That they are building does not mean it’s not dated. That’s opinion. Not fact. And this was the opinion of the person who wrote it. It was her sons impression.
My kid goes to Charleston. Thinks it’s gorgeous. I think it’s dumpy.
The folks here love UTK (tons of building) and I’ve yet to meet a kid that goes who says the campus is nice (or food good).l contrasted with Va Tech that any co worker whose kid goes raves about the food and I’ve been with both to campus and it’s awesome…nicest I’ve been to. Huge. Yet not so at the core as opposed to UGA which is huge. But nice. And neat the way they embedded the stadium smack in the campus itself.
Why I said one needs to go see a school or at least virtual tour of which there’s lots of materials.
App State wasn’t even on the list. Just big flagships.
But one has to know campus ‘opinions’ are that and everyone is different. For example, I know people who took U of SC off the list. Didn’t like. I thought was spectacular. My daughter did as well. It was her 2nd choice.
Others love Clemson and the lake but I just read several…it’s just a group of inconsistent building types.
I can comment on NCSU, UTK, and App State. If your child liked NCSU, I think they would also like UTK. My spouse went to NCSU undergrad and I went to App. We love Raleigh and there’s plenty to do near campus and in the city, with the added bonus of being near an international airport, as mentioned above.
I agree that UTK does a great tour. It has a similar feel to NCSU in that there’s a lot of brick - LOL. It’s also a fairly large campus, though not as large as NCSU. I think UTK has some advantages over NCSU in that the football and basketball stadiums are right on campus. It makes it much easier to get to games than at NCSU. Both NCSU and UTK will provide a good big schools sports environment - tons of school spirit and students are engaged with the teams.
App State is far from outdated and a really fun place to spend four years, but if your child doesn’t want cold weather, it may not be a good fit. I remember it snowing as early as the first of November, and three years when I was there had some of the highest one-day snowfalls ever recorded in January. There are close to 20,000 students now, I think, so it’s not quite as big as NCSU or UTK, and the campus is much more compact. They’ve built tons of new buildings in the past 25 years, including a huge compound of dorms right beside the football stadium. Football has long been a big draw at App, and there’s lots of school spirit. The location offers a lot for outdoorsy types, too.
And that’s fair. I don’t know the campus. The person who went also visited wake and Elon and liked the campuses more but that might be a public / private thing. Hence they said dated.
We loved Elon but not the area and didn’t like wake. Parking lots everywhere …in front of every building. But we were only allowed to drive due to covid and didn’t see the interior of campus. Different things matter to different people. Most colleges have garages and consolidate parking but aT wake it was a lot at each building and it bothered my kid. But many love wake. Each kid / person is different in what is nice to them. .
I love Syracuse. Think it’s gorgeous. For the first time I just saw them on a nicest campus list. Never b4. NYU was on the same list and they don’t even have a campus. See it was that person’s opinion.
Everyone is entitled to their own perspective, but you haven’t provided your own perspective. You provided hearsay. You haven’t been to App State. You said
I am providing a first hand account which is what the OP asked for when they said “if you have visited any of these campuses.”
App State has been growing by leaps and bounds and definitely is not dated. They have a bunch of brand new dorms. They have a great football culture and have been ranked in the top 20 nationally. I think it’s probably the best football school in North Carolina. The ACC schools like NC State, UNC, Duke, Wake are always trying at football, but they never rise to the occasion like App State. I’m just mentioning the football because sports was one of the things @coastal2024 was looking for.
ECU is another big football school but I don’t think they have had the success that App State has had in recent years.
App has a pretty good business school too. I was disappointed that my D22 didn’t want to apply to App, but I think it was all just too familiar to her.
VA Tech is another school where football is really big. If you’re looking for that big game atmosphere it’s worth checking out to see if it ticks your other boxes.
We are also from Mass. Visited Clemson, U of SC, Auburn, and UTampa with my D21. She also applied to UTK, Alabama, Georgia Southern and UGA but we did not visit those schools.
Clemson: small town, middle of nowhere, ok campus
Auburn: small town, middle of nowhere, nicer campus
U of SC: in the middle of a medium sized city, nice Greek houses, football stadium 2 miles from campus (big downer for my D)
She thought she wanted a big, southern football school. She ended up at UTampa, which is smaller sized, urban, and doesn’t have football. That’s why visits are so important- she loved the campus and couldn’t picture herself anywhere else.
