<p>No posts in 30 days, i was looking to see if i should even consider Truman state, over some other schools, but if this is any indication, I guess not!</p>
<p>It depends on what you want to study, and your finances. TSU is a very good state school.</p>
<p>I'm currently a Truman student. I browse these forums only ocassionally now, but I was on here everday while I was still in high school.</p>
<p>I want to say that I got into Washington University, University of Chicago, Vanderbilt, Swarthmore, and Rice University, and I chose Truman over all of them. Initially it was a financial thing, as Truman is absolutely excellent in giving generous merit scholarships. I am actually making significant money by just being here. In fact Truman ranked ahead of Berkeley and UVA in the recent Best Value in Public Colleges list.</p>
<p>But that's not to say that they skirt on academics here. Granted my classes are probably not as rigorous as at the other schools, but I cannot emphasize enough the extracurricular opportunities I've had that I wouldn't have had otherwise. I was able to walk into a professor's lab the first week of school and begin research. I'm a sophomore, but I was able to do an REU after my freshman year, and I'm doing another one this summer. Most people only do REUs after junior year. I'm confident that I won't face too large of a deficit when applying to the top graduate schools.</p>
<p>So I'm free to answer any questions. I personally am very happy that I chose Truman over the top 20s. I think more people here should seriously consider it.</p>
<p>I'm a current Truman freshman. I got into various midwestern schools (UIUC, UMN, IUB, etc) but ended up here due to the cost--it's much less expensive than in-state Illinois. They throw merit scholarships at pretty much everyone they accept.</p>
<p>IMHO, it's a good school, but Kirksville is pretty much the armpit of the USA. The campus is gorgeous, but Kirksville is very much... not. If you have problems with rural life, don't come here.</p>
<p>Interesting to learn (see confirmed) that TSU is made affordable to good students. </p>
<p>As for location, yes, that's TSU's one curse. The same institution plopped down 50 miles from KC or St Louis -- or for that matter, anywhere along the interstates -- would be much more attractive.</p>
<p>My jr daughter is visiting Truman in 2 weeks. I know academically it is a good fit (top 10%, high SATs etc) but can you describe the campus atmosphere? My vision is conservative, Christian, mostly MO kids who plan to stay in MO afterward. My DD is looking for a rather liberal environment, she is bright but very much her own person--into indie music, art, getting a small nose piercing this summer, distinctive fashion style, deep thinker, etc. Other schools on her list include Grinnell, Beloiit, Lawrence, UIUC (safety)--will she fit in or be lost at TSU?</p>
<p>(Disclaimer: of the schools you mention, I'm most familiar with UIUC, by far. I know some faculty at TSU, and have visited the campus a couple of times.)</p>
<p>That said... At first blush, I'd say your daughter sounds like a Grinnell student (of the choices you mention). On the other hand, if you think that once she's in a learning atmosphere she'll be attracted to setting herself apart from the crowd more by intellectual accomplishment than in outward appearance, and if she hopes to go on to a top-notch graduate school, TSU might be the best bet. Or, obviously, UIUC -- in terms of lifestyle, there's just about every sort of student imaginable, it's world class in terms of faculty, and offers by far the widest array of avenues of learning. The student does have to seek out those opportunities, though, given the size of the place, and the fact that faculty attention is inevitably divided between grad students and undergrads.</p>
<p>Truman is very moderate: a few vocal conservatives, a few vocal liberals, and everything in between. There are a LOT of Christians who have several very active groups, but there is a (small) campus Hillel and a Muslim group. We have a lot of MO kids, but plenty of OOS students. Of course, you don't have to be any of those to fit in: I'm a liberal atheist from IL who's into indie music, hair dyeing, etc. My best friend here is a very conservative Mormon from small-town MO.</p>
<p>One of the things I love about Truman is that it has a very intellectual atmosphere. It sort of permeates the campus; people are constantly studying, but they are always willing to have some fun, too. It's very easy to get involved in anything you want--I have friends who, despite being freshmen, are already involved in research or editors on one of the papers. Everyone is very opinionated, yet friendly.</p>
