<p>Sounds like you found heaven on Earth for your ds. Congrats!</p>
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<p>My UT-D freshman (last year) got quite sick and missed a week of class. The health center called to check on her to follow up on her initial visit, the head of freshman housing checked on her, her P.A checked on her and the dining hall would have packaged missed meals for her to eat in her room (though she didn’t request any meals, not having much of an appetite and a mini-fridge in the common area took care of that). Since she had her own room within the suite, she isolated herself from her roommates. Professors couldn’t have been nicer. I was impressed - and grateful.</p>
<p>My friend’s daughter got sick at almost the same time at UT-Austin. The health center sent her back to her dorm room and told her to isolate herself as best she could. Since she shared a dorm room, her roommate made herself scarce by bunking elsewhere. The health center didn’t follow up, even when she went back a second time still sick. No one else checked on her either. The girl did work her way to the dining hall a couple of times. Mom and dad drove to Austin after a few days of this, picked her up, and nursed her at home for the few days it took to get her back on her feet. Mom and dad were not impressed.</p>
<p>My intent is not to slam UT-Austin - I have a young adult in graduate school at UT-Austin now and she loves the college town atmosphere. This is just one anecdotal (but true) story meant to confirm that the UT D staff really can impress.</p>
<p>My son is not a geek, but is very intellectual and not interested in frats or parties. He is very conservative. Do you still see quiet, intellectual types in the Business school at utd?
What are the kids like at its business school? Thanks!</p>
<p>Man, this MomOfWildChild person has some sort of vendetta against UTD or something.</p>
<p>I’m a freshman at UTD, and let me tell you something. When I got in, I wasn’t exceptionally excited. I mean, it was one of my safety schools. I had already gotten into A&M and UT Austin, and was planning to go to UT Austin anyways. By the way, I was an international student from Canada, so I would be paying OOS tuition. Then I got the Academic Honors Scholarship, which basically paid for all my tuition and fees, gave me a $1500/semester cash stipend, and paid $1000/semester for housing. If I hadn’t gotten this scholarship, my parents were planning on taking out a massive loan to pay for school, as we are not amazingly well-off.</p>
<p>Even so, after all that I had read about UTD, I was resenting coming here. People like MomOfWildChild and other parents/students who did not attend UTD kept commenting on a lack of campus life, an ugly campus, etc. Keep in mind their opinions are based on something like a tour of the campus, which would last, at most, 2 hours. They said students were quiet, nerdy-types who couldn’t give a rat’s ass about a social life. I mean sure, I’m going to be dedicating a lot of time to studying and school-related activities too, as I want to go to med school. But I did look forward to meeting and chilling with new people, attending parties on occasion, and having a good time. Moreover, USNWR rankings had UTD at a tier 2 university. I want to go to med school, and although prestige of the university does not matter in admissions, going to a tier 2 school certainly does not help. I was fully intending on staying here for a year, and transferring to UT Austin, because they give a large number of scholarships to sophomores.</p>
<p>After I was moved into my apartment, only one of my roommates was moved in (out of three in total). He wasn’t much of a talker, and stayed to himself. So for the next two days, I was holed up in my room, just doing random things on my computer. I was so ****ed off about coming here, getting into this stupid situation, and most of all, missing my friends, parents, and brother, all of whom were back in Toronto, immensely. This was like a week ago.</p>
<p>I’d had it by then, though. I made up my mind to go out and meet people, and decided to go play basketball at the court in front of the Residence Hall. I met some guys there, but did not really talk to them much. The second day, my other roommate moved in, and we played basketball together. Then I met a couple of sophomores, and we talked for almost two hours. I went to a pool party hosted by the fraternities and sororities of the school, and met quite a few people there. To my surprise, this school wasn’t filled with kids with eyes for nothing except books!</p>
<p>What I’m trying to say is, don’t readily believe people who have not experienced something for themselves, especially when it comes to a topic like campus life of a school. Unless you live on campus and are the appropriate age, you have no right to make baseless accusations at the school. The campus life is perfectly fine, even if you do not get involved with Greek life (I plan to). There are tons of student organizations, and lots of activities such as basketball courts, pool, ping pong, etc. where you can meet new people. Although partying is not a big part of school right now (today’s the first day, everybody’s getting settled in), upperclassmen have told me that social events come dime a dozen.</p>
<p>And the campus looking ugly…well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I, personally, like the campus. Even though it’s sort of industrial looking (a lot of buildings), there are many beautification projects going on, which will be finished near the end of September. The classes are quite close to the apartments/res hall, which is great if you don’t have a bike.</p>
<p>However, I have to say that not having a car is a little bit difficult. I haven’t exactly gotten used to the buses yet, but I hear this system is great. DART buses, which run all around Dallas and it’s suburbs, are free to university students. It would be preferential to have a car though, since waiting for buses in the blistering heat (at least for me…I’m from Toronto) is not fun. I’m getting a car soon, but the DART system is a great alternative.</p>
