Texas A & M University - College Station

I spent 4 years at Texas A&M, and they were by far the best years of my life. The school developed me as a person, and I met the best friends I've ever had while I was there. The campus is probably a little more conservative than most, but it is by no means the Pat Buchanan State University that some people like to make it look like. I've always found it amazing how a school that sent a lot of votes to W. is considered such a backward, group-thinking, non-accepting environment, while a school (UT) that voted mostly for Kerry is a place of enlightenment, where all opinions (unelss you happen to be conservative) are valued equally. I grew up as a conservative in Austin, and have many friends at UT, so I do somewhat know what things are like there. As for A&M, for a place that's supposedly so "conservative," I rarely went a day without hearing someone whining about how conservative the school was. If that many people are complaining about it, how conservative can it be? I kept thinking 'if only all these people could find each other, maybe they'd be happy.' In a school of 45,000 people, it shouldn't be hard to find other liberals, and I know plenty liberals who are very proud to be Aggies and love A&M very much. For the most part, Aggies are normal, down to earth good folks, who will do anything for you and go out of their way to help out another Ag, both during school and beyond. And contrary to what some would like to make people think, Aggies come from ALL walks of life. Black and Hispanic enrollment has been steadily increasing, and the university is taking great steps to reach out to those communities. I've found that overall the students are very accepting. Just because you lean to the right politically doesn't mean you can't have respect for other cultures and opinions. This is something that I've found to be true for most Aggies. The traditions at A&M are something that you either buy into or you don't. Most Ags cherish them, though. I'm currently in law school at Tech, and I can definitely testify to the way Aggies stick together. There are as many UT grads here as Aggies, but the Horns don't congregate like we do. A&M is truly a family for life, and one that I'm proud to be a part of. As for the education, anything other than Liberal Arts is excellent. A&M has always focused on Ag, Engineering, and the sciences, and it excels in those areas. Within the Liberal Arts college, Poli Sci and Economics are very good, mostly because they are housed in the George HW Bush Library, and have access to all those resources. If you want to go with a liberal arts major, those are the ones to go with - they're probably the best at TAMU. There are about 80 billion student organizations at Texas A&M, so if you somehow can't find your own niche, you simply aren't trying hard enough. I wouldn't trade my time in Aggieland for anything. Going to Texas A&M was the best decision I ever made. Gig 'em!

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000