Questions about UTD: UT PACT, campus life, courses, etc.

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas Schools (Other Than Austin
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<p>I'm very interested in applying to UTD next year and I just had a few(?) questions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>UT PACT - I want to be a radiologist when I'm older so I'm interested in the UT PACT program. I know it's new, but if anyone is currently in the program or know anyone in it, can you tell me if it's hard to get into, if it's difficult or if you struggle to maintain grades, and if you enjoy it? If I don't get in, would I be okay with the regular pre med courses and MCAT? A college rep from UTD said I should apply early because you have to be accepted into the school to get into the program. Would this early acceptance be binding? Sorry about having a lot of questions about this. My dad really wants me to get in to this program (it's the Asian parenting in him) and he said he doesn't want me to go the UTD if I don't get in to the program even though I really like the school sigh</p></li>
<li><p>CAMPUS/STUDENT LIFE - What is campus/student life like? I'm an introvert and shy person, so it's a bit difficult for me to get to know new people. I heard UTD is a good fit for introverts, though. I also heard the university's social scene has improved over the years, so that's good. Anyway, do people have an easy time getting to know new people and do the school events help a lot?</p></li>
<li><p>DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF COURSES - I heard the courses are really difficult which is kind of scary. Beside the UT PACT thing, I've always wanted to go pre med and I want to know: are the courses are hard and/or is the workload is a crazy amount? Do you lose sleep over these work to maintain good grades in the class?</p></li>
<li><p>DORMS - I've heard a lot of good things about the dorms. I don't exactly understand the whole situation with the dorms vs the apartments on campus or near campus or whatever. Are there strict rules you have to uphold if you live in the dorms? What if you want to stay over at a friend's place for a couple days or something like that? Do you have to stay in the dorm all year or can you move out if a better offer comes along? Random questions, I know, but I'm curious.</p></li>
<li><p>DAD - Okay, so, my dad doesn't like UTD because he thinks it's for people that didn't get into UT Austin. He also doesn't like the fact that it isn't as "prestigious" as other colleges like UT Austin, Texas A&M, Rice, etc. How can I make him like UTD because I really do like it and it may be my first choice. He's really big on education and I don't know, it's just getting kind of aggravating that he sees UTD in a negative light when it has so many great qualities. </p></li>
<li><p>ETC. - During school events, like Welcome Week for example, can we invite friends that don't attend UTD?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I'm sorry for all the questions. I'm just really interested in this school and these were some things I was wondering about that could affect my decision about this school. Thank you for all the responses! Maybe I'll become a Comet like you guys one day~</p>

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<p>1) UT-PACT: As far as I know its not early binding. When I was applying the applications were due in february but it seems as they pushed it back to late fall for this year so I would apply early as possible to the school and then to PACT. The application for the school usually opens late August. I didn’t get in the program but I know people that did. It would be easier to chance you on getting into this program if you gave me your stats (GPA, SAT, Extracurriculars). The program is hard to get into, a lot of people that apply to this have 4.0 GPAs, all Honor classes, very high SAT scores, and solid extracurriculars as well as previous exposure to health care services/clinical experience and research. Definitely try though its a chance to be able to have a spot at one of the top med schools in the nation. Over the program difficulty, you’re finishing undergrad in 3 years with this program so its definitely going to feel more rushed than if you went the traditional route. You also have to learn organic chemistry 1 and 2 in one semester (rather than the traditional year), and as these are the “pre-med weed out” classes and one of the hardest prereqs for premed this may be daunting, but then again you’ll be in a small classroom with just people in PACT to support you. Some people don’t do PACT because they either got McDermott or want to go the traditional route. You also don’t have to take the MCAT with PACT, but you do take a practice one.</p>

<p>2) UTD isn’t big on the whole stereotypical college life experience like schools such as UT or A and M with big college towns and such. Greek life isn’t as big of a deal here and, at least in the dorm I reside in, I haven’t seen any huge parties…just people hanging out. In this respect I think it is a good environment for introverts and people who like a peaceful area. Some of my friends at UT have to go to the library to study because their dorms can get pretty loud but I’ve never had that kind of problem. Apparently the social scene is getting bigger now that we have more dorms on campus but as a freshman getting used to the college workload I haven’t really been trying to enter that scene. Campus events are a hit or miss…some suck terribly while some are actually pretty fun.</p>

