Texas (Austin) vs.. Michigan vs. University of Washington

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>These are the 3 schools on my list that I have a reasonable shot at getting into. I think that out of the 3, I would like going to UT the best, because, even though I haven't visited, they have everything I want, great athletics, school spirit, and exceptional academics from what I hear. The problem is that my parents (possibly from the texan stereotype) think that it is a trashy southern school like University of Oklahoma (no offense, but they think its a dumb school even though thats probably not true). Can anyone rank the 3 schools in the title with 1 being the best choice and why?</p>

<p>Btw, since I think I want to go premed or prelaw, how well I would do is a big deal also, so if anyone can comment on competition at each school, that would be great as well.</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

2

<p>They're all very good publics, with Michigan the strongest overall. Austin is an awesome place to go to college. No need to talk it up since nearly every national media publication has trumpeted Austin as one of the best cities to live in. You can point out UT's peer reputation ranking of 4.1 places it in the top 25 of all national universities (tied with Rice). Not to mention, every academic program at UT is ranked among the top 25 or higher in the country, with many programs in the top 10. The only other university in the South that comes close to having as many highly ranked programs across as many disciplines is Duke. (Rice, Vanderbilt, and Emory do not have anywhere near the same faculty quality or ranked programs.) It's hardly a "trashy southern school." The only disadvantage is that since state law requires that no less than 90% of undergraduate slots be reserved for in-state students, the undergrad population is over 90% Texan. However, from another diversity thread posted earlier, only 54% of the population is white, due to high numbers of hispanics and asians. So it is a racially diverse campus, albeit from in-state.</p>

3

<p>
[QUOTE]
Not to mention, every academic program at UT is ranked among the top 25 or higher in the country, with many programs in the top 10. The only other university in the South that comes close to having as many highly ranked programs across as many disciplines is Duke. (Rice, Vanderbilt, and Emory do not have anywhere near the same faculty quality or ranked programs.)

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>Do you have any evidence to support that? I'm not denying that UT is an incredible school (I don't know what my parents are thinking), but I just never really thought it to be on par with Duke though. And also, if every department is T25, how come it is so low in the US News Rankings. I know those aren't the holy grail or anything, but I'm jw.</p>

4

<p>UT is an exciting place to go to school. Austin is a very modern city with cowboy hats a scarcity. The UT campus is incorporated within the city, so it has a bustling livelihood. The biggest problem with UT, to your parents most likely, is that it is one of the ultimate party schools, but this fact might actually entice you to come even more.</p>

5

<p>i absolutely acknowledge ut as one of the best public schools but dont campare with duke and rice...</p>

6

<p>
[quote]
Do you have any evidence to support that? I'm not denying that UT is an incredible school (I don't know what my parents are thinking), but I just never really thought it to be on par with Duke though. And also, if every department is T25, how come it is so low in the US News Rankings. I know those aren't the holy grail or anything, but I'm jw.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Lots of evidence... it's everywhere. For starters, just look at the NRC rankings, or the USNWR graduate program rankings, or the London Times Rankings. According to the National Research Council, UT was #1 in Texas in 30 of its 37 academic disciplines. (And the other programs were mostly at the UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas - NOT Rice.) Rice is NOWHERE near UT in terms of faculty quality or overall departmental strength, as every academic ranking shows (i.e., not USNWR undergrad rankings). The reason UT scores so low in the overall USNWR COLLEGE rankings is b/c the majority of the ranking has NOTHING to do with academic/faculty strength - all the components are based on factors like selectivity, student/faculty ratio, alumni giving, etc. These may indeed be important factors for the undergrad experience, but they are misleading in the sense that they do nothing to recognize the outstanding faculty quality of the top publics. (This is the same reason Wisconsin and to a lesser extent Berkeley and Michigan appear much weaker in the overall ranking than their rightful place.) And remember, state law requires that a minimum of 90% of UT's undergraduate class be from in-state. This inherently means it can never be as selective as a top private and will always lag in selectivity indicators. However, that's why purely academic rankings like graduate programs show UT to be much stronger than the USNWR undergrad rankings. And as mentioned earlier, in the peer reputation portion of the undergrad ranking, UT is indeed ranked highly - top 25 to be exact (tied with Rice at 4.1).</p>

<p>
[quote]
i absolutely acknowledge ut as one of the best public schools but dont campare with duke and rice...

