It’s looking like my son will accept admission to TAMU as an OOS National Scholar. He is excited about the strong engineering program. However, in looking for a roommate at ECOS (the engineering honors housing), he is finding that everyone heavily emphasizes their religious affiliations in their profiles. He has no issue with religion, but it’s just not a part of his life. To be clear, a roommate’s religion is irrelevant to him, but he’d like to room with someone who has some shared interests. If another student’s main interest seems to be all the religion-affiliated groups on campus, they would probably not be the ideal fit.
So I am wondering how a very secular kid like him will fit in at TAMU. Can anyone comment from personal experience?
My daughter has very strong opinions about organized religion that many may not agree with, but she has not had any problem acclimating to life in College Station. Remember this is an extremely large campus and there is every opportunity for the student to find their niche. My daughter has been able to expand her social circle and is mostly happy with the experience (COVID has certainly soured many things).
Does your son enjoys sports? Once football season starts there will plenty of opportunity, he can also attend FISH camp and start building those bonds right away. I can tell you that my daugher and her first roommate were not friends, although they remained friendly, and she was able to meet people through her major and organizations that she has made lasting friendships with and was able to later roommate with.
A&M is a huge state school, and there are literally students representing every religion, race, ethnic group, sexual orientation, political affiliation, etc. You name it, it is represented at A&M.
Your student will definitely ‘find his people’ and fit right in.
Thanks for your perspective. That’s pretty much what I would expect at such a large school. He was just surprised to find so much religion, especially among the honors engineers. He’ll carry on his roommate search!
Oh, that’s interesting. Maybe he is reading too much into it, although he corresponded with a couple of young men who further emphasized their interest in religion on campus. I will mention that to him. Thanks.
Oh there will definitely be those that that is their focus of passion, which is great, but there are so many that while their faith is important, they are are still your typical college kiddo. Lol