<p>As everyone has said, UT is a great school. However, it’s obviously not as good as many top privates. But! My two cents is that the honors courses at UT (like Plan II or BHP) are on-par with several top privates. And! UT is a big fish (top university) in a small pond (the South, without as many top universities) so when you get out, employers around these parts would be impressed because you won’t have as much competition from post-Ivy job seekers.
The beauty of giant state schools, is that by being so large, they can adjust to many needs (like with honors programs). You can really shine there.</p>
<p>^^^Or as they say, “You can make a large school small but you can’t make a small school large.”</p>