Minneapolis, MN
How important is the location of a university in a student’s selection process? Location is normally one of the top five factors students consider when deciding which college or university they should attend. If you are reading this blog post it is probably safe to assume that the location of the college or university you are going to attend is important to you as well.
The question I want to address in this post is very simply:
Why would I want to attend a university in downtown Minneapolis?
I am often asked this question because I am a college professor that works at a university in downtown Minneapolis. I often want to respond to this question by telling people that there are more than 50,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students go to classes at one of 13 colleges/universities located in Minneapolis.
The reason I don’t offer this information is that this answer really doesn’t answer the question; it only tells people that a lot of students are attending classes in Minneapolis. Now that I’ve shared my knee jerk response let me share the real reason you should attend a university in downtown Minneapolis.
1. Being close to potential employers
One reason to attend college in downtown Minneapolis is that you will closer to potential employers. 5 of the 14 Minnesota Fortune 500 companies are located in Minneapolis. These include: Target Corporation, U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy, Ameriprise Financial and Thrivent Financial. According to a 2006 Twin Cities Business Journal article the largest employers in Minneapolis include: Target Corporation, U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy, Ameriprise Financial, Thrivent Financial, PepsiAmericas, Valspar, Graco, Star Tribune, IBM, Piper Jaffray, RBC Dain Rauscher, ING Group, and Qwest.
2. There is more to life than School
There is a time to study but there is also a time to have fun. According to the Star Tribune the Twin City region is second only to New York in live theater per capita. If you don’t think a night at the theater is for you then maybe you could get tickets to go and see one of the following teams play: Vikings, Twins, Timberwolves or Lynx.
Maybe you’re concerned about coming to a city because you enjoy spending time outside. Put that concern aside because, according to Alexander Garvin, “the Minneapolis park system is the best-designed, best-financed, and best-maintained in America.” This could be one reason that Runner’s World ranked the Twin Cities as the sixth best city for runners in 2007.
3. Something Cool for everyone
If your still not convinced that attending a college/university in downtown Minneapolis would be your thing maybe the following fun facts will help:
· In 2005 Popular Science named Minneapolis the Top Tech City in the US because of Wi-Fi availability, transportation solutions, medical trials, university research, advanced degrees held by the work force, and energy conservation are far above the national average
· Kiplinger’s ranked the Twin Cities as number 2 in its 2006 Smart Places to Live poll
· The 2006 Smart Places to Live poll found that Minneapolis was one of the Seven Cool Cities for young professionals
· Bicycling Magazine named Minneapolis as the top bicycling city in its 2010 Top 50 rankings.
· Minneapolis was named America’s most literate city in a study conducted by Live Science in 2007
4. It’s just a fun place to be
You may think that I’m a little biased in my opinion of Minneapolis being fun because I do work here. Rather than take my word for it I’ll leave you with the following thought from creators of the Cranium game:
Cranium did a study to find a city that has an outrageously fun experience with something for everyone. Minneapolis won because it’s the home of Mary Tyler Moore, four professional sports teams, and the best mall in America. Minneapolis has more theaters than Boston, more parks than Denver, more golfers per capita than any other city in America, and with 10,000 lakes in the state, Minnesota, has more coastline than California, Florida, and Hawaii combined. It even has 15 dog parks. Woof! Cranium CEO Richard Tait said, “It’s almost a no-brainer” to crown Minneapolis the Most Fun City.
(A special thank you to Dr. Blanchard for writing this post)
