How good of a school is UTSA (Houston, Dallas: apartment complexes, how much) - San Antonio - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

titansfan777 · 08-01-2013, 12:51 AM

So I moved to Austin last October to get a little bit of a change in scenery after living in Philadelphia for the last 8 years. I was enrolled in a small feeder school to Penn State school back in PA but was not into the academic aspect as much as I should have been (bad major - just couldn't stay interested in it) and quit to take a year off to figure stuff out. In that year I moved all the way to Texas and spent all of the winter/spring taking community college classes that could transfer to any school while working full time.

Architecture was always what I wanted to do. However, originally being a finance major prevented me from having a real portfolio of things I have drawn or built. Combined with a GPA only around a 2.7, this left UTSA and UT-Arlington as my only choices. I decided to go with UTSA and I start in just a few weeks. I am excited to finish out these next 6 semesters in a field I feel I will enjoy.

Enough backstory.

Now, me being excited to finally go back to school got me talking with a bunch of friends. They seem to not think much of the school. I understand its not UT-Austin or Texas A&M-College Station, but it seems like a pretty good school anyway. I also understand that the school is expanding buildings and improving the overall school profile. I was just wondering what you guys thought of the school - things like:

-Overall - Where would you rank an overall experience at UTSA with Texas State, Texas Tech, Houston, and the other UT/A&M-feeder schools?

-Academics - Just how good are they? I can only read so many US News and World sport articles on schools. I would like to hear from real local people - whether they attended or not.

-Sports Teams - I know they just started the football program, but what about basketball and other varsity sports. Also, what about club sports? What about Rec teams? Finally, how well attended are the sporting events like football and basketball?

-School Spirit/Enthusiasm - I'm not expecting a rabid fan base like up here in Austin, or the cult like following of Penn State back home, but how do people feel about UTSA? Are people proud of their school - or are they just yeah, I got a degree there, so what?"

-Social aspect - What's it like? I know there are a lot of commuters, but there are also a ton of apartment complexes for students within a mile or so of the school. I'll be living at one of these places this fall. Is the atmosphere one of a community college(you go and attend class and come right home), or that of a larger university (attend class, go drink around on weekend at various parties and stuff around the area). What all is there to do in the area?

-Job Outlook - I know this depends on degree choice and things like that, but how much weight would a degree from UTSA carry not just in San Antonio, but around the state?

Feel free to add other things to look into and share your experiences.

L210 · 08-01-2013, 01:41 AM

UTSA is big enough to be ranked among the national schools, although, its rank is so low, it's not published by U.S. News. Texas State University is ranked as a regional university. UT Dallas, University of Houston, and Texas Tech are ranked high enough among national universities to have their rankings published. UT Arlington does not have its overall rank published just like UTSA, but it's ranked in more majors. I believe all of these schools are vying to become tier 1 research universities. University of Houston was already designated as a tier 1 research institution by the Carnegie Foundation. However, this doesn't officially make UH a tier 1 university, but I think it's an indication that it's close.

In my opinion, UTSA is below all of the universities listed above. I would put it above the Texas A&M and UT offshoot campuses not listed. I think University of North Texas and UT El Paso are also trying to compete for tier 1 status. I would have to do more research to try to determine where UTSA ranks in relation to those two, but my guess is that UTSA is below UNT and above UTEP.

L210 · 08-01-2013, 02:02 AM

Bo · 08-01-2013, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by titansfan777

-Sports Teams - I know they just started the football program, but what about basketball and other varsity sports. Also, what about club sports? What about Rec teams? Finally, how well attended are the sporting events like football and basketball?

How competitive they are is a tough question to answer, because UTSA just moved into Conference USA, their third conference in 3 years. It isn't known yet how competitive their programs will be against other schools in their new conference.

Football attendance is big. UTSA led their last two conferences in attendance, IIRC. Attendance and the fact they play home games in the 60,000-seat Alamodome were both factors in UTSA getting admitted to CUSA.

Men's basketball draws more lightly. I've been to games over their winter break that drew fewer than 2,000. That may change with games against the marquee name schools in CUSA.