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Agreed - you can't compare UT to Rice since UT is so much stronger at every level. This isn't an opinion - count how many academic programs Rice is ranked higher than UT in... I can think of only one - architecture - and UT is neck and neck in that field as well. And not only is UT stronger than Rice in every academic discipline they both share, but UT has many more academic disciplines to begin with. Beyond that UT has much stronger resources like the 5th largest academic library collection in the country, the absolute number 1 library according to the New York Times and London Independent, and London Guardian (UT's Ransom Center), the largest university art museum in North America, the first or second largest performing arts complex on a university campus, the fastest academic supercomputer in the world, the list goes on. You are correct that Rice is not really comparable at all beyond the undergraduate level.</p>

<p>Now as for Duke, Duke gives UT a much better run. And having a medical school automatically means a higher research profile and funding. But dig deeper and look at graduate program PhD rankings again - they are much closer than you think. In fact, according to the last NRC ranking, they were neck and neck over all. UT has a very impressive number of faculty with NAS membership for a university not affiliated with a medical school. And in terms of NAE membership, it blows Rice and Duke away on a pure number as well as percentage basis.</p>

7

<p>UT or UM are fine schools if you are aspiring to be a degenerate or a criminal, however if you really want to be successful in life UW is the school for you. Not only is it the best academically, it also resides in the best city and region in the entire galaxy.</p>

8

<p>

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<p>All those rankings focus on graduate programs.</p>

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<p>20% of the USNWR ranking does derive from “faculty resources”. However, USNWR does not measure that in the same way as graduate rankings do. USNWR looks at faculty compensation, the ratio of full time faculty and faculty with top terminal degrees, S:F ratio, and class sizes. At Rice, over 69% of classes have less than 20 students; under 8% have 50 or more. At UT, the corresponding figures are ~34% and ~25%, respectively. More than 10% of UT classes have 100 or more students. These are not very good numbers, not even compared to other prestigious state universities such as UVa, Michigan, or UNC.</p>

9

<p>UT also offers twice as many classes as a Rice. You get a few large ones but you also get many more to chose from in more majors. Also many better resources in buildings and libraries etc. The importance of small classes for intro level college units is very debatable. People can do as well with an online class.
Choice would depend on major and cost sensitivity</p>

10

<p>UT and UM are both gReat schools, i dont know much about Wash. I had to make a similar decision between UT and UM(ended up choosing neither) but what i remember listing is that UM has better academics, but UT was cheaper and closer/more convenient (i am from CA also)</p>

11

<ol>
<li>Michigan</li>
<li>Washington</li>
<li>UT</li>
</ol>

<p>Also UT’s student body is regressing due to the 8% rule and the fact that it benefits unqualified applicants the most.</p>

12

<p>The difference between these 3 schools will probably depend on major.</p>

<p>Overall I’d say michigan is slightly better than UT and UW, but the difference is negligible IMO. All 3 schools are generally ranked top 10 publics.</p>

13

<p>

Of course. It’s a far larger school. Texas offers ~4x as many undergraduate classes but has more than 10x as many undergraduate students.</p>

<p>

25% is not a few. A percentage that high means big classes are absorbing a major share of students’ aggregate class time (often in classes with 100+ students at UT). See bclintonk’s analysis of this in several threads, including <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1286756-ivy-league-reputation-v-small-class-size-2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1286756-ivy-league-reputation-v-small-class-size-2.html&lt;/a&gt; (post #18).</p>

<p>Introductory courses are the foundation for more advanced work. If you aren’t getting significant feedback from professors, in discussions and writing assignments, you may as well be taking online classes.</p>

14

<p>Why in the heck are we responding to a five year old thread??? The OP has gone on and probably graduated.</p>