Mike Tobias Interview Transcript
Arkansas Supreme Court - IT Security Analyst
Conway High School Grad
Tell us more about why you chose UALR and ultimately, Little Rock as the place for your education.
“I went to Conway High School, in Conway of course. UALR was a very easy choice for me to make. I checked out almost all the other colleges and universities in the state. Little Rock is a very obvious choice for colleges. It’s the center of business; it’s the center of technology for Arkansas. Any other college that you go to, there are certainly other colleges and they vary in size and programs and what they have to offer, but none of them are in a comparable environment. There’s no other city-center like UALR has access to.”
What was your transition from High School like? Any advice for someone just starting at UALR?
Coming to UALR from Conway for me was not too terribly much of a jump. You know, I had casually come to Little Rock every other week or so throughout high school. You know, my parents were still just half an hour away but it was still far enough away that I felt enough independence that I was able to just have a college time, instead of well I’m still in the same town with my parents, and you know, the same high school people, the same place I graduated from.
It was a big jump for diversity and very, very good for independence. It’s a lot like any other college in a smaller town, that if you want to, you know, hey it’s 2 a.m. let’s go to the Denny’s. Well you can do that, it’s right down the street. But you also have the RiverMarket district in Little Rock. They have live music there pretty much every night, the weekends it’s a very big social scene down there. There’s several music venues around the area.
For a high school student coming into Little Rock, maybe to UALR, I would definitely recommend to you know find what you enjoy doing. It’s going to be available in Little Rock. But step outside your bounds, step outside what you’re normally comfortable doing. Meet new people. Little Rock has a lot to offer people, especially people coming from smaller cities around the state. It has a lot of experiences that they would not get at another place. And I definitely encourage them to experience that.”
Did you have initial concerns about Crime in Little Rock?
I really didn’t have any concerns. My parents had normal, healthy concerns with the safety of the environment. Little Rock is a larger city, it’s an urban city. The UALR Police Department, they have, by I believe federal law they have to have several years worth of crime statistics available to anybody who asks for it, and they do. And if you look at that, there’s really a very low amount of crime. From what I saw, a lot of the parents always had safety concerns. You would think it’s in a metropolitan area so it has to have more crime, where it really does not. UALR is very, very low on the crime. It’s very, very low on any sort of violence. It’s a very safe university in terms of universities.
How did attending college in Little Rock effect your career outlook?
My junior and senior year at UALR, I was able to actually have an internship at the Arkansas Supreme Court. Obviously, you’re not going to be able to do that at any other place in the state, since they are based in Little Rock. I found my internship through the UALR co-op department. They are very helpful with looking at different internship opportunities around the area, and helping UALR students set up interviews. They were able to provide me with quite a few options for jobs.