Appalachian State University

Date: Nov 09 2010
Major: Undecided (This Major's Salary over time)
Appalachian State University is perfect for some students, and completely wrong for others. For me, the negatives definitely outweighed the positives leading me to transfer as soon as I wrap up sophomore year.

Positives:

The campus is absolutely beautiful. Though there is a lot of construction, the campus is still very pleasing to the eye and most of the buildings are well-maintained. Just recently, the school completed it's renovation of Sanford Mall (cafeteria). The food on campus is great as well as the food in the local restaurants. ASU has several different gyms on campus to choose from that all contain state-of-the-art equipment and are open pretty much any time you'd ever want to be at the gym. Most of the dorms are nice, the ones that aren't are either being renovated or will be renovated within the next few years. The football stadium is small, but the school spirit is great. The campus is covered in black and yellow on Saturdays for the games and tailgating during football season. There are a lot of clubs to join. I was in the swim club and had the most fun I ever had at ASU through swim club events. Most of the professors I had were very lenient in their grading policies and students have complete control over their semester schedules (if they have enough credits to register before everyone else), which is nice.

Negatives:

However, if you have registering problems or are not sure what you want to major in, the general advisors at ASU are no help. Though my advisor was incredibly friendly, he never gave any solid advice and was often late for appointments. Most classes are not challenging whatsoever and most professors were incredibly liberal. These classes are fine for those who are very interested in feelings, opinions, and philosophies, but not enjoyable for any student who prefers structured, more challenging courses that are not passable with an A by writing a few papers on "I feel this way because…" There is no nightlife at Appalachian. "Legends" is not a nightclub. You cannot get into any bars in Boone or the surrounding areas without having an i.d. saying that you're 21. Most people have house parties, but beware, the Boone police are very strict, most landlords are very strict, and these parties are often busted (unless they are held deep into the mountains). Greek life is okay, if you're looking for traditional greek life however, you've come to the wrong school. It's not very hard to get into, but they also don't participate in typical greek activities. There is no sorority housing -sorority members either live on campus, in student apartments, or an off campus dorm for sorority members (a renovated hotel). It sounds cool, but its not. The weather here makes no sense at all. Summer and fall are great, its warm (not hot) and beautiful. After the leaves change colors, it rains almost everyday until it snows. This wouldn't be so awful if it also wasn't so windy and cold! If you love harsh winter weather and have a good 4-wheel drive vehicle, Boone is perfect for you! If you don't, DON'T GO TO ASU. Lastly, I'm a typical girl and I love to shop. The best mall closest to Boone is in Hickory, which is a good 45 minute drive. If you really want to do some shopping, you have to go all the way to Charlotte (2 hours). Though its not a huge issue, it's definitely something to keep in mind when choosing schools.