Texas Universities

Applying to College
21

<p>I agree with the overall comments about the best colleges/universities in Texas. However, let me throw in a plug for the honors colleges/programs at Texas state universities other than Texas A&M and UT-Austin. My son goes to Texas Tech Honors College which has roughly 1,000 students; many valedictorians and salutatorians; and average SATs of approximately 1340. Along with the smaller interdisciplinary classes (max of 25 students per class),TTU honors students also have special admissions criteria to Tech's medical school and law school; undergraduate research opportunities; foreign study opportunities, etc. </p>

<p>I just noted Texas Tech as one example of honors programs at Texas state universities that I am familiar with. There are many others that are worth a look (go to the respective university websites). For instance, the University of Houston has an excellent honors program that takes advantage of its setting in one of the most dynamic cities in the nation. U of H offers many excellent programs including one of the top 50 law schools in the country; a top hotel administration program; and numerous others. The University of North Texas is another diverse, multi-faceted university with an excellent honors program (a top music program as one for instance and a residential program for high achieving high school students in math and sciences). Of course, these honors programs are offered at state tuition prices which can be very reasonable. </p>

<p>For students that are applying to UT-Austin and Texas A&M, the honors programs at other Texas state universities can be an excellent alternative worth exploring (with much smaller classes and other goodies) versus being one of the masses at these two fine universities.</p>

22

<p>Regarding overall Texas college/university reputations, here is a summary:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>University of Texas-Austin and Texas A&M as the "flagship" huge and diverse public universities.</p></li>
<li><p>Rice University as the premier small private university with a sterling reputation in academics (and baseball with the national NCAA champ a couple years ago) that can hold its own against any major university in the country for the programs it offers.</p></li>
<li><p>Trinity University, Southwestern University, and Austin College as excellent small liberal arts colleges. All three are a notch below Rice in selectivity. All three offer the close knit personalized instruction of first rate liberal arts colleges and are located in or near large metropolitan areas. Trinity and Southwestern also offer excellent merit aid (I'm not as familiar with Austin College in that regard).</p></li>
<li><p>SMU, Baylor, and Texas Christian University (TCU) as mid-size private universities with strong reputations in particular areas. All three have very similar admissions statistics for their student bodies. Since TCU was not mentioned previously, here's some more. It has the largest endowment of the three which keeps tuition relatively low for a private school (especially relative to SMU's higher price tag). Despite its name, TCU has little in the way of "religious" requirements of its students (unlike Baylor). TCU is the smallest of the three in student population (between 7 and 8 thousand students) and is located on a handsome treed campus in Fort Worth, an up and coming major city. For instance, Fort Worth has some of the finest art museums (such as the Kimball Museum) for a city of its sze anywhere in the country. The museum district is only a few miles from TCU's campus. Its downtown has had a "renaissance" in the past two decades with numerous restaurants, art galleries, and other "people friendly" attractions. Downtown Dallas is dead in comparison.) </p></li>
</ul>

<p>If you are considering SMU, be sure to also put TCU on the radar as well.</p>

23

<p>LSD, very nice summary.</p>

24

<p>HMM best all around...</p>

<p>I would go with Rice and UTAustin. (especially any of the highly selective schools and/or honors programs within UTAustin) </p>

<p>My next choices for D in Texas would have been </p>

<p>Trinity
Southwestern
Austin College</p>

<p>but they were all too small for my d's liking.</p>

<p>After that</p>

<p>SMU
TCU
Baylor<br>
(those are not in any order)</p>

25

<p>The students I met at Rice were a bit nerdy. It is also very expensive in a crappy city. Baylor undergrad is not academic. You can go to UT Arlington and go to Baylor Med, many do. Houston is an awful city to live in. If I had a choice, I would go to UT Austin.</p>

26

<p>My D loves Houston (much better than her native Dallas). She and her friends are not nerdy, although there are nerds at Rice. I think Rice has a well-rounded student body. There is tons to do in Houston- strong arts community, parks, restaurants. Rice is in a good area.</p>

27

<p>regarding UT, what if your school doesn't rank? and if they do, does UT use weighted or unweighted?</p>

28

<p>You can find the info you seek at bealonghorn.com when you get there, search "admissions". They specificallly discuss what they look at when considering different types of applicants such as transfer students, freshman, etc. Here's a small excerpt:</p>

<p>Class rank is an important factor in our admissions decisions.
Based on Texas law, you can be automatically admitted to UT Austin (but not necessarily to a specific major) as a freshman applicant if you</p>

<ol>
<li>Graduate in the top 10% from an accredited Texas high school</li>
<li>Complete the application process on time</li>
<li>Enroll at the University within two years of high school graduation</li>
<li>Do not enroll at another university in the interim</li>
</ol>

<p>We also consider class rank as one of several academic and personal achievement factors when making admissions decisions for non-top 10% Texas graduates and out-of-state graduates.
For some students, class rank may not be available to us when making admission decisions. Some students graduate from non-ranking high schools; others graduate from unaccredited high schools, are home-schooled, do not enroll at UT Austin immediately after high school, or do not graduate from high school in the traditional manner. For these individuals, we look to a variety of available sources to help us make informed decisions about their admission to the University.
If you're not sure where you fit in all of this, see the Types of Applicants section to figure out how we'll consider your application.</p>

29

<p>dumb texans.</p>

30

<p>LSD, excellent summary. I completely forgot to add Southwestern and SMU to my lists, and they are most definitely excellent schools. Several students from my school are going there this year, and from what I've gathered from talking to them, they're great schools. My cousin graduated from SW and received one of the best educations he could have in TX.</p>

