UT Austin (Dallas, San Antonio, San Marcos: dorm, private schools, universities)

[arizona_chic]

just wondering what type of college is it- I know it's located in Austin which is a big college going city.

anyone went, go, is going to go there?
what type of college is it? whats the city like?
thanks in advance,
azchic

[doss1]

I witnessed 3 suicides there. That's how big it is.

[neddy]

50000+ people going to schools in the area UT is the biggest then smaller ones around the area. Fun,nice place to go to school.

[arizona_chic]

oh, wow. big. ahha

[foma]

UT Austin is a big big big GINORMOUS university with a campus to suit it! Jester hall, the main dorm there has it's own zip code so I've heard. Austin is a huge college town and also the capital of TX. It's beautiful hill country will surly lead you to breathtaking views. You're only an hour away from San Antonio and 3 hours from Dallas but there is plenty to do in Austin with great bars and places to hang out for college kids. There's also the San Marcos outlet center like 45 min away with shopping galore. I haven't been there in a few years but my Mom says it keeps getting bigger and bigger. Austin itself has sort of a small town feel to it (although it's hardly small but definitely smaller than the big cities like HOuston and Dallas) and the campus, my guess is 50K+ students. You are deifnitely a number there and not a name but some kids like that.

[ramen]

University of Texas at Austin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia says :
Founded in 1883, the university is considered a "Public Ivy" and had the fifth largest single-campus enrollment in the nation as of fall 2006 (and had the largest enrollment in the country from 1997–2003), with nearly 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 16,500 faculty and staff.

[malarkey]

waaay back in the olden days when I was graduating from KU (Kansas University) I wanted to go to UT for graduate school. Largely because Garry Winogrand was a professor there, and I was heavy into photography, and he was one of my muses.

I didn't follow that calling, Garry has long since passed away, and I always wonder what my life would be like today if I'd followed that inspiration...

UT is a strong liberal arts university. Depending on what your interest is, you won't go wrong there. You'll learn a LOT, both inside and outside of class.

[traceyr13]

I'm an academic advisor at UT, so I can try to answer any specific questions that you have, although I work for the College of Natural Sciences, and the different colleges have very different policies.

The Engineering and Business schools get the most press as being strongest, but the Natural Sciences are also incredibly strong, given all the research opportunities. The UTeach program (offered through both liberal arts and natural sciences) is being used as a model at several large universities throughout the country as a way of providing an education program/licensure with a traditional bachelor's of arts/science degree. The Freshman Research Initiative (run through natural sciences) is one of the few programs in the country where freshmen students can engage in topnotch research with professors - most programs require you be a junior or senior.

There's a lot of good "stuff" going on at UT. Yes, the numbers are huge, but there are a lot of programs in place designed to give you a smaller community feel within the university. Jester hall, as one of the pp mentioned, has the distinction of being the largest dorm in the country (I don't know about its own zip code, though!)

I have found UT students to be polite, motivated and generally pretty excited to be at UT.

[TheHarvester]

Originally Posted by neddy

50000+ people going to schools in the area UT is the biggest then smaller ones around the area. Fun,nice place to go to school.

There are 50,000 students just at UT. The total college student population in the Austin metro area is over 100,000. Another 25,000 or so are at TX State in San Marcos, there are a few thousand at the private schools like Southwestern, St. Edwards, etc., and tens of thousands attend classes at Austin City College.

It's crazy large.

All that said, for undergrad lower division I do NOT recommend UT unless you're just interested in partying and being treated like a number. The quality of UT gets better at the higher levels, especially the grad schools. It's much nicer to take smaller classes at teaching-oriented schools like Texas State, and the lifestyle in San Marcos is a lot more laid back because it's a small town. But it's close enough to Austin to come party here on weekends, only a half hour drive.

[Austinitegirl]

Originally Posted by traceyr13

I'm an academic advisor at UT, so I can try to answer any specific questions that you have, although I work for the College of Natural Sciences, and the different colleges have very different policies.

The Engineering and Business schools get the most press as being strongest, but the Natural Sciences are also incredibly strong, given all the research opportunities. The UTeach program (offered through both liberal arts and natural sciences) is being used as a model at several large universities throughout the country as a way of providing an education program/licensure with a traditional bachelor's of arts/science degree. The Freshman Research Initiative (run through natural sciences) is one of the few programs in the country where freshmen students can engage in topnotch research with professors - most programs require you be a junior or senior.

There's a lot of good "stuff" going on at UT. Yes, the numbers are huge, but there are a lot of programs in place designed to give you a smaller community feel within the university. Jester hall, as one of the pp mentioned, has the distinction of being the largest dorm in the country (I don't know about its own zip code, though!)

I have found UT students to be polite, motivated and generally pretty excited to be at UT.

HEY! I work at CNS too!! What a small world.

Anyway - I agree with Tracey. UT students are motivated and excited to be at UT. I also agree with the other posters - it is HUGE and I've seen more than a few students "slip through the cracks" as a result of the university's size. I went to Tx State down the road - and it wasn't as huge, but it has a lot of big university problems without the big university benefits.

One thing I have found to be really cool about UT - the school pride. At first I thought it was kind of odd (coming from a school that didn't really have ANY school pride), now I think it's cool - and not in a crazy Hale-Bop Comet Cult sort of way like those freaks at A&M.