Road Trip to Arizona/ College Visit

Hi J., I went to ASU and turned out ok (lol) but it is definitely a party school. It is a LOT of people in a 1 square mile campus so there will be opportunities your daughter probably hasn't been exposed to yet at 16. But it all depends on her maturity and self control, hopefully she will use good judgement. It sounds like you are already concerned...I don't want to scare you but I will tell you there's plenty of drinking, plenty of drugs, plenty of parties, etc. Unfortunately, my roommate's friend was killed while I was there as a result of riding on a motorcycle with someone who had been drinking...he hit a curb right outside Gammage Auditorium and she was thrown from the bike and did not have a helmet on. There were also reports of a rapist that attacked several times near campus when I was there. Playboy magazine came looking for recruits for their college girls edition, you wouldn't believe how many wanted to be in it. This was all from 1994-1998, so its probably changed since then. And I'm sure things like this happen at many large school campuses, even small ones. I'm just telling you my experience. Of my 4 freshman roommates, I am the only one to graduate (due to getting caught up in having more fun than studying). I am happy with my education and am currently utilizing my degree in my profession, but a big regret of mine was that because the school is so big, you are literally a number in your classes. Like I could not even begin to come up with a professor's name to give me a recommendation or anything. My student advisor was horrible, it was up to me to try and figure out what I needed to graduate and I found out that I was short a "cultural" credit 3 weeks before graduation and ended up having to take a summer school class after I walked because of it. So while I feel my education was good in the end, just let her know that she will be in large classes for lectures (unless its a lab or something...those were smaller), and won't get a lot of individual attention. There are good things about it though, the athletics of a large state school are really fun to go to, they have a great student recreation center (gym and pool), the libraries are very good and there are many computing centers around campus where she can have access to computers to use for studying or otherwise, and the student union has lots of options for food, etc. I guess the bottom line is, it is what you make of it. Good luck to you!

I'm not familiar with any camping areas on that route but I grew up in Tucson and live in Phoenix so here are some suggestions for places to visit along the way (some might be a short detour off the main drive).

* Carlbad Caverns- http://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm
* Willcox, AZ has a lot of orchards open to the public and it'd be a great place to stretch your legs and grab lunch. http://www.appleannies.com/
*San Xavier Mission Del Bac- http://www.sanxaviermission.org/
*Saguaro National Monument- http://www.nps.gov/sagu/planyourvisit/index.htm
*Sabino Canyon- http://www.sabinocanyon.com/planner.php

In answer to your second question regarding experiences with ASU, there are a lot of neat places like the ASU Gammage Theater and Tempe Town Lake near the Tempe Main campus, however, if at all possible I would try to avoid having your daughter school at this location. It's known to be the 'party campus' because it's right near Mill Avenue which is essentially a bar scene. There are nearly 30 bars within walking distance of the campus and at night the whole area lights up with drunken parties. ( http://www.millavenue.com/entertainment/nightlife ) Obviously I don't know your daughter so this may not be a temptation for her, but I thought I'd give you a heads up in case she's the rebellious type. The ASU West campus is located in Glendale which is a more suburban area and it has a great college for business and teaching degrees. I guess it all depends on what your daughter is interested in but if she's set on going to ASU, you might try to steer her toward ASU West. http://campus.asu.edu/west

You can send me a private message if you're looking for any additional information. I'd be happy to try and help. Good Luck! :)

You could visit Carlsbad Caverns on the way. Tombstone, Arizona used to be fun, especially for younger kids, but it has been awhile since I have been there.

My dear friend and neighbor moved there about 12 yrs ago and her 2 sons went to Arozona State. They loved it, both boys doing well with families now.

We were out there a couple yrs ago and happened to be in the same hotel the football team stays in and we saw some very well mannered college kids around that weekend. Never an issue with our stay.

As far as the part 1 of your question, NO idea. We fly if something is more than 2 hours away. You can get some good deals on Southwest, especially 21 days out.

Good luck to your daughter. Mine is 15 and we are heading to Penn State Labor Day weekend and Duke in July!! They grow up TOO fast.

I work for the Department Chair in a mid-size university. Said Dept. Chair attended ASU, turned out to be a well-rounded, intelligent person that has excelled in the profession. Other than that, I know nothing about the school. However, one thing that I do want to stress in this situation is that during the summer most schools are running on a skeleton crew as faculty are often on 9 month contracts and are not on campus during the summer, so a visit must be planned in advance with the school to make sure that there is adequate staff and faculty available to address all of your needs as a prospective student. Drop in visitors often find only a secretary in the department who is not equiped to answer specific curriculum questions, or provide info on tuition, housing, food services, basic fees, honor's classes, organized campus groups, dorm policies, specific degree plans, etc. Please contact the school and make arrangements to attend a scheduled prospective student visitor's day program, then contact the department of the specfic degree program of interest to make sure there will be faculty and advisors available to answer your questions and give you a detailed overview of the desired program. I have to deal with drop in visitors and can only apologize that there are no faculty available to meet with a prospective student and parents. I can only provide very limited information. If an appointment had been made in advance, I could have made arrangements for a faculty advisor to be there to answer the important questions.