Any University of Portland or Texas Tech AFROTC Cadets out there?

Trying to decide between these two schools and their AFROTC programs

Most of the posters would recommend you focus on comparing the schools, not the AFROTC programs, as the latter are more or less indistinguishable - also, detachment cadres turn over frequently.

Regarding the academics and the environment, you should think carefully about what you want to study and then investigate these schools' offerings in those focus areas: their courses, research opportunities, academic reputation. In general, if you're inclined toward technical subjects, then Texas Tech would be preferred. It's aiming to be a Tier One research university and has made major investments to boost its research and offerings in multiple areas.

Culturally, the schools and the experience for each are quite different.

- UP is a very small, very expensive Catholic institution located in a leafy area of one of the nation's most culturally liberal cities: 76% of Mutnomah County OR voters went for Clinton in 2016.
- UP is run by the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Catholic order of priests and brothers. Relatively few of the students there will be from working-class or even middle-class backgrounds. Most will have grown up on the West Coast.

- Texas Tech is a huge public university in Lubbock, a Bible Belt region dominated by cotton growing and now, fracking. 67% of Lubbock County TX voters went for Trump in 2016.
- Most Texas Tech students will be from middle- or working-class backgrounds. Nearly all will be from Texas.

Texas Tech also has an awesome basketball team. UP has an awesome light rail system in close proximity. Both have great beer. I'll admit-- it's a tough decision.

thibaud said:

Most of the posters would recommend you focus on comparing the schools, not the AFROTC programs, as the latter are more or less indistinguishable - also, detachment cadres turn over frequently.

Regarding the academics and the environment, you should think carefully about what you want to study and then investigate these schools' offerings in those focus areas: their courses, research opportunities, academic reputation. In general, if you're inclined toward technical subjects, then Texas Tech would be preferred. It's aiming to be a Tier One research university and has made major investments to boost its research and offerings in multiple areas.

Culturally, the schools and the experience for each are quite different.

- UP is a very small, very expensive Catholic institution located in a leafy area of one of the nation's most culturally liberal cities: 76% of Mutnomah County OR voters went for Clinton in 2016.
- UP is run by the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Catholic order of priests and brothers. Relatively few of the students there will be from working-class or even middle-class backgrounds. Most will have grown up on the West Coast.

- Texas Tech is a huge public university in Lubbock, a Bible Belt region dominated by cotton growing and now, fracking. 67% of Lubbock County TX voters went for Trump in 2016.
- Most Texas Tech students will be from middle- or working-class backgrounds. Nearly all will be from Texas.

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I respectfully disagree a bit here. UP is indeed Catholic, a huge feather in its cap in terms of educational quality - although not like the Jesuits (ok, I graduated from a Jesuit college so I might be biased). But the high tuition does not mean it does not have a middle and a lower class segment of students. UP, like most Catholic colleges (except maybe Santa Clara and Georgetown), offers excellent merit and need-based aid resulting in a fairly diverse socio-economic group of students there (every year my son's high school send a few kids there, and they are solidly middle class).
In fact, if you look at the NY Times tool to see the percentage of a specific college's students in the top 1% (families making over $650k) and the bottom 60% (families with incomes under $65k), UP and TT are ranked right next to each other in both categories.
And in terms of diversity, College Factual ranks UP at #165 and TT at #566 in the nation.
They're both good schools with completely different settings and cultures. Go where you feel most comfortable. One is small (@ 4200 students) in a great urban city on the water, and the other is a big school (@36,500 students) in a college town.
Research both and go visit both.

My daughter went to UP but as an Army ROTC cadet. She had several friends and even roommates who were AFROTC cadets. I will agree with unknown1961 about the demographics of the school. My daughter was raised in very pro military, conservative household and generally shared those views but never talked politics so it was reality a non-issue anyway. That being said, she graduated in 2014 and Portland has changed substantially for the worse since then. Their own city council is pretty much anti-police and have instructed the police to back off on transient related crime so the city is filthy in places. Even my left leaning friends that live there are up in arms over what's being allowed.

