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| - I'm writing this review as a visitor. A friend of mine is doing her PhD here in geology and I went to campus with her one day to take a look. Tempe is definitely a college town for ASU and not much else, with probably more bicycles than cars around, and if it's possible, definitely ride to school instead of driving.
The campus is right next to Phoenix and very close to the airport so that is definitely a convenient location. There are also some mesas and small hills on campus that provide easy access for a casual hike during a boring school day.
The school grounds were kept really well and the buildings, from what I saw, were very new and clean. A lot of buildings are red in color thanks to the red sandstone! People are laid-back and friendly. Because of all the bikes, they're also building a secured area for students to store their bikes which is pretty thoughtful.
Some people say this is a party school, but it probably just applies to the undergrad level. When you get to the graduate level, everyone including the one who drinks the most, is serious about school at this point.
I got to check out their on-campus restaurant and the new earth and planetary exploration building. Wow the new building looks like a science center and a Manhattan office building mixed together with a reception, 4 elevators, 7 floors, movie theatre and a room with glass windows displaying what the students and faculty are currently building, not to mention the big toys and models in the lobby. The planetary science part definitely overshadows the earth science department here because they receive more funding especially from NASA.
ASU, especially in the graduate level, has received a lot of funding and conducted a lot of research over the years. The town is pretty boring, but it's really a decent school to go to if you find a professor that you like to work with.
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