<p>With difficult, time sensitive decisions ahead of me I have a few questions. </p>
<p>Financial Situation
I have been accepted to SMU and after Financial Aid/Scholarships my EFC will be around $9155/year. At UT Austin/A&M I don't expect any Financial Aid/Scholarship so after my Texas Tomorrow Fund I will only have to pay room/board, food, books, and miscellaneous costs, which will probably come out to around $9,000 as well. </p>
<p>Academic Situation
I was accepted into the SMU Cox BBA Scholars program as well as the Honors program at SMU, however at UT I did not make Plan II or my 1st choice major (ChemE) and got thrown in to the 'Undergraduate Studies' pool. I know this was because I was a bit of a slacker in high school and did not perform at my full potential in the classroom, however I was a killer test taker when it came to SAT/ACT. At A&M I got my first choice major, Nuclear Engineering. I am confident that in college I will be able to maintain a 3.7+ no matter where I end up. </p>
<p>Career Outlook
While I originally applied as ChemE to UT I am not sure that I want to go in to ChemE, NuclearE is a bit more interesting to me and has more applications (energy) that I am curious about. However in the interests of long term career outlook ($$/Job Security) I have been more often than not leaning towards a Quantitative Analysis/Finance major, for which I have questions about whether McCombs or Cox will be a better choice.</p>
<p>UT Austin McCombs Pros/Cons
+ BHP Double Major
+ Strong Alumni Network (Texas Exes)
+ Many Internships (Some even paid)
+ Austin is just a beautiful city and much more interesting, in my opinion than Dallas (where I currently live)
+ Higher Rankings in Undergraduate Business
- I'm not into McCombs yet! (Internal Transfer would be the goal)
- Larger Campus Size -> Less Personalized Instruction</p>
<p>SMU Cox
+ Honors Program/BBA Scholar
+ Smaller Class Sizes -> More attention and relationships with professors
+ Campus is Gorgeous
+ Strong Networking
+ Already in to the Business College
- It's in Dallas
- Most of the Networking is IN Dallas
- A bit too close to home for my taste</p>
<p>A&M Dwight Look Nuclear Engineering
+ Continues Strong Science Theme from High School
+ Have Family in College Station
+ Amazing job outlook coming out of college
+ Cheaper living costs/expenses
- College Station is not quite my cup of tea
- I'm not sure that being an Engineer is what I want to do for the rest of my life
- Many of the jobs in this Engineering discipline are military/government based </p>
<p>Can anyone break down my list of pros and cons with some real world experience? Does anyone have friends that have had to make this decision before? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Some people will probably throw their advice to you, but in my opinion, you’ve got what seem to be no-lose situations right in front of you. This is going to be one of the first times you have to make a decision that will have a moderate impact on your future. Id the costs are the same everywhere, then maybe you should research the curriculums of the different majors at each school and find something that you are interested in and follow your intuition. Make sure you actually follow your interests though, don’t look at one subject and decide you don’t like it simply because it is difficult.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in both finance and engineering, which many people are, I’d suggest doing NE at A&M, working for a few years, and then see if you can get accepted into the mccombs MBA. </p>
<p>Undergrad engineering → MBA is a common route. A&M has a very good engineering program (although not quite as good as UT…haha) and UT has a top 20 MBA program.</p>
<p>So it seems like the recommendations so far stray away from UT, is there any particular reason why? Is it difficult to transfer out of Undergraduate Studies even into the Natural Sciences college? </p>
<p>A few more questions:
While ‘Undeclared’ is it possible to take any classes from the Business College, or do Economics and the like all fall under the Liberal Arts college? Is there any way I can get a head start on the business curriculum at UT while in UGS, or even transfer out of UGS before then? If I’m stuck with what I’ve got, I’m not at all upset, I’m just a bit curious about what my paths out of ‘Undeclared’ are from this point.</p>
<p>I am willing to take the risk at McCombs if it means chances for better job opportunities coming out of school. My main question about Finance is which will be the better school for Quantitative Analysis/Consulting - McCombs or Cox, and which will have more job offers?</p>
<p>The more I think about the job market for Nuclear Engineers (Military+Powerplants) the less inclined I am to pursue that career path. While engineering -> MBA is attractive to me it seems as if that path would lead to management positions more than anything. The allures of business for me are the mathematical and statistical components, and perhaps my expectations of the job market for those skills are a bit exaggerated.</p>
