As someone who called it cultish above, from Texas and also I am VERY CONSERVATIVE. I wasn't 'using cultish as a derogatory thing. You've got 100,000 people in the stands singing convoluted cheers, swaying, greeting each other and saying "Howdy", following tons of traditions. Call it cultish, call it "clique-ish". Call it "lots of inside jokes which they use to establish a huge sense of pride in school and camaraderie." Maybe you need to chill. |
| People above have said traditional and conservative. Is it Reagan conservative or Trump conservative? My DC skews closer to the first so would be great to understand from recent alums. |
+2 I grew up in Texas and both of my best friends went to A&M. It is cultish, deliberately so. Kids walk around dressed in pseudo military outfits and salute each other based on rank at every corner. Students line up to attend Midnight Yell in the middle of the night before every home game. You're not allowed to sit down during football games. People on a DC board who don't know anything about the school but want to be oppressed are just glomming onto the word conservative to make themselves a victim of a comment they don't understand. It's not cultish because it's conservative. It's both cultish and conservative. |
I think it's just one hyper-partisan, hyper-sensitive person. Nothing here is pejorative about conservatives or Texas A&M or the state of Texas. Some people are just looking to be offended 24/7. |
That is the corps of cadets. A&M began as a military school and still has a corps of cadets. It is one of six “senior military colleges,” along with VMI, the Citadel, and VA Tech. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_A%26M_University_Corps_of_Cadets |
I'm aware. Their outsize presence on campus is part of the cultish environment. |
no experience with tx schools, but you shouldn’t send your kiddo there. MAGAs live in tx |
They're about 5% of the student body. |
Yes. And they walk around campus in uniform and salute each whenever they cross paths. Students who are not in the Corps can tell their ranks by their boots and they make a big show of enforcing that hierarchy. They march across campus en masse to stand on the field at home football games. For 5% of the student body they are bizarrely visible and tied to the concept of the university in a way no other 5% is. They have an outsize presence on campus. Do you really need to keep trying to wikipedia this? |
That stunt they pulled before their loss to Appalachian State was legendary! |
| Same as William and Mary |
When they all wear the same uniform, that tends to be the case. |
|
NP
No Aggie would dispute the description of cultish, and as a liberal I wouldn't use it pejoratively here, since it can mean a campus that is very welcoming and will be a support beyond graduation. I do think there are two important questions to consider since the vibe otherwise seems good to you. 1. Does your kid have any dust allergies? 2. How do they feel about living in the middle of nowhere? The second question is more about culture, nature and wanting to get away from it all. It's not possible to easily drive off for certain amenities but the necessities are covered. |
Is PP dim? That is how things are done in the Military. They are in the Corps of Cadets. The same happens at Tech with their Corps of Cadets. Guess what, if a Major passes a Colonel in the Pentagon City Mall parking lot they salute. The irony that this is the person that said people commenting from DC are talking about things they don't understand. |
DP. I'd much rather see that presence on campus than throngs of slovenly, purple-haired nuts screeching at passersby who don't pay them enough attention. |