Every college campus you’ll find has run down areas. UTK has some pretty dingy buildings and Vandy seems to average a fatal shooting or two every year. UTK isn’t more challenging than MTSU academically generally (both have their strengths…for example I’d pick UTK over MT for med school but MT over UTK for aerospace). From my experience in the business world as far as weight of degrees I’ll say this. My boss and their boss’s boss were MTSU grads while the next manager up was a Maury State grad. I progressed through the ranks faster than grads from Vanderbilt, UAB and a guy who had an MBA from Memphis. In the real world, unless you are majoring in something VERY specialized all you need is a degree to get in the door and from there on it is your own ability. From the time they shake your hand and say welcome aboard, your degree means nothing.

Finacial aid is going to be the same wherever you are since the same government body administers that. Dorms and food are always a gripe. I’ve seen dorms from MT, UTK, Vandy, U Pitt, Duquesne, UTC and several others and Scarlet Commons is by far the best. As for the rest they are all pretty much the same in general. Food on campus anywhere I’ve been is in general lacking and isn’t the best.

As for the challenging bit. Keep in mind that I had no less than 4 ex Vandy professors who came to MT because of grade inflation. Simply put, they had failing students who placed a call to their parents who insisted that the money they spent justified an A and the administrators cracking down insisting that since XYZ university averaged a certian GPA average that they should exceed that.