Transfer: Texas Tech vs North Texas vs Texas State

State Forums
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<p>I am trying to decide to which university I will transfer. Due to various reasons, UT-Austin, A&M, and UH were never options, and I cannot afford a private school. I am very unhappy at my current school and it is known for having very poor post-graduation employment. I am a little bit older than normal, twenty-four, and I will be transferring in as a Junior, and hope to eventually get a part-time job while attending part-time (due to special financial circumstances). I am a business major and will be declaring Accounting. Here are the problems I have with my current school that I wish to avoid as much as I can in my transfer selection (in no particular order):</p>

<ol>
<li>Commuter-based campus. Students here are overwhelmingly commuters and there is almost no campus life at all, and I live on-campus. I am looking for a school that gives on-campus or near-campus students the potential to have a strong social life even if they do not have a lot of spending money, nor a car.</li>
<li>Dogmatically conservative student body. I am very open-minded, but I am also progressive/liberal, though, let’s just say not a big supporter of Democrats, much less Republicans. I am completely open to interacting/talking with conservative students – the problem is, at my campus, I have experienced both unfriendliness and even personal insults because of my views, and there is extremely little diversity in politics/philosophy/religion here.</li>
<li>Purely alcohol-based social life. I know just about every school is going to have lots of alcohol and alcohol-based activities. But I am not into alcohol, and I would like to go to a school where there is more diversity to social activities, where one can still have a strong social life and have fun while not drinking alcohol. I do not have anything against it, I am just not interested in it.</li>
<li>Incompatible girls. The female student population here is pretty much divided into two types: drunk sorority sisters only interested in drunk fraternity brothers, and conservative girls looking for their imminent husband/father-of-their-children, even if they are going through multiple “relationships” to find him. I am not seeking marriage, kid(s), or a serious, nor long-term relationship. I am equally interested in “just fun” or “more than just fun, but not serious/committed.” However, the amount of girls interested in one, the other, or both, are practically invisible.</li>
<li>Bad employment prospects, especially in Dallas, Austin, and/or Houston. I plan to apply in other cities/states as well, but if I remain in Texas, I wish to live/work in one of these three cities. So the stronger prospects in these areas for business graduates from my future school, the better.</li>
</ol>

<p>It seems that my best options are Texas Tech University, University of North Texas, or Texas State University. I know none of my school options are a perfect match, and all of them have advantages/disadvantages (for me) with each of the attributes I listed, not to mention other attributes I did not list. Unfortunately, I also cannot afford to visit any of the schools before deciding which to attend, but I am not sure if a short visit would give me the information I need anyway.</p>

<p>Based on what I am looking for and not looking for (as well as any other factors I did not list but you feel might be important), does anyone have any suggestions on which public Texas university to attend, and why you believe I should make that choice? Or even just some information/opinions you have that would help me in my decision would be appreciated.</p>

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<p>CXPTexas, your post is a very thoughtful one about your considerations for transfer. My overall observation is that any public college/university in Texas will likely be very conservative for the overall student population. However, any very large university (say 30,000 plus like Texas Tech) will still have a large number of “progressives” re their political leanings. You just have to seek them out. (I am center left in my politics). My son graduated from Tech, is a progressive, and found like minded folks on the student newspaper, the Daily Toreador, and in the Honors College. Tech has great employment prospects in the DFW area due to their huge alumni base here (as would UNT obviously). However, one giant concern…“Unfortunately, I also cannot afford to visit any of the schools before deciding which to attend, but I am not sure if a short visit would give me the information I need anyway.” However and wherever you can scrounge up the bucks and the time make a visit to the school(s) you are seriously considering. I would advise NEVER attending a college/university that you have not visited first (talk to students, faculty in your major, etc.), preferably during a weekday. You can quickly get a vibe about what it would be like attending that school by visiting. Nothing else substitutes. (And I was a transfer student myself “back in the day”.) I guarantee that the vibe at Tech and in Lubbock will be considerably different than UNT, etc.</p>

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<p>I have friends that have attended each of the three Universities you mentioned in the title, and here is what I have gathered from them:</p>

<p>Tech - BORING town but the student body is great. Lots of students to things with other students (mainly because there is nothing else to do). </p>

<p>State - Great college town, but drinking/smoking is a very huge thing. Frats are not a big thing down there, and I am sure there are plenty of girls who “just want to have fun”</p>

<p>North Texas - Think the students kind of do their own thing, but you are pretty close to Dallas so road-tripping there is always an option. </p>

<p>Not much, but hopefully this helps. Good luck!</p>

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<p>I went to UNT many years ago… While it is less of a commuter school now there is still alot of commuter kids that go home on the weekends. That being said if you want to major in accounting it is one of the stronger programs around. And there are many student that are older there as well.</p>