<p>ag, Im just stating the positive experiences Ive had at A&M since arriving, not pretending that it was my first choice. It should have been my first choice, but my mom went to texas, my uncle lives in round rock and I visit him a lot, and I spent every Saturday during High School cheering for Major Applewhite and Vince Young, so I wanted to go to texas based on that. Those were all stupid reasons though. </p>
<p>The people here fit my personality better (nothing against texas or the students there, but walking down sixth street and seeing half the people with spiked black hear, piercings from head to toe, and a simple plan t-shirt on makes me feel like I'd have a hard time finding people to relate to). Everyone's incredibly friendly. My fish camp leaders still keep in contact with me to coordinate events with my fish camp group, to give us rides, advice on class and student organizations, etc. I lucked into it, but I found a school that actually find my needs and make up. The fact that I didnt get into a school whose football team I adored was actually a major blessing.</p>
<p>Vyse, I think that is great. I also know a ton of great kids that go to A&M. In fact, last year 3 of our top ranked students (top 1%) chose to attend because it was just where they "fit." I have found though that at a big state school, it is really pretty easy to find "fit" if you are willing to put yourself out there and meet people that are like you, and with schools over 40,000, you'd have to be extremely "far out there" to not find a group that is like you and that you can hang with. </p>
<p>Our personal experience: My older s was all set to go to Tulane, having chosen it over UT. He didn't want to go to UT because it seemed like all of his friends were going there and he wanted to have a "non-highschool" college experience. Anyway, in March of his senior year he was offered a "Guido" deal, the deal you can't refuse - A full ride - to UF, so he took it. He was leery of going to Gainesville, a small college town, having grown up in Houston, a big city with plenty of nightlife and activities, but he gave it a shot. He did not know a living soul in the entire state of Florida, but he has ended up loving it! He put himself out there, met many like-minded Floridians, and is blissfully enjoying his second year. I really believe the college experience is what you make it. If you go in with a great attitude and some confidence, you will do well, if you don't, then it might be a bummer, which would be a shame. My younger s, who is a senior, is going to go to Texas. He was trying to decide between Notre Dame (a crapshoot admissions-wise) and UT, and he decided that he didn't want to be that far away from home. Most of his friends are applying to A&M or TCU, so he will kind of be forging a new trail. I know that he will be happy there though because he is a great guy who never meets a stranger. He, like you, will not be hanging around people with spiked hair and tattoos, but at UT, there are plenty of khaki shorts, baseball cap kind of guys too.</p>
<p>yeah, Texas pretty much gets people from everywhere whether its Highland Park/Westlake or South Texas. It wouldnt be hard to find a good group there, my only concern going there would be if the majority of my hall, or my roommate/suitemates were people I didnt get along with.</p>
<p>It's that way everywhere though. It is totally a crapshoot if you go "pot luck" for your roommate. My older s was in the Honors Dorm at UF. He had a roommate who NEVER left the room. It wasn't that my s did not like him, he thought he was ok, just not his type AT ALL. My s, though smart, is not nerdy, and the dorm was a big let down for him, he didn't hang out with any of them. Instead he joined the surf club and is now living with 3 other guys on the surfing team. If he hadn't gone to the meetings he would have never met these guys who are now his best friends there. He has kept his Houston friends and goes to Austin to see them, in fact will be there this weekend for Austin City Limits - kind of the best of both worlds. My younger s is already planning on living at Towers with another valedictorian from his school. They are both big athletes, my s-football, the other boy-basketball, so even though they don't really hang out now, I think they will be compatable (at least I hope so). Who knows though until you actually live with them!!</p>
<p>Hey, we saw those UF honors dorms! :) My DD wasn't tempted by UF's NM offer though; she walked a little too close to the lake and saw an alligator swimming just a few feet away. That was it for her. The UF honors dorms seemed too sterile, claustrophobic and cold - without enough funky hangout space. It looks like UF is no longer offering that sweet NMF full-ride deal, and my DS is commended, not NMSF. Too bad, since he REALLY liked the vibe at UF when we visited. My son is planning on applying to UT, also. We live in town, so it's a little close for comfort, but it offers a very good education at a reasonable price - with one caveat. The SIZE of the classes is scary, and I'm not sure that my DS won't just disappear in the back of the lecture hall and never be heard from again. It takes a certain gutsy kid with chutzpah to get to the opportunities at UT, with so many other students competing or vying for those same opportunities; that's one of the reasons he is also applying to Trinity and Rice, where the personal attention is better.</p>
