<p>Can anyone tell me what the general culture at UT at Austin is? It was suggested to me as a possible school for my son but I am wondering how a so. california kid would fit in there. I have been to Austin and it seems like a very progressive, cool place.</p>
<p>Austin is an awesome city, which is why, if you go to the UT Austin boards on cc you'll see posts from me and so many other anxious hopefulls who check their status page obsessively and pray to any diety that will listen that they'll squeeze through the doors of the admissions process for in-state students.</p>
<p>The weather is good, the city has a great waterway and parks, there's a bridge where thousands of bats fly out at dark (it's fun and no-one gets bit), the politics are liberal, there's a big statue of Stevie Ray Vaughn where peoplle leave flowers in his hand. Lance Armstrong and Andy Roddick live here.
You have Austin City Limits Music festival and the South by Southwest film festival. It's a college town but since it's the Capital, there's so much to do. Great places to eat, entertainment and a few other colleges nearby too.
Good public transportation and there's an airport nearby.</p>
<p>I love Austin and I will visit when I have breaks from the out of state school I'll go to next year because I got two B's in High School.</p>
<p>Oh goodness, where do I even begin?</p>
<p>Simply put...Austin is AMAZING. It's my favorite city in Texas. A lot of Californians love Austin. Austin tends to very politically liberal, but even if you may be a conservative from California, you will not feel isolated. People in Austin are very friendly. They're also very fit. There's beautful parks located all over town. Town Lake is great; so is Barton Springs. You can also head on down to San Marcos/New Braunfels area on the weekends and go tubing down the river (TONS of fun). If nature isn't your thing, there's tons of great shopping (Dobie center, the Drag/Guadalupe Street, San Marcos Outlet which is like I think 30-45 minutes away), etc. There's also a beyond amazing music scene. I live in the Houston area and some bands that come to Austin don't even come to Houston...and Houston is the biggest city in Texas. There's also greattt resturants, I think there is even one that makes it's food solely from things grown organically. During football season, basically everyone is wearing Burnt Orange on Saturdays and you can just feel the spirit Austin has for UT.</p>
<p>And if you do happen to get tired of Austin - there's lots of citys/towns nearby. San Marcos is great for shopping. There's some cool old German towns to visit. San Antonio is about an 1-1.5 hours from Austin I believe which is another great Texas city filled with it's own unique culture and if you REALLY wanted to, you could always drive to Houston or Dallas. It takes me about 3-3.5 hours to get to Austin from Houston and it would probably take a little less to get to Dallas.</p>
<p>Basically...I'm in love with this place. I go there every chance I get and I'm sure your son would absolutely love Austin/UT.</p>
<p>HOOK 'EM :)</p>
<p>Thanks! Sounds fabulous! I'll go look at the UT board for admission stats, etc.</p>