<p>The SW campus is pretty to boot, as well as SMU's (though rather small).</p>

31

<p>Hey everyone, i've been somewhat "dormant" for a while on the forums, but I just had a question in case anyone knew anything about University of Texas (Austin)'s honor programs. I got accepted into the UT Natural Sciences honors (Dean's Scholars) and I also got notified to apply for a chemistry specific honors program, but I was just wondering if anyone knew how well UT honors programs stacked up against other public schools (and in the context of ALL the nation's schools). I heard the science honor program only takes 40 new freshmen so i got kinda excited...(i only applied to ut) lol...but if anyone has ANY idea, please be sure to reply. Thanks everyone....</p>

32

<p>Our valedictorian decided not to attend MIT or Caltech but to instead attend UT Engineering Honors program on a full scholarship. He is biased towards UT given his dad is a Graduate professor at UT but that gives the program clout in my mind.</p>

33

<p>^ the valedictorian is missing the chance to interact with the brightest and most influential tech students/researchers in the nation.</p>

<p>UT Honors Engineering is very very good. In fact, UT's regular engineering is top 10 nationally. But c'mon, I'm sure he chose UT for financial reasons, not for the academics (unless he really hates the nerdy atmosphere at MIT and Caltech, but i don't think that's the case since they admission officers would have probably noticed that and not admitted him in the first place)</p>

34

<p>Hey,</p>

<p>What college in Texas would ya'll say gives out the most money?... Rice, UTSA, UT Austin, TEXAS TECH... ???... Baylor?.. "GONNA NEED ALL THE MONEY I CAN GET"...</p>

35

<p>wow, passed up caltech and mit? lol, smart guy! ut's atmosphere is second to none, if you've ever been you'd know what i mean, it's an experience of a lifetime. But you were referring to engineering, would you happen to know anything about the ut honors "bio/chem" program? just wondering, lol, and btw, my calc teacher told me that at a lacrosse or football game, mit kids started shouthing out pythagorean identities as their chants....NEEERDS! lol, ut>mit, hehe...</p>

36

<p>VINCE YOUNG > mit</p>

37

<p>Trinity gives the most merit aid. You can often get a full ride if you have the stats and ECs and other stuff.</p>

38

<p>Both Baylor and Soutwestern have financial aid calculators on their website which will tell you upfront how much they will give you. But UT has cheaper tuition.</p>

39

<p>Rice is quite generous if you have top stats.</p>

40

<p>I live in Texas, so I might be able to comment. It all depends on the subject:</p>

<p>BIOLOGY/COGNITIVE SCIENCE: Rice has an amazing cognitive science department, and a strong biology department. University of Texas's Dean's Scholar Program is strong in this aspect too, but offers a broader education within biology than Rice, which usually puts their students on a fast-track to specialization.</p>

<p>BUSINESS: University of Texas McCombs or University of Texas Business Honors Program are strongest in Texas business programs. Texas A&M University's Mays Business Program is progressing at the fastest rate, in my opinion, due to a strong cut back in professors and elite hiring standards. A&M receives more alumni donations than other universities, and Mays school is now attracting professors from Northwestern, MIT, and WUSTL. </p>

<p>MEDICINE: The Rice program is the best. It is titled "Baylor" and the program holds a major health clinic in Baylor, but most facilities are associated with Rice. UT has a pre-med program in San Antonio, which runs a distant second.</p>

<p>ENGINEERING: I personally say A&M is best in engineering, but UT runs close. Rice is good in specific fields of engineering such as biomedical engineering and some chemical engineering. UT is good in civil engineering, while A&M is strong in mechanical, and number one in agricultural.</p>

<p>ARCHITECTURE: Rice, hands down, number four nationally.</p>

<p>AGRICULTURE/ECOLOGY-based AG: Texas A&M hands down, number one in most agriculture related fields.</p>

<p>LIB ARTS: UT Plan II, excellent mix. Rice, liberal arts strong, comparable.</p>

<p>LOCATIONS:</p>

<p>AUSTIN: UT's Austin is the most diverse town, but at times, the campus feels too crowded. The drag is diverse: there are many shops, a lot of music, a lot of fairs, and quite a few hobos. UT has many resources, esp. political resources due to closeness to the capitol building. PROs: diversity, things-to-do, resources. CONS: politically lop-sided, big-city problems of dirt, hobos, crowds, etc.</p>

<p>COLLEGE STATION: Around 60,000 people without students, 120,000 with. College Station is a rich community and its twin city is Bryan, which is much poorer. Bryan is an older town, and has a huge hispanic population...good Mexican food. College Station revolves around students, so thats a pro. Sometimes, though, it carries a lopsided Republican atmosphere. Usually, this doesn't show. A&M has many foreign minorities, but many minorities within US prefer other places. A&M is said to be homogeneous, but that varies by department. Huge community atmosphere, football games huge focus...etc, huge added on.</p>

<p>HOUSTON: Rice is in the middle of Houston, so great resources. Gorgeous campus, pretty isolated in terms of no contact with inner city stuff. Many flowers, rich neighborhood, sometimes homogeneous area but students are mixed.</p>

<p>WACO: While net Waco population is greater than College Station population, Baylor is in such an outskirt that the area seems to have very few people and very few activities surrounding it. Partly due to the fact that Baylor is not a public university, the city does not revolve around the campus. Waco is close to Houston, so thats a plus. It is also pretty strong in church-going population, by what I saw...so thats a PRO/CON depending on you.</p>

<p>Hope this helps!</p>