<p>I can only speak from the perspective of electrical engineering. From my experience, regardless of the state school, the top of the class will be strong. These top students, however, are not disproportionately represented in either UT or A&M. A further assumption I made is that the students here on CC don’t tend to be average students. They tend to align more closely with this upper tier. Thus, when you compare the average statistics for student bodies and assume that it applies linearly to the upper tier, this is incorrect. The fact that UT accepts fewer and more qualified applicants in general has no bearing on the group of people at the top. You will have strong classmates regardless. </p>
<p>Metrics I think are more useful:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Job/Graduate Placement: an engineering school is measured by how well it can place its graduates into industry and academia. It’s a little bit easier here wrt engineering than perhaps liberal arts.</p></li>
<li><p>Grading distribution: engineering GPAs are low for a reason. The subject matter can be very difficult. Professors who make it easy are not doing their students any favors.</p></li>
<li><p>FE/PE exam: Not useful across all engineering disciplines, but a reasonable metric for how well a student learns fundamentals. </p></li>
<li><p>Peer/Industry-Reviewed Curricula: Realistically, undergrad should provide you a solid foundation in the fundamentals of your discipline with some exposure to higher level topics. Fundamentals are key in any industry, but especially important in engineering.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I think 1 and 4 are probably more useful. 2 and 3 are somewhat/possibly useful. Both UT and A&M will provide you the resources and preparation to have a firm understanding of the fundamentals surrounded by smart peers and connections to industry. This is why they are roughly equivalent academically.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot people. Food for though definitely. But coming back to what I said about grad school, will a very high GPA (say 3.8) combined with research and a strong application get me to the top 5 grad schools?</p>
<p>3.8 is pretty good GPA. I applied for graduate studies at UT, Stanford, U of Miami, and Rice. So far, I got admission from Stanford and UT. My GPA was 3.72 and I published five conference papers during my undergraduate studies, so I guess this is what got me accepted since other factors are just OK I guess. Good luck!</p>
<p>as a current freshman aggie, college station is how others have primarily described it, a college town. i came from houston which is a huge city, and i didn’t like such urban settings, so i chose a&m over UT. that being said, sterotypically, A&M is conservative yes, as sterotypically UT is liberal, but why let that stop you? your college of choice should be best at your major. at A&M, i have seen quite a few people get a little overboard with partying; we are not a super religious private school with curfews and single sex dorms (we have a few, but coed dorms seem to be the majority.) A&M and UT are considered the top two universities of texas, and are two of the three tier one universities, the type of environment you enjoy, along with what you want to major in should dictate your choice. </p>
<p>that being said, again, A&M is not overly religious, many people showed up to brother jeb’s little proclamations and didn’t enjoy his presence, and nor is everyone of a single religion, or a single race. many kids are from larger cities like houston, dallas, and san antonio, and there are many kids from small towns as well</p>
<p>AGAIN, you need to figure out what you want from your college, THEN see if UT or A&M is better for you :]</p>
<p>I’m not sure why everyone thinks that A&M has better engineering department than UT? They don’t. Maybe it stems from the fact that that’s their only program worth mentioning? Where as UT has many so it gets lost in the shuffle a bit.</p>
<p>I, like a few of you on here, have gotten into both UT Austin and A&M College Station. But…I just can’t decide between the two! I want to be a plastic surgeon and join Doctors without Borders to help children and families in need, and I’ve heard that A&M has a real good program for pre-med students, but I don’t really know about UT. BUT, I’ve also heard that they both have pretty good rates of students getting into medical school.</p>
<p>In another aspect, I’m not quite sure how the social scenes are. I’ve always been in the top 6% of my class, but I still like to party haha. I’ve been a part of one of the best marching bands, and I really love the traditional aspect A&M has to offer. But seeing as I rarely go to church, have 2 gay best friends and many others who have different religious views, and don’t care much for politics, I don’t see myself as very conservative and therefore like the liberality that UT has to offer. </p>
<p>Please help me!</p>
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<p>I would visit both, but by the way you’re talking, I would go for UT. </p>
<p>A&M has a great science program, but it’s more math-based (think chemistry and physics). I know a lot of doctors that have gone to UT. (You should do graduate school at UT-Southwestern! They’d give you a lot of merit aid, great programs). </p>
<p>That being said, A&M is diverse. You will find people that aren’t religious. UT is the same waythere are people there that are extremely conservative. As a whole, A&M is definitely more conservative, but there are a lot of liberal people attending. </p>
<p>As for A&M’s traditionsooh, yeah, this school has a lot. UT has some, but not as many as A&M does. I would say the social scenes are good at both, but UT has much better nightlife (walking around in Austin or College Station? Hittin’ up clubs or Starbucks?)</p>
<p>I’m not sure why everyone thinks that A&M has better engineering department than UT? They don’t. Maybe it stems from the fact that that’s their only program worth mentioning? Where as UT has many so it gets lost in the shuffle a bit.</p>
<hr>
<p>UT has a great engineering program, but A&M has a wonderful one as well. As a matter of fact, one of their programs is ranked higher than MIT’s.</p>
<p>A&M’s nightlife is a lot better than “hittin up starbucks” haha. Its no 6th street, but it has its perks. The big spot is northgate, which is a strip of about 15 bars (and a club, plus a couple quasi clubs). The drinks there are CHEAP compared to 6th street. You can get a pitcher of ziegenbock for you and your friends for ~7 during the week. And pretty much everyone is college aged which is also nice if you ask me. Its safer than 6th street, and we have carpool, a student organization that gives drunks free rides home from the bar. I’ve been to both, and I honestly like Northgate better than 6th street for most occasions. 6th street is better for big events like bachelor parties, vacations, whatever, but Northgate is better for regular weekends in my experience. Its cheaper, and there’s no shortage of college aged women. Most the bars are pretty similar; just medium quality places for socializing and some dancing. 6th street has more variety-hipster bars, clubs for jersey shore wannabes, dive bars, big expensive upscale bars, etc. But I dont happen to care for any of those things.</p>
<p>I spent my 21st birthday in College Station with my Aggie friend. We sure found enough places to party, lol! And that was back in the dark ages. The drinking age then was 18, so partying wasn’t new to us (not that it’s new to 21-year-olds today, either!).</p>