Sam Fares Well In Recent College Guide Reports
For
some it is time to start college or get back to a campus. For
many others still in high school, the process of selecting a
college for a year or more in the future is beginning.
This
week there are several recently-released college selection reports,
and Sam Houston State University fares well.
For
the second year in a row Sam Houston State is among the Texas
four-year public and private colleges and universities named
to the Best Western Colleges list by the Princeton Review. This
year there are 22 so designated from 101 that were eligible for
selection in the state.
Also
released this week was a U. S. News and World Report story by
reporter Carol Frey, who made Sam Houston State one of four stops
on a college "road trip" through Texas. Other schools
featured included the University of Texas-Austin, University
of Houston, and Prairie View A&M.
Frey's
502-word story and a photo are in the America's Best Colleges
2008 U. S. News and World Report. In addition, there is an online
24-second video segment on SHSU, which was one of 12 schools
profiled nationally.
In
her visit to SHSU in April, Frey was obviously impressed by the
Big Sam statue, SHSU'S growth in enrollment and facilities, and
the caring and friendly campus tradition.
"Its
student population has grown more than 22 percent in the past
five years to 16,000," she wrote, "and new buildings
and student apartments have cropped up on the Huntsville campus
like Texas bluebells."
After
mentioning the university's Woodlands effort in the University
Center, she says "Huntsville still oozes small-town friendliness,
and a stranger used to being greeded with 'S'up?' eventually
will hear an old-fashioned Texas 'Howdy.'"
That
caring touch extends through the Student Advising and Mentoring
Center operation, which she calls "relentless" in preparing
students for and keeping them in school.
She
also pulls no punches--"What students do not come for is
night life. Huntsville has some fine barbecue but no club scene."
She
concludes by saying that SHSU is "impossible to miss--just
look for the six-story statue of Sam Houston as you're tooling
down I-45."
Of
the 12 schools profiled nationally by U. S. News, SHSU's estimated
annual cost for tuition, fees, room and board was the lowest
-- $11,612 for Texas residents. The average for all 12 is $28,410.
Also near the bottom of the U. S. News online story on Sam Houston
State is a randomly appearing ad for Vault surveys, which prints
comments from current and former students in the areas of admissions,
academics, employment prospects, quality of life and social life. That
survey is also accessible
directly.
The
Vault comments also range from "all are pretty average" relating
to academics, to "the academics are great," but were
mostly positive.
One
student who enrolled in August 2004 had these comments:
"You
learn so much more here because the classes are so much smaller
than that of UT or Texas A and M. At Sam you get to meet your
professors and really get to know them. If you are in the honors
program you get to sign up for the most popular classes first.
Then classes are opened for everyone. Don't wait to sign up
for classes and plan early. This way you ensure most of the teachers
you really want. Sam has very knowledgeable professors that
really teach. As far as grading goes... do your work, study hard,
get involved, and you will succeed."
—END—
SHSU Media Contact: Frank Krystyniak
Aug. 22, 2007
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu.
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