Lubbock - Jobs? Conservative?

[h886]

Originally Posted by mattandchelsea

I am looking to transfer to Texas Tech for their petroleum engineering program (one of the few in the country). My gf is a recent grad with a degree in economics, and I am worried about her chances of finding employment since Lubbock seems small and is not near any of the big cities. Also, we are both vegan and very animal conscience, so I was also wondering if Lubbock is a conservative, farming area. For instance, we live in NC right now and see chicken trucks all the time and can't stand it! I know that it is a college town, but I was just making sure that it wasn't as bad as where we are living!
We also have 2 large dogs and are looking for rental properties.

Thanks for your help.

If you are offended by seeing chicken trucks drive by, then Lubbock is not the place for you. The people there are nice and accepting, but it is a pretty conservative town and farming and ranching play a large part in the local economy. Someone offended by the idea that others eat meat won't like it there.

Austin would likely be a better fit if you're vegan, but your GF will run into the same issues looking for work. Austin is a very popular town and lots of people want to live there. UT and Texas State pump out thousands of graduates every year who will have local connections that your GF won't when it comes to looking for a job (and the jobs aren't plentiful right now anyway.) It is also harder to find rental properties if you have multiple pets and/or large dogs. My friend is currently at her wit's end searching.

So, if you can get into UT, if your GF can get a job before you come or if you guys have enough savings to make it even if she can't find work in Austin, you should consider it.

[doctorjef]

Originally Posted by Westerner92

College Station is much smaller than Lubbock is. There is basically nothing to the town outside of the university, and it's about as conservative as Lubbock. I'm not even sure it even has much of a job market to speak of for your wife. It is closer to all the large cities in Texas, and, in all honesty, A&M is more prestigious and well-known than Tech.

In my opinion, Lubbock is a MUCH better place to live.

This is all very accurate and I agree that Lubbock is a better place to live than College Station. College Station is indeed closer to the major Texas cities but it's immediately isolated in its little area. Bryan is the town immediately contiguous with College Station. It is somewhat of a local medical center - I have a cousin who lives there with her physician husband, but Bryan doesn't have much to offer really and is a fairly small town. The thing about Bryan-College Station also is that you aren't close enough to nice places, either urban or scenic outdoor recreational areas, to take advantage of them easily, even if you are relatively closer to large cities than Lubbock is. Lubbock has much more to offer within itself, so being isolated from larger cities isn't as much of a drawback. Plus IMO the immediate prairie country in which Bryan-College Station are situated isn't particularly pretty, though again within a slightly inconvenient drive you've got prettier country outside that particular little micro-environment.

[doctorjef]

Originally Posted by Westerner92

I was just thinking UT would be the best fit as well. And it does have a petroleum engineering program, the #1 in the nation at that.

Well, that's that, then. I'd try to get admitted to UT-Austin. Should be a pretty good fit for the OP, and Austin after all has a much bigger job market than either Lubbock or Bryan-College Station.