University of Arizona

University of Arizona – The University of Arizona is a research university in the United States, located in the Arizona city of Tucson, surrounded by five mountain ranges. The university is known for its achievements in astronomy and physics.

Infrastructure of the University of Arizona

The university campus is located on 380 acres (1.5 km²) of land in the historic center of the city, it is surrounded by cozy shops, cafes, restaurants, bright adobe houses, squares and parks, golf courses. There are several museums and galleries on campus, including the large Arizona State Museum. Nearby is the Tucson Art Museum with artifacts from the pre-Columbian era. Some university buildings are built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Almost all the buildings are built of red brick, there are more than two hundred of them on the main campus. The university has its own stadium, which remembers the numerous victories of university sports teams. University residences and laboratories are within walking distance. The university has a large medical clinic.

43 miles from Tucson, in the Sonoran Desert, is the National Kitt Peak Astronomical Observatory. It is located at an altitude of 2095 m, many asteroids, Jupiter’s satellite Kalliroe and other objects were discovered here. Under the town of Tucson is a winter climatic resort of national importance. Tucson itself is called the “Valley of Optics” – powerful telescopes and astronomical laboratories are concentrated here.

History of the University of Arizona

Located in Tucson, the University of Arizona was founded in 1885, three decades before Arizona became a separate state. The first classes were held in 1891, the first students of the educational institution were 32 people, and the classes were conducted by only 6 teachers. They met in what is today known as the Old Main in Tucson. Then the campus of the university occupied only 40 acres of land.

The dawn of the university fell on the war and post-war years – in the 1940-1980s. During these years, most of the buildings and laboratories of the educational institution were built. The campus has grown to include two more campuses in Sierra Vista and Phoenix.

At first, the university was famous for its achievements in medicine, then in astronomy. But all these years the university has followed its mission: “to discover, educate, serve, and inspire”.

Scientific achievements of the University of Arizona

In the Carnegie National Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the University of Arizona is designated as RU/VH: Research Universities, which means it is characterized as a university with a very intensive research activity.

• The University of Arizona Observatory is working on a huge telescope called the Giant Magellan Telescope. It will be 40 times faster than all modern telescopes. In some of its properties, it will surpass Hubble. Through the Giant Magellanic Telescope, they will study exoplanets, dark matter, and make clearer images of space objects.
• The university found out that king cobras can travel long distances: university staff monitored the movement of reptiles using implanted radio transmitters.
• The university has received more NASA space research grants than any other US national university.
• The University of Arizona conducts research into the Martian Arctic.
• Scientists from the University of Arizona studied the personality traits of chimpanzees.
• The University of Arizona created a jetpack that helps you run faster.
• The University of Arizona concluded that a huge ten-kilometer asteroid that destroyed three-quarters of the species of flora and fauna 66 million years ago changed the conditions of life on Earth: there were much more deciduous trees than evergreens.

Why choose the University of Arizona?

• Tucson is a small city with a developed infrastructure. Not far from the University of Arizona is a zoo, a botanical garden, as well as many museums, cafes and bars. It is a student city with many activities that international students will feel comfortable in.
• Around Tucson are national parks that have been a center of attraction for tourists from all over the world for many years. The university campus is a good starting point for trips to, for example, the Saguaro National Park with rare plant species. Near Tucson there are several other parks, deserts, mountains, rivers, canyons and even a petrified forest that can be explored by car, bicycle, on foot, you can take a horseback ride or even rent a small plane. Mountaineering is popular here.
• University residences are located within walking distance on one of the central streets of the city – Speedway Boulevard.
• The library system of the university contains more than five million volumes, hundreds of thousands of electronic books. This is one of the largest university libraries in the United States.
• The sports teams of the university are very strong and well-known among the US students. Teams have carried the Wildcats name for over a century: after a football game played in 1914, the LA Times noted that “Arizona students showed wildcat wrestling.” The name stuck with the sports teams of the University of Arizona.
• The University of Arizona has over 500 different interest clubs.

