<p>For a lot of people, no school with 37,000 undergrads will seem prestigious. One of the characteristics of most “prestigious” universities is the opportunity for students to have direct, meaningful contact with special people and programs. It’s not possible for a significant portion of 37,000 students to simultaneously have that kind of contact.</p>
<p>Well then I would argue that people in the northeast are the ones who are misinformed. I also find it entirely ironic that you yourself admit that people in the northeast are the ones who are ignorant of the academic caliber of UT, and then accuse me of ignorance. </p>
<p>Here’s a tip learn what ignorance actually is before you attempt to use it as an insult.</p>
<p>DBATE each region will be ignorant of other schools in different parts of the country (generally speaking). Surprised you didn’t catch this because this is what i was getting at with my Northwestern example. Anyways i used ignorance in the correct context and I think you are the one who needs to get a reality check. Nice to know your from Texas as well (not biased at all right?) Good luck at Yale buddy nice to see you post that so everyone can see how some people can slip through the cracks. There was also nothing ironic about my post…odd that you would find that ironic because ignorance is prevalent everywhere especially in your case. Wasn’t the main topic the prestige of UT??? why are you arguing?</p>
<p>So, the consensus here is that “honors” at public flagships tend to be comparable to prestigious universities, but all the rest of the student body are clearly not. I agree with that mostly.</p>
<h2>Tzar09 wrote: "If you get into Prince, Stanford or Cornell you go. You work two jobs if you have too. Those schools are several leagues above UT. "</h2>
<p>Depends. </p>
<p>I attended both Stanford and UCLA. UCLA is not that different from UT… instead of top 10%, it is about top 2%, with Berkeley top 1.5%. UCSD is top 2.5%, UCs Santa Barbara/Davis/Irvine are approx top 7%, UCSC top 9%, and UCs Riverside and Merced top 13%.</p>
<p>This is very concentration dependent. In my area, Linguistics (at the time) UCLA was #3 in the country behind MIT and Harvard, while Stanford wasn’t top 10. Now they’re #2 and #3, so things change.</p>
<p>The big difference is in the first job out of college. UCLA doesn’t help much, and the name is good but doesn’t put you in the “we’ve got to inteview this guy” category like Stanford or Princeton will, and Cornell a little.</p>
<p>However, if you excel at UT, you will find the University will have subsets of resources devoted to “Honors”, etc. that helps equalize the resource differential. As an excelling student, you’ll be able to marshall faculty help as well.</p>
<p>Bottom line, either will be what you make of it. UT will require more proactivity.</p>
<p>UT has very similar students as the University of Florida and a very similar public perception. Few very far from Texas and Florida will consider them prestigious. I say this as a Florida grad who has lived and worked in New York, Boston and Chicago.
A long time professor friend of mine who taught at Wisconsin commented that Madison had a great combination of academics and social life. “But of course, the academics don’t party and the socials don’t study”. I’d guess Austin is about the same.</p>