Is UT Dallas a relatively easy school?

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas Schools (Other Than Austin
1

UT Dallas is near us. We have a child going in to high school. My husband and I have experiences with college that are leaving us concerned/perplexed. We both went to schools in the north. I went to a well ranked (tier 1) state school and he went to a top private university, which ranks at the top of almost any list. In both cases, after undergrad, we came to this area and took grad level classes. What shocked us, and this was in the early 90’s, was that the classes were academically below what even would be freshman and sophomore classes in the north. I actually had a professor who could not even understand some basic concepts that were taught at the freshman level intro classes when I was in the north.

The last company my husband worked for had hired some people from UTD. My husband brought it up as a real possibility for our child. Now, we are hearing from people whose kids go there how thrilled they are and how their kids make straight A’s. I know there has been a lot of grade inflation overall in this country, but it made us think back to our own experiences taking classes here. I know it was a long time ago. But, compared to the rest of the country, would you consider UTD to be be relatively easy?

I am also trying to figure in how much that matters. I mean, if it is a place that is workable and your child could really earn good grades, then great. On the other hand, it maybe would not provide a very driven student with what he/she needs. I will say one of mine is driven and one is more of…how little can I get away with, LOL.

2

If your child can get in to UT Austin or TAMU main campus, send him there. UT Dallas is no different than branch campuses of northern schools: UMass Boston, SUNY Fredonia etc.

3

US News Rank (Public Universities):

16 UT

26 A&M

76 UTD

As @TomSrOfBoston says, there’s a huge difference between UT/A&M and UTD, and UTD will likely have similar costs as UT (unless merit scholarships are a consideration).

4

However, by student SAT scores, UT-Dallas does well when compared to the above schools:

Middle Ranges

UT-Austin: 1170-1390
UT-Dallas: 1140-1370
Texas A&M: 1060-1310

5

UT Dallas isn’t really easy. There’s a lot of work. I’ve spoken with some students there. They don’t put tons of stress on you though, it’s difficult but manageable. Do a double major if you need to challenge yourself to capacity. However, employers in Texas really likes UT Dallas. Not a bad school, not amazing, but great facilities and people. It’s a geeky school. Dorms are cool too.

6

Also, finaid tends to be generous. I would go there, but I’m really invested in the humanities, and that’s not something UTD focuses on. I don’t think I would find peers or faculty interested in what research I’m doing.

7

OK, I’m now very curious! Where did you guys go to grad school down here?

8

Pretty sure the OP was referring to UT-D.

9

@merc81 …maybe! But OP says “we came to this area and took grad level classes.” So I can’t tell if that means UTD or somewhere else in this area.

10

“but it made us think back to our own experiences taking classes here”

The two quotations together perhaps come close to specifying the school as UT-D? You are right, though, both “area” and “here” could mean Dallas.

11

I am so sorry! I only just got back here. It was the early 90’s and it was UNT. We came out of top ranked universities and it was the early 90’s. Not like we had a board like this to research colleges. My husband and I both were looking at steps up in our fields, so not like we were working on PhDs. We were just working on masters.

12

I have a D who is a NMF, top 1% in large class of competitive Texas HS and we are seriously considering UTD for CS. In the last 4 years, more and more academically high performing kids from our HS are going there. One student turned down Harvard to do so, he is a McDermott Scholar. I have known kids to leave but their reasons were no large football team, no bars across the street, and too many NM students there. I am fine with those reasons. We are also considering UT Austin but I actually would prefer her at UTD. She would be more than just a number there and we are getting a large merit award.
We do live in Austin and my husband is in high tech. UTD is a well respected school and the firms do hire their graduates.

13

@GTAustin Just out of curiosity, does your D go to WWHS? That sounds like my school.

14

No but close. We are at LTHS.

15

@Nevets04 My D goes the school I think you mean (you have an extra W in there) and several of her very high achieving friend group (top 10% and higher) plan to attend UTD next year. DH works for a high tech firm and has some part in selecting new highers, although they mostly come from MIT and UICU, the most recent new higher did his undergrad at UTD. Since we are seriously considering UTD over UT Austin for DS18, DH has had some very candid conversations with this young man and he strongly recommends UTD for students interested the high tech world.

BTW my DS18 thinks that the lack of football and bars are a plus!

