Even if you can’t visit prior to application, there should be “admitted student days” in March or April right before your son graduates from high school.
D24, wife, and I visited the University of Tennessee yesterday, spending over seven hours on campus and walking over seven and half miles. Before I go too far into it, I need to preface my remarks. I am a native Memphian. All of my family and in-laws attended the University of Memphis (I did not). I grew up loving the University of Memphis (then Memphis State). Memphis is to UT-K, as UT-K is to Alabama. It is the annoying little brother in sports that measures itself against the more accomplished bigger brother. I still remember celebrating Memphis’ last football victory over UT-K in 1996 when I was studying in Scotland. Said differently, the hatred of all things orange burns bright in this one. Knoxville is enemy territory. Even considering UT-K as a possible school for my daughter has been hard.
So…to the tour. SO MUCH ORANGE! IT BURNS! The soap in the bathrooms is even orange scented! But…It really is a beautiful campus, once you get past the orange as far as the eye can see. Mountains, rivers, hills. New campus buildings. Friendly people. The campus is easily integrated into Knoxville, which is a surprisingly clean and hip town (we happened to stumble into the finals of the men’s cycling roadrace, which was neat). Our tour was well-presented. They used two tour guides (which was smart). It ensured that there was always a guide in the front and back to talk to. We had two young ladies that had their schtick down. It was amusing and informative. Our tour group represented many states and Norway. The campus buildings were generally new, though the guides did point out that the older ones were for “storage”. There is a nice pedestrian walkway that runs through the heart of campus. The Haslam Business School is quite nice and has 20+ “Bloomberg Trading Desk?”. I assume this is what is used on the floor of a stock exchange. But, what we saw in the school was very advanced (apparently, the top three most technologically advanced buildings in the state are at UT-K). The new building at the Tickle School has an incredible maker space (we went back on our own and got a tour of the facilities). The information session was…informative. We had a private meeting with a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Studies. She spent well over an hour with us discussing the program and showing us the labs (we were very close to Moon rocks). Now…the students in the department have their own lounge (that’s cool).
In all it was a great tour. My daughter can absolutely see herself there. I may not be able to bring myself to say “Go Vols”, but if D24 goes…I guess I could wear orange.
This is so nice to hear. I have had a few people tell me UTK is “the ugliest campus they have ever seen” and then I hear others that sound more like your description. Hard to imagine people can have such opposite opinions of the same place.
Got the best advice to check out Sunspot for dinner the night before our tour, and it was totally worth it! Great food and vibes, probably the highlight of our time at UTK. Had to deal with construction getting there, but that seemed to be a theme for us while visiting this campus. Definitely recommend it to others!