Posted: 5/18/2026 3:47:15 PM EDT
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We're still a year away from my son graduating hs. He wants to go into construction management (not engineering) and Tarelton looks to have a program suited to him and his abilities. His mother lives in Granbury and I had to haul him down there this weekend. I made the trip to Stephenville and the campus. Campus looked nice. Didn't see anything inflammatory, but it's also between semesters and there were zero people on campus. Anyone live nearby or have kids that attended recently? What's the student culture like? |
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I live in Granbury and have family that went to Tarleton and still live out that ways. @Texas1994 I suspect it is as far to the conservative right as one can find in a public university these days. I recall a few years ago that it was the fastest growing university campus in Texas. Might be old info. I went to Purdue, which has (had? Been a minute) a really good construction mgmt program. My #1 question would be about how good their work/CoOp programs are. A few guys i went to school with rode their CoOp placements all the way to regional manager roles with big national cos. Data center shit is set to explode out this way; figuring out how to get him on those sites as an intern would be a priority. Edit: i talk to surveyors often and hear there is a big need for young guys entering the field. Worth a thought, too. |
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Originally Posted By MrWhite227D: Great school. Not a lefty school, pretty traditional, a lot of Texas/cowboy culture from what I know. I know 2 dudes who both went for construction and are doing very well. I went to A&M and would love for my kids to go to Tarleton I was A&M class of 96. My daughter in 24 (2 years early). She's doing well. My son is a good kid, but he would get chewed up by the engineering and math requirements to go to A&M. SAT is 1000. I'm thinking the smaller school with more of a construction management type degree is a better fit. I'd love for him to go to A&M, but it's just not in his cards. I drink the A&M Kool-aid from time to time, but not so much that I would force my kid into a difficult situation where he couldn't handle it and not be happy. |
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Originally Posted By TexCorriente: I live in Granbury and have family that went to Tarleton and still live out that ways. @Texas1994 I suspect it is as far to the conservative right as one can find in a public university these days. I recall a few years ago that it was the fastest growing university campus in Texas. Might be old info. I went to Purdue, which has (had? Been a minute) a really good construction mgmt program. My #1 question would be about how good their work/CoOp programs are. A few guys i went to school with rode their CoOp placements all the way to regional manager roles with big national cos. Data center shit is set to explode out this way; figuring out how to get him on those sites as an intern would be a priority. Edit: i talk to surveyors often and hear there is a big need for young guys entering the field. Worth a thought, too. Yeah, he needs trade experience. I'm trying to line him up to get his EPA license for air conditioning. I had a few shitty jobs when I went to college, I figure if he can get on with a place that does AC repair part time, he'll make better money and probably pick up side gigs. My dad actually worked on a survey crew for the soil conservation service when he was in college in the 60's. We have an old fashioned transit at our business that we use for odd jobs. My dad taught me a little bit. I know those things are antiques now. I was trying to get him interested in that last summer, no interest. But a lot of stuff with kids is figuring it out at the right time. Maybe I'll come up with something again this summer and pull it out again. |
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Small town, which limits internship and job opportunities while in school. Very much a rodeo/horse/ag management/cowboy sorta school. Also, disproportionate number of female students (bit more than 60%), and a significant number of them seeking to become teachers. Relatively safe town. Even when compared to some other rural college towns. Doing a couple years in Sville, and then finishing at the TSU campus in Ft. Worth (if possible) might expand job opportunities while in school. |
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Another Old Ag here…’77 & ‘79. Tarleton is a good school. Students and alumni have pride in their school. When I entered A&M in ‘74, there were only 20,000 students. It had a small town feel. Now it is pushing 4X that. Personally that’s too large. TS has a more student friendly size. |
In my defense, I was left unattended.
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Originally Posted By TontoGoldstein: Another Old Ag here…’77 & ‘79. Tarleton is a good school. Students and alumni have pride in their school. When I entered A&M in ‘74, there were only 20,000 students. It had a small town feel. Now it is pushing 4X that. Personally that’s too large. TS has a more student friendly size. CS is nuts now with traffic. My daugther went to an event with the college of Ag dean, they are in the planning process of moving almost everything ag to Fin Feather road. Hort and plant pathology will stay. Business will inherit Kleburg and Heep - which will probably end up torn down and rebuilt. They already broke ground on a new meat science building over there. So yeah, booted off West campus, not even good enough for the wrong side of the tracks. |
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I’m here local. Went to Tarleton form ‘12-16. Stayed because it was a cheap base to work from in the oilfield / pipelines. The Villes changed a lot! Some points prolly for the better, some for the worse. Going D1 was definitely not good in my opinion , if they had it their way they’d do away with most of the Ag programs. Towns easy to get around, decent supply of food variety. A dozen manufacturers offering jobs to college kids. |
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Twin daughters graduated Tarleton over the last two years. (different college credits rolling out of high school). Daughter 1. Wildlife Resources and Sustainability. Did study abroad in South Africa and a couple other countries for 60days. Rolled into a masters program for a year, before deciding to enter work force this year. Daughter 2. Business Management and an Equine Cert. Undergrad Student Employee of the year. Just accepted a paid internship at Kentucky Equine Management for 6 months. Neither did the greek life, but were both heavily involved in spirit orgs and all things Tarleton. Wife went there for a while before meeting me. She's worked on campus for a couple years now too, and just finished as a Parents Association officer. Very happy with our experiences there. |
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Originally Posted By Texas1994: I’m here local. Went to Tarleton form ‘12-16. Stayed because it was a cheap base to work from in the oilfield / pipelines. The Villes changed a lot! Some points prolly for the better, some for the worse. Going D1 was definitely not good in my opinion , if they had it their way they’d do away with most of the Ag programs. Towns easy to get around, decent supply of food variety. A dozen manufacturers offering jobs to college kids. They are under the Texas A&M University System, they just got a $100 million to build a new agriculture building somewhere near the cemetery. I'd love my son to do ag, but he wants construction management. We saw a billboard for Ranger college, but that looked more like a certification program. |
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I’m in Granbury and know a slew of folks who went to Tarelron. I work at Lockheed in Fort Worth and there are plenty of grads there. LM is always upgrading the plant so that might be something to think about as well. I’d be just fine if my kids decided to go there. Stephenville is a nice town, we go there for soccer tournaments and always find a good place to eat there. |