Aggie-to-Aggie Advice

Colleges and Universities A-Z Texas A&M University
1

I wanted to reach out to all the Current Ags to get an idea of how much I would enjoy being at TAMU. I was accepted into the Psychology transfer program in September and want to get more info about TAMU. Leaving my current school was an easy decision because I didn’t really enjoy much, plus going to TAMU has been a dream of mine since I was young. I just came with a few questions that hopefully will pull me closer to this awesome school. Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer if you do, I really appreciate it!

  1. How’s the dining plan/food on campus?

  2. How is College Station in terms of fun and games? Is there anything/a lot of fun things to do around College Station?

  3. How are the campus events such as tailgates, campus run programs, muster, etc?

  4. I’ve heard Greek life isn’t very big, but is it worth it? Is there a lot of organizations for women who like things like sports, sisterhood, leadership, or volunteering?

  5. Is it easy to make friends while at TAMU? Although my previous school wasn’t the greatest, I did make a few friends while I was there and I will miss them.

  6. Is the school equal when it comes to people with differences? I am considered a minority on the campus and I want to make sure that I will be treated equally no matter what my differences are.

  7. How does getting tickets for games work? I understand to get in you must have a sports pass, but I don’t understand the ticket pulling process, guest tickets, etc. I am transferring in the spring and I’m sure sports passes are sold out so how can I get into games?

  8. How’s the off-campus life? I’m not certain whether I will be living on or off campus due to spaces available, but I want to know which is a better choice for me considering I don’t have a car right now either.

  9. How helpful is the staff on campus? That was one big thing I had to struggle with, but I definitely don’t want to deal with it again.

  10. Should I get a bike to get to and from class/around campus?

2

I’ll answer a couple of these for you - I’m an aggie mom not a current aggie…

  1. campus events: tailgates are amazing! I was at last weekend’s game - they include generations of Aggies & current students. Very friendly, more so than other schools (there are many articles written on TAMU football atmosphere as one of the best). Muster continues beyond just school years and is held around the world. There are over 800 clubs & organizations that are always busy with activities both for their members & the public. It is what I would call a festive campus - ring day, march ins, elephant walk, midnight yell, fish camp, parents weekend,sporting events, fundraisers, cultural events, concerts, etc. etc.

  2. Greek life is 10% of the student body. That is the number for national sororities & fraternities. There are also local based ones on campus too. They are not as competitive for membership. Many of the clubs also operate very similar to what you would consider greek life ( volunteering, parties, fundraising) without the long term commitment. The female side of greek life is much bigger than the male due to the corps of cadets which is very similar to a fraternity, but with a huge set of rules. There are 12 sororities (actually 14 as two are colonizing), those each have over 200 members per house. The sororities all have houses, sorority ‘row’ is off campus gathered in a three street area. Fraternities there are over 30, are much smaller with a range of 15 - 100 members. Only a very few have houses - I think it is now 3 (one that had a house is in process of losing their charter). Recruitment for sororities is officially in the fall, but they do take some members by invitation in the spring (COB). Fraternities recruit both fall and spring & are far less formal about the procedure. More information can be found by contacting Greek Life.

  3. Well based on my kids & the amount of kids we feed at tailgates… friends are easy to come by here! Seriously friendly group of students - just get involved with something you like here ( club/organization/team etc.) and you’ll have no problem.

  4. Sports passes are normally sold out by the summer. However, that is due to the large interest in football games. Check with the 12th man foundation to see if they have any available for spring -they might. Also you can use other student’s sports passes for entry - present it and your student ID for entry. So, you might be able to find someone to let you use theirs for the games you’d like to go to. Guest tickets are available for purchase for most non-football games but not all - when the super popular teams come to campus it is tough (basketball& baseball had some non-guest games last season). Student guest passes are available by the game, not for the season & are sold very close to game time. Ticket pull for football is based on your class ranking, seniors go first. If you have a group then majority rules as to your class pull day ( 4 senior, 2 freshman = senior pull). You exchange your sports pass for an actual ticket with a section & seat number. You can resell (for face value) or give your sports pass to others to use - a sports pass is good for a student ticket, an upgrade sticker is purchased for non-students to use the tickets.

