<p>So i am a black male and i got accepted to the engineering honors program on about a full ride. UT is the only school I applied to in Texas and if I get rejected from the Ivies I will be going here. </p>
<p>I have been to UT several times met with some professors and everything and know many people who go here. At all of these instances I did not get a sense of racial issues. </p>
<p>However I have heard alot of things that race could be an issue in the social sphere. I know the frats are basically white only, and that the ethnic frats are the outlet for minorities who want a greek life. But my real question is will race really be a factor in the social atmosphere at UT. I am hevaily into dating white girls so I just want to know would my social life be impacted at UT because of my ethnicity?</p>
<p>When I was actually there I didn’t get the feel of racial issues at all (and I have been to UT and Austin alot). The notion came from a college guide and some anecdotal comments from people.</p>
<p>no, you won’t encounter racial segregation. Austin is about the most tolerant place in Texas, and I know that a lot of the basketball and football teams (mostly black) prefer to date white girls, so you would definitely not be alone in that category.</p>
<p>That being said, social life is very racially driven, particularly in greek life. Most fraternities and sororities are going to be largely of one race. There is some diversity in the “white” fraternities, and every house has some minorities, but there is not much diversity, and African-Americans speficically are excluded (not as an official policy, but it’s a “gentleman’s rule” among the larger fraternities not to take African Americans). The non-white Greek scene is equally segregated, however, and there won’t be many white kids in these fraternities.</p>
<p>Outside Greek life, there is some segregation, but it tends to be by choice, i.e. African Americans or Asians choosing to hang out with other people from a similar background. I honestly don’t know any people who would exclude someone from their social group on the basis of their race, however.</p>
<p>From what I can tell you, I don’t see many black people here at UT. If I ever do see any, they hang out in a group with other black people. Though I’ve never heard of people being racist.</p>
<p>As theloneranger said, minorities usually seclude themselves with people of the same race/ethnicity, which if you end up going to UT, you’ll find tons of Asians just hanging out with each other. This is found at every university - people just like hanging out with people that share their same culture. </p>
<p>There is no outspoken racism from what I’ve heard, and Austin has a LARGE variety of people…so you should be fine.</p>
<p>Very few fraternities, other than professional fraternities, have “a fairly balanced number of different ethnicities.” Most of them will be almost entirely of one racial group.</p>
<p>People criticize the IFC (“white”) fraternities for not being racially tolerant, but they tend to have a slightly higher percentage of minorities than the ethnically-basd fraternities do of people from outside their target ethnicity. However, it’s pretty rare for an IFC fraternity to be more than 10-20% minority, and there are no or almost no African-Americans in IFC Fraternities.</p>