I honestly have to say this about TCU

Colleges and Universities A-Z TCU
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<p>We just visited for the third time in as many years. My child is a senior in high school and has been accepted to the university. We're awaiting to see what kind of financial aid is offered, like many parents on this board and across our blessed nation.</p>

<p>And EVERY time I visit TCU from out of state about 400 miles away, I keep being impressed how friendly people are. Are they perfect? Can't be...no person is, and consequently neither is any campus.</p>

<p>But I mean it when I say that teachers, faculty and students have ALWAYS been gracious, and each time we've visited I and my child have experienced something that's better than even the visit before. In my case (my child is doing auditions) I'm really having to watch to avoid having TCU be the yardstick with which I measure every other visit.</p>

<p>(DISCLAIMER: I receive no stipend of any sort from TCU. ">) I'm just a parent who wants not the best, but what's best for my child, who sees evidence of both in the school.)</p>

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<p>It is because of the southern hospitality. Texas is known for good etiquette. For example, when we moved from Texas to New Jersey, my son would hold the door open for everyone to pass first. Everyone thought that was so strange and kept telling my son to stop doing that. Another incident is my son said “yes, sir” to his teacher and the teacher said no one has ever said “sir” to him before. Unfortunately, etiquette is a lost art up here in NJ. The way of life here is everyone is too busy and haggard looking. The people don’t even have time to take care of themselves. Most people here are very heavy and are not pretty; whereas, in Texas, the people there are pretty and they dress well. It is really rather strange and a culture shock to us. We miss Texas very much because of this. The people are kind and care; whereas, here you better watch out!</p>

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<p>newjersey17, hate to hear of that up there although it is no surprise, and it’s interesting that the culture you describe is taking place in the “land of the Ivy League”.</p>

<p>It’s going to be interesting to see how TCU continues to develop as a school now that it is more in the limelight, and now that it is joining the Big East conference with schools as Georgetown and Notre Dame (it’s my recollection that the president of the latter university personally delivered the conference invitation to TCU). I know that these schools tend to have standards they hold each other up to - perfectly understandable. To be frank, I’d like to see those schools become more like TCU than vice versa because of the reasons you said, but that’s just me personally. ">)</p>

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<p>TCU is a great school, I love it, especially if you go greek.</p>

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<p>That is why my son will not be attending any school in the Northeast. The way of life is very fast, shallow, insincere and too liberal minded. Texas is in our opinion grounded, caring, and respectful. </p>

<p>Here is a good example that explains the difference. My son had an interview at a college in MA and the interviewer was rushing the whole time. He kept looking at his watch during the interview and told my son that the session would last 30 minutes. He rushed through the whole process and fired away questions. Whereas his interview in Texas was warm from the open. The interviewer asked: How was your flight to Dallas? Did you find the school okay? How are you? Were you able to find a place to stay, eat, etc. Basically, Dallas was warm and caring from the beginning and throughout the whole interview; whereas, the interview at MA was cold from the beginning all the way to the end. It never warmed up! </p>

<p>Basically we feel the Northeasterners are cold on the outside and cold in the inside. The Midwest is warm inside and cold on the outside. The south is warm inside and out. There is a huge culture difference between the North and the South.</p>

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<p>I remember the Texan actor Tommy Lee Jones, who went to Harvard, saying that when he first got to that school in the mid-60s after the JFK assassination and told them that he was from the Lone Star State people would tell him “I don’t like you - you killed my president.”</p>

<p>Sad, shallow thinking - and I seem to recall that Jones was from WEST Texas hundreds of miles away from D/FW to boot. (And honestly, what I see happening in so many areas of our culture is that people don’t have a respect for human life. This isn’t just related to abortion - there seem to be many who think human life is nothing more than pollution, and, sadly, they’ve had teachers, college or otherwise, who’ve tacitly reinforced that sorry notion. When that happens, you’ll get folks who won’t care that the person across the desk from them is a human being (whom God loves) with emotions, dreams and hopes, etc. Now I’ll step down from my soapbox on this thread. ">) )</p>

