Another campus visit: SHSU

We arrived at Sam Houston State in Huntsville on Wednesday morning about 5 minutes before our tour was scheduled to start.  Talk about cutting it close!  And I know I shouldn't be comparing it to Aggieland, but of course, I did. 

The tour itself was so poorly attended - us, and four other students, one of whom was a grad student, the others were high schoolers.

Our tour guide was very nice and the campus is pretty.  BUT.  Electrical Engineering is just a foot note to the main areas of study that this university focuses on:  mainly criminal justice and teaching.  There was one engineering building.  ONE.  And we didn't go within 100 yards of it.

There is virtually no on-campus housing for anyone but freshmen.  Also, see how empty the campus appears?  It was.  In fact, it is so small and empty that the tour guide could pick out individual students around campus that he recognized

Where is everyone?  It's Wednesday, mid-afternoon...

He told us that many students attend part-time or on-line... And the few folks we did pass weren't as "howdy" friendly as they are at A&M.

We briefly saw the oldest building on campus.  Toured the CJ building, walked for miles...

We got a recommendation for a place to eat near campus (we hadn't eaten lunch and were starving!) and it turned out to be more like a bar with a bunch of middle age men sitting around drinking cocktails.  No thank you.  Also weird:  large chickens roaming and scratching on part of the campus by a busy road, including a rooster who crowed every few minutes.

I tried hard to envision this campus as a quiet place for serious minded people to further their education, but I also saw it as isolated and forgotten in the state's university system.

While I think its good for Bubbie to see both types of campuses, it really was a waste of an entire day. I really don't see him being happy here, and he didn't seem jazzed about it.  It actually does make a difference where you get your degree.   And more than ever, I want to help him focus on getting to where he dreams of being.