Tennessee State University

Date: Apr 22 2011
Major: Mechanical Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
This is a small school. What I enjoyed most about my experience here is that I was able to excel and learn. Most of the faculty is nice and generally knowledgeable of the subject they are teaching. Among the students here, there can be a lazy attitude. Many of the teachers pass the students along in the classes even if the student doesn't understand the subject very well at all. Overall, this school is small and you can really get out what you put in. The engineering college, while stretched pretty thin, is full of professors that are good at what they do. The mechanical department head is an ASME fellow and holds some pretty important positions within ASME. I was able to do interesting research as an undergraduate, where that would rarely happen in a bigger school. I don't know much about the other colleges in TSU, but I would encourage students to attend TSU for engineering, as long as you are willing to put in the time and work. I have learned a lot while in school here and I am planning to do graduate work at GA Tech, Univ. of Maryland, Texas A&M, or Univ. of Michigan. With my background from TSU and the professors that I have worked under, I shouldn't have a problem getting into a great grad program.

That said, the administration here has performed poorly in my eyes. It takes forever to get anything done as far as admissions, stipend refunds, transfer credits, financial aid, etc. I cannot count the number of days that I have run all over campus to get some stupid transfer credit approved, or to get my research stipend put into my student account. I work at the research center and the financial aid office and the office of the provost can never understand why the research center puts money into my account for anything other than scholarships, at which point they deny my transfer request because I can't use scholarship money for personal needs. Months and months of running between offices and getting papers signed… I still dread the first week of every month when my stipend gets posted, because I never know if I am going to have to beg someone to please put the money that I earned doing research for this school into my student account so that I can put it in the back. Very aggravating.

Don't let that discourage anyone from attending here (at least for engineering), because you can really learn a lot and make personal connections with the professors.