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A&T Is The Place To Be
On the real: Students share the
Is A&T a party school? Asa student"telecounselor"in A&T's
admissions office, junior Starla Lyles says she gets this
question more than any other from prospective Aggies who
depend on her to tell them the truth.
"My answer is that A&T has the best of both worlds,"the pre-
med chemistry major says."Getting a good education is about
finding a balance."
The telecounseling program is a tool that has proven instru
mental in the growth of A&T's student population, says Mozell
N. Weston, senior associate admissions director.
"We're probably the only HBCU with a real telecounseling
component," she says. "We know it works."
Manning phones from 5-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday
and from 4-8 p.m. Sunday, telecounselors call high school
students nationwide who have expressed an interest in A&T,
answering their questions and inviting them to special events
such as University Day and"Aggie Nights"in their areas.
"We try to build relationships with prospective students,"says
Lyles, a third-generation Aggie from Nashville,Tenn."l tell
people what I would have wanted to know."
Once they've read all the recruitment manuals and Web pages
and gotten the official view of the university, prospective
students can get their questions answered"on the real"
through the telecounseling program, by students who are just
a few years ahead of them.
A&T experience
Parents can get straight answers, too.
"I enjoy talking to the parents," Lyles says."They usually ask
about financial aid. I tell them where there's a will there's a way.
If you want to go to A&T, there's always a way. Anything's
possible."
It's a plum job,for which students must maintain a certain GPA
and perform well during telephone and face-to-face interviews.
"It's the best thing,"says Reggie Gilmore Jr., a computer science
major from Augusta, Ga."You get to be a part of bringing new
students and new talent into the university. It's kind of like
giving back to your university before you leave."
Gilmore, who also conducts campus tours during the day as a
volunteer Aggie Ambassador, says both experiences have taught
him much about the university and the world.
"A&T has a lot of history as far as progress not just for this
university but for this nation," he says, his enthusiasm and
"Aggie Pride"evident as he talks.
At the same time that he's had to learn about and keep up with
the fast-growing campus, he's learned from interacting with the
families he meets on the phone and during campus visits.
"I've had a chance to meet so many different kinds of people -
people from all walks of life,"says Gilmore, who considered
Howard and Georgia Tech before settling on what he's con
vinced was the best choice:"No other college could ever come
close to what I've gained from A&T,"
Lyles, who plans to study medicine back home in Nashville at
Meharryis equally enthusiastic.
"I love A&T because notonlyisitan academic environment, it's
an opportunity to lift yourself up,"she says,citing numerous
scholarship, internship and extracurricular opportunities, as well
as the involvement of alumni.
"You can start on your future right now," she says."You're
mingling, you're meeting people,you're going different places -
I don't think I could have gotten these experiences anywhere ^
else."
Just as she followed her father and grandfather to A&T, she can
see recommending the same path to her own children:"! would
definitely give A&T my stamp of approval."
In a sense, A&T is a family thing for Gilmoje, too. He shares a
story about one student from Brooklyn, N.Y., he met as a high
schooler on a college tour.
When such tours come through, he explains, some students are
interested, some are not,
"This one young lady was really interested and I worked with
her until seven or eight that evening, making sure she got her
application filled out,"Gilmore said.
They kept in touch by phone until she enrolled as a freshman, at
which point he became sort of a big brother to her on campus.
Now, she's starting the process to become a teiecounselor and
Aggie Ambassador herself
"She's going to do the same thing for somebody else,"Gilmore
says,"and it's going to build a trend moving forward."
For more information,call the admissions office at 334-7946.
All the way to the Ph.D. at A&T
The School of Graduate Studies is the
contact point for more than 30
graduate programs in six different
schools and colleges at A&T, offering
the Master of Science, Master of Arts,
Master of Social Work and Doctor of
Philosophy.
"We're the only graduate school in
Dr. Kenneth Murray (own that has technology, engineering
and agriculture,"says Or. Kenneth
Murray, interim dean of the graduate schooL"if anybody's
looking for graduate education in those areas then we're the
only game in town."
"It's important to note that A&T happens to be nationally
known for its excellence in those areas of study," Murray adds.
A&T also is attracting an increasing number of graduate
students who are responding positively to the flexibility
provided by its evening and online programs.
"We have a part-time evening education program that is very
attractive to the teachers in our local systems who need to get
new certification or to get re-certification," he says."0ur
master's level program in technology also can be an evening
program so students don't have to quit work to go."
All of A&T's graduate programs give students the opportunity to
study with faculty doing research in various fields.The class
room and laboratory experiences create a learning environment
that encourages everyone to excel. Also,an integrated and
intercultural faculty and student body attracts graduate
students from all over the world.
While A&T's
graduate school still
boasts small classes,
they're not quite as
small as they once
were, Murray says,
citing a positive
response to classes
that used to have
only two students and now have eight or so.
"Our enrollment has grown so our classes are a little bit fuller,"
he says, "so that makes the setting a little bit more comfortable
for students."
For more information about graduate study at A&T, call 334-
7920 or visit www.ncat.eduZ-gradsch/.