Academic and social life wise, what are the pros and cons of each school?
UTD is known as a geek school. Two of my kids have gone there and loved it. It has the atmosphere they were looking for. It is not a party school. While I’m sure that drinking and drugging goes on at UTD the same as it does at other universities, it is not out in the open. The dorms and apartments on campus are quiet. There are not a ton of on-campus activities, but there is stuff to do. There are weekend activities, just not as many as you see on campuses that are more heavily residential. The dorms are very nice because they are all new. The oldest dorm was built less than 10 years ago. It is just north of Dallas and students get free bus passes, so you can easily go into Dallas for all the partying you’d like. My kids really liked that the chess team was a big deal and that there was NO football team. They didn’t want anything to do with the football culture that they saw at a lot of schools. The Greek organizations on campus are all service organizations and are not party oriented.
Texas State is known as a party school. I can’t really say anything more about it, because I don’t know anybody who is going to school there.
Thank you so much for the reply @awintx!