My son made an 11th hour decision and is going to UT. We paid the enrollment deposit last night and are awaiting the contract. We paid his housing registration back in August so I think that means he will be in a pretty good position to get his choice of dorm. Can anyone give input into good dorms for an engineering student (ECE if that matters)? He like San Jacinto (of course) since it’s new and close to the gym but it looks like it might be a hike. He also like Whitis Court since there are kitchens and he likes to cook. Duren also looks close to Eng. but it’s hard to really tell on a map. He has been to UT for several camps and events but always stayed in Jester so he doesn’t have any personal experience with the other dorms.
Two other dorm related questions:
I did a search here about honors dorms and an older thread indicated that a non-honors student could select an honors dorm and possibly be placed there if space allowed. Is that still the case?
How likely is it that he will be able to continue living in a dorm beyond freshman year?
Thanks in advance.
I too want to know if non-honors kids can live in honors dorms with an honors roommate. When my daughter was living in Andrews (honors) two years ago, she said there were definitely people living there who were not in honors, but had an honors roommate. For the fall, my son will be in honors but his preferred roommate is not. I called UT housing about two months ago and asked this question and was told that it was no longer the case that he could have a non-honors roommate in an honors dorm. But the website says differently. The person I spoke with was not that confident in her answers. I had thought about calling again and asking, but have not done so. If you call over there and get an answer on this, please post, as we are wondering the same thing. BTW, since your son paid the housing deposit in August, I think he should be fine getting a dorm sophomore year too, since your housing priority date carries over to the next year. But most of the UT kids I know were dying to live off campus by junior year. Seems like very few upperclassmen are still living on campus after their second year - by choice.
@gobluemom85 Duren is near where the Honors dorms are. Duren is just like San Jac in layout and pricing. Remember those prices don’t really include meals for the entire year when you start to calculate it. I know many engineering students picking honors dorms just to get that community feel for the first year, more social and meeting people and also community bathrooms (not dealing with cleaning a bathroom). It really depends what you want.
I’m also hearing of upperclassman moving of campus. Once you are ingrained to where things are and how it all works you might decide living off campus isn’t a big deal.
Signup for Summer Freshman Orientation to get a slot.
Signup for Summer Family Orientation.
You can find information about Texas Parents Association online.
You can find information about purchasing The Big Ticket in this group and online.
Have I missed anything?
Thanks comptechmom. That was very helpful. I have no doubt that he may want to move off campus later on but I might not be quite there yet. 
Is San Jac too far for engineering, do you think? He’s not in honors and won’t have a pre-selected roommate so I don’t think, based on what collegefind posted, that honors dorms will be an option for him.
Are there any living and learning communities other than honors? I found a link for an engineering one but it was a dead end.
Hi @gobluemom85, DS is also a late commit and we just finished going through the dorm options. First, the campus is really not that spread out so none of the Dorms really are that far from the engineering buildings. He had selected an engineering LLC at his other pic and was dissapointed that the same option does not exist at UT - I called to make sure, as I also found the dead-end links. UT does not currently have any standard residential figs; Instead, they are experimenting with Whitis being home to the international community. Other students can still request Whitis as well, but expect a heavily international influence, which may be good or bad depending on the kid. DS prefers the idea of the on-suite bath in San Jac or Duren, but I think I’ve convinced him that the community feel of Moore-Hill or BRP would be a better way to go the first year. Moore-Hill is directly across from Jester so they have convenient access to the food/tutoring available there.
I think the Whitis Area dorms are some of the closest to the engineering buildings!
@collegefind I did speak to someone there today. Non-honors students cannot select honors dorms. The only living community for non-honors is the International at Whittis Court. However, he told me that only one of the Whittis Court buildings (out of 6?) will have the International learning community. The other buildings will just be regular dorms.
@beyondtx what are the tutoring options at Jester you speak of?
We toured Jester and they pointed out the tutoring center that is there inside the building. I think all freshman are given around 10 free hours, or you can pay a fee for unlimited for the semester as far as I understand. Also, in the cafeteria they have subject tables that are staffed for core subject tutoring. You can do your homework and grab a seat at the table if you need help. Engineering also has some type of tutoring center in Littlefield on the North side, but it sounded more limited.
Anyone on here who’s kid made use of on campus tutoring?
Here is the link for the Sanger Learning Center - tutoring both one-on-one options and drop-in options at Jester.
https://www.utexas.edu/ugs/slc/support/one-on-one
Also, @Gobluemom85 asked about returning to the dorm beyond Freshman year. Amazingly enough, students can return to the dorms - even so far as request their same room - each year. There is a short application and deposit due late January for guaranteed return to on campus housing. Students can also request to change dorms at this time. Their priority in line is all based on that same $50 housing deposit you paid after applying as a freshman.
@lots2do That is very reassuring about both the Learning Center and the housing options. That $50 I plunked down when I thought he was going to pick a different college might turn out to be some of the best $$ I ever spent.