<p>I was looking for other comparable schools...but none interest me. Texas A&M isn't right for me - the atmosphere would tear me apart (I am liberal). Just hoping I mantain my top 10 percent status so that I get in.</p>
<p>A & M is still as conservative as its reputation according to a friend of my son's who is a junior there and tired of its provincialism. Militarism and fundamentalist Christians are all over the place.</p>
<p>UT is much more diverse. My son son goes there. I think one of the big differences is the number of Asian students (15% vs 3% for A & M off the top of my head.) Many of these kids, not just their parents, may even have been born or lived overseas and give UT a much more international flavor-- Banglaseshi, Chinese, Indian, Arab etc. They appear on some statistics as in- state since they went to high school here. However, judging by my son's friends who many of these kids are, they give a much more sophisticated and internationalist flavor than the student body of A & M which seems predominantly Anglo or perhaps Hispanic small town or suburban from Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.</p>
<p>At A&M, they say that, "from the inside, you can't explain it, from the outside, you can't understand it".</p>
<p>Looking at the preceeding posts, that seems to concisely explain people's perception issues w/ A&M.</p>
<p>I have one child at UT and one child at A&M, and I went to neither so I am Switzerland. From what I have seen at both schools, I stand by what I said before. You can interchange most of the students at both schools and they would be happy and successful at either school.</p>
<p>I hate when people use the "diversity" argument against A&M. President Gates is proactively recruiting qualified non white students and faculty without delving into reverse discrimination via affirmative action (the controversial kind) and quotas. Its also important to remember that diversity is more than the amount of melanin in everyone's skin. Diversity also applies to thoughts, ideas, etc.</p>
<p>That's another reason our friends chose to send their son to Rice over UT - they thought Rice had a really small student-to-teacher ratio and he'd get lots of personal attention. But, he said that most of his freshman classes had 300-500 students. I was surprised to hear that. It is normal at every large university to have such large freshman classes?</p>
<p>Trinity, on the other hand, does seem to be very small and personal. I'm familiar with the campus and I don't remember seeing any huge lecture halls. I don't think they offer much in the way of science/technology though, do they?</p>
<p>I would be surprised if Rice has many freshman classes of 300-500 but Anxiousmom may come back and clear this up. She's partial to Rice (not so much to UT) and her information is helpful and reliable. Rice probably has lower division science courses with more students, as does UT, since there are many pre-med and science majors at Rice. Science courses at most colleges typically have large lectures and small discussion/lab groups.</p>
<p>I am a freshman at Rice, and I don't know of anyone who is in a class with 300-500 students. A couple of my larger classes (DiffEQ and Organic Chem) have over 200 students, but, on the other hand, my Astronomy seminar has four.</p>
<p>By the way, I agree with m1817 - UT and A&M students are similar. It's a shame that these schools have such an intense rivalry. Maybe it's proof that opposites attract but likes repel.</p>
<p>Is it really a shame that they have the rivalry?
As a person who grew up in Aggieland, I always got the feeling that they had a lot of fun with it.</p>
<p>I'm not saying that there are a lot. I'm only sharing what our friend told us. He said his parents chose Rice because of the small classes (among other things) so he was very disconcerted to be in large lecture halls with 'several hundred' (direct quote) students. Incredulous, I asked him to confirm that, to make sure I heard correctly, and he said '300-500.' Now it is entirely possible that the class only had 200 and he just isn't very good at estimating how many are in a crowd. But, the numbers aren't the real issue. The real issue is that he said a TA graded most of his papers, and it was a different TA each time, and they graded differently. He did not get to know his profs, but I suspect that is because he did not seek them out.</p>
<p>I know he was taking mostly all technical classes (chem, physics, calc, a computer science class, etc.)</p>
<p>Anyway, again, I am not trying to pick on Rice. I'm just trying to make the point that one should not assume that they will be in these small, personal classes. Maybe most of them are that way and our friend just had a disproportionate number of large classes, for some reason. I don't know.</p>
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<p>At Rice in Fall 2006, there are only 2 classes w/ more than 200 students enrolled - Math 211 - Ord Differential Equations w/ 246 students and Chem 211 - Organic Chemistry w/ 238 students. </p>
<p>Looks like Dorian_Mode hit the jackpot. He is in both of them.</p>
<p>There are 13 classes w/ 100 - 199 students. </p>