Got a little story for ya, Ags!

My beautiful, independent, funny and extremely intelligent niece went to Freshmen Orientation this week at Texas A&M, where she will begin in the fall (Class of 2011. That's going to be hard to rhyme with). According to my sister, who graduated in 1980, 6 years ahead of me, things have VASTLY changed at Texas A&M.

Class Registration: You sit behind a computer until the appointed hour of registration and exactly at registration time you are able to log into the system, select all your classes and attempt to get into each class. My niece, B, typed in her password wrong over and over and was frantic. That sounds like a nightmare, actually, where you're freaking out and can't get something done while everyone else is having no problem. So she finally gets in and gets all her classes. It also sounds a bit like attempting to order concert tickets with Ticketmaster online. When Death Cab for Cutie went on sale I was poised over the keyboard like a coiled snake, ready to bite. At the appointed hour I was clicking and typing and cutting and pasting my credit card number (which I had deftly saved in a Word document so I wouldn't misstype it) and I got great tickets. B was able to have the same success.

Food Choices: When I attended Texas A&M you grabbed something at the MSC if you were around for lunch. Now, you can eat at Duncan, Sbisa, and several other places on campus. There's over 40 places to dine on campus! AND there's all kinds of cool choices, where you can choose from many international cuisines, and choose vegetarian or organic. Sure beats a corn dog at the MSV bowling alley in between bowling and history. Apparently, Texas A&M is being considered a role model to other universities in the food choices department.

Activities: So I understand they are really pushing students to join groups and get active. I think this is wonderful. I was in the Marketing Society, and let me tell you, that was one wild bunch of business majors! But now they have everything from environmentally conscious organizations to third world country organizations to archeology enthusiasts. They also are pushing studying abroad, which I think is very cool too.

Technology: Parents can sign up to receive text messages in case of emergencies. For instance, like in the case of the Virginia Tech shootings, parents are notified immediately when there's an emergency on campus, or when your child is admitted to a hospital, etc.

Move Along! In an effort to urge students not to spend their entire life at college, they offer $1000 back to anyone who graduates within a certain amount of hours required for their major. If your major requires 132 hours for a degree and you graduate within a certain amount of hours from that, you receive money back.

Sounds like Texas A&M is seriously working toward that "world class" reputation they always talk about. Me? I personally feel a bit cheated. No cool meal cards, no free range chicken choices, no computer registration. I had to walk across campus to receive a print out from the computer I was working on, for pete's sake. And we had to stand in line to register for a class. If, by the time you got to the front of the line and the class was full, you went and stood in another line. In G. Rollie White Coliseum. In 94 degree heat. With thousands of other sweaty college students.

I think I want to be a student again. I'd choose a different major though. No marketing blowodd major for me. Environmental Studies or something like that, would be my new major. Or, possibly bowling.