<p>I'm admitted to class of '18 and will have a year ahead to choose the major and now I still can't choose what to do. Just want some advice on what are the school's strongest majors so that I can make the most out of my 4 years there.</p>
<p>I hear that UTD is mostly known for CS, Engineering, and Business</p>
<p>What specific major of Business? like finance, accounting or operation management? UTD is also one of the few schools that offer actuarial science for undergrads. You think it’s good?</p>
<p>How is the Speech Language Pathology program at UTD ? The graduate program is ranked #11 on US News.
Any one with experience ?</p>
<p>Engineering, CS, accounting, neuroscience, chemistry</p>
<p>@bigreddawgie thank you so much for answering my question!! What about the Actuarial Science program?</p>
<p>What about the Art and Technology major, bigreddawgie? Are there gaming companies around Dallas where kids can do summer internships?</p>
<p>I agree: CS, Engineering, and ATEC are usually the biggies (and they have a new ATEC building that’s freaking awesome). Those three are pretty much at the top of the unofficial “food chain” at UTD.</p>
<p>@sbjdorlo AFAIK, ATEC students have a lot of opportunities, but they’re very competitive. </p>
<p>@thinktry Had a friend who’s a speech path. major, and she says it’s great with tons of opportunities. And having your own building for that one focus is nice.</p>
<p>Juvenis, thanks for the feedback. Is it harder to get into UTD if you’re applying to one of those majors, or is it jusst competitive once you get in? My son has a 2230 SAT and 3.95 uw gpa.</p>
<p>@sbjdorlo with those numerical stats your son will most likely get into the major of his choice. If he has been taking rigorous coursework, keeping up with extracurricular activities, and the like he’ll prob even get a full tuition scholarship.</p>
<p>@sbjdorlo by “competitive” I don’t mean getting in. In fact, ATEC is an easy majors to get into; the majority of ATEC majors have never used photoshop or aren’t computer-savvy like CS majors. All I mean is that usually the top ATEC students land decent internships and job prospects. Trust me; with your son’s stats, he will EASILY be part of that top product. He could very well be at the top of the STEM majors, as well. Most of the ATEC majors I’m friends with would NOT have survived taking science or engineering classes, but judging from your son’s stats, he’s MUCH more than capable of getting straight A’s in STEM classes.</p>
<p>Is he artistically inclined? Because ATEC heavily incorporates visual arts, perceptual ability, and creativity on the computer (one of my roommate’s assignments as an ATEC major was that he had to make or find 3 pictures that display the “golden ratio.” His other projects in his ATEC classes included making voiceovers, storylines, board games, and 3D models of made-up video game characters and landscapes). </p>
<p>Oh man, your last sentence is what my son is all about! He isn’t into pure art-he’s never taken an art class-but what he does in his spare time is work on a non-digital game that he’s been doing for years, filling notebooks with character sketches, moves, storylines, character descriptions, etc. He would <strong>love</strong> to make 3D models; in fact, he would love to work with his hands building things like miniature sets for movies.</p>
<p>He also is a serious cellist, however, and is considering music performance as a major. He also has considered Industrial Design, Game Design, and some other similar majors. </p>
<p>He took an animation class at the local community college in the spring and while he did well and enjoyed it, he doesn’t want to be purely an animator. He is an ideas guy and very creative. He does not want to program, though he isn’t opposed to learning a programming language. He’s dabbled in Alice, RPG Maker, Arduino, and 3DsMax, but hasn’t taken any programming.</p>
<p>I don’t know if he’s a straight A guy or not. He’s homeschooled and in his college classes so far, he has one B in trigonometry. Even with a 750 Math SAT, he actually has dyscalculia. He scores very high in reasoning and very low in computation. He had considered engineering, but depending on if he can get through his precalculus class in the fall or if he drops it again, he will likely go another route.</p>
<p>It’s good to hear top ATEC students are sought after. He has a lot to offer as it pertains to his talents and creativity. He just needs the training and refinement.</p>
