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[quote]
TAMU and UTD are going to give you a lot more money, but they don't have the same caliber of education or quality of life UT does.
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hey! i went to UTD for my bachelor's, and while the social environment is vastly different (12,000 nerds milling around? yeah, you're not gonna get a lot of parties, but that was what i loved about it), don't knock the quality of education there. if it was THAT easy, i would've come out with a lot better than a 2.8 GPA.</p>
<p>Caliber of education as defined by what? Some rankings? I would love for you to define how the caliber of education is better then TAMU. I'm just curious what your basing it off of.</p>
<p>DP</p>
<p>^ What do you think the US News rankings are based on? Why do you think they've designated Harvard as a better university than UT or A&M? Do you think they just make the stuff up?</p>
<p>How they do it: How</a> We Calculate the Rankings - US News and World Report</p>
<p>Rankings themselves: Best</a> Colleges - Education - US News and World Report</p>
<p>As far as public schools go, UT is 15th and A&M is 24th.</p>
<p>Let's face it hookem168, despite your obsession with superficial qualities and narcissism (i.e.: rankings), you couldn't pay me to care about US News rankings</p>
<p>That's what I'm getting at man. You can look at those rank numbers as much as you want, but they don't mean squat. You just can't say the quality of education is going to be better at UT than A&M because News Week says so. Ok, I'll give them some credit. They can probably tell the difference between a school with no funding and little facilities compared to UT. But when you get down between A&M and UT, the difference is so small, it doesn't even mater. </p>
<p>DP</p>
<p>^ I agree that the difference between #15 and #24 is probably pretty slim. However, I still find the US News report incredibly useful for certain things, and I don't understand how they're superficial at all, Foreman. They base it on hard facts.</p>
<p>Also, it's not narcissistic to say that some high schools students (myself included) can make straight As without studying (which is the post I think you're referring to). You brought it up by saying that you bet my friend was a "closet studier." He wasn't.</p>
<p>
[quote]
However, I still find the US News report incredibly useful for certain things, and I don't understand how they're superficial at all, Foreman. They base it on hard facts.
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Since you clearly need a definition of superficial to point out your blatantly stupid mistake:
"concerned with or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious; not deep or penetrating emotionally"
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Also, it's not narcissistic to say that some high schools students (myself included) can make straight As without studying (which is the post I think you're referring to). You brought it up by saying that you bet my friend was a "closet studier." He wasn't.
[/quote]
No, I'm actually not referring to that post. Don't make assumptions, because I'm refering to rankins. And "closet studier" means people don't know he studies, as in you wouldn't know he studied.</p>
<p>Please let's get back to some relevant talk instead of just bantering mindlessly. I was wondering what you guys thought about this: I have been offered a $20,000 scholarship from TAMU ($5000 per year). I haven't received anything yet from UT. I will be filling out the FAFSA pretty soon but I doubt I will receive a whole lot. Should I choose TAMU over UT because of the scholarship? I feel like I would enjoy UT better because I've heard great things and I know some of my friends are going to UT. I have yet to visit UT but I will sometime in the next few months. A&M to me seems kind of secluded and it seems that there isn't much to do but I'm probably wrong as College Station is a pretty big city. Which school would you choose for electrical engineering if you were in my position?</p>
<p>Like I said before, Apply to UTD, they will offer you money.</p>
<p>i'm going to second foxshot, plus UTD is a MAJORLY CS/EE-oriented school. i'd also recommend not choosing a school based just on where your friends are going - you can always make new friends, but you can't change how well a school teaches the subject matter.</p>
<p>I don't think I would feel at home at UTD so I'm not going to apply there. I have never seen it in my life but I just don't think it would be good for me. It would be about 2.5 hours from home and I think A&M has the better engineering program with more opportunities for work-study and co-op programs. I still haven't made my decision as to go to UT Austin or Texas A&M but I think I may be leaning towards A&M now only because of the scholarship. Have any of you graduated from UTD and can tell me some information about it like what is there to do, what caliber of education it offers compared to UT Austin and A&M in engineering, etc. Thanks.</p>
<p>nitinkarya, take the A&M scholarship...</p>
<p>Can anyone comment on how accessible UT professors are if you want to do research as an undergraduate? I was talking to a PhD student at my university who transferred to A&M after 2 years at UT and he emphasized a lot that UT professors were harder to approach to. I know this is just one persons experience, but can others share their own experiences?</p>
<p>nitinkarya - i graduated from UTD, though not from the engineering program. i did work for the school of engineering under the work-study program for a couple of years, though. i couldn't really tell you what there is "to do" since i never went looking; everyone at UTD focuses very heavily on their studies and i liked it that way. with the exception of some of the freshman apartments (the fact that they have apartments instead of dorms was/is a MAJOR plus for me), you don't have to worry about loud parties keeping you up at night. they do some on-campus activities but your best bet to find entertainment is going to be elsewhere in the city. probably the best-kept secret of dallas is the pocket sandwich theater. it's just down the highway from UTD, and they regularly feature comedy spoofs where they hand out popcorn for you to throw at the actors (and each other). it's LOADS of fun.</p>
<p>as for the calibur of education, what i heard most often from EE/CS students is that the program is very theory-oriented. some students didn't seem to like this fact, partly because i think it made the courses harder. as for the classes i personally took, i found them to be neither too easy nor too hard. there was one professor who was ridiculously easy because he was completely insane and spent every lecture talking about some 7000-page book he was writing on the internet about his own personal psychology theory that was just a mashed-up pile of other theories, so i skipped his lectures and read the textbook and made As on all the tests. but other professors were all pretty fair; some graded on a curve, some didn't, some gave you 100-question tests, some gave you 10-question tests. </p>
<p>it's also worth noting that UTD is part of the UT system, so i would expect their courses to be more similar to UT's than A&M's.</p>
<p>I might just end up at UT Austin even if they don't give me a scholarship because I would think that I will get some though very little money by filling out the FAFSA. I think I would enjoy UT Austin the most out of any college and it's only 1 hour away from home while A&M is about 2 hours and UTD is about 2 and half.</p>
<p>good choice :)</p>
<p>if you think you might not get much financial aid, go by the aid office at UT to get info on scholarships you can apply for. there are tons of scholarships besides what UT gives out.</p>
<p>Orsche -</p>
<p>I have friends in Natural Sciences that joined a Research FIG (non-residential) that undoubtedly helped them access undergraduate research experience. If you are capable joining such FIG I'd highly recommend it.</p>
<p>Don't worry about research. I admit, it's not that easy to find the professor who has similar research field/interest as you, but there are a lot of professors you can ask.
The key is don't get discouraged when a prof turns you down.
This is my first semester here, but I am already doing research (more of training right now actually) without even joining the FIG or FRI</p>
<p>considering i started in summer 08, the sudden surge of the amount of people on campus was really surprising when fall 08 hit...i mean i knew i should have expected 50,000 people but seriously! there is a lot of people but there are definitely advantages to that since you meet new people every hour and if there's a problem, its really easy to never see them again</p>
<p>i dont like the hobos that live on the drag</p>