<p>strangely, I’m a Texan and I still believe UT is 2 tier (not by USN Rank because I personally believe we need to look at a lot of different ranks with separate criterias) below the true elites. In my eyes, I view UT as a 3rd tier public school (yes, OMG). The first tier consist of the big 3 who constantly rotate with each other for the top public school- UM, U of Va, UC Berkeley, UCLA. The 2nd tier consists of UNC Chapel Hill, UW-Madison, UW-Seattle, UIUC, UCSD, College of William and Mary. Then 3rd tier in my mind is UC-Irvine, Penn State, U of F, UT Austin, UM-College Park. </p>
<p>Personally, I think the board is overrating UT quite a bit. While I agree that the difficulty of getting in from OOS, but I don’t neccesary agree with the prestige (even though there are some massive talents who survive the 10% rule). UT Austin may have some talent on par of the elites, but the school as a whole is far from as prestigious as the 1st tier and still a shade below my 2nd tier.</p>