Road Trip: Sam Houston State University
Growing fast but staying friendly
This article was originally published in the America's Best Colleges 2008 edition.
Like many states, Texas aims to boost the number of college graduates from state schools over the next decade, and Sam Houston State is part of the push. Its student population has grown more than 22 percent in the past five years to 16,000, and new buildings and student apartments have cropped up on the Huntsville campus like Texas bluebells, although not all of the extra students have gone there: A satellite campus sits between Huntsville and Houston in a huge planned community called the Woodlands. Huntsville still oozes small-town friendliness, though, and a stranger used to being greeted with "Sup?" eventually will hear an old-fashioned Texas "Howdy."
Sam Houston State prides itself on small classes. Despite its growth, the university says the 20-to-1 student-faculty ratio remains the same as it was at the school's founding in 1879. The oak-studded campus is the home of nationally recognized degree programs in theater and dance, math, and criminal justice (Huntsville's other claim to fame is its prison, the oldest in Texas and the home of the state's death row). The College of Criminal Justice, in fact, has a working courtroom, where real trials have been conducted with students looking on.
Incoming students who might flounder without extra attention find Sam Houston State relentless. All freshmen receive six weeks of instruction from upperclassmen in study skills, test taking, and time management. Once they've been to the Student Advising and Mentoring Center for the basics, director Bill Fleming hopes they'll come back if they need a tutor or a confidant. If they don't, faculty members notice when students are failing or skipping classes and the center follows up. Charlie Nutt, associate director of the National Academic Advising Association, says such a comprehensive safety net is unusual, and Sam Houston State can point to results: The percentage of freshmen who become sophomores is up sharply since the center opened five years ago, and so is the six-year graduation rate. Senior Zach Schroeder credits the help with keeping him on track toward his bachelor's in communications next May. "The advising center has been helping me since before I was a student," he said.
What students do not come for is night life. Huntsville has some fine barbecue but no club scene. That's all right by Schroeder, who hails from Schulenburg, Texas (pop. 2,700), and spends much of his off time doing play-by-play sports broadcasts for the campus radio station, KHSU. Sam Houston State, he says, is "extremely friendly." It's also impossible to miss—just look for the six-story statue of Sam Houston as you're tooling down I-45.
Reader Comments
Not what I expected
I am an alumni of Sam Houston and was so proud when my child decided to attend. Unfortunately, she has not experienced the same as I. Instead, she is faced with a very clicky department and in spite of everything she had to offer them, has not been given the level of education that we pay for. Compared to other colleges, she could have learned so much more, but too late to transfer now. And as far as obtaining scholarship or funding assistance, in spite of her needs and gpa (4.0) cannot qualify for a scholarship there simply because of a department head that does not like her. Not fair and I think that one person should not control the purse strings of this particular department. For it being a public university, they pick and choose too much. I truly regret not letting her go to her first choice.
Unlike Lone Star College that is growing by leaps and bounds, if it were a 4 year university, it would wipe SHSU off the map. Definately a first rate college will 50,000 students to boast about.
SHSU Deserves Better
SHSU is a great school!! It is such a beautiful campus. I just got my BBA in accounting last May. I am now finding out how well prepared for graduate school
I can’t understand why US News ranks Sam so low! It is just insulting to see how poorly my school is regarded. I choose to go to Sam and have not regretted it. I also could have gone to UT and I even got into Rice but I chose Sam because of the quality of the education, the location of the campus, and low tuition rates. Unlike students at UT, I can honestly say I never had a class with a teacher’s assistant. If I ever had a problem I went to the source, the professor. Also, Sam’s professors have actual real world work experience instead of entering academia after college so they can have an easy life.
I would easily put Sam’s graduates against that of UT, A&M, Rice, and Baylor.
SHSU is Wonderful!!
Agree wholeheartedly with this article! Sam Houston State University is a great place for students who might really struggle at the big schools. There is a lot of individual attention, small classes and easy involvement in any number of great extracurricular organizations. Campus is beautiful, has lots of great new facilities and is very friendly.
My daughter could have gone to University of Texas but chose SHSU and has never regretted it. You aren't wait listed or denied admission to the department of your choosing. The head of her department took an interest in her academic career from the very first semester and has helped and advised her through a great internship and her upcoming graduation.
Can't recommend it highly enough to anyone looking for a great university that thinks big but acts small and friendly!! Make no mistake...even though Huntsville is a small town, they still find ways to have plenty of fun!!
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