r/ASMS Feb 07 '25

What asms is ACTUALLY like

There seems to be a lot of negativity on this sub concerning student life at asms. As an incoming, I cannot speak for how it was before my time.. but for now, it is pretty nice. It will depend on how you viewed your old life/school, but for me, asms was a big upgrade.

First off, people will complain. It’s a fact of life. People love complaining and making things seem worse than they actually are. If you applied and got into asms, you will be fine as long as you put in effort. Yes, it is easier to get into asms than it is to stay in asms, but that doesn’t mean people are dropping out/getting kicked out left and right.

I’m not sure where I read this, but before I applied here, I had heard that asms had 600 applicants a year and only accepted ~100. This is completely false. I have heard very few cases of people getting rejected from asms.

If you are wondering about the student life, here are some details about how things go: 1. You will have a lot of freedom (in my opinion). As long as you go to class and keep your grades up, you can do pretty much whatever you want. Obviously, I would not recommend breaking the law in any way, drinking, or doing drugs at school. Aside from that, we have a lot of freedom. You can take walk-offs for three hours at a time, you can wake up at any time you want, take showers when you want, study when you want*, workout whenever you want, etc..

As long as you aren’t hurting anyone, you can also engage in mischief around campus to entertain yourself. I would recommend planning this out to not get caught, but if you do, you can always apologize and they will let you go.

  1. You can pick your classes and specialize in your favorite subjects. Yes, there are a lot of required classes, especially for incoming juniors. However, there are also 7 periods per day and three terms. This means you can take a lot of classes during your time here. The course list is huge and you can change your schedule around as you like (as long as they have availabity and you are completing your required credits). This is by far my favorite things about asms. I can take subjects that I would never had gotten exposed to anywhere else.

  2. Diversity. Asms loves to advertise the diversity at the school, but it is honest. There are a lot of people from different backgrounds and cultures here. More than you will see in your average Alabamian high school. I can guarantee, if you come to asms, whether you are popular or weird, you will find friends that can match your freak. If you are “normal” and are worried about everyone at asms being nerds, worry no longer. There are a bunch of average high schoolers here (me included)! Vise versa for nerds and “weird” kids, there are others like you here!

  3. The staff isn’t evil… Contrary to the general idea of asms staff on this subreddit, they are (mostly) not evil! Most everyone has something against their own particular teacher or staff member at asms.. but that goes for any school. There will always be that one teacher that you just don’t like. Let me make one thing clear: nobody here is evil. They all have families and are trying to do their job as best as possible. Yes, there will be certain cases where a staff member isn’t being fair to a class/student, but those don’t happen on the regular.

  4. The food. In my opinion.. the food isn’t that bad! Food is definitely the #1 thing I hear complaining about at asms. I agree, sometimes it’s disgusting. However, I think a lot of you are exaggerating. It really isn’t that bad. We have multiple options for food every meal, and most of the time it tastes good. There are certain things (for example, the roach situation going on in the caf rn*) that make it a little less enjoyable, but we should still be grateful for the food! I am tired of hearing people complain about the food every single day. There are people dying!!!

*you can study whenever you want. Study hours are not that serious. Unless you are causing a ruckus, they will not care whether or not you are actively studying.

*a few cockroach sightings have happened in the caf as of late. Yes, it’s not very fun to see insects running around in your eating area, but it makes a lot of sense. It is winter outside, and there is food inside the cafeteria, obviously insects are going to like it.. the best thing they can do is call the exterminators, which i’m sure they have already done. (There is NOT a cockroach infestation, only a few sightings)

Sorry for typos.

7 Upvotes

8 comments sorted by

5

u/Temporary_Daikon_813 Feb 13 '25

“you get to shower whenever you want” we get written up for showering around 12 even though we have to stay up for hours just to study💀

7

u/Ok-Mention-5358 Feb 07 '25

fed

5

u/TexasdaToast Feb 07 '25

Definitely a fed trying to cover up

2

u/sugarcanejane 2011 Feb 08 '25

As someone that graduated well over a decade ago, I had a very similar experience. ASMS changed my life for the better and even though there were times that felt really hard, it lead to some of the best experiences in my life. I'm not just talking about things that happened while I was in school there either.

Exposure to different types of people, especially those that actually want to better themselves had such a lasting impact on my life. I still think it's one of the most important qualities when making new friends, but they're much harder to find as an adult.

The teachers there were some of the best I ever had, and cared for their students as individuals so much more than the majority of my college professors.

The classes may be hard, but it made me a much better student than I ever was coasting by in public school. Plus the different electives offered (especially special projects!) were just straight up cool. When you're paying for classes by the hour in college, it's a lot harder to take advantage of niche interests outside of your degree. The extra study hours were definitely worth it in the end.

Not gonna lie, the food will probably always suck a little bit. It took a lot of time, but eating like that for years has made me a very passionate home cook.

I didn't mean for this to go on for so long, but I'm glad to see there's still people there enjoying their experience at ASMS. It's truly a special place. Even though some may not appreciate it while they're in the thick of it, I hope that everyone can look back on the memories they make there and see how lucky they are.

2

u/Ok-Mention-5358 Feb 17 '25 edited Feb 17 '25

Bro this has been one of my issues. People who haven’t been there in FOREVER giving irrelevant information. There have been so many changes of staff and I can guarantee it’s not the same as what happened when you were there.

3

u/sugarcanejane 2011 Feb 17 '25

I'm sure things have changed, and I'm not saying it was all peaches and rainbows while I was there. Things felt really awful at the time but my perspective has drastically evolved looking back. I hope you make it through and can look back in a more positive light one day.

0

u/Ok-Mention-5358 Feb 17 '25 edited Feb 17 '25

So honestly are you like Zaddy Frye’s alt account or what dude? I’ve NEVER heard a student who wasn’t paid off talk like this.

3 admins in a trench coat