<p>Have southern states had some problems? Sure. But I’ll take the south and all that comes with it any day of the week. On this forum and elsewhere people have discussed how friendly Fort Worth is - my son is very easy-going and given his personality I think that’s part of why he’s felt ever more comfortable in “frog-land”. We’ll see how this all shakes out.</p>

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<p>TCU is in FtWorth - not Dallas</p>

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<p>I was so startled by the contents of this thread that I opened an account in order to reply. At first, I thought it was some kind of parody of how southerners talk about northern states. On a second reading, I suspect that you are all really not kidding. As a Connecticut guy who lived in Boston and New Jersey, I will rise to the bait.</p>

<p>You appear to be immune from irony. After stating that “Texas is known for good etiquette” you go on to say that in New Jersey “The way of life here is everyone is too busy and haggard looking. The people don’t even have time to take care of themselves. Most people here are very heavy and are not pretty; whereas, in Texas, the people there are pretty and they dress well.”</p>

<p>The rap on southern “warmth” is that it is entirely phony. In one paragraph, you have provided alot of support for that proposition. You are also factually wrong. The heavy, haggered, unpretty people that surround you are, statistically, the best situated people in the United States. By any metric, the residents of the most “northeast” states - New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut (the ones that lack the rural appendages of New York and Pennsylvania) are better educated, healthier, less obese, have a higher income and are less likely to be divorced then those of the other 47. You live in a very good place. I won’t even bother comparing the cultural and educational opportunities that a student could find in Boston, or New York, versus Fort Worth.</p>

<p>The remainder of your thread is just set of obnoxious set of stereotypes. Your interviewer didn’t waste time talking about your flight? That offends you? Stay put and chat about airport traffic. It sounds mostly like you want your children to remain protected from the challenge of a Northeastern college - you don’t like liberals, you seem to think a lack of manners is the equivalent of devaluing human life (or something). If you want to keep them in the warm bath of a familiar surroundings, go ahead, but don’t kid yourself that you are making some cultural value judgment. </p>

<p>As to TCU, I was interested to see you regard its favor its membership in the Big East because the conference includes schools as Georgetown and Notre Dame and “I know that these schools tend to have standards they hold each other up to.” You ignore the other parts of the Big East - the schools like Louisville, UConn, South Florida and Cincinnati, that have appalling graduation rates, recruiting scandals and embarrasing conduct by athletes and coaches. Of course, recent revelations about TCU indicate that it may fit right in - [Lawsuit</a> claims TCU ignored players’ criminal pasts - NCAA Football - SI.com](<a href=“http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/ncaa/02/24/tcu-lawsuit.ap/index.html?xid=si_ncaab]Lawsuit”>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/ncaa/02/24/tcu-lawsuit.ap/index.html?xid=si_ncaab) If you want to send your daughter to TCU, go ahead. I’ll send mine to NYU or Northeastern or Penn. </p>

<p>In short - obnoxious generalizations are bad things. If you like a school like TCU - great, go there. If you like Texas, super, good for you. If you feel the need to post about an entire region of the country as culturally inferior to your own, well, you tell us alot about yourself and possibly something about Texans generally.</p>

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<p>JAS2345 - you have proven yourself to be a true yankie.<br>
Do you not even see you are doing the exact thing you are complaining about?</p>

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<p>First, it’s “Yankee” - which is a term that applies to a certain kind of old New England family (whether Brahmin or “Swamp Yankee”) or an odious baseball team from New York. Second, no. The comments on the thread were obnoxious and factually wrong. I supplied some facts, and suggested that the commentators might reexamine their biases. I have no general complaint about Texans or Texas. I hear Austin is nice.</p>

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<p>There are ample forums online, such as City-Data.com, within which people of differing viewpoints and opinions can exchange thoughts and bromides about all manner of subjective cultural observations.</p>

<p>I’m sad to see this particular thread drift into matters of general cultural debate instead of remaining focused on things relevant to TCU.</p>

