West Texas A & M University

Date: May 14 2008
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
I can't imagine that anyone had more fun than my fraternity brothers and I did at WT. It was fraternity life without all the pretentious BS you see at other schools. Some people seemed bored, but that is because they didnt seek out the fun. I am going to a large SEC school now and they have the same problem here. Essentially, if you want to have a good time, you've got to get involved and meet people. The people around there are great. The faculty were great and since it is a small school it is easy and affordable to get involved. So, while you may not get to see your football team play on TV every Saturday and people may not have heard of the place much, it is a well hidden secret that you won't regret.

This might sound a little geeky, but here is something I wrote to be published but never sent in about WT.

I recently recalled a WT summer graduation that I attended where the speaker (I cant recall who it was) discussed what it meant to be a graduate of our university. One aspect that I recall vividly is how he explained that, though a degree from WT may not be as prestigious as one from an Ivy leugue school or as widely recognized as a degree from many of the more well known universities, it really did symbolize something special. That something special was a sort of intangible ethic and quality that made many WT graduates rise to the top of whatever pursuit that they engaged in. At the time, I passed off the remarks as typical commencement rhetoric and did not think about it until long after I graduated myself, and then it came back to me.

As my classmate friends and I fanned out across the country I began to notice a strange phenomenon. It began when my classmates started beating out presumably more qualified, and more prestigiously educated applicants for choice jobs. What is more interesting is they not only obtained the jobs, but they excelled at them and moved up in an excellerated fashion. With freshly minted degrees in hand my cohorts started exceeding their peers who by all standards and qualifications should have been surpassing them.

Call it charisma, call it an ethic, call it good old West Texas common sense, call it whatever you like, but my fellow WT graduates seem to be bringing something special to the table and its effective. As I observe from the outside all of the changes that have, and continue to change and improve my alma mater, I have a sincere hope that we do not forget what makes us special in the first place. While rankings, renown and all of those measures of prestige should be pursued, it would be a travesty to ignore the things that have made us special, distinct and successful in the past. The Texas panhandle and WT are great places to be from and it is my hope that it continues to be case for generations to come.