TAMU vs OU National Merit Visits

nutmeg_shippy
Mon, 25 Jul 2016 04:35:48 +0000

OU

The OU experience was also a great one, although it was very different. This visit was scheduled on the OU website on the National Merit section. I was able to note what my interests and intended major are so that they could tailor the visit.

About a week after I scheduled my visit, I received a call from the Scholars’ Office discussing my schedule and the planned appointments. They were extremely accommodating and wanted to ensure that I was happy with how the day was planned out.

They had appointments planned over one day, and my mom and I were responsible for handling our own housing. Note : We stayed at a Sooner Suite on the south side of campus, and that was very enjoyable - but don’t consider it to be walking distance from the Scholars’ Office unless you have 30-40 extra minutes and love walking in Oklahoma summers

We arrived bright and early to the Scholars’ Office. They are very friendly and we had our first meeting with a lady working in that office. She laid out the National Merit process, and also the scholarship offered to finalists who select OU as their top choice. Note : It is NOT a full ride due to fees and housing. Still though, it’s a generous scholarship.

They offered us cold water bottles and then walked us to the business building where I met with a lady from the advising office. She was very informative about the different majors and minors available and also gave us a tour of the building. During the tour, she told us about very unique opportunities available through the business college. I absolutely loved these opportunities, such as one where students from different majors form teams to create “companies” and sell a product over the course of a semester, donating profits to charities. Big perk of the OU business college.

After this we met with an advisor from the Study Abroad office, and this was my favorite part of the visit. He was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and explained just how affordable OU study abroad trips can be through the support of President Boren in scholarships and through exchange programs. This is a huge draw for me.

The last agenda item before lunchtime was meeting with the dean - yes, dean - of the honors college. This appointment really set the visit apart from the TAMU visit simply because of the exclusivity of it. It’s not often you can have a one on one conversation with a dean! He was very kind and open about what OU has to offer and why it may be a good fit for me. One of the coolest things he mentioned was the reading groups available to honors students - as a book nerd, I would be all over this. Another OU perk.

Then - lunchtime. Not such a great part of the day. They had no specific accommodations for us, and we had some difficulty getting back to the Sooner Suites to check out of our room, which we were unable to do early due to the time of our first appointment. We didn’t have time to leave campus before the campus tour, but the cafeteria had no allergy-friendly options to speak of, at least during the summer. It was quite disappointing.

The campus tour was lovely. We had a personal tour given by a current NMS student. Truly, OU is a beautiful campus with state of the art facilities. The library is especially impressive.

In comparison, OU’s tour was more informative and personal in nature, but A&M’s felt more like the complete package - a night in the dorm, a class, etc. A lot of smaller details stuck out to me about OU such as the reading groups, business opportunities, and the gorgeous campus. (It definitely beats A&M in that regard.) However, walking around the OU campus is a pain, especially in the heat. There isn’t any on campus bus system, due probably in part to the rectangular shape of campus. A&M’s campus is bigger but is less segregated into sections - dorms, classroom buildings, and cafeterias are more mingled around.

I would highly recommend either trip for a NM hopeful. Both are very helpful, and they highlight the similarities and differences between both of these great schools! Tough decision