<p>3) As a pre-med student myself I will tell you how my workload went my first semester. I took 14 credit hours and came in with around 30 AP credit hours. This semester I took humanities and intro to films (to finish off my humanities and fine arts requirements), freshman seminar, honors psychology, and chemistry. I was a top ten student within my high school and took all AP/honors classes and still came in very suprised at how difficult college was compared to high school. It’s not that the tests are overly difficult or anything…you just have more work to do. For example in films class some weeks we had to read over 100 pages (textbook sized) and watch 3 hours worth of movies. The problem I saw most people have with their first semester is that since these kinds of homework and assignments weren’t turned in for a grade, they failed to keep up with their studies and readings and did terrible on the test as a result. I found myself studying and reading a lot but when it came around for tests everything seemed really easy. Of course I haven’t taken any upper-level classes yet so I cant vouch for every class but as long as you are willing to put the time and effort to study then you should be fine. I actually get more sleep in college than i did in high school sine my classes start later and I can always nap in my dorm between classes. Test weeks are the only weeks i actually feel sleep-deprived. </p>

<p>4) Freshman have an option to stay off-campus or to dorm on campus. After freshman year you have the opportunity to stay off-campus, renew your spot in the dorms, or apply for the on-campus apartments. The on-campus apartments have a variety of floor plans which you can see on their website. The dorms are suite-style. You get your own bedroom and share a living room and restroom with 3 other people in your dorm. I believe our dorms are some of the nicest among the texas universities…especially because you get your own bedroom. I’m not sure if you can choose to stay just for a semester but I think if you call University Commons they can tell you all about that. There aren’t any really strict rules. The campus police don’t like partying in the dorms and you aren’t allowed to have alcohol and stuff (although people find ways around that rule). You are allowed 2 guests a month and they can be of any gender, however really you can have guest over and stay at your friends as many times as you want, they don’t check. The only issue is if the person brought a car and doesn’t have a UTD resident parking pass, then they might get a ticket. </p>

<p>5) Asian parents…I know the feeling lol. Although my parents never disagreed with my choice to attend UTD at first I felt UTD was subpar to those other schools too. I wanted to attend UT or Rice but I am thoroughly happy with my decision to attend UTD. I would see if you can get a scholarship here. I am here on a full ride and that definitly influenced my decision. Lets break this down: rice without any financial aid costs around 40K a year if i remember correctly. By four years you will have paid 160K just for undergrad alone! Now lets say you wan’t to go to UTSW, a public med school. UTSW estimates the cost of attending their school for one year (this is if you need to pay for living arrangements and stuff) to be around 40k as well. That’s another 160K. This means that you will have to fork up over 300K by the end of med school. Now if you got a good scholarship to UTD you’ll be looking at paying around 4k a year just for things like gas, food, books, etc. Thats a huge difference. If you don’t get a scholarship and still want to convince your Dad then I would tell him that UTD has a very very good natural science program. We started out as a research institute so the sciences are a pretty big deal here. Although it may not be as prestigous on paper like UT, AM, and Rice it is still very good. One thing I like about UTD as opposed to UT and AM is that it has a small campus feel. It is very easy to reach out to professors and advisors for help and research positions are plentiful. You need to forge connections as a premed student and that may be harder at UT or AM with so many other people trying to do the same. Also remember that where you went for undergrad won’t matter that much for the med school admissions process. As long as the school provides you with a good education in the pre-med prereqs you will be fine. As long as you take advantage of the opportunities UTD offers and study hard to score well on the MCAT, the admissions board wont care if you went to UTD vs. Rice. A lot of pre-meds at UTD go on to some of the top med schools worldwide! </p>

<p>5) Its not like they are going to ID your friends or anything right when they enter campus. The only places they ID you is for the gym and cafeteria and stuff. I dont see any reason why you cant.</p>

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<p>UTD is very prestigious and has many specific groups including the chess team that is one of few and best in the country. There are students who have turned down the IVY Leagues or top schools to be part of the Honors College as the scholarships are very generous. You can also interview for other majors that have honors classes such as the business school. The new dorms are designed so well compared to most other colleges and the on campus apartments are spacious…if you enjoy privacy after the freshman year the choice of a one or two bedroom (two bedroom even has two separate bathrooms) are great options (depending on availability) as each apartment also has a washer/dryer. The housing could not be better!</p>

