My niece went there. She did the UNTHINKABLE and transferred to UT after her freshman year. A&M is real into tradition to the point of "weirdness" according to her. She wasn't into all the "Fight Farmers Fight" stuff and was kinda considered an outcast because she didn't "get into it" so she left. She really likes Austin because there is so much more than UT and it's OK to be into other things. A& M It's a very good school, but it's pretty much the ONLY thing in College Station. [Reply]
Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO:
she is thinking of rangeland ecology and management.
Well, that's a good place for it. I have dozens of Aggie friends from my time in Texas and they're all decent folks. I'm not really contributing much here. It's not a bad place but she's going to experience some culture shock anywhere she goes. [Reply]
Texas A&M is enormous - 50,000+ students on campus. It's the kind of place that can swallow a young person whole if they're not careful. I don't know about the program you describe, but every major employer in Houston scours the university. [Reply]
There are excellent Forage and Rangeland programs. But if she is serious about it, depending on career goals she will need to get focused on at least a MS. I have a good friend who did his Phd at College Station in Rangeland ecology. I work some with a guy who has his BS/MS from Kentucky and did his Phd at Iowa State. His degrees are Forage production with most of his work on grass and grazing management to maximize production efficiency.
KState is good as an undergrad program for sure. Texas Tech as well as A and M. Kentucky has been doing some really great work in Forage and Range management.
She has a number of career paths open to her. Ranch management, if she has enough Animal Science to match up. USDA in research. BLM managing Federal lands, Commercial Company Research, and sales for suppliers to the range business.
Its a interesting field. You have opportunity to deal with livestock, wildlife, the rangelands, native species, invasive species management, forestry, and a wide range of individuals and agencies both federal and state. [Reply]