<p>I am an out-of-stater from Boston, Massachusetts and was recently admitted to UT Austin McCombs Business School. Being from Boston, there's clearly not many others from my area that are going to Texas this fall, so I'm just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience and am curious about their overall impression of student life in Austin, "fitting in" on campus, etc. I've heard great things from some students already there, but they are all from texas, and I'm a bit nervous about coming from so far away and not knowing anyone.. Any suggestions for someone in my position? Lookin forward to Freshman year! Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>Oh come on be a little adventurous. I’m coming to USA all the way from Eastern Europe and I got no family or friends or anyone at all there. You’ll do fine. :)</p>
<p>My son (from Indiana) may be right there with you. Choosing between UT and Wisconsin for engineering, and UT has given him a nice scholarship. Will decide after a final visit to both but the only negative I ever hear about UT is its size. The fact that only 5% of the students are from out of state does seem a bit weird to me, though.</p>
<p>There are lots of Texas residents who wish to attend UT and by law, they must admit a Texas resident applicants who graduate in the certain percentage of their class (7-10% - it varies each year). The rest of the student population is selected holistically.</p>
<p>mimimomx3, I apologize for the way I put that. It isn’t “weird” to have such a small percentage of out of state students. (By the way, my husband and I met in Dallas, Texas 25 years ago having both just taken jobs there as new attorneys from different schools and we loved Texas.) I know that Texas is giant and diverse and filled with lots of talented and interesting people. I just think that it is a benefit, as a college student, to be exposed to lots of people from all over the US and from other countries as well. I think Texas’ auto-admit program is fantastic, and I wouldn’t change that, but I do wonder how the student body might be less diverse in some ways than a University of Wisconsin student body that takes I think at least 25% of its incoming class from out of state.
I think that UT is a fantastic school and that he would be happy there, I am just unsure how the dynamics might be different at a school where a much greater percentage of students (say 25% as opposed to 5%) are from out of state.</p>
<p>OP, my son, born and raised in Maine, loved his freshman year at UT. He couldn’t get over how friendly people were. “Mom, people actually come up and TALK to you!” He ended up having to transfer home due to medical problems, but he loved his time at UT.</p>
<p>I attended UT and when people mention its size as a negative, I’m still surprised. It’s not as if you see all 50,000 students at once, except on football game days, which are awesome! It’s like living in a large city with lots of small neighborhoods. You find your circle of friends and usually hang out in one area of campus. I was an engineering major and hung out in ECJ, the civil engineering building, most of the time. I LOVED the big campus. There were always lots of things to do. There are also lots of opportunities for students - my son got to do research in the biomedical engineering lab as a freshman, for example.</p>
<p>I do tell students, though, that they will NOT be spoonfed. They have to be willing to seek out the profs and work hard. If they’re willing to do that, the sky’s the limit!</p>
<p>Good luck to you, OP! Oh, by the way, my son and I had a good laugh at orientation, when another student came up and said, “Hi!” It was a kid who LITERALLY lived two miles from us in our small town in Maine! So you never know who you will run into. It really is a small world.</p>
<p>I’m from Chicago and I’m going to UT next year. I literally don’t know one other person going to UT and am a little nervous too! But, that being said, I’m excited for all the new people I’ll meet next year :)</p>
<p>Germanshepmom, it’s true that diversity is a great thing in a college education, but it’s just one thing. A flagship state school is, or should be, first and foremost, for the use of those who pay taxes (indirectly or directly!) to support it. For that, I’m thrilled with the auto-admit rule, and super thrilled my son will be part of the class of 2017. I’m also thrilled with the OOS and OOC kids that he’ll meet! Welcome to UT!</p>
<p>Hello, I’m Esther, living in Alabama. I’m seeking to go to UT to study Astronomy in the fall of 2014. Does anyone know if you can get a full ride to UT? What ACT/SAT score and GPA are required? How difficult is it to be accepted?</p>