Tennessee Technological University

Date: Feb 17 2004
Major: Civil Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
TTU provided a sound undergraduate education in a very lack-luster social setting. Cookeville simply does not offer enough opportunities for young people to gather, grow, and experience a wide spectrum of social experiences. Fast food, beer joints, and empty weekends were not positive experiences. TTU continues to be a suitcase campus due to the lack of sophistication and opportunities within the Cookeville community. The weekends were depressing.

Being an engineering graduate, my curriculum and faculty were well above the average at TTU. Other curriculums/majors should be investigated carefully. If the student in interested in pre-med, physical therapy, or similar pursuits… be very careful.

Housing and traffic were problematic… but this is true in most university towns. For the serious engineering student, the undergraduate program is very adequate.

For the practicing engineer the undergraduate and graduate programs are very adequate. For research oriented scientists and engineers, consider universities with greater capabilities and larger research departments/budgets.

Overall, my education prepared me well from an informational/technical perspective.

Socially, the experience was not stimulating or pleasant. The frats and sorities create as many problems as they solve.

My career has been positively impacted by the education I received at TTU. My engineering background and experiences have served me well in the corporate world, as well as providing me tools to create my own business. On balance, TTU gets a B+ for providing an education and a C- for providing a stimulating environment for social interaction. The university struggles from being too small to be nationally impressive… and too large/diversified/unfocused to be elite.

The Co-op program at TTU was excellent during my years… 1974-1980. I strongly recommend investigating this option to complement the campus experience.