<p>Why take the chance, especially since you said you were a bit of a slacker in high school? What makes you think that you will turn it around quickly during the first year of college? Many underclassmen courses are weed-out courses; you blink and the A is gone, so is the chance to transfer into the highly competitive McCombs.</p>
<p>SMU Cox is a good business school. Do well there and you’ll have as many job opportunities waiting for you.</p>
<p>If you were not accepted DIRECTLY into the Cox business school (carefully read the acceptance letter), be ready for a surprise. Buried in the very fine print on the website is the fact that you have to REAPPLY to get into the Cox school after 3 semesters at SMU, and you need to maintain a 3.3 GPA. One person in the admissions office said that you still may not get accepted even AFTER meeting the criteria. Not mentioned in any of the Welcome material, Acceptance letters, or Scholarship notices. Buyer Beware!</p>
<p>UT Austin > Texas A&M or at least that’s what people think here at the east coast…I would try my best at UT Austin to get into McCombs. Urban environment, more internship opportunities, better alumni network (although kinda same as Texas A&M’s). </p>
<p>" Larger Campus Size -> Less Personalized Instruction"</p>
<p>Actually UT Austin has a Student-faculty ratio of 18:1 but Texas A&M has 21:1. Texas A&M has a much bigger land area like 5k acres but UT Austin has only around 500 acres. (campus size)
Every thing is better at UT Austin and it is also closer to your home which will drive down the transportation cost. I would attend UT Austin without any hesitation.</p>
<p>In regards to SMU, some people have been directly admitted into Cox as a freshman but I’ve heard the numbers are very small (like 100). It may have changed but honestly, I wouldn’t worry it because most or almost all the students enter SMU as a pre-major and you’ll be able to declare your major as a sophomore. It is rather simple process in order to gain admittance. You just need to meet the minimum requirements, which is based off of your GPA (I believe it is 3.5) and more importantly you have to maintain a certain GPA in order to STAY IN the program (I believe it is a 3.3). SMU advisors will help you through the whole process. </p>
<p>However, it is much harder to get into the business school at UT Austin simply because there are too many students. My understanding is it is a extremely competitive process where you have to apply to the business school in order to gain acceptance, which is similar to college application process. </p>
<p>You can get into Cox simply if you meet the GPA requirement, however, I would say it is more difficult to stay in. However, unfortunately you aren’t guaranteed a spot at UT Austin’s business school even if you have stellar grades.</p>
<p>My son is a sophomore at SMU and it was a fairly simple process for him to declare his major. My husband went to UT Austin so I am familiar with both processes. </p>
<p>I would recommend SMU over UT-A for many reasons. Here are a few:
class size is VERY small
all classes are taught by professors at SMU (this is not true at UT-A)
you have HUGE access to the professors (at UT my husband said that he had to go through 2 TA’s in order to get permission to see the professor and he had to wait in line for an hour just to see him for 5 minutes)
more oportunities for research, co-op, leadership positions, TA (grading homework) (my son is a sophomore and he had all of these opportunities)
voted the happiest students
you will have many advisors (my son has 3 - freshman, major and career) helping you every step of the way</p>
<p>However, I would definitely recommend UTA for graduate school but not for undergraduate because it is way too impersonal and they want you to leave as soon as you arrive (simply because there are too many students!). You are a number at UT; whereas, you are very important and cared for at SMU. SMU wants you to stay and they won’t push you out.</p>
<p>If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me and good luck!</p>
<p>UT-Austin is definitely not the place to be if you are looking for direct personal attention from professors. Most professors hold office hours multiple times during the week and I have had no problem meeting with them face to face when need be. Of course, the closer you get to an exam, the more crowded the prof’s office becomes.</p>
<p>I’m currently an Econ student at UT who just submitted my application for internal transfer into McComb’s. I’ve got a 3.48 from last semester, and assuming I quit procrastinating, I should be able to pull that up to a 3.6+ to get admitted, assuming the admittance GPA stays near trend.</p>