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Jacksonville State University is a small to middlin' size university located in roughly the Northeastern part of the state. The terrain is hilly with lots of trees and wooded areas and located in what was (to me at least!) a semi-rural setting. The town or Jacksonville is rich with history and tradition, but a little short on population. Anniston, a somewhat larger city located directly to the south is a bit larger with its main claim to fame being that it is close to a major highway linking Birmingham, AL to Atlanta, Ga.
Jacksonville State, or simply Jax State as we call it down here is a college with a student enrollment of about 8000 students (give or take) in a wide variety of majors. It is noted for mainly its schools of business, nursing, and especially teaching. Jax State's College of Commerce and Business Administration has been fully accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business, or AACSB for short.
Why go to Jax State
I can only speak for myself really but the school does have several advantages. Classes are taught by professors and not graduate students or assistants. The class sizes are small enough that you can see the boards, hear the professors, and even ask some questions when you're stumped about something. Professors are also available to help you if you need them and are accessible: many of them will even start remembering who you are! Try that at "Mega U!". A good portion of the professors have impressive credentials such as one or many professional titles or they went to very prestigious universities. They could go somewhere supposedly 'better' or that paid a lot more, but they're here because they want to teach on a more personal level.Tuition is reasonable but recent budget cutting by the state have forced tuition rates up slightly for the last several years. Textbooks are expensive but that's a pretty much universal problem that college students will never be able to avoid! The cost of living is reasonable with a decent two bedroom apartment going for about $400 give or take. I recommend getting an apartment rather than a dorm .... they're cheap, its easier to study, and you can cook your own meals instead of letting the university meal service charge you some fairly big bucks. In addition, getting your own place teaches you all kind of new things: responsibility, how to pay bills, and how to be independent. If you can't cook or just need to get out, there are several fairly good restaurants within 'striking' distance of campus .... classmates will guide you to all the better places in the area.
There are a lot of clubs here depending on what interests you have: from professional, academic, and social organizations to informal clubs and the usual campus activities like the radio station and student newspaper. The area may seem boring at first, especially if you're from a metropolitan area, but eventually you'll wonder how you ever had that elusive thing called spare time.
The university has a diverse student population as well as a sizable grouping of foreign and physically challenged students in attendance. I've had classes with students from China, Turkey, Greece, Russia, Germany, Thailand, Ghana, and many other countries around the globe. I think that my experience with people with other cultures and getting to understand and work with them was one of the more valuable non-scholastic things I learned in college.
URL:http://boozers.fortunecity.com/caves/396/pages/college.html
