<p>I’m an incoming freshman, I’ll be moving in about 10 days and I’ve had nagging feelings that I’m not living up to my potential by going to Tarleton State University. </p>
<p>I’m majoring in Physics & Computer Science and they do have the largest undergrad observatory and a quote right from their site is as follows:</p>
<p>“TARLETON PHYSICS PROGRAM HAS REPEATEDLY RANKED IN TOP 5% OF U.S. PHYSICS PROGRAMS (TOP 2% IN 2012) ON SENIOR PHYSICS MAJOR PERFORMANCE ON NATIONAL PHYSICS FIELD OF STUDY EXAM” (sorry for the caps, it’s just how it is on the site)</p>
<p>So obviously they do have a really good physics program which is what made me decide to drop the PSA program I was in and just stick with Tarleton. It just kinda feels like a step down from A&M. I did tour the campus and of course go to orientation and I really like it.</p>
<p>It feels completely irrational and it’s probably just jitters with moving away and all that. It also just kinda feels like a step down from A&M though. Even though Tarleton does appear to have a much better undergrad Physics program than A&M (which is my main focus. The Comp Sci is just an extra bit, I’m interested and I need 26 credit hours in a support field anyways)</p>
<p>I went to Tarleton, and Howard Payne, and McLennan Community College, and Stephen F. Austin State University. I ended up graduating from SFA this past May. Both of my parents still work at Tarleton and live in Stephenville. I did not have a desirable experience at Tarleton, but that was also a really crappy point in my life that had more to do than the school itself. I have found that Tarleton has one of the strongest agriculture programs in many different forms, but they lack in other areas. Seeing as I was a Liberal Arts person I can’t exactly speak to their Computer Science program. I did have a friend who graduated from their department I believe and seems to be doing quite well. He also worked in their tech support and gained a lot of experience which greatly helped him after graduation. I found that Tarleton has a limited number of majors, like for example, my degree from SFA is in Photojournalism and Creative Writing, two programs which just DON’T exist at Tarleton. </p>
<p>From my experiences in college and the 3 months after graduation, college is very personal. It doesn’t necessarily matter where you went to school, I mean yes having that degree is very important, and I wouldn’t exactly suggest a crappy school for whatever you major in, like if they’re ranked last, yeah obviously not a good choice, but I’ve kind of noticed it’s all about EXPERIENCE. If you want to go to Tarleton, and you end up loving it there, that’s great, I firmly believe you should feel at home and love the university you attend, but also, don’t neglect getting outside of campus and gaining as much experience in whatever you’d like to go into as possible. Or like my friend did, bust your ass in the school’s tech support office. </p>
<p>If I were choosing between Tarleton and A&M though, I’d choose A&M. </p>