16

@3scoutsmom Woops, yeah I added an extra “W”. I’ve heard good things about UTD’s CS program, so I’m thinking about going.

17

I respectfully take a different view than the earlier comment about UT Dallas being just like other regionals. First of all, when I looked up the two examples provided, neither of them was ranked in the highly-competitive “National University” category. However, I found that UT Dallas makes a much better comparison in many respects to the top Universities of those systems (UMass & SUNY). As you’ll see below, UTD is comparable in numerous ways, and even surpasses those institutions in some measures. I will admit, if you only look at the US News rankings of National Universities, the three comparisons in this sample rank slightly higher. That particular ranking places a heavy emphasis on peer scores and research expenditures. There are a couple of reasons that UTD is not yet ranked higher in relative terms by these standards. First, many public “flagships”, are combined with a medical school. Medical schools typically are the source of 60-75% percent of research dollars at top tier publics (outside of Texas). They also are home to many of the Nobel Prize winners and members of the National Academies that weigh into the US News score. Thus, as two of the sample group below have medical schools, one would naturally expect them to be ranked higher than UTD by the US News criteria (possibly, much higher). Therefore, UTD being able to stand in the same company of these other fine universities, without a medical school, speaks volumes. When one also considers that UTD has been admitting freshmen for less than 30 years, it makes it all the more impressive. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of UT Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center merging at some point in the future; which would immediately make this conversation moot as UTSW has one of the largest numbers of Nobel Prize winners on its faculty and research expenditures that would catapult the combined University into the realm of the most elite publics. Nevertheless, UTD currently does benefit from several joint efforts with UTSW and UTA and has the backing of the one of the wealthiest and innovative university systems in the world.

UTD has a tradition (albeit still lacking the 100+ years advantage that UMass has) of attracting highly competitive students. It has excellent faculty and its graduates are sought-after in recognition of their work ethic and discipline. No, UTD is not an easy school. During my time there I had to earn my grades. I competed with bright students who took their work seriously. Nevertheless, I made good friends, was active and loved my time there.

With the upcoming relocation of regional and national headquarters for Toyota, JP Morgan, State Farm, FedEx Office and Liberty Mutual just a few miles from UT Dallas, I can only imagine it will become more competitive for prospective students, more prestigious and the opportunities for graduates will be even brighter. I’d proudly pick UTD again today and hope that my daughter makes the same choice.

UT Dallas (Started admitting Freshmen in 1990)
SAT Middle 50 %ile 1140 - 1370
Nat Merit Sch. - 104
USN Graduate Business Ranking - 33
USN Graduate Engineering Rank - 76
Engineering Research Expenditures $46,280,989
Kiplinger -33
Bus Journals - 46
Times Higher Education World Rankings 201-250

SUNY Stony Brook
SAT Middle 50 %ile 1150 - 1350
Nat Merit Sch. - 11
USN Graduate Business Ranking - NA
USN Graduate Engineering Rank - 66

Engineering Research Expenditures $28,972.504
Kiplinger - 30
Bus Journals - 32
Times Higher Education World Rankings 201-250

SUNY Binghamton
SAT Middle 50 %ile 1210 – 1370
Nat Merit Scholars - 1
USN Graduate Business Ranking - Not Ranked
USN Graduate Engineering Rank - 117
Engineering Research Expenditures $10,191,714
Kiplinger (publics) - 22
The Business Journals’ Top Public Colleges - 18
Times Higher Education World Rankings 351-400

University of Massachusetts – Amherst
SAT Middle 50 %ile 1120 - 1310
Nat Merit Sch. - 2
USN Graduate Business Ranking - 74
USN Graduate Engineering Rank - 59
Engineering Research Expenditures $57,405,079
Kiplinger - 56
Bus Journals - 48
Times Higher Education World Rankings 141

18

I’m in a little confusion. Are the scholarships shown under financial aid on the orion portal. Also do we need to accept the admission to qualify for scholarships?

19

@TomSrOfBoston, I think it behooves you to not make statements about schools you know nothing about. What you said may apply to North Texas. UT-Dallas is not NTU (and the OP wasn’t helpful in not originally differentiating between the two). UTD is already the third best public in TX and in 20 years, I foresee it reaching the level of UCSD (the third best public in CA) or at least UCSB.