I’ll let others answer the other questions… :slight_smile:

3

Yes as to the bike and/or moped. The campus is huge. It may not be a big deal if your classes are close together. As for differences, It is pretty easy to make friends according to my son’s friends who are there but you have to get involved. The Student Programs Office or SPO has a lot of organizations to choose from. I liked MSC Town Hall (they bring all the acts and musicians to campus), MSC Hospitality and MSC OPAS. (brings fine arts, ballet, etc. to campus) If you transfer, attend transfer camp which is like Fish Camp and you will meet people. If you are interested in Greek life, you can join one of those. Lots of kids go through rush later in their college career.

4

  1. Meal plans aren’t too bad. You will use dinning dollars much more than meal plans. The food here is okay. Imagine the worst version of chick fil a, the worst version of papa john, smash burger, etc… Is it eatable? Yes. Will you get tired of it? Absolutely, so be prepared to spend normal money on different food not covered by the meal plan.

  2. I will not lie. A&M does not provide the best party scene of all time, but you can definitely find it if you are looking for it. As for other fun things, there is not much. Ask someone in the more rural side, what they do for fun and they’ll say, “hang out with friends, hunt, swim, go to this restaurant, hike.” So there is definitely other fun things to do, but most of your fun will come from normal traditional things like clubs and sporting events. Which I personally think are a ton of fun, but they don’t happen as often as you’d wish. I still think A&M is a decent amount of fun.

  3. All campus events are pretty fun or emotional. Either way they are a good time.

  4. Yeah, sororities are about sisterhood and volunteering, most sororities give off the same vibe of being friendly and out going. I think it’s cool, but obviously you have to decide for yourself.

  5. All depends on how you are I suppose. I do not think a&m is that easy to make friends in, but with 60,000 people everyone’s experience may vary. I thought I’d have tons of new friends by now, but I have just been hanging out with high school friends, and that seems to be the general consensus around many of my friends.At the end of the day I can only speak for myself and that’s just how I feel.

https://www.reddit.com/r/aggies/comments/53quue/a_freshman_needing_help/?st=itci48q5&sh=4f6f7dd9

This was not my post, but it definitely sums my A&M friendship experience. I came from a very diverse(30%white 25%asian 25%hispanic 20%black) type of school. Where most graduates went to UT, so take that as you will.

  1. I am Hispanic, I am from mostly from Spain. I look white, I am white. I have a Hispanic name. I do not think anyone treats me differently but honestly I can see how people can feel that. A lot of the African American(75-80%) keep to themselves and do not hang out with people of other race. I am not sure why, I just know it happens.My best friend is from Pakistan, we are tall and are normal guys. Again, I have never felt any discrimination but it definitely does happen in a campus of 60,000 people so just have that in mind. Will the school treat you the differently though? No, no one in administration or the professors will treat you any differently.

  2. Okay so in the summer you buy a sports pass (or don’t that’s fine), and you get a plastic card. You take this card to the pulling booth a week before the game and get your physical paper ticket. You then show the ticket to the person who lets you into the game, you also show a student ID(just to prove that you are actually a student at a&m since your ticket will say ‘student’." If you do not want to buy a sports pass you can just “buy” someone else’s sports pass for the game you want to go to. So you just ask on Facebook and reddit A&M groups, “looking to buy sports pass for x game.” There is a ton of people who are selling them do not worry. EX: You can get the new mexico state game sports pass right now for as little as 15 dollars. The tickets cannot be sold for more than face value, which is rarely over $50(max I’ve seen is 60) as the polling booth determines the face value.

  3. I’d say off campus is more fun if you have a car. I would say you do save a fair amount of money living off campus, but honestly I am not sure. That is a personal decision as it is mostly financial. I will say however that if you do not have a car, strongly consider living in the apartments close to campus, such as “the rise” and such.

  4. Staff will vary obviously. Big classes professors and TA’s won’t be the most helpful. However, In my experience if you are in a small class be ready to be baby’d as if you were in high school ( which is pretty great :slight_smile: ).

  5. Yep, get a good bike.

Sorry for the bad grammar and illegible sentences. I wrote this at 2:36 in the morning.