Thre should be a "Tier One" university in the Dallas-Fort Worth area

Colleges & Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
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<p>June 9 Editorial in the Dallas Morning News</p>

<p>Austin right to push Top Tier universities</p>

<p>The same higher-ed report declared another vital goal: building more Tier One universities in Texas. In doing so, the House's Legislative Study Group became the first panel of lawmakers to propose an approach for next year's lawmaking session. </p>

<p>The argument is student-focused, an important perspective. With only two top-tier public universities – the University of Texas and Texas A&M – the state can't accommodate the growing number of high-achieving students looking for a selective university with research-rich doctoral programs. Automatic admissions under the top 10 percent law put particular pressure on both schools. </p>

<p>The report urges boosting certain current universities to Tier One status, creating new slots statewide. </p>

<p>From a North Texas perspective, we maintain that this region is overdue for an elite university. Dallas-Fort Worth is the largest metro area without a Tier One school, as defined by such measures as membership in the Association of American Universities. (UT, A&M and Houston's Rice University are the only Texas schools in that group.) </p>

<p>The lawmakers did not ignore the economic boost that major research universities deliver. Agnostics on the value of higher education should consider their argument: </p>

<p>Money begets money, and the state's additional investment in institutions of higher education would not only greatly expand the possibilities for students, resulting in a better educated populace, but would help the state maintain a competitive economic edge in technology and human capital in the 21st century. </p>

<p>The report's proposal for upgrading universities resembles one from David Daniel, president of the University of Texas-Dallas. It would create a pool of $405 million that Texas' seven designated "emerging research universities" could draw on. (The seven include UTD, UT-Arlington and the University of North Texas.) </p>

<p>Alternatively, the report says, an initial $188 million for research could be made available to just four schools: UTD, Texas Tech, the University of Houston and UT-El Paso. That would be an acceptable starting point, if money is limited, assuming resources could eventually be available to the others. </p>

<p>The overall goal, though, needs to be embraced by top policymakers in Austin. It's for the good of the state and North Texas economies – and for the good of young minds. </p>

<p>Editorial:</a> Austin right to push Top Tier universities | Dallas Morning News | Opinion: Editorials</p>

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<p>They could try to boost the University of North Texas</p>

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<p>Anything to take the pressure off of UT's admissions crunch.</p>

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<p>UTD is a tier one university, for engineering and business anyway. Just nobody wants to go there since it has "41% Women 59% Men." It actually has a higher average SAT score, though the sports are limited to chess haha.</p>

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<p>Thats why flat screens were invented^ Then its just like a picture hanging on your wall</p>

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<p>Since when has Texas A&M been a Tier One university?</p>

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<p>They gave the criteria they referred to. </p>

<p>"as defined by such measures as membership in the Association of American Universities. (UT, A&M and Houston's Rice University are the only Texas schools in that group.)"</p>

<p>A&M does qualify that way. They were given AAU membership a few years back.</p>

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<p>I was making a joke...</p>

<p>I know Texas A&M is a fine school and their school spirit is second to none, even better than UT's.</p>

<p>But I will never let my Aggy friends forget that, while they were established as a vocational school for ag and mec training, UT was established as and always has been "a University of the first class" as stated in the state constitution.</p>

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<p>LOL.. sorry. I don't always get sarcasm online.</p>

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<p>I agree... we need more top universities in Texas. I think the first step is to get rid of that ridiculous top 10% rule that admits thousands of mediocre applicants automatically, and boost admission standards at UT and A&M. It would be a great thing to boost University of North Texas. It's a beautiful state of the art school and has the potential to become a Tier One university. UTD or UTA are also potential Tier One's that really should be boosted.</p>

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<p>Could you spell out U.T.? Is that Univ of Texas at ___________? I'm sorry, just don't knowthe universities.</p>

<p>While on the subject, is U.T at Austin a good university? Is Texas A & M its equal?</p>

<p>I would just appreciate a quick critique of the way these universities are perceived among Texans, if you don't mind.</p>

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<p>UT is UT Austin. Most people just call the University of Texas at Austin "The University of Texas," "Texas," or "UT," as it's the flagship of the system. If you run into the acronym UTA, that does not refer to UT Austin, it refers to the branch campus in the Dallas suburb of Arlington.</p>

<p>Among Texans, and mind you that here on the UT board you are going to get some biased responses (though in my opinion mostly true), most people definitely think of UT and Rice as the best schools in Texas (well, I'd say Rice, but it's an extremely different sort of school than UT and TAMU) and A&M as the third. UT has very strong engineering and communications schools, and one of the very best business schools in the country. TAMU is good at engineering (about equal with UT), and has strong though not stellar natural sciences. TAMU has a decent business school, but the liberal arts are quite lacking. Rice is the "Ivy" of Texas. It's small, it's quirky, and it's in Houston, which can all three be big draws or big drawbacks depending on your interests. Rice has probably the best natural sciences and liberal arts programs in Texas, and is strong in pretty much every program it has. However, it also costs about 3 times as much as UT and TAMU do.</p>

<p>UT has the larger and more vocal network of ex-students in the state, though Aggies are quite proud to be Aggies. It really depends on your personality and what you are looking for. But my short answer would be that as a whole, UT is quite a bit a better university than TAMU is.</p>