This fall break, most of my friends got to enjoy themselves at the beach or binge-watch their favorite tv shows on Netflix, and although that sounds like the ideal fall break, I spent mine attending a college visit at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Thursday, Oct. 12.

UNLV is a 332-acre public university near the Las Vegas Strip. It is ranked #1 for their hospitality program but their teams are known as the Rebels.

When my parents and I got to the HUGE campus, it took a while to navigate our way to the admissions office. We needed to ask around for directions and were lucky enough that everyone we encountered was friendly and willing to help.

One of the things that really stood out while walking around UNLV was the immense diversity in the student body. There were many different cultures that were prominent, and it was refreshing to see collaboration between the diverse students.

When I finally arrived at the admissions office, we started the tour with a presentation about UNLV and we were allowed to ask as many questions as we wanted. Then our tour around campus began shortly after.

My tour guide was Keani Napuʻunoa, who is from Oʻahu and graduated from ʻAiea High School. It was nice to have someone from Hawaiʻi, because I got to see her perspective on what it was like to transition from such a small school to UNLV.

“In the beginning, it was a little hard. So my first month, I did actually cry, and I got homesick. I called my parents, and I told them I didn’t want to attend here anymore,” Napuʻunoa said. “But I was super involved in the ʻEwalu Club then, so they kinda brought me into their own family and they basically introduced me to other people, and I just felt at home…so it kinda helped me transition into here, and now I just love it here.”

During the tour we got to see many different buildings like the library, the classrooms, the dorms, and my personal favorite, the gym. Overall, the tour took around two hours, and there was a lot of walking involved.

I was pleased to discover that UNLV offers a Western Undergraduate Exchange scholarship of $11,600 and a yearly-out-of-state tuition of $20,424. Based on my experience with UNLV, it is certainly a school that I am going to consider while applying for colleges.

Intersting Facts:

• The school provides free tickets to all home games.
• They opened a medical school two months ago because they are in need of doctors.
• The students try to avoid the Las Vegas Strip.
• You don’t need the essay with the SAT.
•  There is a café in the gym!
• Their library has a digital map that gives you directions if you are lost.
• Their food court has a game room with things like pool and Wii games.

Gallery • 8 Photos

Photo by Riann Fujihara

I met with Kamehameha Schools Maui alumna Samantha Hill.