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<ol>
<li><p>UT PACT is hard to get into just like any BS/MD programs. Need top scores, high rank, and medical ECs. </p></li>
<li><p>Campus/student life is improving year after year. Not too hard to meet new people and make friends. </p></li>
<li><p>Courses aren’t that difficult and no different than any other school. Profs are great. Workload isnt bad. The non-science courses had more busy work than the science courses. There werent really any weed out courses like some schools tend to have. Ochem was probably the worst, and even then it wasnt too bad. I consistently had 7-8 hrs of sleep a night. Graduated with a 3.99</p></li>
<li><p>Dorms didnt exist when I was a freshmen. But they are really nice. I prefer the apts, but the dorms are a great way to meet new people during freshman year. </p></li>
<li><p>Your dad should look more into utd. Sure there are people here who didnt get into UT. Same thing can be said of people who go to UT because they didnt get into an ivy. Plenty of people have gone to utd turning down ivy league schools, myself included. Outside of texas, UT isnt that “prestigious” of a school. It’s a fantastic school for a premed and has a very good track record with getting people into med school. My opinion changes when the prestige of the undergrad is important in recruiting for a job, like in finance. But for med school, go wherever you feel comfortable at that gives you the best chance to succeed. This is a copy paste from my post in the premed forum where someone asked about utd. See my post here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1601914-maximize-chance-acceptance-top-medical-school-ordinary-undergrad.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1601914-maximize-chance-acceptance-top-medical-school-ordinary-undergrad.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
<li><p>Yea you can invite friends. They dont check IDs unless you try to enter a raffle or get a free shirt at an event. Those will need IDs</p></li>
</ol>

5

<p>Wow thank you so much for being so informative and detailed in your answers!</p>

<ol>
<li>I feel like I lack a bit in what is expected for a UT PACT student. I don’t know. Here are my current stats:</li>
<li>I go to a private school that doesn’t rank</li>
<li>GPA - 4.2</li>
<li><p>Honors/AP Classes - I’m in as many honors/AP classes one could take in my grade (although I’m not doing to well in US History because I’ve never had a knack for it)</p>

<ul>
<li>SAT/ACT - I haven’t taken my SATs or ACTs yet; do they also accept the ACT because I feel like the SAT isn’t my test and I would do a lot better on the ACT.</li>
<li>Extracurriculars - I currently volunteer at an animal shelter (and I might be volunteering at a hospital soon), Student Council, various clubs at my school, I don’t really know what else goes here
After reading some of the responses, I feel like maybe going the traditional route would be nice, but if I got into the program, I wouldn’t have to worry as much about the MCAT (besides all the work I would do for the classes). Meh.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Okay that sounds like a nice balance, so that’s good.</p></li>
<li><p>I go to a college preparatory school and most of the alumni say it really prepared them for college, so I’m really hoping that’s what it is like for me. I hope going into pre med doesn’t kill me.</p></li>
<li><p>Wow, everything sounds really awesome.</p></li>
<li><p>Yeah, he’s just so hung up on the fact that it’s not as well known as the big name schools in Texas so it’s kind of annoying. </p></li>
<li><p>Okay, thank you guys for responding to that question!</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>Oh yeah, I forgot to ask this: I heard the parking is horrendous and the permits are overpriced. Is this true?</p>

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<p>If you are planning to dorm there it costs 48 dollars for the year for the residence hall pass…not bad considering UT costs around 500 dollars (least thats what I was informed when i went on a college visit there). I am always able to find a parking spot in front of my dorm though some of my friends arent as lucky and park at a farther parking lot which is still easy to get to. I dont know about the parking situation for off-campus people/commuters. I know costs way more than the residence hall pass. I heard that there will be spots but the spot may be far away from ure classes.</p>

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<p>bigreddawgie - your link seems to " Maximize chance of acceptance to a top medical school from an ordinary undergrad?" is dead. Can you help?</p>

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<p>boilerhorn, guess the thread got deleted. A highschooler was saying that no one from utd goes to a top school. I responded and also listed some top 20 schools that I know people from utd are at</p>

