So now that I’ve been CAPed, I have several questions. First of all, I want to be a psych major. I am trying to decide if I should ultimately go with the CAP, or accept my admittance to A&M or TTU.
~Is it difficult to get into the UT psychology program after completing CAP?
~UT Arlington vs UTSA vs other UT CAP possibilities?
~Is the psych program at UT largely different/better than those at TTU and A&M?
~I really do want that “college experience” and I’ve heard that doing CAP doesn’t give you that…true?
~Do you guys think CAP is worth it? Pros and cons?
I am honestly just feeling so lost right now. I was so set on going to UT that I didn’t look into my other options close enough.
UTA and UTSA are the most popular options, I’d choose the one you would not mind staying at for 4 years if you don’t get from CAP to Austin. 60 percent of CAP students do not make the move for whatever reason.
I don’t know much about relative quality of the programs but since both of the schools you mention have an affiliated medical school, I’d think they are fine. You are going to need a masters degree to be employable in the field of psychology.
If by college experience you mean going one place for 4 years, making friends as a freshman etc. then no it does not. But many people are okay with a 3 year experience.
I personally do not think CAP is worth it especially if you have a lot of AP credit. I have friends who wholeheartedly disagree. I am not a longhorn and I know you can be very successful from a variety of schools.
If I were in your shoes I would go with Texas A&M. If you didn’t have A&M as an option, then I could see doing CAP to try and make your way to UT, but since A&M is better than your CAP option schools, I would definitely head to College Station. Just my 2 cents.
Hi, I am on the exact same boat as you here. I applied as a Psych Major and got CAP’d, I was also accepted into A&M and TTU. I hear UT arlington is the best choice for this program. It all depends on how much UT Austin means to you and if youre willing to try harder to transfer into it and miss out on Freshman year. For my it was devastating hearing I got CAP’d but its not a complete rejection, just a test to see whether you can perform well in college. Good luck with everything!
I live in Arlington, TX and it is a great city. It is not, however, a college town, even though UTA sits in the middle of it. I have very deep ties to the school, as my grandfather was Dean of Math Dept and actually attended it when it was Grubbs Vocational College, then Arlington State, then UTA. He was the first alumnus to be hired as a member of the faculty. That said, as much as I love our city and UTA, which has undergone a huge transformation in the last several years, transforming our downtown area, your college experience will not be that of TAMU by any stretch. It is a great school for many disciplines but if you are looking for that college experience, UTA may not be your thing. There is some college apartments currently and more are being built. Most on campus are really, really old. The newer ones are close to campus but on the southern and western side and a good walk to the main buildings. That said, thousands of students have been making the trek for years. Many Arlington HS students attend here who are great students but could not afford to go to other schools around the state or out of state. There is A LOT of parking around campus as it was a commuter school for decades. It is possible to live way off campus and commute daily. There is not a bus system there like many larger campus have. Arlington does not have public transportation. It is a large city with a lot of atmosphere though. It has a lot of downtown restaurants, pubs, and live music venues. The Levitt Pavilion is amazing, offering free live music concerts in summer-fall. http://levittpavilionarlington.org/ as well as live music downtown at Gilligan’s Irish Pub.http://www.jgilligans.com/ that won The Food Networks top 5 Bar Food.
The Grease Monkey downtown also has live music.
Our son, who was just denied UT Austin (waitlist, cap, pace), is accepted to UTA engineering. He would go to UTA in a heartbeat if it meant transfering to UT Austin in his major. But alas, it does not and in the big picture, for him, does not make sense. If he had been in the top 8%, I think he would have been accepted. His credentials are tops. But an issue Jr. year with his percussion director (for which the director was eventually fired and he wrote about in essay) saw a drop in grades one six weeks and that took him out of the running. Never could recapture the 8%. But I digress.
Most likely he will go to TAMU, as he wants that college experience that his home school (UTA) won’t give him (and because we live here and as big as it is, it is still a small town).
I graduated from UT-Arlington 5 years ago. I met several kids the first day saying they’re going to Austin the following year. It is pretty dead on weekends, but there are still fun things going on. A great advantage is doing internships/working in Dallas and networking. Plus you are close to Cowboys Stadium and the Rangers; I’m talking like 15 minutes. There is Greek Row, a basketball team (quite proud of the wheelchair basketball team) and clubs. People like Ludacris and Spike Lee have had events there.