Sara
The academics portion of Texas Tech is extremely strong. After all, that is what people come to school for. However, while academics are important, the administration and faculty encourage students to get involved and learn outside of the classroom as well. I was in the College of Human Sciences, and thoroughly enjoyed my experience. We have some of the best advisors in the nation (that is not just me bragging, they have won a lot of awards). Texas Tech focuses on furthering the university and its contribution to the pool of research. For instance, the creator of TCBY attended Texas Tech. With the exception of your core classes, classes are very manageable, most of the time no bigger than your high school class would have been. There are many options to help you with your classes so that everyone can excel, such as free tutoring, and the University Writing Center. Instructors also encourage a great deal of real world experience, such as internships, or experience in the field through classes. When you graduate from Texas Tech, you will feel that your education was worth all the money, time and effort that you spent. Not only will you be satisfied, you really will have a skill set that will prepare you for whatever it is that you want to achieve.
Brad
My favorite class so far has been History of the U.S. after the Civil War. History interests me anyway, but the teacher I had, Travis Childs, was great. Class participation is common as long as some time before 11 AM.
I remember occurrences where students were talking about politics and such outside of class, too.
I can't say I've seen very much competitiveness though.
The most unique class I've taken has been English in Film Studies. I love it.. and I normally hate English!
My major is Electronic Media and Communications, which is in the College of Mass Communications. Its fairly new, but I think its already become a good college. My major focuses on mass media, communications, and the electronic means of communicating that media. I hope to get a career in sound/video for a TV or radio broadcast company or maybe work at a record studio.
Texas Tech's academic requirements aren't the highest, but I think they are still up there with other schools in the state.
The education at Tech is VERY geared toward getting a job. The advisors here start helping students with finding careers early and will help any time with that sort of thing.
Christina
Texas Tech has a solid academic program. Just like any university unless you want to be known your professors will not know who you are. In the lower division courses the majority of my professors only knew me because I spoke up in class and stayed actively involved in various discusion. In my major courses all my professors know me by first name, last name, major and even future career goals. The professors are always willing to speak to you and get to know you on a more personal bases. There have been several times in which I randomly walk into a professors office and talk about life. They're humans and they love working wiht you.
Texas Tech has an amazing career center that can help you find anything from internships in west Texas to six figure jobs in New York. Many colleges have developed their own career center so there are twice as many opportunities for students to find a good job and/or internship. Career fairs seem to be occuring every month. You will find workshops on resume writing, etiquite dinners, mock interviews, and so much more almost every week.
The mock interview program at Tech is incredible. When students have an interview they can contact the Career Center and inform them of the company they will interview with and for what position. The career center will then emulate the company and perform a mock interview with the student. They will then advise the students on answers, clothing attire, expressions and so forth.
College of Mass Communications is the youngest college on campus but it is the fastest growing and one of the top programs in the nation. My public relations department chair is one of the best PR practitioners in the nation today. The majority of the people in the college have real world experience and have either owned a PR firm, owned a newspaper agency, worked in some of the most complex situations. The college has four computer labs with brand new computers for students to learn and study in. Major classes can be as small as 10 students to a professor. There is incredible research occurring in the basement of the college at all times and you can always find a professor sitting around waiting to have someone to chat with. This is one of the best colleges at Tech and without a doubt the best professors in the Texas Tech University system.
The only flaw of Texas Tech academics is it's lack of classes in Asian studies. They offer slim to no opportunities to study abroad in Asia. The minor: Asian Studies is lacking. There are approximately 20 classes offered in the minor but only about six classes are offered each semester. Usually of the six 3/4 are scheduled at the same time making it impossible for students to take a well rounded amount of classes. The university seems to not want to make the expansion towards bringing in more diverse courses and offer more opportunities to study abroad in Asian countries. The irony of it is that we have the Viet Nam Center which is growing to be the largest center on the Viet Nam wars in the world. We have also signed contracts with Vietnamese universities for students to attend Tech graduate schools. We give opportunities to foreigners but seem hesitate to give similar opportunities to our students.
There are also some advisers who seem to forget that their jobs are to help the students receive a diverse and intellectual education. Some advisers forget that students pay their salary and they should work with the students to find the best route towards graduation and a strong academic career for the future.