@txmom11 asked me to share my thoughts about UT Dallas following our visit Monday, so here they are, for anyone else who’s interested:
This is a nice, clean modern campus in a very safe neighborhood. The school developed in an unusual way. The university was actually founded as a grad school by some Texas Instruments execs in the early '60s. It came into the UT System in 1969, then added upper class undergrads in the 1970s, and finally its first freshman class in 1990. It’s undergoing a period of strong growth. Last year’s freshman class was 2,700. They project 3,000 next fall. There’s a lot of construction on campus, but it’s toward the fringes and didn’t interfere with our experience.
A few of the older buildings look like the typical UT system concrete monoliths from the 1970s, but many newer buildings are stylish and functional. There are plenty of green spaces and some nice water features. They’re planting a lot of trees. The housing is modern and relatively spacious. Every student has their own bedroom.
The university has many non-STEM majors now (my D will be a History major, and the website shows a History staff of about 30), but it retains a strong emphasis on its technological and engineering background. The place is filled with serious students. I know this partly because my older D is working on a PhD in Chemistry PhD, and she teaches some intro classes. And they’re working hard to attract sharp kids. D2 has a 32/1460 and was offered full tuition + $1,000 a semester.
The campus is actually in Richardson, not Dallas. It’s surrounded moderate to high end homes with nice lawns. A downside (it would be to my D, at least) is that there doesn’t appear to be any kind of college bar/restaurant district around. There are a smattering of taco shops, burger joints and pizza places in strip malls a mile or two away, but they’re really just like what you’d find in any other suburban area.
It is kind of out of the way from all the cultural amenities in the DFW metroplex, but it’s only 20 to 30 minutes by car to downtown Dallas, and they have arranged a deal with the rapid transit system to give every student a rail/bus pass free of charge.
The Collegium V Honors College is a strong point. They only consider applicants with at least a 31 ACT and 3.6. They have a dedicated honors building with a lounge, computer labs and study space, plus dedicated honors housing.
I got a nice, favorable impression overall. I’m pretty sure D2 will be selecting a different school, but I suspect that’s largely because she wants the “college town” experience and the atmospherics of a campus with 100+ year old classical architecture and mature vegetation. Educationally, I would have been perfectly happy if she had come here. Thumbs up.