Just visited UMN a few days ago with my D25 and we loved it. We are from the west coast and decided to fly to MN on a whim during spring break to check out the school. My daughter wants to attend a big school in an urban area and UMN definitely fit the bill. We thought the campus was just beautiful. It seemed like a very social school-groups of students walking around together and hanging out/lounging on the grassy quad. Student population is very diverse, which is important to my daughter and to us, her parents. The info session was informative and not overly long, which we appreciated. UMN wasn’t on my daughter’s radar until recently, but after our campus visit, it’s now at the top of her list!
I don’t really have any tips or recommendations, other than that I’d recommend walking around the Dinkytown student neighborhood to get a feel for the off campus student housing and commercial neighborhood. It’s very cool and a lot of the apartments and houses where the students live have front yards, porches, patios, etc. where students can be seen hanging out (picnic tables, bbqs, bb hoops and other fun stuff) and socializing. So it had a classic college town vibe. Go Gophers!