College Station-TX (Houston, Austin, Lubbock: movies, school districts, university)

[shi_pa]

We are considering relocating from PA to college station, TX since we are a little bit tired of the long winter. We would like to know more about College Station. We live in State College, PA. It seems in lots of aspects similar to College Station. It is a good place to raise a family. It has many good public schools. Sometimes it is a little boring especially in winter.
Wonder about the schools in College Station. Are people friendly? Open to diversity?( We are Asian Americans.) Conservative or liberal? Does the place have a lot activities for kids? It is easy to find good doctors there?

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Lakewooder]

Learn everything you can about Aggies and Texas A & M.

[jabbit]

u know how they say Austin is the liberal hot bed of Texas?



well college station is the exact opposite. its not a very diverse or culturally interesting place. the only way if its interesting is if you are into these Aggies and Hunting. its an experiment on how conservative texas can get short of turning into Nazi-esque gone wrong.

im just talking about a fascist attitude not all the details that come with what the Nazi's did. So don't get me wrong here.


As far as raising a family and safety and all that. I gather... as long as your family lives and breathes Aggies you'll be okay.

[martinez4]

shi_pa,

It is a typical college town and that is not a bad thing!!! There is a strong love of Aggies because of the Texas A&M campus is in town. There is plenty of shopping, movies, restaurants, etc. I would do some research on the school information using alternate sites.

As far as location....it is relatively flat with but not too far away is Bastrop and that is a very lovely area.

Good Luck:-)

[shi_pa]

Thanks for all of your reply. I like college station being a college town-safe and good for kids. But I thought people would be open-minded because of that too.

Anyway, I will definitely do more research. Thanks!

[tstone]

Originally Posted by martinez4

There is a strong love of Aggies because of the Texas A&M campus is in town.

There is also a lot of hate and resentment for Aggies amongst the locals there who didn't finish college. I worked there after graduation for 2 1/2 years and can tell you all about that. The ignorance-havin' attitudes and mannerisms of many of the natives are much like what you'd find in rural east TX.

When I went to school there were a lot of bible thumping students who shoved their (WASP) religions down throats. I found many to be socially awkward, and the rest would condemn getting drunk/high in front of the thumpers and then get the most drunk and high on Fri/Sat. No surprise that most of these folks were from north TX.

CS didn't attract much outspoken open-mindedness, but I have never met as many liberal conservatives in any other setting either. Most of them thought they were conservative because that's the way Daddy was, but they really weren't and were denying it. Still though, I made a lot of non-religious friends who I still keep up with today. And none of whom would be considered Nazis, facists, bible beaters, conservative, or closet liberal.

A&M is simply a good place to go to college to get an engineering, math or science related degree, and then get the hell out of town. The town will always be a place of stagnation due to under-employment. Finding a job at the university or retail mgmt may be the best it gets unless you have good connections. Or are a full, tenured professor. There aren't a lot of good jobs... possibly due to the fact there is no interstate or US highway running through it.

[ChristieP]

Texas A&M is the conservative school. (George Bush's presidential library is here.) UT Austin is the more open-minded/liberal school. (LB Johnson's presidential library is here.)

If you want to look at another college town in Texas, perhaps Waco? (Baylor University) or Nacogdoches? (Stephen F. Austin) or San Angelo? (Angelo State) or Lubbock? (Texas Tech) All of these have more job opportunities and more family activities.

[jrhmc]

There is a very large Asian American community here or at least it seems so to me. I've found the community to be a great one to raise kids in and I've found that since most adults here are educated, that the tendency is to be more open minded. We, of course, have our share of idiots but what city doesn't? My daughter goes to pre-school with children from India, Korea, Mexico, China, and many other countries since we have such a diverse graduate student population. I guess coming from a parent's perspective, College Station is exactly what we were looking for to raise our children. A safe, diverse community with access to great schools and a supportive community. I really love the family activities and the involvement here. I can go to the park on any given day and find many other kids and parents there. The city parks and pools are wonderful and well kept. There are classes for the kids in a variety of subjects available through the city and there are opportunities for the kids that you just don't get in other small towns because of the Univerisity being here. Stephen Hawking was here a few months ago and many other great scientists and political leaders are here on a regular basis. There is a salary discrepency between the money you can make here versus the larger cities but my husband and I both just work remotely and many others commute the hour and a half to Houston. Bottom line is that unless you've been here as an adult with a family, you can't really know the atmosphere of the town. I would suggest that you make a trip to see for yourself. First, check out the city web site, www.cstx.gov . Also, there are several online groups for the city that might be able to give you a better idea of the current vibe than people who obviously don't live here. myBCS.com is one and for moms BCSmoms.com is another but you need a membership for that one. Good luck on your decision.

[bcs04]

The Bryan-College Station area is a very good place to raise a family. That is why my wife and I decided to stay after graduating from Texas A&M. Yes the town is mostly conservative, but it is diverse because of Texas A&M. Both school districts are fairly good. College Station school district is a little more diverse(that is due to grad students that live close to the A&M Campus). Just an example, the school district does language surveys and I know for the past couple of years that the College Station school district has had no fewer than 60 different languages represented(meaning English was not the first language or language at home)

As far as being Asian-American, I am half Asian and have never experienced any sort of issues with that, overall the community is fairly welcoming.

[ebloomsie]

I'm not sure what corner of campus tstone was sticking to, but it wasn't all of town. I've lived in CS for 13 years now after coming for school. Two degrees later, I stayed local for my then husband to finish school. I'll be gone in a few more years when I leave for grad school elsewhere. However, it took being a graduate for some time before I began to actually see the cities (Bryan is just next door) and understand the culture.

I grew up in rural East Texas. Apples and oranges. I chose CS over Austin, because at the time Austin scared the hell out of me and CS was a smoother transition. While I do love Austin, it is another world compared to BCS. All the same, it's not as backwoods conservative as some would have you to believe. The problem is that many students walk around with blinders.

For a young couple or family, it's an excellent place to start and raise a family. For the single grad student or young professional, it's not as warm and inviting, but there is worse out there. Two years ago, I hired a Flash animator out of Lincoln. He moved his wife and three boys (4-10 years old) to CS for the job. Their transition has been entirely smooth, but they're happy here and settled in nicely.