<p>All in all, my initial impressions of the school were inaccurate, to say the least. UTD is a very nice school, and if you want a social life, there are numerous opportunities. If you don’t, then that’s your choice. The campus is nice, easy to navigate through. And UTD already has a reputation as a good academic school.</p>
<p>Oh, and about the tier 2 things…the 2011 USNWR rankings place UTD at #143, in tier 1 :)</p>
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I’m not trying to take away from a well-written and valuable post, but technically this can be attributed to USNWR’s decision to expand the T1 classification.</p>
<p>That’s probably true…and it’s not that high a rank, but it still sounds better than saying, “yeah I go to a tier 2 school, but trust me it’s REALLY good with academics…”</p>
<p>Once classes start, and you sampled the dining food, please post your impressions about your classes, how you like the food, and how friendly you find the students. You might want to consider a bike instead of a car. There is a major grocery store (I think it is Tom Thumb) in a shopping center up the street. I did not see the inside of it, but saw that there is a farmers market across from Tom Thumb, along with good restaurants. I hope you enjoy your time at UT Dallas. We were really impressed on the tour, especially with the nice housing. My son thought the basketball courts, pool tables, etc. looked like fun.</p>
<p>My impressions are based on 28 years of living very close to the school, attending events there and knowing a number of faculty members and students. It is what it is. If you are having a great experience, I’m very glad. I’m sure the school is a good fit for some students and it is really beefing up the academic reputation. I happen to not like industrial looking campuses and a high commuting population.</p>
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<p>None of which attest to quality of campus life for students. Regardless, this is your opinion, so there’s no point in trying to change it.</p>
<p>And yeah there is a grocery store nearby, but I’d like to be able to drive to Dallas, and will regularly be driving to Houston and Austin, as I have family there. That’s why I’d rather get a car than a bike, although a bike would serve the purpose of getting around close to the school, as well.</p>
<p>Also, the housing, like you mentioned, is great. The dining hall serves good food, and is a buffet style place. There is also a Subway and Chic-Fil-A in the Student Union, and when you buy a meal plan, you can get food from any of those three places. I’ll post more on classes after a week or so; I’ve only had 1 chemistry class so far and all we talked about was the syllabus.</p>
<p>DS is crushed there isn’t a Chick-Fil-A at his LAC.</p>
<p>I originally posted this on a different thread, but copied it here as it seemed fitting. Sorry for the double posting if you found both…</p>
<p>I have two kids at UTD. It is a little quirky, but my kids love it. Not sure why, but there seem to be alot of misconceptions about UTD. </p>
<p>People think its …
*small - has over 15,000 students. </p>
<p>*all commuters - 5000 students on campus +many more in nearby apts and houses</p>
<p>*all science/engr -most degrees have a tech component, but art/lit/music are valued too</p>
<p>*non-social - the campus pub (which is often packed) has monthly open mic night, various clubs host late night games in the student union, there seem to be a lot of art showings, kids tend to gather at the apartment pools and activity center racquetball courts, and with that many students nearby its not hard to find a party if you’re looking.</p>
<p>It definitely has a college feel with students and profs roaming campus at all hours. The one thing my kids complain about is the lack of local businesses open after 10pm. They spend a lot of late nights at whataburger during the week and all around Dallas on weekends. One cool thing is the free public transit pass they give, so you can easily take the train to uptown, downtown, sporting events, and even to Fort Worth if you really want to.</p>
<p>If your idea of a college social life is late nights at Whataburger… I rest my case.</p>
<p>Dallas has improved the public transportation system, but it is a car-oriented city (and state). You are quite limited if you are relying on the train (unfortunately).</p>
<p>It isn’t “all” commuters. I don’t think anyone said that. It has a higher percentage of commuting and older students than I would like to see. The school has an important role in Dallas higher education. Dallas is a city which lacks a top tier university. Any good educational option- even if it isn’t to my particular liking- helps.</p>
<p>You need to take a campus visit! The school has a lot to offer but it also has some drawbacks. They obviously have good funding-construction, remodeling, expansions throughout the campus whereas many colleges are scrambling for funds in this economy. They also have some fabulous scholarships available to attract top students. UTD has some excellent programs most notably in the Math/ Sciences (which may be a drawback if your child completely changes majors…) You have to realize the full inpact of attending a commuter school, particularly if you are an OSS. Evenings and weekends are much different than you would find on a campus where most students live there 24/7. I personally wouldn’t want to drive in the Dallas area on a regular basis, but that depends on what type of traffic you normally encounter. The students we spoke with on campus were extremely helpful and friendly and all seemed to have very favorable impression of UTD.</p>
<p>Right. The answer is to just visit and see if the student likes what the campus has to offer. If he does, that’s fantastic.</p>
