<p>I have just been accepted to the University of North Georgia. I've been up there a couple of times for overnight visits and such, and I got a pretty conservative, Christian (although there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with that) vibe from the place. I want to go there to see if I will want to go through their ROTC program, and if I don't like it, transfer out after 1 year. I am extremely liberal on a variety of issues, and last time I went up there the guys I were staying with kind of rambled on about how "Jesus had changed their lives" or how they think "marriage should stay between a man and a woman." All of this I didn't respond to or try to enter into conversation about.</p>
<p>Like I said, I have no problem with those that have differing views from mine, but it's kind of a recurring viewpoint throughout the campus, and I'm going to go there no matter what, how do you guys think I'll do and what should I do?</p>
<p>Is it the only university you applied to? Why is it the university you’re going to “no matter what”?
You still have time to apply to others - it sounds like the university wouldn’t be a good fit. While a discussion is always a good thing, a “discussion” where you’re alone on one side and several/most other students disagree can be very uncomfortable very quickly - either you’ll start repressing what you really think to make friends, or feel pretty isolated. And being alone to defend an idea gets old very quickly. You might like it better at a “moderate” university where diverse points of view are taken into account.
You might want to apply to Georgia State, Wesleyan College, Ogglethorpe?
Perhaps include other southern schools (Agnes Scott if you’re a girl, Guilford, Birmigham-Southern, Millsaps, Rhodes, Center…? - depending on your stats of course, those have varying degrees of selectivity and still accept applications)</p>
<p>You may want to look at the website for the school to look for student organizations that might interest you. Agree with previous poster…it is only December, and you have plenty of time to consider other options if this is not the right fit.</p>
<p>D did not want an activist campus, even if she happened to agree with some of the views, because she is not an all politics, all the time, kind of kid, not to mention the crazies who totally turn her off. So we deliberately looked for places without the activist culture, and those that we visited where the politics was too much we scratched from the list. Sometimes that might have been just the tour guide, but it was a real turn-off, and there was no point in pursuing such an environment.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine heading off to college for even one year at a place you know might be a challenge socially. If you have any other options, I’d highly suggest seeking them out.</p>
<p>How easy is it to transfer ROTC programs? I agree that UNG is one of the most conservative publics in the state, and am somewhat surprised that you aren’t looking into other GA ROTC publics. Would you not be able to get into UGA and don’t like GSU?</p>
<p>MYOS1634, I think the Ops main requirement is ROTC, hence UNG, as it’s one of six federally designated senior military colleges in the nation. The university carries the distinction of The Military College of Georgia. The other six include TAMU, VMI, V-Tech, The Citadel and Norwich University. I don’t think the Stormy Petrel’s of Oglethorpe will met his/hers requirements (unless he/she is really into Shakespeare!).</p>
<p>All of these schools are conservative, but they’re not Oral Roberts :)</p>
<p>Other Georgia public universities have ROTC programs, though they may offer the same incentives as UNG. I think being a cadet at one of these schools is a bit different from standard ROTC.</p>
<p>I think that politically they’re as conservative as Oral Roberts, just without the God-justification.
If OP is liberal I can imagine he’d be miserable and quite alienated there. In fact Op already knows he’ll want to/have to transfer after a year… so why not apply to desirable schools first?
If the reason is ROTC, Georgia State (not a liberal school but a more moderate one) does have it.
I mean, even Emory has ROTC
We’d need more feedback from OP. Is it a matter of a family who won’t pay for college unless OP attends a military academy?</p>
<p>Don’t you have any other options? If it’s truly as conservative as you say, it sounds like a huge mismatch. I don’t think you will be happy there.</p>
<p>Gator knows what’s up. Honestly, I need some discipline, and their ROTC program is one of the best around. As he’s said, it’s not ROTC at the other colleges where you go to one class in uniform once a week, and that’s it. It’s every day. At the same time, I’m worried that either I’ll go to a liberal, or even a moderate college and won’t be academically disciplined or organized and possibly even flunk out the first year, but that also has the trade off at UNG of not having that environment socially that I want. </p>
<p>Heck, if I like it up there, I’m guaranteed a job, but if I don’t like it up there, after a year I can transfer anywhere I want to. Do you guys think I’ll have that hard of a time that first year though? Assuming I don’t like it.</p>
<p>FYI I have visited Oglethorpe (My father jokingly laughed at the name of their mascot when he heard about them) and that’s the kind of environment I want to be in, I just wish that University was larger! It’d be perfect!</p>
<p>To reply to MYOS, yes, my Dad has said I must go to UNG for one year at the very least, if nothing else, to get some discipline as I have mentioned. I mean I haven’t screwed around with my grades, but they’ve always kind of had to stay on my backside and they want me to learn how to be responsible, which, I agree, this school will teach me that.</p>
<p>However, once that year is up I plan to go to GSU hopefully. Much better campus life for me, and in-state tuition to boot. I just hope my first year at UNG isn’t that bad.</p>
<p>If your dad wants you to attend UNG for you to learn discipline, ie, you don’t have it, it’s a recipe for disaster. The students who are there are already disciplined and strive on it. The rigor is at times almost unbearable even for them. So for you, it’ll drive you crazy very quickly. In addition, you’re likely to feel very isolated. There are always kid who want to become cadets to “learn discipline” and it never ends well. It’s not like the secondary military schools where you send rebellious boy, where the military discipline is there as a teaching tool: being a cadet (in college) means attending a college where military precision and rigor are part of the professional preparation and the whole ethos. It’s as if you were saying “I’ll take calculus because I’m bad at math and it’ll teach me good math habits”. Which by the way never ends well either (yes I’ve seen it, although not often - typically, the student comes and says that yes, perhaps, it wasn"t such a great idea, and they should try to pass precalc first). In addition, you may have several D’s and F’s that may make transferring impossible…Being a cadet isn’t about “learning discipline”, really - at some level, it’s about pushing your organized habits to their limits with a professional goal in mind.
Additionally, it wouldn’t be useful for your 2nd year since you’d be trading your parents’external pushes for the military’s external pushes… and what you need is internal motivation. Having someone ordering you around, be it your CO or your father, doesn’t change the fact you do things because you’re told to do them. What you need is to learn how to do them yourself - and that’s what freshman year is about. In fact, seeing you’re not the only one with that problem, there’s a sort of practical seminar for freshmen to help them with study habits, etc. that you should take at the college that you wish to attend.
Since you like Ogglethorpe, apply there for ROTC. Promise to give weekly updates to your parents, including photocopies of the syllabi and to waive FERPA (ie, your father would be allowed to know your grades at midterm. If you don’t waive it, your parents don’t know a thing until your grades arrive home over Winter Break.) See if your father would be okay with that compromise.</p>
