Hello. I’m currently a Junior in a high school in California and I’m thinking about attending University of Texas - Austin. It would be really helpful if some current students or alumni could answer some of my questions:
What was hard about adjusting to campus life?
Which program(s) did you enjoy the most?
What regrets, if any, do you have about attending and what would you have done instead
Hard about adjusting: it is big. Lots of people and relatively spread out. Pretty hot in August when classes start. Can be difficult to get the classes you want. The food in Austin is GREAT. Exercise your body or exercise restraint.
Love music groups (like band and orchestras) and intramurals. Enjoy both the honors STEM classes and the big, gen ed social science courses. Enjoy FRI (freshmen research initiative)
No regrets. Love this place and will be sorry to leave it. Could have gone to a LAC or to a smaller place, but wouldn’t have had the same energy or opportunities at this world class research university.
@kat100, it was easier for me to adjust to campus than I expected, although I do remember sitting on my bed, crying, after my parents dropped me off! Even though they lived only 20 minutes away, I felt so alone! I’m an introvert, but I made friends quickly. I wasn’t too close to my freshman roommate, because we were opposites - she was a sorority girl and I was an engineering student! But my second day in the dorm, I met the girl I would room with the remaining three years as an undergrad. We had a blast together and are still in contact.
I tell people that UT is like a big city with lots of small neighborhoods - it’s not like you see all 50,000+ people at one time, except at football games, which are awesome. I hung out a lot in ECJ (Civil Engineering building) and got to know people well. I joined the student association of architectural engineers. I think we partied more than we should have, but it was sure fun!
Depending on your major, your freshman classes may be TOUGH! I had over a 98 average in high school, but on my first test at UT, in honors physics, I got a 45!! I thought my college career was going to end as soon as it began. But I got a tutor and toughed it out. I made a C one semester in physics, a B in the other. But I hung in there and ended up graduating with high honors, and going on to get my master’s degree in structural engineering, also at UT.
Study hard and don’t get TOO caught up in partying! Look for the EXCELLENT professors, and take them even if they’re known to be challenging. I avoided one engineering prof who I later learned was a world-renowned expert in the area of structural steel stability. The prof I took instead was pretty bad.
If you get a chance to take history from GEORGE FORGIE, do it!!! American History with him was my FAVORITE class at UT, even though there were more than 300 students in the class. He is still at UT, 30 years later! He was just named as one of the top 10 profs at the school! He is an excellent storyteller and assigns the best books! Our final exam question was to compare and contrast Reconstruction with the building of the Panama Canal (we had read long books on both topics). One of the best exam questions ever! 
I have never had any regrets about going to UT. Being a female, valedictorian, blah, blah, I could have gone to MIT or anywhere I wanted (admissions were easier back then). But I got a world-class education at UT for $4 a credit hour!! My dad has been an engineering professor at UT for exactly 50 years, so I still have ties to the University. Ironically, UT is so hard to get into that it looks as if none of his six grandkids will graduate from the school (my oldest son actually attended for a year, but he fell mentally ill and had to come home to Maine). If you get accepted to UT, consider yourself very fortunate.
If you have more questions, feel free to ask!