Everything stems from tradition...

Introduction
It’s kind of a big change because you go from a town of about 8,000 people to a town of 100,000 people and it’s a lot of change, but once you get here, you realize that it’s a lot smaller than you think it is. You see the same people on campus everyday. And really, it’s a small world after all.

Campus Life and Social Life
Texas A&M is very deeply rooted in tradition and pretty much, everything we do here has a tradition behind it and there’s a reason. You’ll be hard-pressed to find anything on this campus that doesn’t have tradition behind it. Probably one of the most well known traditions would be Muster, which is actually the 21st of this month 2 days ago. That is where are the Aggies that have passed in the last year have been remembered. They call out the names of each one and someone that knew them or was family or friends with them says here that they’re being remembered. Other popular traditions, the 12th Man at Cow Field or the student body stands for the entire football game. Bonfire was, there was a whole process of you go and you cut the logs and then all the student body would be involved in helping build the bonfire. And then they would burn it before the game with TU and then the Bonfire fell in ’99 and we haven’t had it since. The Center Pole, which Bonfire is based on broke and so everything fell and there were 12 students killed. Advertisement
Academics
I think Texas A&M, you’re more than just a random number. You are more than just another student sitting in a classroom. You’re a real person especially when you start getting into what you want to do. And when you come in as a freshman it can be very overwhelming because there are so many people here, but the more into things you get the better it works out for you. It is competitive. People want to get the best grades. They’re competitive in their grades and in their working to get the best that they can do, but it’s also a great thing because there a people in your classes that will help you regardless of whether or not they want to have the highest grade, you can always find someone to work with you and to help you out.

Student Body
Texas A&M is typically very conservative. So anything too liberal is not taken really well. That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of liberal people on this campus, but it’s more conservative than most other place, definitely more conservative than the University of Texas or a lot of East Coast schools. Typically, your typical Bible Belt conservative school. If you’re extremely liberal and you want more of a big city feel because college station is very close knit and you come here thinking wow, this is such a big school, there’s 40,000 students, but then you get here and you’re hard-pressed to walk across campus and not see someone that you know especially if you’re involved in any type of organization or anything on campus.

In Closing...
There is a place for everyone at Texas A&M. Whether it’s Greek life or Athletics or farming or whatever, there are hundreds of student organizations on this campus and there’s literally something for everyone. There’s a skydiving club, there’s water skiing. There’s all sorts or interesting attractions all over college station as well and nearby and Houston’s not far away so if you want a big city feel you can do that.