University of Texas At Dallas National Merit Preview Day Report
It was expected to be a rainy day but thankfully the rain held off which made the campus tour much more enjoyable. I’ve thoroughly research UTD and wasn’t really sure that I’d get anything out of this visit, this visit was for DS18 to make sure this is really where he wants to go. He’s done his own research and visited campus when he was a sophomore but a lot can change in two years. I’m happy to say that he just lit up the second his foot hit the campus! He quickly made friends with some of the other National Merit kids. One in particular shared his major and is also a McDermott finalist! By the end of the day they had already made plans to room together and formed a group chat with others.
The day went as expected with talks and tours and a small meet and great session with a professor.
The things that I think DS was most impressed with were the dorms (UTD has some of the nicest college dorms I’ve ever seen!), his meeting with the Comp Sci Honors professor and the opportunities that will be available to him, research, internships … he also liked the student union and the 24 hour honors lounge with free printing.
I enjoyed talking to the current NM students and found it reassuring that, yes, the scholarship really does cover all their expenses. I was also impressed with how they encourage the kids to engage in social activities and really getting to know their professors. There is even a fund set up where honor students can take their professors out for a meal and the college pays for it! They encourage the kids to explore Dallas and offer group outings to the opera, orchestra, ballet and students can sign up for two free tickets a month if they want to take a date or just go with a friend. They have various social actives for the honors students throughout the year aimed at polishing their social skills for interviews including a ‘mocktail party’ where students can practice mingling and making small talk, “with a drink in their hand”.
It was also reassuring to hear from the current NM students that they truly feel supported by the honors college. Because of early registration they usually get 100% of the classes they want and in a few instances that didn’t happen the honors college was able to contact the professor and get a seat added. This is a huge perk for NM kids!
They are also making some changes to the Clark summer pre-college research program and more than doubling the number of students accepted! I was thrilled to hear about this as it increases DS18’s chances for acceptance. The program covers all fees, room and board and even a very small stipend. The down side is it will be the entire summer. If DS gets in he will graduate on May 25th and he would have to move into the dorms at UTD on June 3rd so one week between high school and college but he really, really wants to do this.
I also felt that the current students were very honest with their answers about UTD. At one point the there was discussion about the school food and they said that during the week is was pretty good but not during the weekend. The cafeteria has very limited selection and other on campus restaurants close early on the weekends but they said it’s no big deal as after your freshman year most of them move into on campus apartments with kitchens anyway and many eat out off campus on the weekends. I thought the cafeteria was good and they had a great variety. DS20 was AMAZED at the variety of food, he attended a 3 week summer camp at UTD last year and he said during the summer they had only three or four entree options.
One thing I learned that DS18 is going to have to be proactive about is early advising. I asked about honors freshmen advising because it’s very different than regular advising/class registration. For the regular students they go to an on campus orientation usually in May and during this orientation meet with an advisor and register for classes. Honor students register before regular students and their orientation is just before move in day in August. Advising and registration is all on line and via email. I spoke to a current MN student about how his freshman advising went and he said he was unclear that he was supposed to seek out advising and ended up registering for some redundant classes his first semester.
I did ask about scholarship taxes and was politely told that was a personal issue and not something the university would discuss. It was the answer I expected but not what I wanted to hear.
I like that they encouraged the kids to look at other schools and not to come to UTD just for the money, it’s different from most colleges because it has no football team and never will but they are very proud of their chess team;-) They understand that UTD is not for everyone and there was zero pressure to attend. This was so different than when I did NM day at OU with DD16 and by the end of the day felt like I had been at a peep rally!
All in all I was very pleased with the day, next week it’s back to UTD for the McDermott’s finalist weekend.
