Texas Tech University

Date: Dec 12 2007
Major: Civil Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
Tech has some great programs, including Agriculture, Engineering, Interior Design, and Architecture. I would be extremely cautious about majoring in anything else, especially business. I had a roommate who was a business major. He was dumb as a brick (SAT around 1000) and graduated with minimal effort.

The campus seems to be experiencing a renaissance of sorts. Construction has gone haywire. Since my freshman year, I've seen the construction of an addition to the football stadium, an experimental sciences building, dorms, the student wellness center, an animal sciences building, an addition to the law school, an addition to the student union building, the center for the study of addiction and recovery, an addition to the engineering administrative offices, and the leisure pool. Facilities, as a whole, are as modern and aesthetically pleasing as you will probably find anywhere.

The city of Lubbock is not really such a bad place. As the birthplace of Buddy Holly and several other successful musicians, Lubbock is heralded by some as one of the music meccas of the world. Many artists who make it big in Austin, dubbed "The Live Music Capital of the World", describe the route of their success as "Austin via Lubbock".

Moreover, Lubbock is actually very well planned. The street system consists of a nearly perfect grid encompasses by a loop. The north-south streets are in alphabetical order, and the east-west streets are numbered increasingly from north to south. Currently, the Marsha Sharp Freeway is being constructed. It is the largest TxDOT funded project to be constructed in the Lubbock district, and a portion of the freeway runs through the middle of campus. As a civil engineering major, I must say that it is one sexy project. As a whole, Lubbock is a growing city that is making great progress, and I can't wait to go back every few years or so to observe all the changes.

I think most of the people who hate Lubbock so much are from perfectly groomed suburbs, suburbs that wouldn't exist without rich people fleeing the plight of nearby urban centers. Lubbock, due to its isolation, is an urban center for the entire South Plains region, and, therefore, does not have the luxury of completly segregating itself from the unwanted sects of society in order to create a picture-perfect utopia for all the precious Tech students to exclusively enjoy. Ruling out Tech on account of the city would be a close-minded and hasty decision to make.

Another thing about Lubbock is the weather. Spring and summer days are usually perfect - dry and breezy and not a cloud in the sky, like California weather without an ocean nearby. The elevation (about 3200 ft.) is much higher than all the major metropolitan areas of Texas. That "Home on the Range" song was definitely written by some Lubbockites back in the day, except deer and antelope no longer roam within the city limits. My elderly neighbor told me that they used to frequent the area when he first moved here in the 1930's, but urbanization drove them all out.

I don't know what else to say about Tech. It's a solid pick depending on your major. I consider myself a little more intellectual than the status quo, which may be one reason that I wasn't always completely happy here, but I'll be leaving Lubbock a very changed and matured person. Also, I was able to easily find a job with one of the best companies in my field.