Originally from CT, we live in TX now and have a sophomore at UT. Not a lot of OOS but with clubs, classes and the football games, the kids work hard and play hard. Culture is different than the Northeast but Austin is very different than most of Texas too. My soph absolutely loves UT and Austin (wanted to go OOS for new experience), She’ll be studying abroad in Italy next semester. Now I’m doing the college process with my younger one, she could end up at UT or east/west coast schools.
Thank you, @Goo1230. He literally says he wants to look at it because there is a gaming company down there he wants to work for. Honestly, though UT is a great school I don’t think it is a good fit for him. But I told him I’d gather some info for him…and who knows, there may be a trip to Austin in our future. Thank you!
@Goo1230 When you guys moved to Texas. Was your daughter in high school at the time or she came from out of state directly to UT?
We’ve been in Texas for many years. My older daughter was not an auto admit but had internships in her field,great GPA and good test scores. She applied to 8 colleges and ended up deciding to go to Austin. My senior in HS has applied to UT so we’ll see what happens. She’s applied to Boston University too. Our entire family is still in the Northeast.
My son went to UT directly from high school in Arizona. We had never lived in Texas. While he is not the MOST outgoing of students (busy with dual degrees in two of the most challenging majors), he nonetheless has a ton of friends, engaged in organizations–there are so many resources at UT and in Austin for anything you can think of. He didn’t have a problem with being OOS. Having said that, since only ~10% of the incoming freshman class can be from OOS, there was that initial intimidation factor when students focus on their TX high school friends.
The concern evaporated quickly, as even in TX the admissions policy makes it difficult for many students from the same high schools to attend. Also, Austin is a fabulous place, deep in its own culture and identity within the state, with more people from all over the States/World that many other large college towns that are fairly large American cities.
Texas also has a unique opportunity for OOS students to become in-state students for tuition purposes after a year. Changes the ROI considerably and different than other states.
@EngPII that’s awesome (sorry got the late reply)
Yeah Texas is not bad considering you can easily get instate because they don’t sacrifice the price over quality. That’s what UT is