When you say UNR, do you mean the University of Nevada? If so, I am a first year here. I can give you a brief run-down of the pros and cons.
Pros
1. Small class size- your profs actually know you and talk to you. the administration really goes out of its way for you
2. New building- our new classrooms and library are all "high tech" with T1 connection at everyone's seat in class and all over the library.
3. Dr. Sauerland- this guy wrote Grant's Dissector for Anatomy. He is an awesome lecturer.
4. Cheap tuition- Tuition runs about $9000/yr, which is one of the reasons that I chose it over Tulane and SLU.
5. Cost of living is ridiculously low. My roommate and I pay $800 for a brand new 2bd/2 ba apartment.
6. Close to Tahoe. Skiing and snowboarding from December til May. We are still getting snow as of this week.
Cons
1. Small class size- this can produce a gossip mill of sorts.
2. The weather- its been dreary for the past 4 months. It snows until July sometimes.
3. Nothing really to do in Reno and Tahoe is a 45 minute drive (not something you want to do after a long day of school in the winter). There are a couple of cool places to hang out, but after growing up in Vegas and living in San Francisco, this place kinda sucks.
4. Heavy on classtime. First year you are practically in class/lab everyday from 8-5 or 8-3. Second year is better.
5. A/B/C grading system. Kind of leads to competitive people, grade consciousness abounds because a lot of people want to leave Nevada for residency.
If you are out of state, getting in here is really difficult. There are some people in my class from California, but they grew up on the Cali-Nevada border. The school looks beyond numbers for their students. This shows in our average GPA/MCAT scores, but there are people here from the Ivies as well as public schools.
I would say that my education is no worse than that at any other school. We just don't have all the world renouned lecturers that the big schools have. We match at really competitive places (Mayo, U of Wash, etc.) If you are interested, you can request a copy of our match list from the Office of Admissions.
If you have any other questions for me let me know. I check the board periodically.
