Why UNH?
Each UNH student arrives on our campus for different reasons. Many journeys lead to our shared destination of becoming a UNH Wildcat. Our Reasons to Choose blog series highlights why students choose to attend UNH.
Franny, a marine, estuarine and freshwater biology major, chose UNH because of its middle-of-everywhere location. She's researched and learned in locations such as a boat in the Great Bay Estuary and Odiorne Point State Park in Rye, NH. In her free time, UNH has proximity to plenty of adventures, from surfing, to skiing, to exploring the city of Boston. Hear from Franny exactly why she chose UNH:
Franny Lux '25
Marine, Estuarine and Freshwater Biology Major
Why did I choose UNH? I chose UNH for many reasons, but one of the most significant ones was location.
When I was applying to and deciding on schools, I saw many admissions videos and presentations. One that stood out to me was a UNH video called “UNH: Located in the Middle of Everywhere."
As someone who loves hiking, the ocean, exploring cities and being able to take part in location-based education, a school “in the middle of everywhere” sounded fantastic.
As I looked at all my options, I came to realize that location-wise, UNH really had it all: easy access to the White Mountains with their trails and skiing, the Gulf of Maine, Portland, Boston and so much more.
Additionally, for my major, marine, estuarine and freshwater biology, I knew I would get the opportunity to take advantage of UNH’s proximity to marine, freshwater and estuarine environments.
With access to the Shoals Marine Lab, the UNH pier and Coastal Marine Lab, the facilities at the Chase Ocean Engineering Lab, and the Jackson Estuarine Lab, UNH is the perfect place to study anything related to our oceans, estuaries or coasts. With all these facilities come many opportunities to get involved in research.
Throughout the last two years, I’ve gone on field trips to locations including the Shoals Lab, a local stream for electrofishing, the Great Bay to assess estuarine environments, the UNH coastal lab and pier to investigate fouling organisms, College Woods and Odiorne Point State Park to do habitat surveys.
Field trip to Shoals Marine Lab with my freshman marine biology seminar – an hour from campus.
I’ve also gotten to spend days on small boats in the middle of the Great Bay Estuary helping with invasive species research and offshore on UNH’s R/V Gulf Challenger assisting with water sampling.
View from UNH’s RV Gulf Challenger docked at UNH’s Jackson Estuarine Lab for a class field trip – 15 minutes from campus.
Outside of academics, UNH’s location creates an amazing playground for anyone who loves to be outside. One weekend this January, I spent Saturday skiing at Gunstock Mountain Resort (~1 hour from campus) and started Sunday morning with a surf at Jenness Beach (25 minutes from campus).
Even if winter surfing isn’t your thing, there is so much outdoor fun to have here year-round. I’ve gone whale watching, explored Portland and Boston, mountain biked, swam and done so much more – all so close to campus.
I am so excited to have at least two more years exploring and benefiting from the location of UNH. There truly is something for everyone when it comes to location, including plenty of ways to explore the outdoors, cities, music venues and restaurants.
UNH takes full advantage of location in course work as well, making it an amazing place to study anything that can be connected back to our location. I hope that any current or future UNH student has ample opportunity to take full advantage of all this place has to offer!
Hiking in Acadia National Park this fall – just a few hours’ drive from campus!
Skiing at Gunstock Mountain – just an hour from campus.
Learn more about UNH's middle-of-everywhere location:
explore our day trip blog posts
watch our location video playlist
related posts:
Why UNH? Natalie's Reason: Hands-on Learning
Each UNH student arrives on our campus for different reasons. Many journeys lead to our shared destination of becoming a UNH Wildcat. Natalie, an Ocean Engineering student, chose UNH because of the hands-on learning experiences she thrives on and the ability to further her education with an accelerated master's. read more about hands-on learning
Grace's UNH Day in the Life
Meet Grace Higgins ‘24, a double major in biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology and music, liberal studies. From piano lessons, to research on electrochemical sensors, to late-night pickleball, follow along to hear how Grace gets it all done. read more about grace's day
