Does UT have the same reputation as Harvard in Texas? (Houston: private school, college)

[marcopolo2000]

UT doesn't even have the same reputation of other large public schools like UCLA, UC-Berkley, Virginia, Michigan,etc. Even though Texas is huge, it lags big time in the number of highly ranked, Tier 1 universities so UT benefits from the whole "big fish in a little pond" phenomenon. Outside of the state, its not really in the same league as other flagship universities. Texas A&M fares even worse. Its not even on the radar when people discuss top universities nationally.

[TrapperL]

UT is nothing like Harvard or any of the Ivy Leaguers, THANK GOD! All I've seen from those schools are a bunch of socialists and communists that think their opinion is fact. Want to see a school that's really involved in most areas and the leader in many, look to Texas A&M. They make the Ivy League look like kindergarten.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by marcopolo2000

UT doesn't even have the same reputation of other large public schools like UCLA, UC-Berkley, Virginia, Michigan,etc. Even though Texas is huge, it lags big time in the number of highly ranked, Tier 1 universities so UT benefits from the whole "big fish in a little pond" phenomenon. Outside of the state, its not really in the same league as other flagship universities. Texas A&M fares even worse. Its not even on the radar when people discuss top universities nationally.

Yes, but that's silly US News and Report stuff for gunner kids and their parents. Any employer in particular industries would love to have an engineer from UT-Austin or Texas A&M which have some really reputable programs in engineering especially for oil/gas, business, and law. McCombs Business and UT Law are tops in the nation. UT is not up there with UCLA or Berkeley but it is in the range of OU, Georgia, Bama, and probably it's best peer is U of Florida.

Rice to me in the same league as Harvey Mudd College not Cal Tech.

[RustyRanchero]

I don't think A&M or Texas could hold the jock of Rice when it comes to academics.

[thenewtexan]

Originally Posted by philopower

UT is on the list of public ivies. And rice is overrated honestly.

....as are Michigan, Cal, UCLA, UNC, and Virginia. Vermont is on the list, too, but no one calls UVM the Harvard of Vermont. It's apples and oranges (besides Middlebury would claim that honor if it wanted to ) Anyway, UT is not the Harvard of Texas. Texas doesn't have "a Harvard" because Harvard has world prestige, not just national or state prestige. One has nothing to do with the other.

[radiolibre99]

On a practical level, UT and A&M both rank high on employers lists across the country.

[turf3]

As someone who has been a hiring manager for engineers, I must say I've been very successful hiring people coming out of smaller state schools (OSU, Lamar, UT Tyler, McNeese State, etc.) For the person who wants to get a BS in engineering and become a practicing engineer (as opposed to getting a PhD and becoming a professor) these programs provide a lot of direct interaction with professors and hands-on experience in preparing to be a practicing engineer. The incidence of thousand-student weed-out courses taught by non-English-speaking TAs is much reduced. Also the phenomenon of the name brand professor with lots of grants, who teaches one postdoc seminar, and otherwise is never seen by the undergrads; the super-equipped labs where PhD students do cutting-edge work while the undergrads are still using 1940s equipment; etc., etc.

Rice is a whole different kettle of fish (for full disclosure, I have a degree from Rice). With fewer than 3000 undergraduates, you can't really compare it with institutions that have 5 or 10 times as many students. I think this plays into the rankings assigned to it. Rice is one of very few small highly selective universities that have a strong focus on sciences. You can't compare it to places like Stanford or MIT very well because of size.

[radiolibre99]

Which is why I think Rice is sort of like Harvey Mudd College and the Claremont colleges in California.

[KerrTown]

I'd say that UT is rated higher than Harvard in Texas. Nobody favors a Yankee school here!!!

[radiolibre99]

LOL, I would say Rice ranks right with Harvard as far as prestige in Texas.