by UNLV and awarded as a graduate assistant, it includes the out-state-tuition waiver and a stipend of $12000 for a year

I just wondered if these amount of money will be enough to live in this city. I've been there twice, like the city, I am sure I will have tons of fun if I go to that university. But just concern the living expenses. I will live off campus.

12k is not enough to live in Las Vegas. Typical 1 bdrm apartment runs between 700-800/ mth. If you're here for 12 mths, that's most of your stipend after tax. Of course you could get roommates, but be prepared to live close to campus (not the most desirable location) because you won't be able to afford insurance on a car. Most of my classmates who are GA's have some kind of student loans to help with the COL. Unless, of course, you're a poker player and like to hustle tourists on the weekends...

[ClassicsCandidate]

Las Vegas is definitely an intense place to live and like any big city you have to be careful where you end up living because it can be very dangerous (I've lived near places in Las Vegas where it's usually fine but every so often you hear a gun go off in your apartment complex or read about someone on the other side of the street being stabbed during a mugging). I'm not trying to scare you or anything, but it's quite an adjustment if you're from a small farm town like I am. But if my farmboy butt can deal with it, anyone can, imo.

That being said, Las Vegas also has a lot of museums and a thriving art scene that I think you'd enjoy, and not everything is on the Strip. The Strip is actually really small compared to the rest of the city. The first time I came here I thought the Strip would be much bigger than it was - I can drive down the main path of the Strip in 30 minutes in light traffic but there's a great amount of other things to do and some interesting places to visit even if you eliminate the Strip all together. If you're looking into Art, you'll enjoy First Fridays on Fremont (https://ffflv.org/) and Las Vegas has really unique museums like The Neon Museum (which I believe has an artist-in-residence program) and the Mob Museum. UNLV has two museums: the Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery and the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art. Other museums include the Atomic Testing Museum, the Burlesque Hall of Fame, the Erotic Heritage Museum, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, the Las Vegas Springs Preserve (which contains the Origen Museum, the Nevada State Museum Las Vegas, gardens, a seasonal butterfly habitat, a 1905 recreated village of early Las Vegas, and art galleries), and the Old Las Vegas Fort State Historic Park. These aren't even all the museums/galleries in town, either, but the better-known ones. The best thing about a lot of these places are they're nearby each other - the Old Las Vegas Fort State Historic Park is within walking distance of the Las Vegas Natural History Museum and I would argue that the Neon Museum is within walking distance from there, too (they're all on the same side of the road) and the Mob Museum is a short drive from the Neon Museum. (As you can see, museums are the first thing I learn about a place when I get there). 

Also, food. One of the great things about Las Vegas is if you like Asian food, you will be set here. There is a really good place near the Charleston Community College campus called Moki Ramen and I haven't had ramen like that since I was actually in Japan. Pretty much any kind of food can be found here and the International markets are kind of a hike but if you can split an uber or pay a friend for gas with a car to go with to the market, they have a good selection of everything. Obviously, they have fast-food like normal but I didn't have In-N-Out where I grew up and I was done for once I had it in Las Vegas. When I move for my next degree, I'm going to have some issues if I'm away from a state with In-N-Out. (There is one right next to UNLV, btw. Along with things like Chipotle, Coffee Bean, Starbucks, etc.) 

One of the things that really messed me up coming to Las Vegas, though, was how little options there are when it comes to transportation. There's buses, and that's it, and they barely run on their schedule - if you miss a bus you could be waiting 15 minutes to an hour depending on which bus stop you're at - I would suggest having a car if you can afford to keep one here because it's a lot easier to get around but everyone here drives bonkers so brace for that, too.  Or budget to uber a lot when you go off campus for whatever reason. 

Also also, if you want to take a break and do the touristy crap? If you get a Nevada ID (usually the UNLV ID will work but some places are fussy) you can get local discounts (and sometimes the student discounts are better than the locals discount so always ask about the student discount first! Some boba places even give student discounts); also there are things like the PowerPass or GoPass that lets you pay a set amount of money to save on multiple attractions in a week or so, depending on the company. If you're only looking for one-night shows, especially on the Strip, use Tix4Tonight, which have discounted tickets that can be good 2-for-1 deals or a significant percentage off of things. 

I think this is most of what I can think of right now; Las Vegas is intense, yes, but between your grad program and the things there are to do in Vegas, you're definitely not going to be bored! You can always DM me with direct questions too, if you would like.