<p>Which colleges in Texas offer the best education in the following fields:
Pre-Med
Pre-Law
Criminology
Psychology</p>
<p>I've been hearing great things about the UTD behavioral sciences department. Moreover, I hear that UT- Austin has a good pre-law program. Anyone have any ideas??</p>
<p>I don't about the specifics of the fields you listed, but I can tell you that UT-Austin is by far the best university in Texas. Other UT campuses are not looked upon very highly in terms of academics and reputation in Texas...the difference between UT-Austin and UTD is in no way comparable to the difference between UC-Berkeley and UCLA (in which both are really great schools). Aside from the academics, Austin is one of the coolest and best cities to live in as a college student. Definitely check out UT!!!</p>
<p>pre-med (sciences)- A&M
pre-law (liberal)-UT</p>
<p>Yes, Texas-Austin is quite good but take at look at the unappreciated U of Texas-Arlington. Also, it's in the boondocks but Texas Tech University has strong programs as well.</p>
<p>And if I am not mistaken, the core requirements (and they are many) at the UT system are the same at every campus.</p>
<p>
[quote]
but I can tell you that UT-Austin is by far the best university in Texas.
[/quote]
Wrong, Rice is. Rice is also the best for pre-med.<br>
UTA (Arlington) is strong in engineering.<br>
UTD is strong in computer science.<br>
UT is best for law if you want to end up in Texas politics, otherwise I'm not sure it really matters that much.<br>
A&M is strong in civil engineering and basic sciences.</p>
<p>Sam Houston State University in Huntsville has an entire college devoted to criminal justice pursuits (including offering Phd's). Huntsville being the focal point of the Texas state prison system is a plus for Sam Houston criminal justice majors.</p>
<p>For pre-law, pre-med and liberal arts majors, Texas Tech's Honors College has a lot to offer (including a couple liberal arts majors specifically designed for Honors College students and early admission to Tech's Medical School in the junior year). Texas Tech is the only state university in Texas with both a medical school and law school on the same campus. Finally, Tech alums are also prominent in Texas politics. For instance, the last two Speakers of the Texas House of Representatives, Tom Craddick (a Republican) and Gib Lewis (a Democrat), were both Tech grads,</p>
<p>bandit_tx said: "Wrong, Rice is. Rice is also the best for pre-med."</p>
<p>Actually, no you're wrong. According to the National Research Council, UT-Austin is #1 in Texas in 30 of the 37 academic fields it was evaluated in. Rice doesn't come close.</p>
<p>And everyone else rates Rice about #15 and UT about #55. In fact, Rice is the only Texas college or university ranked in the top 50.</p>
<p>The Texas LACs have excellent track records in medical school and law school placements - Southwestern University and Austin College. Also Trinity University.</p>
<p>Agree with lonestardad about Sam Houston and criminal justice.</p>
<p>bandit_TX is a Rice homer, so of course he's gonna think that Rice is "much better" than UT Austin.</p>
<p>Here's a more accurate analogy:</p>
<p>Rice is to UT Austin as Stanford is to UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>And I think UT Austin is an excellent institution, perhaps the most underrated institution in the nation (at least rankings wise). Don't listen to the Rice folks who have a major superiority complex; UT Austin is a great school that just doesn't earn enough respect.</p>
<p>"Actually, no you're wrong. According to the National Research Council, UT-Austin is #1 in Texas in 30 of the 37 academic fields it was evaluated in. Rice doesn't come close." Wrong again!!!Rice....
"Here's a more accurate analogy:</p>
<p>Rice is to UT Austin as Stanford is to UC Berkeley" perfect stanford is better than Uc berkeley...Rice is better than UT austin</p>
<p>"Rice is to UT Austin as Stanford is to UC Berkeley."</p>
<p>There's an excellent analogy. Rice typically offers a superior undergraduate education. There are obviously exceptions where UT is a comparable or better choice for students, such as pre-law and business. However, on a graduate level, it becomes very difficult for Rice-lovers to seriously argue that Rice is better than UT. Here are just a few areas worth mentioning where UT excels (graduate US News):</p>
<p>Business #18 (compared to Rice #44; I drive by a sign on the freeway advertising Rice's graduate business school every day. I think it's pretty clear that McCombs is the best business school in Texas and doesn't need to advertise much.)</p>
<p>Law #16 (I don't believe Rice has a law school.)</p>
<p>Engineering #13 (compared to #29 Rice)</p>
<p>Education #15</p>
<p>I think many Rice students may feel their school is superior to UT because of selectivity, where Rice accepts around 25% and UT still accepts nearly 51%. If UT had a lower acceptance rate (and I predict that it eventually will be lower but never as low as Rice), it wouldn't be so easy to consider it inferior.</p>
<p>The reason I don't really agree with Stanford vs. Berkeley analogy is b/c Stanford and Berkeley are both outstanding at the graduate level. Unlike Rice and UT, where UT clearly dominates graduate studies overall in Texas, with Rice, A&M, and UT Southwestern being strong in specific areas. (And even at the undergrad level, UT has pockets of excellence that match Rice - Plan II, Engineering honors, etc.) There's a much clearer distinction between the quality of graduate programs with UT vs. Rice then there is Stanford vs. Berkeley.</p>
<p>And pateta00, I'm not sure what you meant when you said "wrong again" re: the NRC. This is a factual statement - UT performed very well in the NRC rankings. Look at the individual department rankings in other sources like USNews grad rankings - UT is almost always ranked above Rice.</p>
<p>I'm not sure why this argument (Rice vs. UT) comes up so consistently on College Confidential; this forum is primarily devoted to undergraduate admissions, so it's misleading to debate the relative merits of graduate programs. Now, I'm not trying to say UT is necessarily an inferior undergraduate institution. In fact, I'm willing to bet that it would be superior for certain students who thrive in a large university environment. I also have no delusions about Rice's graduate programs; it's a relatively undergraduate-focused school, which is one of my favorite things about the place. As I've said numerous times before, ranking universities qualitatively is not all that helpful. We need to remember the idea of "fit," which, in my opinion, should be a very, very important factor when differentiating between schools.</p>
<p>And actually, I'm not a Rice homer as you put it. I attended another Southwest conference school undergrad and yet another for grad school. My daughter was admitted to Rice with $60K in scholarship money, but elected to attend Harvard instead. 'tu' was never a consideration.</p>
<p>im gonna go out on a limb and guess ur an aggie, since ur calling it "tu"</p>
<p>No one on here cares about grad school yet. Rice is primarily an undergrad institution, and on the undergrad level, its clearly better than UT. You can go to a different grad school than undergrad people.</p>
<p>Sorry that I threw out "UT is the best" so quickly, but my version of 'best' extends beyond academics. Perhaps Rice is "better than" Texas for undergrad studies, but in my opinion UT would be a much better college experience. Austin is an amazing city and especially for when you're in college, the pride that UT has is contagious, and in general the university as a whole seems like a really fun place to go to college. I have lived near UT my whole life but I have also visited Rice, and while I know that there are lots of things to do in Houston and that it is a fine city, the better academics at Rice couldn't sway a lot of people from all that UT can offer.</p>
<p>"Rice is primarily an undergrad institution, and on the undergrad level, its clearly better than UT. "</p>
<p>The only thing "clear" is that Rice is more selective than UT at the undergrad level - nothing more. For some people, a larger university with a larger variety of majors is better and they will thrive more than they would at a smaller university. And, according to USNWR at least, Rice and UT both have the same peer reputation rank in the undergrad rankings.</p>