<p>One of the more unusual things I've noticed is that a LOT of people read at least one newspaper a day. I don't know what that says about Truman, but it's definitely noteworthy!</p>
<p>Although previous posters have said horrendous things about Kirksville it's actually a much more exciting town than Grinnell, Iowa. Kirksville has a very impressive super Wal-Mart compared to the much smaller Wal-Mart in Grinnell. In terms of bookstores, restaurants, and other shopping the town of Kirksville overshadows Grinnell as well.</p>
<p>Thanks to Leonard and atmjunk for the info. atmjunk, you sound like a perfect match for my D--I hope she sees kids who fit her/yr profile at the visit day next week. I'm sure she would also like me to ask you about the concert/campus radio scene. I also like the fact that it is larger than most of the LACs my dtr is considering. </p>
<p>Medusa2003, I have to agree with your comment on the town of Grinnell. At least the kids are about an hour's drive from Des Moines and Iowa City. I think Kirksville is a longer drive to St Louis, but is also 3 hrs from home vs 6 hrs for Grinnell, so it seems a better choice for us--though I expect DD would disagree.</p>
<p>The concert scene is so-so. I can think of maybe six or seven local bands off the top of my head; there are probably several more that I'm either not aware of or just can't remember. A number of they are surprisingly good. There are a few places you can go to see bands (the Dukum, Bohemia). Check out kvrocks.com for more info on live music in Kirksville. Also, we're ~1.5 hours away from Columbia, which--beyond being the closest largest town--has a booming music scene. Plenty of well-known bands come through CoMo.</p>
<p>Truman has two radio stations, Dobson Radio and KTRM. The music varies depending on the DJ, of course. If your daughter is interested, it is NOT hard at all to get involved with either of the radio stations; I have a few friends who are DJs--two being freshmen--and have actually been asked to apply (an upperclassman friend thought my broad taste in music would get me in). Getting involved is very, very easy at Truman.</p>
<p>Hope this helped!</p>
<p>anybody here in the grinnell dorm? i visited and my parents are truly turned off by the grinnel dorms and want me to stay in one of the other ones. i personally wish to stay in grinnel for the program of le coin francais.</p>
<p>me and my dad got in a large argument over it. he thinks is is quite shady and my health will be at risk.</p>
<p>I think you're talking about Grim Hall... it's pretty small (under 100 people live there). I'm actually a French major and--while I don't live in Grim--I do know a few people who live in le coin francais. They seem to like living there & they have a pretty close community.</p>
<p>Why would your father think that Grim is "quite shady" and that your health would be at risk? Just curious.</p>
<p>yeah i meant grim hall.</p>
<p>when we visited we saw the centennial dorms and then the grim dorms. grim hall is much older than the centennial and the dorms themselves have a run down look to them, which did not appeal to him. also he felt that is was not as well ventilated as the centennial since the basement smelled a little stuffy. he then proceeded to say that since nurses used to live there the walls might have traces of whatever and are probably not as clean as the other halls.</p>
<p>my dad is an educated man but his whole argument just is riducoulous and no logic within it whatsoever. i mean for the love of god if it was a health issue they would not allow people to live there.</p>
<p>how do you find the learning athmosphere. though to get a high GPA 3.8 3.9 or not that difficult is one studies?</p>
<p>also regarding the grim halls:
what have students said? does the fact that they're in the le coin francais improve their french? what's the athmosphere? i'm not looking to major in french but i just wish to actually learn a 3rd language.</p>
<p>since you major in french why didn't you apply for the le coin francais? how do you like your dorm. can you give some details.</p>
<p>i apologize for my blah grammer but i've been taking tests continously for the last couple of hours.</p>
<p>From what I remember from my tour (1.5 years ago, haha), Grim hasn't had nurses staying in it for a long, long time... um, every room has a window, so it should be just as well ventilated as Centennial. The people who stay in Grim tend to like it a lot. One floor is almost entirely dedicated to le coin francais, which I greatly approve of, haha. Really, the only difference between Grim and any of the other dorms is the size. I don't know much about the atmosphere. I also don't know how big of an impact le coin makes on improving their French, although there are people of many different majors and levels of French living there. In general, Grim is pretty cozy, though... and close to the C-store (on-campus over-priced convenience store).</p>
