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.