<p>My son has decided to be a Longhorn, coming from a specialized New York City public high school. Our collective concern is that UT has one of the highest percentages of in-state students of any public university - 91%. Will my S have problems being accepted by the Texans? or do the out-of-staters tend to hang out together? My S is very personable - he can make friends with a wall - and far from being a snob.</p>
<p>Has anyone heard anything on the subject? Do any of you out there share my worries?</p>
<p>My daughter has been assured by out-of-state upperclassmen that she will be fine, that everyone is very friendly. My daughter is planning to room with a compatible out-of-state girl she met on-line; the two of them can figure out Texas together. (They both had some concern that Dallas and Houston kids would arrive already knowing many people.) </p>
<p>Will he be living on campus? If he is, I think that will help. What is your son's major? If it isn't a huge major, he'll have friends from his major or classes. I think the kids will soon have friends from the dorm, friends from their major, and friends from some program or club they join. And fellow Longhorns football fans...</p>
<p>I did have the exact same worry. When my daughter was thinking of applying, I said, what if all of the Texas kids hang out together? there are hardly any out-of-staters! and she said then she'd hang out with the international students. I think our kids will have friends in all three categories.</p>
<p>frenchlaw and midwest mom,
Since they are so few, I think the OOS students have a certain exotic flair about them that makes them attractive to a lot of kids. I'm sure they won't have any trouble making friends. And being Jewish shouldn't be an issue at all. Don't know if this is still the case, but there were Jewish Greek organizations there 20 years ago. And most Dallas and Houston kids are probably accustomed to knowing all kinds of kids from all kinds of backgrounds. I can remember when I was in the Midwest years ago, I met lots of people who told me I was the only African American they'd ever actually gotten to know. But these days, since our entire world is more global, I would not expect a Jewish kid to face that kind of situation.</p>
<p>There still are at least 3 Jewish fraternities (ZBT, Sammy, AEPhi).</p>
<p>A lot of Jewish kids live at University Towers. Hillel is very close to there, and they have a pretty big presence.</p>
<p>Truth be told, there will be anti-Semites, but a lot of these people simply have never encountered Jewish people and are basing their opinions on stereotypes. There will probably be a lot more worldly people who won't care what religion or background you are. And there are a lot of Jewish kids as well.</p>
<p>I don't think that there is an out-of-state vs Texas divide, if anything it would be more cliquey towards different areas of TX hanging out with each other. But I haven't really even seen that when I've visited.</p>
<p>I am currently a junior at UT. I am an out-of-state students from California. Freshman year I lived in an off-campus private dorm called "University Towers." For your son, I would recommend that he lived here because: 1. a lot of out of state students live in this dorm 2. the majority of students who live there are jewish 3. it is close to all the fraternities and sororities (which constitutes a large aspect of social life for freshman) 4. it is a 5-minute walk to campus 5. you will have your own bathroom, kitchen, and living room etc.</p>
<p>Imagine my case, I am not only an OOS student but more like an Out of Country so I was pretty nervous about that issue and I really thought about how much could the Dallas, Houston or San Antonio people to know each other because they lived in the same city, but then after I met lots of people from the facebook group, I start to notice that most of people are so open minded and they are willing and they want to meet new people, rather than just hanging out with the ones that they have been with all their life.</p>
<p>About the dorm thing, I'll be staying at Dobie but I would considered a lot staying in Towers also, they both are pretty good off campus housing options.</p>
<p>mex_pablo: You're really staying in Dobie? I toured that place and it was pretty awful(stained carpets, tiny horribly lit bathroom) in their DEMO room! The outside looks nice, yes, but the inside hasn't been changed significantly since the 70s. And everything I've heard from friends say its awful. If I were you, I'd get out of there if I could(and get on campus). Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Really? I was told that mostly all of the rooms were pretty bad but that the corner suite and corner suite plus, which are the best ones you can get are pretty different from the other rooms. I was told by someone that lived there last year, I really hope it isn't as bad as you told me, but I really don't have a place on campus right now, my only other option would be Towers.</p>
<p>There are a few OOS guys in my son's fraternity, including his roommate this past year. There is no "stigma" to being from OOS. If you are a cool guy (or girl), it won't matter where you're from. </p>
<p>I think your child will find that, as a whole, Texans are very accepting of people, regardless of where they are from or what religion they are, etc. </p>
<p>Texas has been a "melting pot" for generations due to the economic opportunities here, so, unlike other states in the south, you won't find many who don't have a "yankee" in their heritage somewhere (haha ;)).</p>
<p>Thanks to all of you for your responses and suggestions. I didn't know about the Facebook page; I will suggest to my son that he join it.</p>
<p>Fortunately the regional admissions counselor had warned us about how difficult it was to obtain on-campus housing so we were practically first on the list although our son didn't get his application for admission submitted for another 3 months. He will benefit from living on campus and being in a small major that I understand is a bit clique-ish (not necessarily a good thing).</p>
<p>I don't think our son will look to be surrounded by other Jewish kids. Although we live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan (where our acquaintances have a hard time separating Texas from the current administration in Washington), our son has been attending a magnet public HS in Harlem on the City College campus. His school is 25% African-American, 30% Latino, 15% Asian and 30% Caucasian. Of the latter group, not that many are Jewish, so our son is more accustomed to being with non-Jews, but he has not been exposed to anti-Semitism the way I was during my childhood. Frankly, when our two boys have their friends over, our apartment is like the United Nations. Our son decided upon UT over Wisconsin-Madison because the latter was not diverse enough for him. How many white kids make their choice of university on the basis of diversity?</p>
<p>We're all looking forward to the coming 4 years at UT. We're just a little nervous about reputed Texas provincialism, and with such an exaggerated percentage of in-staters among the student body, we hope that our son will not have too hard a time being accepted. You've all been very encouraging, so I'll try to keep my anxiety to myself.</p>
<p>Frenchlaw, I'm a white Jew coming from North Jersey and have been met with kindness by those I have talked to. Out-of-state students are an oddity at UT, which is actually a blessing. People think it's really neat to come from somewhere else, especially the NYC area...people have this strange idea of NY, that it is some magical, super-trendy place where only cool people live. So have no fears, from what I've gathered, your son will be welcomed at UT.</p>
<p>Although, in my experience, the first thing he will be asked is about his accent. I swear, every single Texan thinks that Jersey folk talk like they're on The Sopranos.</p>