College Visit Report: Arkansas State University (Main campus, Jonesboro)

[Dmmetler]

We visited the ASU main campus today. We had three kids-a senior planning to go into Pre-Med, and two sophomores-DD, who plans to major in something related to animals, probably biology, and an English major.

First, we were able to visit the biology department and the herpetology lab and biology collections (ASU has an enormous set of collections, with over 70,000 annotated and archived specimens in herpetology alone) and the new Arkansas Biosciences Institute. They're doing a lot of really neat research. DD also got to meet the department's pet Blue Tongued skink :). There are definitely research projects of interest, both in herpetology and other areas, to her, and routes towards undergraduate research. Despite having a very strong medical focus, there is also a strong wildlife biology/zoology focus, with zoology as a separate set of majors. It seems like a very strong department, and DD quite liked it. And there didn't seem to be an attitude that only graduate students had value. I think she would have spent far more time with the students in the lab if we hadn't had other appointments, and if the other two girls with us hadn't been grossed out by the collections. DD also got to sit in on an Anatomy and Physiology class, which she quite enjoyed. The pre-med major was a little less thrilled by the large number of dead things, and the idea that Anatomy and Physiology was an expected part of her undergraduate program. She did, overall, like the range of classes available and the number of health science clubs.

We also visited the English department, which seemed equally impressive to the English major, who is primarily interested in writing. There are a wide range of English based activities and classes as well, a great writing lab, and a lot of opportunities. We visited the writing lab and the girls were able to spend an hour talking to one of the tutors, who gave them a lot of information, not just on English, but on campus life.

Finally, we did the honors student tour of honors housing/campus, and visited with the honors college director. The Honors college benefits sound worth considering-early registration, smaller sections, and more options for funded research and travel. Dorms are adequate-pretty typical, co-ed by suite with shared bathrooms.  There are separate dorms just for honors college students. Honors upperclassmen have the option of suites with single bedrooms. Other learning communities are available as well. The campus is large, but most of the more extreme areas are athletics and graduate/professional buildings (although the new medical school is right in the middle of campus).

Campus food service is decent, with multiple cafeterias and a food court with a range of options. Campus life seems varied. Sports is a big deal, but wasn't referenced by everyone we talked to like at University of Tennessee.

 

Overall, DD liked it.

[katilac]

We once evacuated to Arkansas, a little closer to Little Rock, I think. We camped in some park and it was really a beautiful area, and the locals were ridiculously friendly. They threw open the doors to everything for any evacuees - please come to the town rec center for free, please come get supplies, please let us know if you need anything we aren't offering. I'm pretty sure we were visited twice every single day, lol. 

I also attended UT for a single semester, but it was grad school so less imbued with the sports. I used to love that people would park by a meter with a time limit and leave change on top - if you were walking by and saw they were running out of time, you put the change in for them. Also, Knoxville had some great pizza joints. 

[teachermom2834]

Just about UT-Knoxville...my kids love sports and have grown up wearing orange and attending camps, events, etc at UTK and even they were so turned off by the campus tour and the emphasis on sports- and they love sports. Lol. One is a college athlete and they both watch every Vols game- from other universities. 

We’ll visit UT again with my 15yo ds and he might end up there. But they are missing the mark with some of their marketing emphasis. 

[katilac]

University of Alabama is the same. My dd crossed them off of her list after attending their summer honors academy, she said she was going to lose her mind is she heard Roll Tide one more time.

[Hoggirl]

Glad you had a good visit to ASU!  I moved to NEA my senior year of high school.  ASU doesn’t get as much love as it should since it’s overshadowed by the University of Arkansas. 

[Dmmetler]

So far DD seems to really like the bio programs at ag colleges, which made ASU worth checking out. They tend to have more organismal biology and more practical classes, even for non-ag animals. And it’s a nice location for herpetology. Her mentor also really wanted to connect her with a specific person there who she felt would be a good contact for DD, even if ASU wasn’t a good fit. But honestly, it looks like it might be a good choice for her. Whether it can be made financially reasonable compared to a TN state school is another story, but she qualifies for enough scholarships to make it possibly reasonable if she can get one of the more competitive ones. 

[cbollin]

12 minutes ago, dmmetler said:

So far DD seems to really like the bio programs at ag colleges, which made ASU worth checking out. They tend to have more organismal biology and more practical classes, even for non-ag animals. And it’s a nice location for herpetology. Her mentor also really wanted to connect her with a specific person there who she felt would be a good contact for DD, even if ASU wasn’t a good fit. But honestly, it looks like it might be a good choice for her. Whether it can be made financially reasonable compared to a TN state school is another story, but she qualifies for enough scholarships to make it possibly reasonable if she can get one of the more competitive ones. 

 

It's worth asking with ASU about tuition rates for out of state residents of specific counties of contiguous states. Some state schools have programs like that.

[Dmmetler]

It looks like Shelby County does qualify for in-state tuition :).