<p>@sbjdorlo If your son is interested in majoring in music I wouldn’t suggest UTD as a school. We are mainly known for the sciences, engineering, CS and the like and our Fine Arts department isn’t well known/well-regarded. For music there will be better options like UNT. However, if he goes to UTD he can always minor or double major in the subject to explore his passion or even take a few performance classes. About the ATEC program Juvenis is right in regards to the top students being highly sought after but that being said I have heard many current ATEC students complain about the lack of jobs in the field after graduation and some have criticized the program in terms of lack of networking. Some of these complains may not be justified but the lack of jobs is realistic. There are simply to many people going the ATEC (or a similar) route hoping to go into game design or animation. With a greater supply of graduates in the field then jobs this could spell trouble for the average or lackluster students. Ofc this is true of nearly any field these days but I’ve heard it was more prominent in the ATEC field from current students. That being said I am not an ATEC major myself so please don’t let this discourage you. I’m just giving you my two-cents so you can do further research if you are worried.</p>
<p>Absolutely we do understand about the dearth of jobs and plethora of people wanting to get into the business. That’s why my son will likely have a number of different schools with different majors on his final list.</p>
<p>He’s already been accepted into Misouri S&T’s Metallurgic Engineering program, but I don’t know that he can do the math for engineering.</p>
<p>I do realize there’s no music major at UTD. My son will eventually need to decide which direction he wants to go. Some schools he’s looking at just for the music major. Other schools are on the list for the arts/tech/design programs. </p>
<p>I appreciate all the info, though. It’s always good to go in with eyes wide open.</p>
<p>@sbjdorlo He’ll fit RIGHT in with ATEC. He sounds EXACTLY like my former roommate: homeschooled, high SAT scores, impressive academic credentials, and passionate about creative gaming concepts. In fact, UTD has a lot of those lol. Seems like he’ll flourish (fwiw, I feel like the ATEC building just brings out the creative spirit in students, because it is by far the most aesthetically pleasing building on campus).</p>
<p>Many ATEC majors (my roommate and another friend included) either minor or double major in CS, so maybe that’s something he could consider. Is he also considering architecture? Maybe that’s something he could probably think about that involves creativity, and with your son building mini movie sets, I thought it might be another option he could think about.</p>
<p>I do have to agree with naokuvi on music. The fine arts and humanities at UTD – pardon my french – sucks, save ATEC. If we wants to continue playing the cello, he’d have to put playing music on a serious scale further down his priority list. Can he take classes to refine his skills? Absolutely. I just don’t see UTD offering him much to grow as a musician. One of my closest friends is a talented cellist, but he’s leaving it as a hobby simply because he’s outgrown what UTD has to offer him as an experienced cellist. Take this with a grain of salt, though, because I myself don’t play an instrument and can’t directly speak about music.</p>
<p>My son is really conflicted and truly has no idea what direction to go. He was immersed in music this summer. He worked for a professional theater company’s production of Romeo and Juliet as the only musician and had a blast. He also just finished an intense and amazing chamber music program. I don’t know if he could put cello on the back burner. My oldest son was a serious violinist in high school, but he has definitely been able to set it aside as a math major at MIT. However, he is very involved in music since he also plays guitar, sings and set up a recording studio in his dorm. But this son has only focused on cello.</p>
<p>I think the ideal would be for my rising senior to take a gap year to really figure out what it is he wants to do. He’s finally open to the idea, though I don’t know if schools like UTD allow a student to do that. If they don’t, he’ll just have to reapply the following year should he ultimately take a gap year.</p>
<p>My son actually was considering architecture. He took an architectural drafting class at the local community college last year and really did well, but he was thinking maybe it wasn’t for him. But it’s not totally off the table since he did enjoy it. One more area that needs more exploring, I think.</p>
<p>ATEC does sound amazing. I visited UTD with my oldest in 2012 as he was a McDermott finalist, and the ATEC building was very inspiring!</p>
<p>According to UTD’s website, undergrads can defer their admission for only a semester (though AES scholars can defer their admission for up to a year, strangely). </p>
<p>The “highest” classes your son can take as a musician include Music Performance III, which are pretty much lessons and rehearsals that can be taken up to 3 times total, according to the course catalog.</p>
<p>Has he researched UTD’s offerings in music? It might be a good time to discuss what he wants, if you haven’t already.</p>
<p>No, my son hasn’t researched the music offerings, but he does like ATEC and plans to apply both the UTD and to the McDermott Scholars program. Interesting about being able to defer for a year if you’re an AES scholar. Good to know.</p>
<p>I think he would deal with the lack of music just fine.</p>