I am very familiar with Texas A & M main campus in College Station and some of the other schools in the system but had no clue of an A & M in Corpus Christi. Now I know what's in this WIKI article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_A%26M_University%E2%80%93Corpus_Christi

From what I can tell, it looks like that campus has expanded and built a fair amount of new buildings in recent times. I see pluses in that after having survived life in an elderly group of buildings surrounding the University of Illinois Quad back in the late 70's. We had non-functional AC, and what I call "Binary heat." You either froze your ass off or else felt like a Turkey on Thanksgiving... It's nice to think that maybe my kid will be living in a building that was constructed sometime in the last couple centuries that maybe has some safety stuff built in.

Were you not aware of the campus or of the association with A & M? I have no idea what it is like in Texas, but here in Illinois, the main U of Illinois campus gets all the funds and adoration. Is it the same way there?

BTW I notice your Labor Avatar. Makes me happy to see it!

Thanks for taking time to answer!



Laura

Its fab. We're orig. from IL, I'll comment later from home...
Not culty like the main campus. What's her major?

I have been told by folks from the U of Illinois that the biology dept at A & M is fairly well regarded, especially the Marine Biology program. Darcy doesn't seem to have much interest in the marine bio stuff right now (who knows what will evolve with time!) but has expressed some interest in the Forensic program..

How about your kid? Program? In the dorms? Greek or Indy? (Is the Greek thing much of a deal, even?)

We're trying to plan a trip down sometime in early March, is there anything you particularly think we should see or do while we are there? Any hotels or a restaurant that is really good?


Thanks for the assist!



Laura

Tx is really cool and tamucc has been wonderful for our daughter!

They were brought into the Texas A&M system at the same time as Texas A&I in Kingsville and Laredo State University in the late 80s.

Not sure if I heard that right or not.

And they would argue that they are better than West Point. This is a slogan that Aggies often wear on tee shirts:
“Give me an army of West Point graduates, and I’ll win a battle. Give me a handful of Texas Aggies, and I’ll win a war.” General George S. Patton
Not all students at Texas A & M are RWNJs but there are more than a few. The other universities in the system will have their own personality, if you will.

I was born in Corpus Christi and lived about 50 miles away during my childhood (the 70s and 80s). One of my sisters received her bachelors degree from the university when it was still Corpus Christi State Univ. in the early 80s.

As for Corpus Christi it is usually warm and windy there. The temperatures tend to stay in the upper 90s since it is on the gulf, but in July and August it might get above 100 for a few days at a time. Unfortunately there is not much to do in CC besides go to the beach. The music scene is generally CW and Tejano, but occasionally they will get a heavy metal or rap act there. However, they are not considered to be a big venue so most of the big names will not be performing there. There are some friendly people, but like many places there are also neighborhoods to stay away from and some properties are not well kept with litter prevalent.

There is seafood available with the best bets being red snapper and shrimp, although I'm wary of eating seafood after the Gulf oil spill. The diet is dominated by beef with fajitas and briscuit as the favorites, although you can also find cabrito (goat's meat) and chicken.

With the Mexican influence present I would say get prepared to learn some Tex-Mex. Boxing and wrestling are big influences in the local culture. It is about 150 miles away from San Antonio and about the same distance to the border.

Having lived throughout most of the state, I would say that the Austin-Georgetown area was where I enjoyed life the most. Dallas and Houston are okay, but south of San Antonio the poverty and lower educational levels are tough to overlook.

If you can hold out for awhile I think that you might benefit from the crash of the oil boom so it might be possible to find some steals as far as real estate is concerned. The southside of CC and Calallen are where the better neighborhoods are found. Traffic is usually not too bad unless you are on South Padre Island Drive.

As far as Texas A&M is concerned it is the best university in that area, but I don't believe that anyone considers it to be an academic powerhouse. There is some housing on campus, but I believe that most of the students choose to rent apartments. The campus is on the bayfront and occasionally the causeway leading there is flooded. Since your daughter would start school during the height of hurricane season it would be advisable to have an emergency fund available if she has to evacuate. I don't have exact ethnic breakdowns, but it is probably about 40% white, 40% Hispanic, 10% black and 10% other.

Good luck to you and your daughter.

The campus is pretty. I believe the school is geared to social studies although they want an engineering school. Academically, they are adequate.

Corpus Christi is a nice town of about 300,000. There are several refineries and a thriving port. The Chinese have made some big investments in the area. Politically it is blue. Housing is reasonable. There is a good minor league baseball team and pro hockey.

TAMUCC has a small beach and there is a nice city beach. Port Aransas, a major Spring Break destination, is about 20 miles away.