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<p>Sorry to hijack the thread, but I have a question for you guys as well. I already got accepted but really can’t go here if I don’t get some sort of scholarship. The thing is I don’t know if I have the stats to get anything at all. Do you guys know the average SAT score and GPA needed to get some sort of scholarship? Thanks!</p>

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<p>Academic Excellence Scholarships - </p>

<p>[Academic</a> Excellence Scholarship - Office of Undergraduate Education - The University of Texas at Dallas](<a href=“http://oue.utdallas.edu/aes/]Academic”>http://oue.utdallas.edu/aes/)</p>

<p>"No specific achievement in any category of the AES award factors will guarantee a scholarship…The following are the average SAT/ACT scores for students who were offered an AES award in Fall 2013:</p>

<p>Achievement
Average SAT (Critical Reading + Math only): 1310
Average ACT: 30</p>

<p>Distinction
Average SAT (Critical Reading + Math only): 1400
Average ACT: 32</p>

<p>Honors
Average SAT (Critical Reading + Math only): 1510
Average ACT: 34"</p>

<p>There are other scholarships, but I don’t see any others where the expected SAT/ACT scores are laid out so clearly.</p>

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<p>Okay, thank you!</p>

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<p>Hey! I’m a freshman in UT-PACT this semester, so I’ll try to answer your questions as best as I can. Sorry for answering kind of late haha.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I’m not really sure what you’re referring to with early binding, so I’m just going to try and answer. If you get accepted into PACT, it isn’t early binding, so you can turn it down for another school. If you’re talking about the acceptance to UT Southwestern, then I believe it is binding. As for the application, the date changed from my year’s, and now they have it due sometime in December (I believe this year was the 15th?). In either case, the representative you talked to was right. Apply as early as possible. I ended up applying late, and had to rush my applications for both UTD and PACT, and it was a hassle and I was exhausted by the end of that. So, learn from my idiocy and apply as early as you can.
As for the difficulty of getting into it… I’m going to level with you. It’s hard to get into. Somehow, by the grace of whatever, they thought I was good enough to get in, and these kids that are with me are literally some of the smartest people I’ve ever met. In our year, the average GPA unweighted was a 3.96, which is fairly high, and the average combined M+CR SAT score was a 1510. However, grades and scores are not the only thing. They just get your foot in the door. The most important things are the interview (40 people get selected for the interview, out of which half are accepted into PACT), and your essay on your application. If you can speak well, and articulate your desire to be a physician clearly and efficiently on paper, you have a strong chance of getting in.
The coursework isn’t too different from everyone else’s. They want us to take all of our introductory science courses, so you’re in a class of 300 in a general chemistry course for your freshman year with everyone else. Also, pretty much everyone made all A’s or very close, so I don’t really think anyone is struggling to keep up their grades.
Now, about the pre-med academics if you don’t get into PACT. I will say that UTD has a very strong track record for medical school acceptance, higher than UT Austin I think (although UT Austin has a ton more people, and other confounding factors like that idk haha), and it has an advising office specifically for pre-health track students. It is a very good choice for pre-med, and some of the honors programs are quite good too. Check out Collegium V or McDermott, although McDermott is pretty much at the same level of competitiveness as, if not higher than PACT.</p></li>
<li><p>Compared to UT Austin or A&M, obviously UTD is not going to be as lively or social. I won’t lie to you, I kind of hated UTD for a little bit because all my friends were in Austin or College Station, and the whole place seemed kind of dead (read: very much dead). But, because there aren’t as many parties (there are some good ones every now and then, so don’t worry too much), I was able to hang out with people that I met over the year, and really get to know them. It’s only been one semester, and I’m already very good friends with some people. Richardson kind of dies at night, so yeah, there isn’t much to do off campus either, but you will meet people and form great relationships.
As for your introversion, don’t worry about it at all. There are plenty of people here who are shy, but once you just get to know them, you’ll hit it off pretty well. I’m a fairly shy person too, but somehow I made new friends here. I will say that the school events were kind of useless for me, but for some people, it got them pretty good friends too.</p></li>
<li><p>I personally do not find my classes hard, but I took an inhuman amount of AP coursework, like 14 or 15 AP classes, and my teachers in high school were all very good, so I’ve essentially already taken all of my core classes. There are classes with quite a bit of reading, like humanities or theatre, but as long as you keep up and do your work diligently, you shouldn’t lose much sleep over anything. Except for finals week. I became nocturnal during finals week, and my sleep schedule was messed up for another week and a half, but apart from that, it wasn’t too bad.</p></li>
<li><p>One of the people above me already answered the dorm question pretty well, but I’ll just add this. UTD has something called Living Learning Communities, and at least all of the PACT people live in it. Basically, if you apply to get in, they’ll put you with other pre-health people, or other engineering people, or other business people and so on, so that you live around people that you go to class with. Pros: I live next to people that I go to chem or physics with, and I can study with them without trudging to another dorm. Cons: you kind of get stuck making friends with only pre-meds or engineers or etc., and you don’t get to branch out too much. So, your choice.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t think they care haha. They just want you to be more comfortable here.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>So, that was ridiculously long, and I apologize. If I could put a Tl;DR I would, but… haha</p>

