I loved attending UT, and there were 48,000 students even at that time. It’s not like you see all 48,000 kids at once. It’s like living in a big city with lots of neighborhoods. I hung out at the engineering building and knew people well.
And my FAVORITE class at UT was American History with George Forgie. 350 kids! He was (and is) such a good story teller that I couldn’t wait to attend his lectures. He was always available to speak to during office hours. He tried to convince me to switch majors from engineering to history! If I had been scared off by the large class size, I would have missed out on an amazing experience. I even remember what one of the final exam essays was!
@newjersey17
“My H graduated from the business school and he said the business school pushed out over more than 2/3rds of their students.”
“He may even drop out. The drop out rate is very high. Over 50 percent.”
This is all so not true. Probably it was like this in 80s, but not anymore.
My daughter is a current senior at UT, though not accounting.
So I can tell some pretty fresh news.
UT developed a special program to improve 4 years graduation rate and made a lot of changes in the last 3 years, including selection process to admit students to major to make sure students know what they want to study and are not going to change major 3 times trying this and this and that. They don't push students out. They don't let certain students in.
I don't know much about business recruiting. I believe business career fair is restricted to business students only. But my daughter, who is graduating in May (not accounting as I said), signed her employment contract last semester. So did tens of her friends, and they found jobs all around US and overseas. Some summer internships they had were in Europe and Asia.
There is a reason why a school such as SMU dedicates more time and effort in recruiting higher profile students. In general terms, the school attracts mostly students who did not fare well in the automatic admissions or OOS students. When it comes to accounting, the 800 lbs. gorilla in Texas is UT at Austin. Students who earned an admission to McCombs are a few rungs above the typical SMU business student, and this will have an impact on the strength of the education and the overall preparation for a pre-professional degree.
I do not believe that there exists a stated preference for SMU business graduates in Dallas as the UT reputation remains stronger. Even if it were the case, the national reputation of McCombs dwarfs SMU by a mile and a half.
Unless UT offers a poor fit on a personal basis, there are few reasons why it should be not be considered the overwhelming best choice.
SMU is the weaker choice by far. My IU Kelley degree still serves me well and opens doors- and I’m a lawyer! UT is wonderful, too. I lived in Dallas for 28 years and SMU is an extension of the affluent high school right to the south of campus.
Picking a college on the basis of how good its marketing materials are is like picking a hospital on the basis of the food in the cafeteria.
Cheap and easy to make a kid feel “wanted”. Expensive and hard to invest in faculty, programs, curriculum, infrastructure, research opportunities.
UT one of the top finance/accounting programs in the country. Can’t imagine turning that down because another college sends better and more frequent emails (you do know that it’s a computer program that sends the emails, right? not the Dean or whoever signed the note? It costs about a tenth of a penny to buy the service which sends cultivation emails.)
You guys are wonderful with the comments. I am passing them all along. You should know that we do have a current senior at UT but, he is not a business major. @“Ya Ya” A lot of what you shared was news to me. Thank you!
The marketing effect sways the student more than the parents in this case, for better or worse. I do agree with you @blossom
Good practice for recruiting for public accounting. The firms have very slick recruiting processes and the student needs to be careful to evaluate the firm and the people they be working with day to day as opposed to the recruiting partner who they won’t see much post-recruitment.
All this to say, if your younger son prefers a smaller feel, SMU may be a better fit.
@newjersey17 52% is about right for a 4-year grad rate. Many degree plans are effectively 5 year now, especially if you don’t go to summer school. Computer sciences, engineering, for example require 130 or more hours in many schools.
@PokeyJoe Hi Joe I think UT has a much stronger business program and is ranked very high. As for recruiting, realize that the lovey-dovey recruiting schools are that way because they need to be. My daughter got big money for SMU and dozens of recruiting letters, they do a very good job for sure.
@Youdon’tsay His visit to UT campus went well. -even with all the construction. Between the business presentation and the breakfast at Red River Cafe, I can see him leaning towards UT. He does have one last scholarship he’d like to hear from before he’ll be ready to call it. I’ll let you guys know what he decides. Thank you, everyone, for all the input!
I thought I’d post an update. DS received two more large scholarships but, he’s picked the school with the strongest program and no scholarships. -UT
DS is going to be a longhorn!
I think UT has an incredible business school. I know that SMU is well-respected as well but is it worth the extra money? I do not think so. There are some advantages to being at a prestigious university due to the networking and connections available but I think UT has such a great reputation. If the scholarship is good at SMU and he likes the size and the students then maybe it would be a better fit (the size of UT can be overwhelming). But, as far as the academics go UT is a great school.