On Wednesday we left Wichita Falls and headed to Austin College in Sherman Texas. Since we are just a few hours away from Wichita Falls, Grandma Angie was able to come along with us and see the recruiting experience first hand. When we arrived we met with Coach Coachmen who is the recruiting coordinator/quarterback coach. Immediately upon arrival, the quarterback met us in the parking lot and him and bubba headed over to his apartment. R.J. Spent the night with 4 football players, all Juniors that live in a fancy 4 bedroom apartment on campus. Once they headed over to the apartment, we spent some time with the coach discussing basics and then headed over to our hotel.
After check in, we went to see what Sherman has to offer. We checked out the mall which was not very big, then headed over to Cheddars for some dinner. Sherman had all the resturants that we could think of and a bunch of stores for shopping. The Mall left a lot to be desired, but it's a relatively short drive to the Dallas area for real shopping.
College visit
Thursday morning we checked out and headed over to the school to meet with the head of financial aid. The financial aid lady was great and was able to answer a lot of questions and provide a ton of insight into the process that we will need to go through if Robert chooses Austin.
Next, we joined up with another family and met with the admissions counselor. We have already been through the admission process and are way ahead of the game, but the session was still very informative. One of the great things about Austin is the CI program for freshman. Every freshman is enrolled in a seminar class and is assigned a faculty mentor that follows them throughout their 4 years at Austin. During orientation the students are grouped according to the CI class and remain with the same students all year. It automatically creates a cluster where the student can develop relationships and form connections with the other students throughout the year.
We then met up with a student tour guide and toured the beautiful campus. Austin is a small division III school with slightly more than 1300 students. There are several dorm options including co-ed and all male options. Juniors have the option of moving over to apartments with either half kitchens or full kitchens. Seniors have an option of moving into cottages that I would be happy to live in! The Idea Center is a new state of the art science building where R.J. would have a lot of classes. The campus was much bigger than I expected, but very manageable.
Next, we met up with several coaches and headed to the dining hall for lunch. R.J. ate with several of the football players while we ate and chatted with the coaching staff. The dining facility was totally amazing and I was overwhelmed with the options! I can see bubba eating there every day! Thankfully, Austin requires the unlimited dining option for freshman!
Our day was not quite over yet, we then met with the defensive coordinator and the Rob's talked specifics and we tried to stay awake! Next up was the AD who was quite entertaining yet serious in his own way. Finally, we met with the head coach who ended up making me cry and promised to take care of bubba if he chooses to go there. We ended our day with a tour of the athletic facilities where we did see the messy lockeroom which surprisingly doesn't smell half as bad as R.J's room!
Final thoughts
I really liked the campus. I was impressed with the employees from the front office to the campus workers we encountered along the way. The coaching staff was outstanding and every single person went out of their way to ensure we were comfortable and felt welcome! I really did love the school and staff. Plus side is that it is close to family and duh it's Texas!! Only downsides, it's probably the most expensive school on our list and the mascot is a kangaroo! The money we can work on. The mascot ain't changing!
Next up is Hardin Simmons stay tuned to see how they compare!
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