Thanks for the input. I'm asking for my son who has UT on his short list. He is a bright somewhat lazy undeclared liberal arts type type, who likes to play computer games, but otherwise has little interest in omputers.. Must have gotten that from his mother. BTW I have found some interesting student chat from UT students at livejournal dot com. Search under "interests" and "ut austin".
UT has MANY highly competitive undergrad programs. Except for some more obscure programs and Education, UT is probably a better school (as compared to said smaller colleges) for what you might be looking for. It all depends on what you are looking for. the best way to compensate for the huge class sizes is to sign up for a "FIG" - Freshman Interest Group - it's about 20 or 30 students with your same major who, should you sign up for the fig, are in most of the same classes, and then you have a special meeting session with your classmates to work on stuff. I never personally signed up for one, but my sis, who's a freshman, is in one and she says it's very beneficial. The other thing about UT's HUGE class sizes is that for the most part (at least in Natural Sciences) classes are divided up into several discussion groups once a week. Those discussion groups are ~20 ppl and the Teaching Assistant, who will go over all the stuff you didn't understand in class, and give you a chance to work things out on a more personal level. A lot of the times, the groups aren't mandatory, so if you don't want to go you don't have to. But unfortunately for me this semester, all 5 of mine are..... Its just the luck of the draw I guess.
I remember one semester when I was a junior and I had a twenty hour load and every day started at 8 am and I thought that was bad. I told this to someone I was working for back in 1988 and he said he had twenty hours every semester in his homeland.
UT is great for business and engineering. Terrible for liberal arts. Like many public schools, their $$ focus is on the areas where they receive large donations from alumni and such. If he wants to major in liberal arts and prefer indiviulazed attention, go to a Trinity or Georgetown.
agreed...don't forget communications too...anyhow, liberal arts at UT isnt its strong suit...however... we do have the largest latin american library in the world and we do have one of the leading scholars in nigerian and african history in the world. and my last semester i had the pleasure of taking a course taught by a visiting prof from beijing who helped me learn more about china than i ever could have imagined. thats just a few things...so its not exactly chopped liver either. in UT liberal arts you have to find the right profs especially in the big classes. i've got a list of profs that i loved who made courses interesting that i thought i would not enjoy.
OK, here's a different side of the story but the guy has a job on the line: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,62165-2,00.html?tw=wn_story_page_next1 . . . In 2001 and 2002, the school attempted to gain control of Sandia National Laboratories, located near Los Alamos in Albuquerque, New Mexico. But the Energy Department decided to automatically renew the contract of Lockheed Martin, Sandia's current operator. Many Los Alamos employees hoped that the Energy Department would keep the Los Alamos contract intact, too. They're worried about their health and retirement benefits -- provided by UC, not the government. And they see UT as a second-rate academic institution. "It's not considered to be anywhere near the class of UC," said Mark Dunham, a Los Alamos senior project leader who's circulated petitions in support of the lab's current management. "So you're substituting a less qualified university for a more qualified one." . . .
From the perspective of academia, UT is not nearly as good for undergrads as it is grads. As others have said, not good for liberal arts, either. RIET, did you mean Southwestern U. in Georgetown? Just because schools thus far have been Texas-only (and it fits well in the Trinity category - although it is generally better)...not that Georgetown U. is no good or anything. If he was more serious, Williams College would be a great choice. Not in Texas, though. And not particularly cheap...just damn good.
I know the undergrad Advertising program was voted #1 among advertising professors three years ago. I know the undergrad engineering, natural science, and business programs are strong for a public school. As for undergrad liberal arts, I'm pretty sure they are above average for a public university in Texas. **** the haters. Glynch, you should check out UC-Berkley or ATM.
The words used in your query (<i>undergraduate, undergrads</i>) gives the impression that he will be attending some type of graduate school in the future. If so, is his major/interest something more definitive than <i>liberal arts type</i>?
as has already been said, not so good for liberal arts, good for many other things, like engineering. i got lucky in that Chem. Eng. was what i wanted to do, UT is ranked around 5th in that, it's not that expensive, and it has an amazing sports program. as for huge classes, i for one love huge classes. you don't have to worry about being called on, they won't notice if you're not there, you can cheat easier (for all you kids out there, cheating is bad, don't do it) and i probably like them more b/c they are generally the lower-level easier classes. give me anonymity. and Woofer, 20 hours! damn. i had 16 one semester and hated it. thank God for AP classes.
Don't leave out UT's college of communication either. Besides the school of Business, it is the 2nd toughest school to get in, and produces fine journalists, advertising majors, film producers and PR people among other things. I've never heard anything but good to great about UT academics and if you are in state, tuition is pretty damn cheap for a school of this caliber.
That isn't saying much. I think you just broke some kind of unspoken law of physics by putting those two schools in the same sentence. Now Earth will spin into the sun.
I think this needs to be highlighted for all the people that said I was nuts when I made a similar statement. UT is a good school, but the general perception outside of Texas is very different than its perception inside Texas. If your son is looking to stay in Texas to work or go to grad school after he completes his undergrad, UT will be a good, cost-efficient way to do it. If he wants to get a job outside TX, he'd be much better off going to a smaller lib arts college (tuition, etc. are high but scholarships are much better, at least up north when I was looking) Keep in mind that UT was good enough for President Bush's kid to go to.
I grew up in El Lago, near Clear Lake. COM had the early entry program. I was able to test out of many hours and put my senior year to good use. It was a good place for me.
Thanks again. I don't know what to think. Till recently we always assumed UT. In reality what are you going to really do in liberal arts with a bachelors . To really be a scholar you have to get a graduate degree. Mt son is vaguely talking about law school, but not who knows. As you know any majpor can go to law school. I guess I view undergrad mainly as just a place to grow up or starting to decide what to do for most people-- unless you really specialize in engineering, computers, nursing, acounting or something similar. It also seems to me that a big huge place like UT is a good place to grow up with all the diverse things to do there. That certainly seems like part of a liberal education that you might not get at some of the small liberal arts colleges in small towns. There is always time to acquire the job ticket later. How many people really want to start climbing the corporate ladder or work 40 hrs per week starting at 22? I certainly had no interest in that at that age. Has anyone been in or know about liberal arts honors at UT? I think Plan II is probably out of his reach based on relatively poor freshman and sophmore grades. The FIG Program looks very promising per the UT web site. and apparently you can even live in a dorm with your FIG group if you want to.