All the above being said, the school itself is miles from downtown and seems immune from the transient issues. The campus is small but that also means small classes and better access to teachers. Their nursing program is top notch and the technology available to nursing students is pretty much mind blowing. My daughter loved the school and her experience overall but she missed going to football games like larger colleges have and wished there was more variety in food options (that could have changed by now).

k2rider said:

My daughter went to UP but as an Army ROTC cadet. She had several friends and even roommates who were AFROTC cadets. I will agree with unknown1961 about the demographics of the school. My daughter was raised in very pro military, conservative household and generally shared those views but never talked politics so it was reality a non-issue anyway. That being said, she graduated in 2014 and Portland has changed substantially for the worse since then. Their own city council is pretty much anti-police and have instructed the police to back off on transient related crime so the city is filthy in places. Even my left leaning friends that live there are up in arms over what's being allowed.

All the above being said, the school itself is miles from downtown and seems immune from the transient issues. The campus is small but that also means small classes and better access to teachers. Their nursing program is top notch and the technology available to nursing students is pretty much mind blowing. My daughter loved the school and her experience overall but she missed going to football games like larger colleges have and wished there was more variety in food options (that could have changed by now).

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There is a bridge underpass in the Los Angeles area where one side is Los Angeles and the other side is another city. The cops in the other city prevent homeless from living under their side of the bridge. However, the other side is in LA and the cops leave the homeless alone. So one side is clean and the other is dirty

My DD is currently a MS3 (Army) at UP. I agree wtih K2rider, while Portland is "right there", it also feels like it is far away. UP is situated in an established older North Portland neighborhood on what is called "the bluff" overlooking the Columbia River and a ship yard. That is where they got their mascot name, "pilots", which refers to a ship pilot not an airline pilot.

Here is my question to the OP, have you visited these schools? I highly recommend not choosing a school you have not visited. I know this can be hard if you do not live close to both of them, as a parent of 3 college age students, we visited over a dozen schools over 5 states and we still ended up with one child transferring after two years.

UP advantages - room and board included by school all 4 years. Beautiful campus, small classrooms and lots of ROTC cadets to get to know as UP has a large AFROTC detachment.

I would say a couple factors that only you and your family can answer are your major and cost. What type of AF scholarship did you get? UP will eat the difference between a type II allowed tuition and their 44k plus tuition and fees, so that can be a huge bonus.

My DD is middle class, conservative, and not a catholic and she has found her peeps, and although the first year was a rough ride I feel pretty confident it would have been for her anybwhere she was as freshman year can just be hard period. Also something to note is since room and Board is covered by the school, you would live in a dorm for your first two years and then there are campus townhouses you can live in for the last two. My DD is in a townhouse with 5 other women, all but one are ROTC cadets. Next year it will be a townhouse with 4 total and all ROTC cadets. PM me if you have any other questions.

And one more thing - Portland is a culture shock for anyone not from Portland, we live an hour a way and feel like it is an alternative universe, but the Bluff is very inaolated from the downtown scene, but it is there if you want it.

I’d have to agree...don’t judge UP based on the surrounding city. DS was on an AFROTC scholarship (graduated with no debt) and loved the smaller school atmosphere. He was able to participate in so many more activities than he could have if he had gone to a bigger school (AFROTC, sports, engineering). He would agree the food choices were lacking. When DS was there, they actually won the Right of Line award (best mid-size detachment in the country) and a few years previously. He knew right away when we visited campus that’s where he wanted to go! You really need to visit the campuses to know which is best for you. We loved visiting Portland...but I’ll never get used to the traffic!!!

Thank you for all of your responses - have visited both schools and really like them both, although they are very different. Hoping that there might be some other potential UP or Texas Tech AFROTC cadets on the forum to talk with, but very thankful for the insight you've all provided.

There is no perfect school, that is why these decisions are so hard. There is a lot of advice above about class size. Size can really matter. Think about what kind of student you are? Are your super self directed and will seek help easily if needed? Or do social things distract you from school and make it harder to stay focused? My daughters at a large state university (even bigger than Texas Tech) do well and have no problem with large classes and lots of online classes even though they are on campus. But my daughter at UP appreciates the accountability of all of her professors knowing her by name and having easy access to them. She doesn’t have any TA’s, and when she goes for help it is her actual professor. The other two don’t seem to mind. Because the school is big and they are in large programs, there are a lot of options of class offerings, the one at UP had to really juggle her schedule to get some required classes only offered once a year. (Although the planning offered with pursuing ROTC does help with not being blind sided by that) There will be pros and cons of both types of schools, but at the end of the day, being successful in the classroom does help you in what your opportunities in the military will be. Being really aware of your strengths and weaknesses in the classroom might help you with you school choice. If you think you can be successful in both environments, then this is no help!

Good luck and please keep us posted what you decide!