<p>My reason for not applying to le coin francais was because I wanted a dorm that had a cafeteria in it. I ended up in Missouri Hall, which is community-bathroom style and primarily freshmen. It'll be closed for renovations next year. The community is great; everyone is very friendly, very nice. Dobson is the other big freshman dorm, also with community-style bathrooms. I can't say I'm a big fan of Dobson--there are just too many partiers for my taste.</p>
<p>Centennial has more sophomores and upperclassmen but the best cafeteria. Ryle is more of a mix of freshmen and upperclassmen. If you end up in Grim, you'll (probably) be eating in Ryle. Both Ryle and Centennial have suite-style bathrooms. BNB (Blanton-Nason-Brewer) is the all-girls suite-style (I think?) dorm, with a mix of upper/lower-classmen. Brewer contains the sororities.</p>
<p>Finally, my future home, the as-of-yet unnamed new dorm (apartment/suite-style) is still in the process of being built. It'll be mostly upperclassmen with the fourth floor dedicated to freshmen, and it'll have its own c-store. Pretty nice.</p>
<p>About the learning atmosphere... it's very intellectual. Everyone is very smart. It IS difficult to get a high GPA, but certainly not impossible: I received my first 4.0 of my life last semester, and I know a number of people who got about the same. (It's looking like I'll be at around a 3.7 this semester.) On the other hand, my roommate skipped most of his classes this semester, hasn't studied a single time since he came to Truman, and has less than a 2.0... if you put in the effort, you WILL see results.</p>
<p>Okay, that's enough rambling for now. Hope this helped =)</p>
<p>i'm also from illinois. what part are you from?</p>
<p>if you dont mind me asking...what high school did you go to? how did you do in high school? lots of APs? grades? rank? </p>
<p>how many hours do you find yourself studying on an average day? what classes does your schedule mainly consit of?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>I'm from a northwestern suburb of Chicago. (I don't really want to get more specific than that. PM me if you're absolutely dying to know.) High school was not one of my proudest points: I totally bombed freshman year--at one point I had a 0.6 GPA--but I graduated with a 3.4 weighted (~3.2 unweighted) GPA and 5 APs. My rank was ~25%ile. I got a 28 the one time I took the ACT.</p>
<p>On an average day I study maybe 2 or 3 hours, sometimes edging up to 5 or more depending on whether I have to study for tests or work on papers. I generally don't study on Fridays or Saturdays. Recently I've been studying closer to 5 hours a day since it's so close to the end of the semester... and since I had two tests, three quizzes, and two papers due this week (ugh).</p>
<p>I'm currently taking 17 hours, a full load, although I'm technically in class about 20 hours a week. My classes are entirely LSP (core) classes this semester. I'm taking French, Art History, Chemistry, Linguistics, Anthropology, and Government.</p>
<p>How good are the science programs at Truman? Specifically physics?</p>
<p>To tell the truth, I don't know much about any of the science programs (I try to avoid science and math as much as possible.). I do know a few people who are majoring in each of the sciences. The first year Physics classes are 5 credits each (as are the first year Chem classes; first year Bio classes are only 4 credits though), and the professor for PHYS 195/196 is supposed to be fairly awful. However, according to a friend who's a sophomore Physics major, the rest of the professors are quite good. He did research the summer after his freshman year and plans on doing it this summer, too. My freshman Physics friends (pardon the alliteration) always seem to be studying. Truman doesn't have an engineering program, but it does have a 3-2 agreement with Mizzou.</p>
<p>My best friend is a pre-med Biology major here, so I hear a lot of gossip about the Bio program. His professors thus far have been great, very fair, very nice... but you have to put a ton of effort into the classes to get an A. The first few Chem classes are supposedly nightmares--although apparently not quite as bad as Physics--but it depends on the professor. I do know that TA's are only used for one or two intro non-major classes and in labs. My friend has already gotten the opportunity to be a TA for next year, and if he really wanted to, he'd be able to do research at any time.</p>
<p>The intro non-major science classes are rotten, unless you get lucky and have a good professor. I'm not the greatest at Chem but my professor is always willing to help. It's easy to get to know your teachers here.</p>
<p>Sorry I couldn't be of much help...</p>