Southwestern University

Date: Mar 27 2009
Major: History/Histories (art history/etc.) (This Major's Salary over time)
Everyone here is like the valedictorian-type, or those who think they are extremely unique, my roommate claimed SU is full of

alphas expecting to be in a sea of betas.

What's funny is that once they get here everyone is wearing those same kinds of clothes and everyone agrees on politics and environment issues, etc. Outspoken conservatives can be seen as annoying but nobody is hostile to them.

I am not one who likes to give presentations and they really focus on that here, but it's helping me grow I guess.

Expect to write a lot, this semester I have all kinds of styles: profs who give weekly papers that you get to choose from (2 pages, easy), those who give no papers and only discussion and massive amounts of reading, and those who give a large paper (15ish, getting bigger as you get into higher level classes) due at the end of the semester. My Greek Civ teacher applies to all of these categories and more. To get A's I have to study a couple of hours a night for each class or a bit less. You just have to read the syllabus and plan ahead.

As far as subjects: science majors have a hard time because they weed people out, apparently Latin is horrible to take here…I am really enjoying German but I took French in high school. Languages become intensive after the sophomore level. I am an International Studies major with a History concentration in Europe and German as my language, which I am finding out I would rather be in a central Asian, russian or middle-eastern based program, none of which are offered here.

The registrar's office is very very helpful, I went to the assistant registrar wanting to find out how I could graduate early and she took about an hour just discussing options and looking over the handwritten degree plan. Career services can also help with lots of personality tests and practice interviews. I have come to know the ladies at the business office pretty well because I get reimbursement check every semester, and at first they can seem rude but they must have to put up with a lot.

I grew up in Dallas and went to private schools all my life, so the fact that the school is small is fine with me.

The small class sizes don't allow you to skip, and many professors count off for not attending. The first year you usually have really great rooms, especially in Mabee, which is a really close dorm that is co-ed (which is much better than Kurth or Ruter). However, you are required to stay on campus for the second year, in inferior, small and sometimes moldy dorms. If you don't get into Paideia, which is a rather useless (according to my RA, I'll have to see for myself) discussion based honors program, then you really have no way of getting an apartment. Surprisingly, once you declare a major, it is hard to find the right classes at the right times while juggling the area one requirements. Some of my friends are struggling to be full-time students, especially when recently they laid off many nontenured professors, significantly reducing the amounts of classes offered.

As far as sports, we have a new softball team…and lacrosse is supposedly good (first varsity-ified team in texas), and swimming is competitive here.

The reason I am staying here is that number one they gave me a massive financial package, allowing me to pay less than if I went to A&M or UTD on scholarship. Since this is anonymous I'll give you the number—around 10,000 a year. Everyone I've talked to has gotten a similar package. It has forced me to stay here where I would probably have transferred due to how limited this place can be. It is a great education up to large-school or even ivy-league standards, with really knowledgeable professors, but something seems to be missing.

Austin is a fabulous city…tons of concerts (everyone skips class to go to festivals like ACL and SXSW), good food, access to top notch museums, and it is really metropolitan…just 30 minutes or less down the road. Georgetown's square is cute and most places surrounding it are aesthetically pleasing. You can walk to the cheapest grocery store and across the highway, which is Wolf Ranch, home to every store imaginable. If you haven't tried Taco Cabana, you might be surprised at how quickly you get addicted. There are usually plenty of places looking for employees so finding a job isn't hard.

I can't really think of anything else.