<p>My son went to a school without a football team. When they were all together at convocation I thought, “Here are hundreds of students who don’t care if there is a football team.”</p>
<p>My kid lived on campus last year as one of 400 freshmen in the residence hall and came home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break. No car, but both roommates owned one. No matter, off-campus sojourns were infrequent. My kid seemed satisfied with life on campus, and campus events are free for students. :)</p>
<p>The following are just one student’s activities freshman year and not by any means a complete list. Suffice it to say that each weekend had options from which to choose. Take another student and that list will reflect that student’s interests.</p>
<p>Residence Hall – common area in suites makes gatherings easy:</p>
<p>Impromptu gatherings with friends – i.e. spending time in others’ suites</p>
<p>Parties included birthday, Christmas, movies, pro football playoffs, and so on</p>
<p>Sponsored by Residence Hall:</p>
<p>Hall activities and parties - ice cream social, for example</p>
<p>Catered pre-Thanksgiving dinner (even for those going home) in the lobby</p>
<p>Hot chocolate in the lobby before Christmas</p>
<p>And so on</p>
<p>Can’t forget the freshmen and upperclassmen on-campus apartments:</p>
<p>Again, impromptu gatherings – at the swimming pool, in apartments</p>
<p>Again, parties – potluck dinners, movies, games night, Disney movie night ;)</p>
<p>Some on-campus events attended:</p>
<p>Viva Volunteer - Faculty and students sign up to volunteer in the community - a welcome week activity</p>
<p>Movies</p>
<p>Performances – music, dance, comedy acts, magician</p>
<p>Carnivals</p>
<p>Convocation – open for everyone with fireworks and games</p>
<p>Halloween dance with Halloween carnival in another section of the student union - booths with caramel apples, palm readers, psychics, costume contests</p>
<p>Sounds of Class</p>
<p>Splatterbeat</p>
<p>Midnight Pancakes (during exams)</p>
<p>Volunteer opportunities (on and off campus)</p>
<p>CV sponsored events – barbecue, ice skating at nearby rink</p>
<p>Off campus</p>
<p>An occasional movie</p>
<p>An occasional restaurant</p>
<p>Frozen yogurt outings</p>
<p>Shopping</p>
<p>Dallas Symphony (free tickets for students can be obtained)</p>
<p>Dallas Museum of Art</p>
<p>Texas State Fair</p>
<p>And to add a bit more info, my kids have friends involved in:</p>
<p>Campus activity center with pool, racquetball courts, … with yoga classes, salsa dance classes and such</p>
<p>Greek life – fraternity and sorority</p>
<p>Student government</p>
<p>Student ambassadors</p>
<p>Mock Trial</p>
<p>Model U.N.</p>
<p>Destination Imagination</p>
<p>Various clubs and organizations</p>
<p>Habitat for Humanity </p>
<p>Heath Fair with 5k run</p>
<p>UTD TV</p>
<p>Both student newspapers </p>
<p>Sports teams</p>
<p>Intramural sports</p>
<p>Ooze ball</p>
<p>Performance groups – instrumental, vocal, dance, theater</p>
<p>Volunteer organizations</p>
<p>Religious groups</p>
<p>Research and various internships</p>
<p>Study abroad</p>
<p>Archer Scholars program in D.C.</p>
<p>On-campus employment</p>
<p>Nearby off campus employment</p>
<p>The off campus music scene and sports scene are what you’d expect in a large city, and kids take advantage of the availability.</p>
<p>My freshman’s friends mainly lived on campus – a mixture of other freshmen and upperclassmen. Now with a move to the on-campus apartments, friends from freshman year are scattered across campus and currently reconnecting with each other along with meeting new people, of course. Life is good. :)</p>
<p>We visited UT Dallas last spring and were very pleased with what we saw. Now, we just have to see if my son wants to fill out the 9 page application.</p>
<p>Just back from dinner with two other moms with Ds at UTD. Both Ds are liberal arts majors. One just graduated with BA in May and is starting MA program, also at UTD. The other is a senior who transfered to UTD after freshman year at a LAC. Both kids are pleased with UTD and report having many excellent professors and classes. They say that the university is trying hard to improve the campus atmosphere and amenities. Both girls are also involved in theatre and choir (including an acapella group) on campus. So its not ALL science and engineering.</p>
<p>^megpmom, are you able to ask your friends’ daughters if they know much about the orchestra program at UTD? Since they’re involved in the arts, maybe they have some knowledge of the strength and talent of the orchestra. Would love to hear back! (It’s very, very hard to get any info from UTD themselves. Which probably says plenty. But we didn’t want to give up on hearing more!)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Not everyone can afford the price tag of an SMU or TCU. UT Dallas is a great alternative for bright kids who are offered excellent merit packages despite having no hooks except for maybe NMF. The campus does seem to be trending toward a more residential atmosphere. Four years ago, there was no on campus housing, and a friend lived in an apartment with three other boys, one of which was Jewish. Now, there seem to be dorms available. I’ve known people who either attend or had it as a top choice because they not only liked the school, but the merit packages were extremely generous. And you can’t beat the Dallas area for internship opportunities, especially in the technical areas. It’s definitely worth considering.</p>
<p>I don’t think SMU is worth the price tag. It should only be chosen because of a great merit award. As I said before, the problem with Dallas is that it lacks a great university. UTD is trying to make up for that in the math/science areas. There are reasons to choose it and I don’t doubt that it is a good fit for some kids. Just don’t pretend it is something it is not.</p>