My son just returned home (out of state) after 3 days of UT orientation. He is in a dual degree program with a named scholarship in one of his programs. You gotta love the initial overwhelming waves, times to remember…
His Top 10 comments::
Glad to be home--what's for dinner?
Overwhelmed with his dual degree requirements--no time for study abroad???
No deep south accent, but with the ubiquitous Y'all. Initial shock with people wanting to relate to their high school friends (all from TX), feeling foreign-is my state really that foreign, he asked?
Big, BIG, really BIG....the school, the process, being on his own
Loves the student online system--savvy interface and tells him that others who had the same schedule for 1st semester in Plan II and Engineering averaged....a 2.75 GPA. WHAT???
Cool place, tradition, though not connected to it yet.
Made some good friends quickly (Plan II Honors people, interesting conversation, very cool, approachable)
Engineering will not coddle and was told 30% will wash out of Cockrell--he will have be on his game, he says
"Everyone" says the honors dorms are the worst--WAIT, what???
No students know what Plan II is--"is the scholarship really real, " he asked?
Welcome to college, young man. Let the games begin…
No time to study abroad is usual for most engineering programs.
I could suggest Maymester abroad. It is only one class in May. Doesn't add much to class load, short, and still study abroad. http://world.utexas.edu/abroad/programs/mm
I have lived in Texas for 17 years. I usually hear Y'all in some kind of speeches when it is important to show that you are from Texas. Almost nobody uses Y'all in normal conversation.
Students will stop relating to their high school friends in September unless they have some kind of shared activities with these friends.
My daughter played intramural sports with a couple of high school friends one year senior than her. They actually invited her there. That's it. No time for anything else (IF you are seriously studying, not partying)
9.From accommodation point of view.
Honors dorms have community bath and double rooms, as the majority of other dorms. 2 newer dorms have single rooms and private bath, They are more expensive.
From psychological point of view
Children brag, they compare, they try to impress.
There are Honors Students vs the Rest. Sometimes some Honors Students consider “the Rest” not smart enough. Sometimes “the Rest” consider Honors Students arrogant ass****s. What can be said about students can be said about their housing.
The same with sororities/fraternities vs the rest. S/F houses are called much-much worse.
Students who don't know what Plan II is are "the Rest." In the future your son will not deal with them much. To deal with 50,000 people? UT Austin is actually a bunch of enclaves mixed only during big events.
I have a friend who is Plan II RTF and doing the Elements of Computing Certificate. It’s been like 3 years now, and he still cannot explain what Plan II is.
Thanks for sharing your sons experience. My out of state son is going to orientation later in the month and I’ll see what his reaction is. He is a business major-not honors- so I hope he will have a similar experience of making friends quickly. He is also going to attend some rush events but from what I can gather, out of staters are at a definite disadvantage for rush. He is also going to attend camp Texas in August.
Thanks @gettingschooled . I couldn’t find the tweet But I did find the organization under student organization. As of now, there appears to be only 7 members (If I saw the right organization). Lets hope other students find this and join. I think it’s a great idea.
Whoops! Never Mind. I found the tweet and it takes you to a very active facebook group. Thanks for the heads up. Now It’s a matter of getting my son to join.
As a Texan, I say ‘y’all’. My friends say ‘y’all’. … However, my born & raised Texan DS16 very rarely says ‘y’all’ - btw it is much easier to say than to spell out (or spell correctly ) for some.
Yes, “y’all” is a common word in Texas. I miss it. So much better than “you guys.” “Let’s go over to you guys’ house,” with “you guys’” being three syllables. Sigh.
OP, I simply cannot imagine double majoring in engineering and Plan II. I don’t understand the point, and I can’t comprehend the difficulty. I would rather an engineering student take additional electives in his/her field of engineering than liberal arts classes.
Good conversation, everyone. Thanks for jumping in, parents. We found one way to open up initial barriers for our kids–The Big Ticket Groups. Meeting people at orientation or within an academic facebook group and setting up a freshman group to participate in the Big Ticket–football, basketball, all the sports tickets for students for one year. Students can form a group to sit together. As freshmen, it may help y’all build a community of friends at least for games the first year.
And the plural of y’all…wait for it…all y’all! Welcome to Texas! I was not born here but got here as soon as I could. (Another Texas saying…) I don’t use y’all…just can’t seem to get used to it. But my kids were raised here from the age of 3 and 1 and they use it periodically.
) for some.