<p>Most non-UT people would probably put UT a shade below those schools.</p>
<p>According to US News we deserve to be in a region with schools like Penn State, Florida, second-tier UCs, and Illinois.</p>
<p>But the peer ranking of UT is significantly higher than those schools (a 4/5) and based on that rank UT would be low 20s or high 30s. So people in academia think that UT is just as good as those other schools.</p>
<p>UT is good in everything, but I would say is strong in business, communications, and engineering. However, as Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences tend to have the highest enrollments, they are what makes the reputation of a school. While UT certainly has good LA and NS programs, they are not comparable to the elite public universities. UT’s honors programs, however, are absolutely the best in the country. The only comparable program I can think of is Echols at UVA. The UCs don’t think it is necessary for them to offer honors programs, so you will be in a large class with people who may not be at your intellectual level (ELC kids).</p>
<p>UT grads absolutely can find jobs outside of Texas. The thing is, most don’t want to! Texas is a great place to live: great weather, great food, great culture, and great economic opportunities. There is really no need to move away to an area with worse weather and a higher cost of living when you have two world cities and 3 of the ten largest cities in the country in Texas. </p>
<p>UT also has a much larger enrollment than any of the other top schools and must take many top ten percent kids who wouldn’t get a second look at Berkeley. Thus UT serves not just to educate the best, but to give the best education to a large number. I firmly believe that if UT chose to enroll only 23,000 undergrads instead of 39,000, UT would have a reputation as good as Berkeley’s as well.</p>
<p>I do think that UT’s reputation is rapidly moving up and I think that with a lot of the changes occuring in the undergrad curriculum (the signature courses in particular), and improvements being made in the COLA and CNS, people will think of Texas in the top 3 public colleges in the United States.</p>