Would a liberal fit in at Texas A&M?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Let me preface this by saying that TAMU is my fallback if all else fails. I am applying to Boston College, Hofstra, Seton Hall and Loyola-Chicago. But I might not get in these schools and if I do, I might not be able to afford them. I am a Texas resident so staying in state would be a lot cheaper. </p>

<p>I feel like I would be miserable at Texas A&M though. It just seems very high schoolish. Everything seems to revolve around Texas stereotypes and football. Also, it's in another plain college town. </p>

<p>If I can't afford to move out of state, should I go to Texas A&M, or maybe just a community college in Houston where I live.</p>

<p>Also, I don't want to go to UT-Austin because I can get the same tuition from Seton Hall.</p>

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<p>What advantages does Seton Hall have over UT Austin?</p>

3

<p>The question is not whether a liberal could fit in, but could you? Sounds like the answer is no, which is not a negative reflection on anybody, it’s just not a good fit.</p>

<p>Surely there is a solution somewhere in Texas between going to a school you would hate and community college. Someone was posting about UT-Dallas the other day and it sounded much different than TAMU and UT-Austin. Might be worth looking into.</p>

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<p>In a word, NO! Texas A&M has one of the most conservative student bodies in America and unlike some preppy conservative campuses (like SMU and Miami of Ohio) much of A&M’s student body is militantly conservative (The Corps) and will go out of their way to make you feel like an outsider.</p>

<p>Even more so than at other extremely homogeneous schools like Miami of Ohio, A&M is a school where you really need to fit in or you’ll be utterly miserable.</p>

5

<p>Nonononono A&M is seriously a huge bubble where people are exactly the same. (Not trying to offend anyone) but liberals (from my experience, and including myself) can appreciate diversity and different views and different backgrounds and most at TAMU do not.
If you’re Highschool is as snobby, religious and conservative as mine is, TAMU will be simply a continuation of your Highschool years. </p>

<p>with that warning being out there, you could potentially find a small group of people in the same situation as you, who are liberal and have the same interests. However, it will not be as easy as if you were at UT (Austin, Tyler, Dallas, etc)</p>

<p>Do what’s best for you! Make the best of whichever college you choose, and it’s your choice to be happy :)</p>

6

<p>Well, there is an organization of student Democrats there. The picture on their website shows 11 people.</p>

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<p>There are plenty of “tolerant” liberal campuses in America where anyone to the right of Chairman Mao will be made to feel just as unwelcome as the liberals think they would be made to feel at TAMU. </p>

<p>Don’t be so smug, intolerance of opposing views is an equal opportunity employer.</p>

8

<p>Just want to point out that none of the people trying to dissuade you from TAMU actually attended the school.</p>

9

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<p>Are you saying that if a conservative student attended a liberal college, he/she would be welcomed with open arms? That the liberal student body would be completely tolerant and accepting of this student without ridiculing or him/her? That the notion of liberal tolerance of diversity applies to everyone, regardless of their beliefs?</p>

<p>In my experience, the answer is no to all three of those questions.</p>

10

<p>

This was out of line and ironically your views on TAMU are just as close minded as you claim those who attend are.</p>

11

<p>Yes because a school that houses tens of thousands of students, almost all of whom were in the top 25% of their class, and which generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year in research funding is exactly like high school.</p>

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<p>I attended a liberal college as a conservative student. My expreience was generally yes.</p>

<p>UT-A us a much better school than Seton Hall, btw, if you felt like you would fit.</p>

13

<p>So the defense of A&M here is that liberal colleges are just as close-minded? Nobody wants to refute the idea that A&M is close-minded?</p>

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<p>I have no first-hand knowledge of the campus itself, but gotta say the honors app last year(D showed me) had some freakishly weird questions. A moderate/liberal might go into mental shutdown attempting to answer them, MC with no reasonable answers, ‘none of the above’ not a choice, and they don’t allow you to leave any blank, can’t proceed with app. Got us to thinking it might not be a good fit for her.</p>

15

<p>Barrk123 and anyone else, I’m sorry you felt it was out of line! I wasn’t trying to offend anyone. I was simply sharing my views and what friends who have gone have told me. If you read on in my post, I said the OP might be able to find a group of people with similar views, but it’d be easier to find that group at another school. From wha I’ve read on this site, freshmen often have a hard time finding their group of friends their first year, and (in my opinion) that’s easier when you are at a campus with diversity. Again sorry if I offended, but I also don’t appreciate the snarky rebuttal. People can have different opinions on colleges, it’s not unusual.</p>

<p>Whenhen,
To clarify, I meant in the social aspect, not academic. A&M is an amazing school and I’m not trying to say that it isn’t. That being said, many many people go the Blinn/A&M route at my school so not only would it be attending with many of the same people but also people with a completely different outlook on life. Again, I am NOT saying that A&M is a bad school. Personally, if the OP is a hardcore liberal, I think it could potentially be a struggle to fit in at that school.</p>

16

<p>Just want to point out that none of the people trying to dissuade you from TAMU actually attended the school.</p>

<p>Exactly.</p>

<p>And, yes, narrow-mindedness of viewpoints is found on both sides of the aisle.</p>

<p>And to claim that TAMU is an extension of some snobby high school is ridiculous.</p>

<p>“Personally, if the OP is a hardcore liberal”</p>

<p>A 17-18 year old shouldn’t be a hardcore anything. They hardly know anything about anything. lol</p>

17

<p>Since when was Boston college liberal?</p>

18

<p>I already tried to explain my high school point… Ridiculous as it may be it’s my opinion and it’d be cool if you respected it and not bashed it, regardless of how you feel</p>

<p>Correct, I am in high school and do not attend TAMU. But I have been around the campus and people who have attended, for 16 years. Obviously most of those years are irrelevant because I’m a kid, but regardless, I have been exposed to UT and TAMU for a long time, and I have noticed that there is a huge difference in campus personalities. That is really the whole point of everything I have said, yet seems to be disregarded every time I post</p>

19

<p>I’ve never met an open-minded liberal person who went to A&M. And I know lots of people from my high school who went there.</p>

<p>However, why is this even a concern if you have UT Austin as an option. UT is much better than Seton Hall anyway.</p>

<p>Also as someone else has said, if you’re a liberal, why is BC on your list?</p>

20

<p>I just can’t understand the OP’s point that UT-Austin is not an option because it would cost the same as Seton Hall. </p>

<p>The OP claimed that Seton Hall and a few other schools were preferred, implying that the choice of A&M could only happen on rejection from all of those schools. So making a choice between UT and A&M should only happen when Seton Hall has ceased being a possibility, so I cannot see how it makes sense to consider costs of UT-Austin vs. Seton Hall.</p>

<p>As a UT alum who has had a number of Aggie friends over the years, I would caution any self-described “liberal” to think very carefully before choosing A&M. A&M is not the run-of-the-mill conservative school. It is extreme. </p>

<p>Since some of my S’s friends just started there this year, and more will be going next year, I asked him, a high school senior (he is somewhat liberal, though more truly open-minded than anything), whether he would consider it, and he looked at me like I was a lunatic. I believe that he would rather go to community college than A&M, and this is a kid who considered Baylor for a time, even though he is an atheist.</p>