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<p>Yankee- JAS2345 on that you are correct. </p>

<p>TCU is an awesome school. Fort Worth is an awesome city. And Texas, don’t mess with Texas.</p>

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<p>Excuse me I thought this board was about TCU not which region of the world is “nicer” and or “fatter”.</p>

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<p>I suspect a lot of TCU’s personality comes from its affiliation with the Disciples of Christ church. D attends an afterschool program at the local DOC church and the members I’ve met sound a lot like the folks you’ve encountered at TCU. Congratulations on the acceptance and good luck with financial aid.</p>

<p>@newjersey17 Your profile says you’re 17. You have a son doing college interviews?</p>

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<p>In Austin they’ve had a bumper sticker: “Keep Austin weird”. I’ll make one on my own for the purposes of this thread: “Keep Fort Worth friendly”.</p>

<p>JAS, sorry that whatever I said was offensive to you. God bless you, and I hope if you ever have cause to visit TCU that you get treated as nicely as my son and I have been. TCU (or NYU, or Penn, or the University of Central Arkansas) is not for everyone, but I’d recommend it to anyone.</p>

<p>Steve, thanks. In fact, when I was hoping that TCU wouldn’t change I was thinking of exactly what you’re saying.</p>

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<p>Steve - I set up the profile using my son’s stats. Sorry for the confusion.</p>

<p>JAS2345 - I was simply trying to tell 0Tamandua about the great hospitality in Texas. If that isn’t important to you, that is fine. Everyone is different! :)</p>

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<p>Well, I guess this would be a good place to ask about a Boston girl going to TCU.</p>

<p>My mom’s afraid that it’ll be too much of a culture shock and I’ll be somewhat of an outsider since I’m coming from the East Coast…
what are your thoughts on this?</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

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<p>Bejoyfulalways: Yes Texas is different than Boston but I don’t believe it would be a complete culture shock. Ft. Worth is a big city and is right next to Dallas so there is plenty of things to do like in Boston. There are lots of really great nice people in Texas, as well as some not so nice people just like everywhere else. TCU is a great school and I think anyone can make friends there, no matter what background.</p>

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<p>Bejoyfulalways, my son is coming from Los Angeles. Also culture shock but Fort Worth is a big sophisticated city nowadays (as much as like they to claim their Gateway to the West status). :slight_smile: It is full of art and dance and theater. My son immediately felt the friendliness of the campus and its warm community when he toured. It hit him like a ton of bricks – more than other southern schools he toured. Down to earth, smart, sensible kids with good values. You’ll love it!</p>

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<p>bejoyfulalways - I asked my daughter what she thought about your question. She said it is so hard to move from TX to NJ because the people aren’t as open and friendly in NJ. There are some nice and friendly people but you have to find them. However, she thinks if you are moving from Boston to Texas you will be surprised by how different it is but it will be a nice change. Most of the people will be so nice to you and they will hold the door open for you and ask how you are doing, which may be hard for you to get used to at first. We’ve seen how the people react when we say “Hi” or if we hold the door open for them and they look at us so strange. Usually everyone is friendly and says, “Hi” in Texas. People even wave to you while you pass by in your car while driving out in the country. Just recently a NJ friend went South and he said the people were saying “Hi” to him and these strangers began talking to him which is so unusual. He immediately touched his wallet to see if they were trying to steal from him. He was very uncomfortable and wasn’t used to that. Also, you will notice that very few people honk their horns in Texas. Oh, I highly recommend that you go, it is a huge learning experience. We have learned so much by moving here. We had no idea it was another world up here. We cannot get over the “honking”. For those who don’t understand, here is an example. We are at a red light and BEFORE it turns green everyone is honking so they can get going as fast as possible! This happens all the time! If you aren’t driving fast enough, you are honked at. We were so offended by this and still are. In Texas, people do NOT honk all day long and honking is considered very rude unless you are trying to help. Instead the Texans may honk once a year. She says it will be a culture shock but in a good way. :)</p>