<p>A little more about PACT. The people that I’ve met in this program are amazing. They are so smart that I am regularly astounded by them, and yet they are extremely normal. Not just my year, but the year above me too. It’s a great program, and we get to take some special PACT-specific classes which are actually really cool, and I enjoy them. So even if I disliked UTD when I first got here, the people in PACT are one of the main reasons I love the school now. And we also get the AES scholarship, which is pretty darn nice.</p>

<p>So, I hope I helped! I know that when I was applying to colleges, I was pretty much obsessed with this site, so I kind of know how it all feels right now, so just let me know if I can clarify anything else!</p>

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<p>So you wont be able to apply out of the program for med school? Do you get med school tuition covered?</p>

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<p>I think they said something about maybe, possibly, being able to apply to other med schools, but honestly, the whole point of the program is the provisional acceptance to UTSW. Plus, then if we were to apply to other schools, we would have to take the MCAT for real, apply, and go to interviews, all while taking 18 credit hours a semester, doing PACT stuff, and while cramming it into three years. So I would just think of it as binding to UTSW, which is a pretty great med school, even among the top med schools.
And no, med school tuition isn’t covered, but it’s ridiculously cheap for in state students, so you won’t be graduating with much debt at all, if any.</p>

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<p>Thanks for replying! Yeah, I just want to find the right school for me. I really want to go to UTD because I want to go to UTSW for grad school. I don’t really want to go to UT Austin because it’s too big and I don’t want to move to Austin then move to Dallas for med school. I’m considering Baylor, too, but I head you have to take scripture or religion classes and I really can’t take anymore of those (I’ve had theology classes in every grade since third grade so I can’t). I’m going to visit UTD in March so I’m excited. Was it hard to get into the program because I feel like my stats won’t cut it. If I don’t make it, I’m fine with doing the traditional pre med stuff because I know UTD has a pretty good program. Do you know anyone who wants to be a diagnostic radiologist because that’s what I want to be in the future. I heard it’s good for introverts, so it’s perfect for me.
Anyway, thanks for replying because I’ll take any advice I can get. My dad is still pretty against this school, but I hope I can persuade him that it’s good school. Again, thank you so much!</p>

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<p>PACT is very hard to get into. You have to realize that most everyone applying already have 4.0s and very competitive SAT scores. A lot of them have ample clinical experience and research under their back even as high school students, but I mean its worth a try the worst that can happen is that you get a no. Keep in mind with a 3 year program can get pretty intensive for undergrad since you’ll be loading on science classes so unless you come with a lot of hours from high school and such you might find it more fun and rewarding to do a traditional route (though the fact that u only have to take a practice MCAT for PACT is a pretty big incentive). I dont really go asking what people want to be but if you want to know Im aiming to be a neonatologist. Just ask your pre-med advisors for things you can do to get exposure to the field. I went on a college visit to baylor apparently you are REQUIRED to take religious history/scripture classes (supposedly they structure them to appeal to all religions even athiest but i havent asked anybody about the classes). I think you are also require to attend a mass session. That kind of pulled me away from baylor.</p>

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<p>@thebro, could you give us a tip to the PACT interview at UTD (Friday) and UTSW (Saturday) ?</p>

19

<p>Can anyone shed some light on what kind of questions are asked at the interview? Why would they have 4 interviews instead of just 2? </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>Yes, could anyone give some tips on the interviews, please?</p>