Truman State University

Date: May 30 2004
Major: Unknown (This Major's Salary over time)
Social Atmosphere: I'm from Iowa also, and like a previous reviewer from that state, was pretty shocked by how closeminded and conservative many of the students were. Truman really failed my expectations that college would be a bastion of liberalism, and I found myself longing for high school, where people were more tolerant. Iowa, especially when you were the only "out" homosexual in your high school, isn't exactly San Francisco, so I'd suggest that all left-leaning students seriously reconsider this place before attending. If you spend your days fuming about "special rights" that aren't, Truman may be the place for you. If you feel that you've been "wronged" by affirmative action, that homosexuals are "privileged", that abortion is murder, Truman may be the place for you. If you feel it is appropriate to bring religious sentiment into the determination of public policy, Truman is the place for you. For those of us who want something else, I would strongly suggest looking at another school. Even if you are conservative, I'd still suggest looking at another school…Truman students are some of the most appallingly rude, brittle people i've ever met. Expect people to steal your books and notes in class. Expect people to check out ALL the books on popular topics for research projects just to compromise their competition. Expect people to decline a chance to share notes because they don't want to help anyone but themselves. Expect people to lie about their are performance in class to make you feel bad and to avoid facing the reality of their own terrible lives. Expect people to scream at you and burst into tears when you tell them it is rude to cut in front of you in line. If you should happen to need to leave a computer station for a short period fo time, expect someone to steal it, delete your work and use machine for their own needs when it was plainly obvious that you were occupying the space, as noted by a bookbag and jacket sitting on ththe chair, as well as a word processing document splayed across the screen. Expect the indivual who stole the computer to scream at you and tell you that you are "rude" to suggest that they could have at least saved your work before shutting down somwone else's station. All of this and more happened to me at Truman State…those were just a few of the examples off the top of my head.

A huge portion of the school arrives from a handful of elite public and private schools in Kansas City and St. Louis. These people wash up in Kirksville with their old high school cliques largely intact, and have little interest in meeting new people, so finding friends at first is difficult for some. The general entering freshman is very white, unadventurous, oblivious to the "real world", exceptionally affluent but unwilling to admit it to the point of seeming ridiculous, and groomed for a "name school". Contrary to what might be expected given the general negativity of this review, I managed to find a niche, as most who stay there do, so firsthand experience indicates that "finding people' is possible at TSU. That said, make no mistake: the students at Truman State are not the types of people many would want to surround themsleves with indefinitiely.

Financial Aide: The financial situation at truman is better than most of its students would lead people to believe. Financial aide throws money at most of the truman kids who have anything approaching need, and even if it didn't, tuition is amazingly low anyways, despite budget cuts. Yes, students must "work" for their scholarships, but the work is always easy/nonexistent, personally or professionall rewarding, or all three. Furthermore, on an hourly basis, the scholarship wage is considerably higher than the so called "work study" which many of the students liken it to, even for those stuck with smaller scholarships. If I am correct however, the vast majority of students lose their scholarship, so this is only an issue to a handful people there.

The town: kirksville has some real positives. A handful of decent restaurants, a gorgeous state park in very close proximity with other, less known wild areas which can be utilized for recreation, shockingly affordable housing, and a generally friendly, if annoyingly Mayberry-esque, local culture. Theater, restaurants, shopping and a few good bars are all within walking distance from the "student ghetto", so you get to enjoy all the fun of college life without driving when you shouldn't. Its widely recommended that medical issues be handled outside the area however. Despite the presence of a medical school, the quality of care in Kirksville is severely lacking.

Residential Living: Barring a nuclear holocaust or the collapse of industrial society, residential life on campus will likely be one of the most unfortunate, inhospitable experiences of your life. Cramped conditions, overheated dorms rooms, constant fire alarms at bad times, nosy/prying residential advisors (we called them SAs) and the selective enforcement of rules at the convenience of campus bureaucracy make Truman's many dorms horrible places to live. Count on moving out after your freshman year, and try to find any way to get out even earlier if at all possible. This is the only school I've ever heard of where most people LOSE weight on the campus meal plan, and don't worry about any advertised negative effects on your grades that may be incurred by "moving off campus"; whatever problems may arise from your increasing disconnect from the campus environment will be countered by finally getting enough sleep and food to function, as well as "luxuries" such as basic privacy, air conditioning and an absence of fecal matter stowed in unfortunate places such as communal showers and ovens.

Professors: "I'm continually amazed by the lack of intelligence and creativity expressed by my students", "I really dislike the limpwristed set", "well I hope that by now we've all learned not to admit our racism in public", "all conservatives have a negative world view", "(a student) isn't the sharpest tack in the box (said to another student by the prof)". Those quotes, all real, were taken from a single non-major department at Truman, all personally observed except the one regarding the "limpwristed set", and each from a different professor within that department. Many of the professors here are so shockingly bad that you will question the validity of their presence not only in the classroom, but on this Earth. With that said, many of the professors are astonishingly good. I've had a number of professors who sat with me for hours and walked me through difficult subjects like math and foreign language, and a number of others who bent over backwards to make sure that support was available if they didn't personally have the time to "tutor". I've had professors who invited me to their office to chat about common interests, those who took their own time, energy and money and invested it in the lives of the young people who sit before them every day. I've had professors who poured their hearts and souls into their work and research, just to help the kids in their classes succeed. I've had profs volunteer to write recommendations, invite the whole class over for lunch, or host late nite study sessions, complete with refreshments. When Truman implies that you are getting many of the advantages of a "private school" at a public cost, it isn't lying. Much of the workload here is insane, but it is mitigated by a supportive and generally competent set of teachers.

These shining gems are drowned out by a large minority of angry, bitter, usually tenured, jerks. Grading can be extremely arbitrary, even to people like me who did fairly well. In light of these facts, It is strongly recommended that any professor be extensively reviewed prior to signing up for a class with him or her. A few hours research online and with friends can save you from a semester of suffering and perhaps a lifetime of inadequate knowledge and/or a permantly damaged college transcript. Professor research is one time when you absolutely MUST "do your homework" at Truman. Don't give in to the temptation to take the professor who is "easiest" though; At Truman, someone has to do poorly to keep the admins off the prof's back for "grade inflation", and "easy" classes frequently translate into randomly assigned and poorly justified low grades to make up for all those kids who found the experience "easy" and didn't try.

The Benefits: Unfortunately, contrary to what Truman would like to imply, there is no "T bomb". The word "Truman" does not conjure an image of brilliance, turning nerds into sexual magnets and attracting headhunters from far and wide. While I've heard that the school's reputation is rock solid in StL and KC, for people like me who've been sent scampering back to "blue states" with our tails between our legs, there is no prestige behind our degree to justify the somewhat excessive amount of work we've put into it. You will have to find your own job, on your own. That said, it is a darn good school, and you will leave knowing "your stuff". I've found myself well prepared for both the surprisingly high-paying job I talked myself into (with a relatively worthless major to boot), and (presumably) any graduate education I choose to pursue. The career benefits of "liberal arts" seem to have demonstrated their mertis in my case (I just hope I'm not jynxing my job performance by saying this ;-).