Texas A&M University -- College Station

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Major: Psychology – on the pre-med track
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: South Asian Heterosexual Female

Summary

I’m part of a dance club called Akh Mastani, and I’m part of a leadership organization called Sophomores Advancing in Leadership (SAIL).

Background

Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: South Asian
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

High School Experience: Public high school in Dallas, TX with a graduating class of about 800 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Psychology – on the pre-med track
Minor: None

Extracurricular Activities: I’m part of a dance club called Akh Mastani, and I’m part of a leadership organization called Sophomores Advancing in Leadership (SAIL).
What impact have the leadership clubs had on your experience?
It’s made me meet a lot more people and come out of my comfort zone by hanging out with people I usually wouldn’t. I’m so glad I got to be part of that because now I feel like there’s so much more I can be involved in.

Academic Experience

Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
I’m a pre-med Psychology major, so I’m part of a lot of science classes. Every other week I have a lab, I have coursework online, in-class lectures. For my science classes, the major graded assignments are usually exams. For my non-science classes, there are written assignments and essays. For the labs, there are reports due.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly?
The Psychology department does a great job of advising their students. Whenever we have a problem, they usually email back super quick. I’m a Psychology major, so I usually wouldn’t go to someone in the science department, I’d go to the Psychology advisors. They’re good at having one-on-one conversations with people that need help.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
I thought A&M classes wouldn’t be that hard, but when I got here it was a lot harder than I thought. Once I started getting into a routine, it was good. I can tell everyone here is super serious about their studies. Even the freshmen that come in are on their game already. It’s competitive, but it’s also a very diverse university where everyone is doing their own thing.
How accessible are your professors?
They are very accessible. They have office hours, they get back to you by email, and if they can’t, some TAs can help you. Especially for my science classes, they have study sessions where the TAs will go over what we learned in class.
What was your favorite class in your major?
My favorite class so far has either been the Psychology of Women or Human Sexuality. Those are classes I feel everyone should take either for fun or information. It opens your eyes to stigmas and stereotypes. I didn’t know a lot going into the class, but now I have a whole new outlook on society and that topic in general.
Why did you pick your major? Are you happy with your choice?
At first, I was a Biology major, but there were a bunch of Biology classes I felt were unnecessary for me to take. Like, super-specific classes on plant biology that wasn’t very interesting to me. I thought about what was interesting to me, so I chose Psychology because I think it’s super interesting how the human brain works. It’s a topic I thought I’d do well in.

Reasons to Attend

1) It’s very diverse. You’ll meet a lot of people like you, but you’ll also meet people who are not like you. You just have to keep an open mind about that.
2) The campus is huge so there are lots of resources here. There’s never someone that can’t help you.
3) We have a lot of school spirit here and there’s lots of pride.

Reasons Not to Attend

1) If you don’t have school spirit, you may not have fun. Everything is about being an Aggie here.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman: Walton Hall with one roommate
Sophomore: Off-campus apartment with three roommates
How was transitioning from Dallas to College Station, TX?
Dallas is about a 3.5-hour drive, so it’s not too far but far enough where you can’t go whenever you want or make a one day trip. I like it and it’s a good distance. The transition wasn’t all that hard. My parents pretty much let me pick wherever I wanted to go, so they knew I was going to leave the house eventually.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
Safety is a huge thing here. Whenever something happens, the whole student-body gets an email about the incident. We also have something called CODE MAROON. Every month there’s a warning text that goes out to everybody to make sure it’s still working. There are lots of safety systems in place.

Social Opportunities

What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
We’ll go out to eat and have fun. We do a lot of game nights in our apartment, and there are lots of places to get food or drinks. We have a group of friends that go out and are into nightlife, so we do a party and have kickbacks here and there. If we go to a party, it’s hosted by a friend of mine.
What are your favorite events or activities?
Midnight Yell is a huge thing here. The night before a home football game everyone will gather into the stadium and practice our chants and yells. That’s something I recommend all A&M students go to. It’s super fun and gives you a sense of family and belonging. The football games are a huge thing here and people take it so seriously. The whole town is shut down on game days.
How happy are you with the weekend options? Is there anything you would change if you could?
At first, I didn’t think it was much, but now that I live here it’s more than enough. Sometimes you don’t even have time to go out because of your studies and stuff, but when you do it’s more than enough. It’s more about the people you do it with and I’m happy with the selection here.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
I’ve known them since high school. All of my roommates went to the same high school as me, so we knew each other before college. The new friends I’ve made here are mainly through dance and leadership organizations.
What is the social impact of the leadership organization?
They give you an idea of the different groups of people that go to A&M. I’m South Asian, so I started out only hanging out with Asian people. Not because I chose to hang out with them, but because it’s who I’ve grown up with. Once I started joining other clubs and stuff like that, I started hanging out with other races and ethnicities. It keeps you open-minded.
How would you describe the overall social scene at Texas A&M?
You can tell there are different groups and social circles here, but everyone is doing their own thing. You can tell who people hang out with by the clubs that people are in. At the same time, whenever we have university events, everyone comes together and we have a sense of pride toward A&M. Everyone is proud to go here and know they’re an Aggie. There are different cliques, but at the same time, we’re all a big family.
To what extent do you think people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
When I first thought about A&M, I thought I would hang out with one type of person here. Then I got here and realized it was nothing like that. Everyone hangs out with everyone. You do see cliques, but people generally mix well between sexual orientations and races. The leadership organizations have people of different diversities and people are all advocates of the same philanthropy. That made me feel at home. [The undergraduate population is about 60% White, 3% Black, 24% Hispanic, and 8% Asian.]
How would you describe the South Asian community on campus? How strong is it?
There are a lot of South Asian people here. Not all of us hang out together, but I joined an Indian dance team so I realized quickly there are a lot of other people like me. We like doing the same thing and hanging out with each other.
To what extent do people in Greek life and not in Greek life mix socially?
There are a bunch of people in Greek life, but they do more so hang out with each other than with non-Greek life people. People that I’ve interacted with in Greek life are through classes. They’re either my lab partner or we have a class together. [About 8% of men join fraternities, and 17% of women join sororities.]
How do you like the size of Texas A&M in terms of undergraduate enrollment? How was transitioning to a school with [about 54,000] students?
A&M is huge and there are so many students here. I’m glad there’s a big selection of people here and there are so many people to get to know. It’s had a positive impact.

Careers

Have you learned any computer languages or software that will be helpful to you professionally?
In my Chemistry classes, we have to use Excel for the lab reports.

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, accommodating was the office to your needs?
They’re a little hard to get a hold of because there are so many students that are in need.