The process of admission to the University of Arizona

The University of Arizona offers 334 fields of study leading to bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and other professional degrees. Departments and programs are organized in several colleges and schools of the university.

Applicants to the University of Arizona have a good chance of being accepted: about 70 percent of applicants enter here. There are three deadlines for international students: May 1 (fall semester starts in August), October 15 (for those who plan to start in the spring semester in mid-January) and April 1 (for those who plan to enter the summer semester in early June ). The application for admission is completed online at http://www.admissions.arizona.edu/OnlineApplication . Then you need to pay a fee for consideration of the application, which is 75 US dollars, the fee is non-refundable.

After paying the fee, it is necessary to send certificates or diplomas with a transcript of grades to the university address . If the applicant is still studying, you need to show grades for the last three years of study. All academic documents must be originals or notarized copies bearing the institution’s original seal. They must be in the language of the institution and accompanied by an officially certified English translation.

Then the applicant must provide the results of the TOEFL iBT tests (at least 70 or 79 depending on the specialty) or IELTS (6.0 – 6.5). SAT Verbal Section scores (minimum 530) or ACT English Section scores (minimum 21) are accepted .

After that, it is necessary to send financial guarantees of the availability of funds for training and biographical pages of the passport to the email address. Then you need to wait for a response from the university.

Estimated cost* of tuition, accommodation, meals and other expenses for international students at the University of Arizona for the academic year (official university data):

*Approximate cost is indicated, university rates are subject to change at any time. Some courses may have additional fees.

Grants, Scholarships, and Internships at the University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is a national institution, and most in-house scholarships are for Arizona residents. However, there is a Merit Scholarships, which is awarded for academic achievement, it is available to all students of the university, including international students. Financial assistance is calculated on the basis of achievements. Also, students or university applicants applying for scholarships can participate in any available external scholarship and grant programs.

University students can take part in exchange programs and do internships in the USA and other countries of America, Asia and Europe. A monthly internship dedicated to public health takes place in Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark: for 4 weeks, students from the University of Arizona visit clinics, universities in Northern Europe, get acquainted with the local healthcare system. Another program is taking place in African Swaziland: university students can study the relationship of culture, economy and healthcare in the region for 5 weeks.

The Australian Environment Program runs from July to August. University of Arizona students have the opportunity to conduct their environmental research in Western Australia with private and government organizations. During the semester, Italian universities located in Rome, Naples, Florence, Siena offer courses in archeology, psychology, art history, and the Italian language. In the summer, you can take an internship in photojournalism and English.

Notable alumni and faculty of the University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is known for its astronaut alumni.

• American artist Ted De Gracia graduated from the University of Arizona.
• University alumni include Joan Ganz Cooney, producer of the international children’s television program Sesame Street, country singer Linda Ronstadt, and actor Greg Kinnear.
• American astrophysicist Brian Schmidt, who received the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, is also an alumnus of the University of Arizona.

Interesting facts about the University of Arizona

• In the movie Speed, Sandra Bullock’s character wore a football with the emblem of the University of Arizona’s Wildcats sports team.
• Not far from the Arizona town of Tucson, where the university campus is located, a real cactus forest grows – the Saguaro National Natural Monument.
• The University of Arizona has a Center for Science and Imagination, which includes science fiction writers, experts in various fields.
• Davis Montaign Air Force Base is located near the university campus. On its territory is the largest aviation cemetery in the world – there are about 4,500 aircraft.
• The old Tucson studio, which was built in the 1930s by Columbia Pictures, used to film old westerns. Here, in the 50s of the last century, the films “Rio Bravo”, “Shootout at the OK Corral”, “The Lone Ranger and the City of Gold” were filmed. Today it is an amusement park open to all comers.
• A poetry center has been opened at the University of Arizona, which operates as an Open Shelf (“open shelf”). The center houses an extensive collection of contemporary poetry.