Zone Read · 08-01-2013, 07:07 AM

I've been to 5 different colleges and universities in my life, I found that UTSA was the least challenging and had the lowest expectations of its students. I realize that it may vary by the program or degree you are seeking, but thats what I felt. Compared to UT Austin, where I got one of my degrees, it seemed a lot less competitive.

funnyhaha · 08-01-2013, 08:13 AM

There isn't much school spirit on campus. I graduated from UTSA about 3 years ago; and I never got the feeling of students wanting to hang around campus after classes. Now I've never attended UT ot A&M but I;ve been to the Notre Dame campus a few times up in South Bend; and when you walk the campus, you see nothing but students everywhere. Walking from Dorm to Drom, sitting out under a tree (weather I'm sure plays a factor). But overall, I just got more of that "college vibe" touring that campus than I ever did the 4 years at UTSA. The campus becomes a ghost town once the afternoon hits. Just my opinion though.

Maybe when the football team becomes successful things will change. Or maybe as the school continues to grow?

I agree with the previous poster about the expectations for the students being pretty low.
I'm sure alot of that has to do with the professors that teach there; if a top of the line professor has choices of UT, A&M, Texas Tech and UTSA (and has no previous ties to UTSA) It's a no-brainer that they will take the higher tier schools over UTSA.

The Black Irish · 08-01-2013, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zone Read

I've been to 5 different colleges and universities in my life, I found that UTSA was the least challenging and had the lowest expectations of its students. I realize that it may vary by the program or degree you are seeking, but thats what I felt. Compared to UT Austin, where I got one of my degrees, it seemed a lot less competitive.

Hence the perception and reputation UTSA has had since the early 80's. UTSA used to be a commuter school. Now the enrollment is bigger and they tend to accept most people who apply there. It is not very hard to get into UTSA.

Chaka · 08-01-2013, 08:28 AM

Programs vary dramatically. Expectations overall have increased dramatically.

I happen to know a number of people associated with the architecture program (faculty, former students, researchers) and have been very impressed with their quality. This is not my field so I can't offer a real comparison to other architecture programs, but I'd hazard a guess it's doing well, based on the caliber I've seen.

I'm familiar with a couple of other departments and have been impressed as well, but not thrilled about the school as a whole. No, it's not a big name school and frankly I'd encourage my own kids to go elsewhere - outside of Texas, for a variety of reasons, but in your situation, it sounds like UTSA is a good option. It may not have the same vibe as UT Austin or A&M (which I think can be important, depending on the situation), but that is also ok if the program is what you want and it works for you.

Follow your passion, and if it's architecture, pursue it!

mcferguson · 08-01-2013, 09:12 AM

I graduated from UTSA in 1999 with a BS in Geology and I found that the value of my education was directly related to the time and effort I put into it. The geology program wasn't nationally known, but the professors were very knowledgeable and I feel I got a valuable degree.

School spirit-wise, there wasn't very much when I was there. Maybe its improved with the football team, I don't know.

Proffer · 08-01-2013, 09:28 AM

I know a couple of the architecture profs at UTSA, and they are great. I am a tenured prof in another department there, and can attest to the fact that the expectations of students have been decreasing steadily. There are many articles written about this being a nationwide phenomenon (e.g., by profs in the top business schools in the country), and it has to do with the students, not the professors. I've had to steadily "dumb down" my exams and reduce expectations steadily over the past 7 years. I give multiple choice exams with many questions having two choices, and many students do worse than if they had randomly clicked answer choices. (Come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if they did!) Pressure to keep up enrollment and to keep supporting the spiral of growth in administration, has even turned our M.A. program into what appears to be open-enrollment, and I find it so troubling. The students, faced with unemployment upon graduation with the B.A., go back to school just to have something to do, and we accept them when their applications are unfocused, are not relevant to our program, are full of grammatical errors (even after mom has looked at it), and they score in the 14% in portions of the GRE exam. I vote "no" on these students, but the rest of the committee votes them in. Higher education, no matter where you go, has basically become a matter of being willing to pay. That's it. Anyway, there are some very smart folks in the architecture department.

There are various reasons that faculty will choose one school over another. I'm at UTSA because of the warm weather and because it's a more affordable city. I also did not want to work at an R1 because I wanted to balance teaching and research. So it's not like all of the best profs gravitate to top R1 schools if they possibly can.