Just Got Back from Touro

[CoverMe]

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I'm in the bay area visiting relatives and today we went to the Point Bonita Lighthouse and Marin Headlands beach... on the way back to Fairfield we drove through Vallejo so I asked my brother to make a detour through Mare Island.

I have to say, there have been some comments on SDN on how bad the place looks, so i was a little concerned. I suppose that if you have no idea what industrial areas look like, there are areas that you wouldn't like. The old buildings aren't exactly falling down, they're just, well... OLD. Some of them not in use.

On the other hand, there were neat avenues with HUGE old eucalyptus (sp?? you know... koala trees) and gorgeous old houses (i would suppose upper eschelon officer's houses??) with beautiful, large, green, lush yards and landscaping. In fact, there was a wedding going on at one.

The actual Touro buildings looked well maintained, the parking looked adequate, and the on campus housing was within spitting distance. The views were beautiful (ignoring the huge pipes from the industrial area) and hiking up to the top of the island (very close) to the Forest Service offices and parking lot yielded beautiful views and discovery of the golf course.

Anyway, I wanted to give the other side of it. I thought the place was pretty neat. I thought the island had a lot of character and seemed interesting. There were deactivated missiles that were mounted like statues all over the place (my brother, being interested in that sort of thing could be heard exclaiming, "SeaSparrow!! Asrock!! Mark 48 torpedo!!!") and due to the history of the island, i thought they were interesting too.

I'll definitely be applying to this school when i send in my aacomas.
😀

 

[Elysium]

I'm glad to hear that you liked the Island. It does have a lot of history there, and parts of the Island are really quite nice. I will be attending the NV campus, but I have been out to MI twice. If you have any questions about TUCOM, PM myself or ez073323 (Brian) and we'll try to guide you in the right direction.

Good luck!

 

[(nicedream)]

Thanks for giving an account of the sunny side of Mare Island! I've wondered what it's really like, because you're right, most everyone comments on how lousy it is.

 

[CoverMe]

Thanks for giving an account of the sunny side of Mare Island! I've wondered what it's really like, because you're right, most everyone comments on how lousy it is.

I was going to take some pictures, but the mini-disk in my camera was full and I didn't have an extra. I thought the campus semed really quiet and with the nice weather, lack of traffic and the breeze blowing through the trees, the overall feeling was mellow.

 

[Adapt]

I remember when I visited the campus a first time with my friends. I had high hopes and it was one of my top choices at the time. First we had to get passed a security guard to get on the bridge toward the island. When we went there it was really quiet as you said coverme and there was hardly no one outside. I was a bit surprised as I thought people lived on campus but no one could be found.

My general impression was that it was ok but my friends tore it up, laughed at it and said it looked like an old military yard and even a prison. I thought that was a bit harsh though.

Overall what I didn't like was that it was kind of isolated on an island and you had to drive some distances to the market and stuff. Also San Francisco was about 1 hour away on fairy which seemed a bit to far for me.

I think it's all about your perspective. If you really want to go to Touro you'll see only the good parts about it and have a positive view. If you are kind of iffy, I believe people will tend to see the negative parts since they stand out more. This is why many people on SDN have this view of Touro. Because they are not sure if they want to go there.

Anyways, the look of a school in my opinion should not be an important factor in choosing one. TUCOM is still a decent school considering they are fairly new.

 

[(nicedream)]

Also San Francisco was about 1 hour away on fairy which seemed a bit to far for me.

Dude, you get to ride on a fairy?? That's awesome. Is it tinkerbell?

 

[Adapt]

Dude, you get to ride on a fairy?? That's awesome. Is it tinkerbell?

My bad. I guess it's spelled ferry.

 

[CoverMe]

Adapt... you make some very good points in your post... perspective is everything.

First we had to get passed a security guard to get on the bridge toward the island.

From my perspective, this was a GOOD thing. I like the idea that not just anyone can walk to the parking lot, there to rip off my car (not that they would, mine's a heap), or the stuff IN my car. I'm generally a fan of security gates and limited access... be it where I live, work, etc.

When we went there it was really quiet as you said coverme and there was hardly no one outside. I was a bit surprised as I thought people lived on campus but no one could be found.

True!!! I saw one person sitting in the library. Otherwise, it was a ghost town. Which was probably a GOOD thing, since we were wandering around, doing U turns and generally exploring in a lost sort of way... looking like idiots and making brilliant comments like, "Wow, look over there!"

[/QUOTE]My general impression was that it was ok but my friends tore it up, laughed at it and said it looked like an old military yard and even a prison. I thought that was a bit harsh though. [/QUOTE]

Well... half true anyway. It does look like an old military yard in some of the places. For obvious reasons. Apparently they're still doing some work out there. The USS Tripoli (a helicopter carrier) looks like they're doing something to it. It's been decomissioned for quite a while, but they had two structures erected on the decks to do some work... I don't know what, but it was clearly recent.

But, just like you said, I'm more inclined to think that that sort of thing is interesting. Not so much because I have favorable feelings toward the school, but I'm an army brat and those sorts of things are interesting to me.

Having been to several prisons (to interview inmates regarding ongoing investigations, that is!!!) and many many county jails, I can say that this place looks nothing like a prison, and your friends were just too busy ripping on you and the school and were saying whatever they could think of. There were no bars on windows, there was no barbed wire or concertina wire, and if the buildings all over the island seemed blocky and institutional then that's because they were built by the government.

I'm looking at my possible schools with a bit more of a professional eye. Do they have what I need, and can I focus on JUST THAT while i'm there. It's more of a working thing for me... I could actually care less about hallowed halls and historic academic expanses. But that's just me. I looked for different things when i chose my first undergrad, now I'm looking at it like a business. I want to know if a place can give me what I need, and if I can absorb the info without having to worry about very much extraneous BS. But again, that's just my 'tude!
😀

 

[Adapt]

Having been to several prisons (to interview inmates regarding ongoing investigations, that is!!!) and many many county jails, I can say that this place looks nothing like a prison, and your friends were just too busy ripping on you and the school and were saying whatever they could think of. There were no bars on windows, there was no barbed wire or concertina wire, and if the buildings all over the island seemed blocky and institutional then that's because they were built by the government.

I'm looking at my possible schools with a bit more of a professional eye. Do they have what I need, and can I focus on JUST THAT while i'm there. It's more of a working thing for me... I could actually care less about hallowed halls and historic academic expanses. But that's just me. I looked for different things when i chose my first undergrad, now I'm looking at it like a business. I want to know if a place can give me what I need, and if I can absorb the info without having to worry about very much extraneous BS. But again, that's just my 'tude!
😀

Yea I guess my friends were just joking around at the time. The positive side is that since it is quiet you may have more opportunities to study. As I said, I don't think anyone should pick a campus just for looks. COMP isn't that nice to look at on the outside since it looks like a mall but the inside is top-notch. I thought TUCOM's insides looked nice as well. Good luck to you. 👍