li
II
"It's a matter of their perception of
reality It depends on how you look at it"
Johnson
merit with the National Parks Ser
vice. The service allows students to go
on archealogical digs.
For instance, Kolb said, an exca
vation in the Grand Tetons in
Wyoming gave her on-the-job train
ing guided by professinals.
Kolb said she thinks the profes
sors in UNL's anthropology depart
ment are just as good as at other
schools.
Of the students interviewed, all
said they were impressed and pleased
with instruction given by UNL's
professors.
But they said they also realize
how easy it is for some students to
simply go through four years of col
lege without getting the most out of
it.
Talbott said he realizes there are
apathetic and disinterested students.
from those students, tne university
mav eet a bad knock or two.
"There are students who don't
care, those that just go through the
motions of just going to class, "Tal
bott said. "Those are the ones who
are apathetic, but it's their own
fault."
Talbott said those students don't
give what the university has to offer
a fair assessment.
"You can make it as vigorous as
you want it to be," Talbott said
about the rigors of class work.
Barbara Bennett, a senior inter
national affairs major, said she
agrees that there is a lack of interest
in students not only academically,
Photos
but in extracurricular activities as
well.
"1 think students at more presti
gious schools get drunk just like we
do," Bennett said, "but there I think
there's more of an atmosphere where
students get together at the coffee
shop and talk about pressing issues
of the day. There isn't that kind of
thing here."
But Bennett said she doesn't feel
as if she has missed out on anything
academically.
She was reassured of that when
she served a three-week intenship in
Washington, D.C., with students
from East Coast schools.
"1 have never been put to shame
because of my education," she said.
Bennett said in comparison to the
Ivy Leaguers she worked with, she
felt she had a more well-rounded
education.
Involvement in extracurricular
activities and the fact that a great
majority of UNL's students work
part-time showed her that Mid
western students may have more to
offer than Ivy Leaguers who haven't
worked a day in their lives, she said.
"I think it gives us a different out
look on life," she said.
So all in all, although these merit
scholars may have come close to
entering the likes of famous hal
lways and learning from well-re-nowed
professors, they believe their
education at UNL has prepared
them for whatever the "real world"
has to offer.
by Dan Dulaney
But Loretta Johnson, doctor of
preadmissions, said she knows of
students who have walked away
from the university with bitternss or
resentment.
But Johnson said merit scholars
with corporate sponsorship could
have gone anywhere they chose.
Johnson said she knows of one
case in which a student transferred
to Smith College because of her
frustration with what UNL had to
offer.
But Johnson said she also knows
of cases where students attending
Wellesley and Northwestern uni
versities transferred back to UNL
after their freshman years.
Johnson, who deals with entering
freshmen regularly, said she always
tells parents that wherever their
children end up going to school it
will be the right place.
"It's a matter of their perception
of reality," she said, "It depends on
how you look at it."
Johnson said all students should
be impressed by the number of out
standing individual faculty and ex
cellent programs at UNL. Quality
should be a student's main concern
for their education, she said.
A student's success will be a reflec
tion on his or her view of their uni
versity, she said. "It's a self-fulfilling
prophecy. It will be positive if that's
the way they perceive it to be."