I'll agree with the above (as best I can, considering critter has a few years on me here, of course), but I really like it here, well, as much as you can like being tortured endlessly ^_^ I will say, I know the week before spring break was a rough week for the first years, who I know were doing some of the tours - maybe that contributed? (I'm still sorry to hear you didn't have an enthusiastic crowd though!) And I know had I been around to do tours I probably would have been awful, b/c for the life of me, as much as I can think on my feet in a clinic, it doesn't seem to transfer outside of that, lol. Are there things I don't love & things I wish were different? Of course, especially when I'm cranky. Overall though, I think it's great.
Critter was right on about the teaching focus. They make it quite clear that research will not take priority over teaching. As important as research is... who's gonna be there to keep doing research once the current researchers are gone if no one is taught! Although I haven't had as much time as I'd like to take advantage of the clinic access, I did sign up for the large animal emergency team they have where you can volunteer to take a few shifts where you're "on call" & can be called in for emergencies. Mind you... I have about maybe 40 - 50 hrs (~ 5days, lol) of large animal experience, exclusively at a racetrack... but when I was in there, they got me involved where appropriate, utilizing the skills I have that do transfer, respected my absolute lack of knowledge in other areas (& repeated reference of alpaca fiber as "hair") & were happy to explain the rest.
Mostly, I am still floored by the incredible support of the administration & faculty. And yes, Dean Brace is 100% amazing! They all are genuinely interested & concerned with making this the best situation it can be, & don't just disregard concerns of the students. Additionally, they go above & beyond in my opinion trying to be accommodating in necessary situations. Although I've only dealt with my IS otherwise... the differences are crazy! Dealing with them, I felt as if I was viewed as burden! They seemed put-out by my questions & concerns & always anxious to be done dealing with me!?!? But since the moment I had started even considering UTK, I felt almost catered to (hehe, maybe not always rapidly... of course you all know, you had to wait for those interview letters after some others already knew where they were going!). Always willing to help & answer my questions, friendly, caring... and to me, that is so so so important! Especially being OOS so far away from everyone, it really makes me feel like I have an extra support system to fall back on if I need it.
I know that I only covered a few reasons, but as I mentioned above, not good at expressing things in a clear way, lol, & to me, the atmosphere is one of the main reasons I'm so happy to be here at UTK. If you have questions about what I like or not on a specific topic I'd be happy to try & elaborate more, but for now I'll stop here before I just start babbling.
(I will add quickly that I do agree w/ the being near the mountains part though! Definitely a plus. And the weather... this was "one of the worst winters knoxville has had" I was told, but being from NE Ohio, it was a breeze to me - didn't even wear more than my zip-up jacket pretty much the entire time!)