Totally agree with Auburn and Clemson review. I loved Auburn! A quaint town, friendly people, really nice, and really not that far from Atlanta. Clemson seemed much more isolated and SO 70s. D22 could not get past that combo. D22 decided not to go to the south from Colorado but really liked Auburn.
@maureen12345 we were shocked by Clemson. My student wanted a large school, strong sports program. While Clemson isn’t SEC, they had just won National Championship in football, so it was high on our radar to visit. We expected to see flags & banners everywhere, as the reigning current champs. Nope, nothing, not even mentioned while touring. At the end of our tour, someone from our group asked; “do you have a business school?” Tour guide never pointed it out or even mentioned it. Health Center was truly a 70s throw back. Not one style of architecture matched, the Library smelled musty & moldy.
The athletic facilities and complexes were phenomenal! But none of that was on the tour; you have drive yourself around to see it. State of the art, for sure!
Very underwhelmed by Clemson…
We are from Pennsylvania and my dd21 was also looking to get out of the cold and go south. She did not go on any tours before applying in fall of 2020 because Covid, she did a lot of video tours, and then made plans to do tours in March 2021.
She was convinced she wanted to go to U of SC and had already joined some chat groups looking for roommates. She did not care for Clemson’s location or vibe, loved South Carolina obviously, and did not care for Georgia either which she felt was too spread out and not as walkable as she would have liked. UTK was last on the list to visit, and despite the fact she was in love with SC, she left the tour absolutely more in love with UTK and that’s where she ended up. Yes the food is not the greatest, but there were always some good options. Some of the dorms are older, some newer, but the kids all seem to love and meet lots of others no matter which dorm you end up with. She was a direct admit to the business school. She loves the big school sports and is in a sorority. I like the fact that the airport is 20 minutes from campus and has direct flights to Philly 2-3 times a day, made her first year without a car very easy to get home.
@Mjkacmom crazy! Is the business building new? We toured summer of 2018. Daughter wanted greek life, too. While they have sororities, it seems each chapter has a floor in random dorms, scattered across campus.
We had to go to a store off campus, to find 1/2 price Natty Champ merch, no mention of anything Natty in the on campus bookstore. We kept thinking, you have one year to promote & brag being the Champs, and they dropped the ball.
Glad we toured, and we did hit up other schools, so it wasn’t a wasted trip. If nothing else, loved being able to say we’ve seen their ‘Death Valley’:
@lniral4 truly, that UTK tour won us over! UT wasn’t even on our radar, but we were driving from Vanderbilt to Clemson, so decided to add UTK tour since we were so close. Hands down, their tour should be the model for all schools!
We loved their Greek Circle for sororities!
My daughter ended up at Texas A&M/Business Honors, but will definitely revisit for law school…we truly fell in love with the campus.
@tsbna44 agree !! Schools we thought would be slam dunks (Vanderbilt & Clemson, specifically), we didn’t care for…at all. UT Knoxville wasn’t even on our original tour schedule, and it became a top contender.
We had the same experience with West Coast schools-thought we’d love Pepperdine (absolutely hated it), but did fall in love with UCLA and USC.
In person campus tours make all the difference!
I think Clemson’s business school building might be brand new. Virginia Tech is also building a brand new business school building. Historically, both these schools were more known for STEM but have really ramped up their business programs.
I think I agree with Sweetgum that App State has the best football in NC. NC State and UNC keep trying, but….
No need to mention Duke.
If you’re looking for a big football experience, few will top Virginia Tech’s or UTK’s. Big bonus to have the stadiums located on campus!
And BAMA and UGA. Both on campus, and both have fine b-schools. And both have merit aid opportunities as does UTK.
Va Tech less so merit opportunity but is beautiful. And known for great food which you’ll learn is hugely underrated. Hard to study with low sugar from not eating bcuz the food is bad or spending money outside.
!! Schools we thought would be slam dunks (Vanderbilt & Clemson, specifically), we didn’t care for…at all. UT Knoxville wasn’t even on our original tour schedule, and it became a top contender.