<p>tekno,</p>
<p>I know when people are out to just slam a school...it's pretty obvious. Believe me, I haven't really unleashed the furies. :p</p>
<p>Trust me, you'll know if you ever cross a line with me. ;)</p>
<p>ut austin will never be a top public becuase of the stupid texas law that states that the top 10% of seniors get automatic admission to the state school of their choice. So kids taking all regular classes can get into UTA easily.</p>
<p>True, that goes back to the selectivity issue being the main driver it's not recognized more. However, even with the existing law, top undergraduate programs within the school are not automatically open to top 10%'ers. And the state legislature has seemed to be open to revisiting the law in recent years. Perhaps if it can't be done away with, UT can at least get a "top 4%" or similar exception, or a rule that the top 10% allows entry into any UT-System school, but not Austin.</p>
<p>And still, aside from the selectivity, the fact remains that UT has an outstanding faculty, highly ranked programs (among the highest in the entire South and Southwest), and some amazing resources. Other schools may be more selective, but they cannot measure up in this regard. UT clearly has the infrastructure already in place - it's up to the legislature to give UT more control over its admissions.</p>
<p>Hey, at my high school, there were people who had above a 4.0 GPA and weren't in the top 10%. Texas has a lot of smart students. So top ten% isn't really that easy.</p>
<p>It's pretty hard to argue that any school is "better" than another, or that one school is "tops." Every has their own opinions and values on whats important. What can be said is that Rice's students on average have much higher SAT scores and class ranks than their UT counterparts, which may suggest Rice is a more competitive or has a more intelligent student body by some people's standards.</p>
<p>"UT is wealthier than Rice"
True, but Rice endowment per student is near $700,000 where UT's is around $80,000. Even the UT President himself said "We're not as wealthy as people think. Endowment per student is where progress is made."</p>
<p>"Our departments are better"
It's hard to say whether this matters or not. For something specialized like architecture or film, I guess the department is probably important. Otherwise, for the sciences, math, engineering, humanities, social sciences, etc, we're all basically learning the same concepts from the same textbook. Let's not get pretensious here.</p>
<p>Rice was also ranked #1 in quality of life by Princeton review. Take that as you will. UT definitely has WAY better sports and WAY hotter chicks than Rice though. I'll grant you that and those are important aspects (not joking).</p>
<p>as a new yorker i would try my hardest to discourage my children from attending any school in texas. that may not be logical but it is my feeling. i believe any school in texas receives less respect from people living outside texas than from texans.</p>
<p>Don't you just love it when people insist on drinking their own bath water.</p>
<p>"i believe any school in texas receives less respect from people living outside texas than from texans."</p>
<p>To an extent. I would say, as the age-old example, UT's #1 ranking in Accounting (consistently) merits and denotes respect from those outside Texas.</p>
<p>
[quote]
as a new yorker i would try my hardest to discourage my children from attending any school that isn't in New York or somewhere on the East Coast. that may not be logical but it is my feeling. i believe any school west of Michigan receives less respect from people anywhere. But mostly just New Yorkers.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Fixed. :p</p>
<p>lmao^^^</p>
<p>I usually don't advocate putting words in someone's mouth, but in this case I'll allow it. :D</p>
<p>For the record, I have absolutely NOTHING against ursdad, but it's always funny to play with the stereotypes.</p>
<p>
[quote]
we're all basically learning the same concepts from the same textbook.
[/quote]
May be that's true for the average students. Today's high achieving seniors are taking graduate courses, and freshmen and sophomores are doing research.</p>
<p>No, I usually don't love it when people insist on drinking their own bathwater.</p>
<p>Ursdad, why do you have a problem with Texas? That is awfully close-minded of you. Yes, schools are always more respected in their region. Stanford is most respected in California. WUSTL is the most respected in Missouri. Northwestern gets more respect than east coast schools in Illinois. So what's your point? I'm from Chicago buddy, a real city compared to the likes of dandy New York, and I go to school in Texas. It's not a bunch of bible-beating Bush-lovers, if that's what you're assuming.</p>
<p>And if you're any indicator of what people are like in New York, I'd discourage anyone from heading over there.</p>
<p>I would have to agree with the guy above. The people in Texas certainly are conservative but the city of Austin itself is actually quite liberal by Texan standards. The state has very hot weather (not too pleasant) but from what I've heard, the people are very nice. Plus, you get to tour gigantic sugar refineries. Also, Texas isn't quite the redneck state it once was.</p>
<p>The tradeoff for the very hot summers in Texas is the mild winters. </p>
<p>Regarding politics, it really isn't just Austin. The core of all the major cities (like most other places in the country) are more liberal. It's the surrounding suburbs and rural areas that are conservative. The ironic thing about Austin is that it was probably even more liberal in the past BEFORE the transplanted Californians and northerners started moving to Williamson county, etc. during the dot com boom. UT does appear to have a more activist student body (on both sides) compared to Rice.</p>
<p>you may be correct, not having much interest in or respect for UT may be more of an east coast thing than a new york thing. i'd be interested to know how many east coast students attend UT. my thing with texas is that the culture is sooo different from the east coast. a new yorker might as well be attending school in another country.</p>
<p>
[quote]
you may be correct, not having much interest in or respect for anything west of Michigan IS an East Coast thing.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Okay, I'll stop. It's just too easy. :p</p>
<p>Don't get mad ursdad, it's just funny.</p>
<p>you are the one who keeps mentioning west of michigan. i've only mentioned schools in texas. my daughter applied to and visited scripps for two or three days. if she had decided to matriculate there i would have been happy for her. to me there is a big difference between texas and california.</p>
<p>ursdad,</p>
<p>I'm just joking around. My experience with East Coasters is that everything west of Michigan, with the possible sole exception of Stanford, is simply not considered to be that great. I've had (I swear on my honor) a Columbia student tell me that UCLA was just a "second-tier university buoyed by hype." </p>
<p>Most East Coasters, in fact, seem to share that general attitude...hmm...you snobs, you! ;)</p>