UT Tightens Admissions To Top 8 Percent (Dallas, Austin: employment, transferring to, law school)

[artsyguy]

I agree mom; however, it's a blessing in disguise because the students of other levels of intelligence can avoid the "college" that UT claims itself to be.

Originally Posted by mimimomx3

There are so many different kinds of intelligence, standardized tests measure only a certain kind of intelligence. I wouldn't take anything away from a person who scores high on a standardized test like the SAT, but I wouldn't take anything away from that amazing athlete, writer, artist or student leader either. Unfortunately, UT's top 10% (or 8%?) rule ignores a whole spectrum of intelligences, and UT will be the worse for it. Just my .02.

[CarnivalGal]

I didn't go to UT (I went to Texas State - then Southwest Texas State). And I was born and raised in PA and graduated from high school there. So, frankly, I don't get the whole UT thing.

However, if I were a young 18 year-old, I could see where the whole party school aspect and being in Austin would be attractive. We as parents are looking at the academic value of the university whereas, much to our chagrin, our kids probably care more about the social aspect.

And although there is great value and education to be had with schools like Rice, it and other private schools can be very expensive. UT probably offers the most of any PUBLIC (re: inexpensive) university. Hence the reason all the top 10-percenters what to go there as opposed to Sam Houston or somewhere else.

And to touch on an earlier post, Texas State is benefiting immensly from the 10% rule. It's location and size make it an attractive alternative for those who don't get into UT. It has been predicted that, if the 10% rule stays in place, the average SAT scores of incoming freshamn at Texas State will eventually be higher than the incoming freshmen at UT.

[austinite45]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

What are you yapping about? UTDallas is highly respectable and respected. Their chess team is #1 and everybody there focuses on academics.

UT Austin is a bloated marketing machine that should refocus its attention on academic quality and then student selection. They will never do that of course.

too many incompetent, brainless, and corrupt politicians in all 3 branches of Texas govt - legislature, executive and judicial.

and now with all these cutbacks amid a nasty economic downturn, the overcrowded 40-acre campus is looking more and more like a joke. the idiots can't even tackle some basic traffic problems.

[nomore07]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

The best predictor of college grades is high school grades! There is a tremendous amount of research that demonstrates this. SAT/ACT are very poor predictors of college success.

But it is an odd system (only the TX legislature could have designed it) because it uses discrimination to create a system that maintains diversity. That is, it relies on housing discrimination that creates ISDs that concentrate similar kids provide diversity at the university level.

If kids who fall below the admissions level still want to go to UT, the best bet is to attend UT-SA or UT-Dallas for a year, and then transfer.

I've known honors students from high school who bombed in college, and vice-versa. High school and college are very different environments.

Also the idea of "simply" transferring from another school in the system is a bit outdated. It's barely allowed any more, and UTSA and UTD are also experiencing overflow problems.

[artsyguy]

Ha ha I had an image of the Gaza strip in my mind when you described how UT looks. Ha ha. God that was classic. http://www.topnews.in/files/gaza_damage.jpg

j/k

Originally Posted by austinite45

too many incompetent, brainless, and corrupt politicians in all 3 branches of Texas govt - legislature, executive and judicial.

and now with all these cutbacks amid a nasty economic downturn, the overcrowded 40-acre campus is looking more and more like a joke. the idiots can't even tackle some basic traffic problems.

[artsyguy]

What do you mean "over flow"?

Originally Posted by nomore07

Also the idea of "simply" transferring from another school in the system is a bit outdated. It's barely allowed any more, and UTSA and UTD are also experiencing overflow problems.

[artsyguy]

I seriously doubt that. Seriously, like I said in another post many of the Texas colleges are smaller than UT and will offer more individual attention in and out of the classroom. Other colleges don't really give a flying flap jack about college sports statistics either. It's about learning. Other colleges also care about hiring people that are passionate and skilled in their subjects. They don't hire cross-eyed big wig bozos that bring in the most research grant money like at burnt orange.

For example University of North Texas has some of the best arts and music programs in the nation. Every Texas college other than burnt stinky orange has a handful of excellent programs to offer. You have to open your eyes to that and if you graduate from that program then point it out to the hiring manager. Don't just sit there and cry because you didn't graduate from burnt orange-ville.

Originally Posted by mm57553

And although there is great value and education to be had with schools like Rice, it and other private schools can be very expensive. UT probably offers the most of any PUBLIC (re: inexpensive) university. Hence the reason all the top 10-percenters what to go there as opposed to Sam Houston or somewhere else.

[nomore07]

Originally Posted by latikeriii

Here's something that tells that Texas has a looong way to go before its a top Public University like UC-Berkeley.
I started at Texas State and transferred to UT after 2 years and I did not notice a change of the difficulty of my cirriculum. I took basic and major classes at both institutions and they weren't much different. Maybe the difference is in the grad level course work and obviously UT has exponentially more money than Texas State. I think the largest hurdle of UT undergrad school is to simply get in.

Yes places like Berkeley are Tier 1 for a reason, and have a very long history of becoming the standard for that status. UT acquired it by fiddling with numbers and statistics. Even tier 3 schools have large programs in some fields that UT has only touched on (biophysics, neuroscience, bioinformatics, for example).

[nomore07]

Originally Posted by artsyguy

What do you mean "over flow"?

The article is no longer online, but some time ago UTSA had to reject 1600 students, for the first time in its history. Overflow from everyone who could not get into UT due to the 10% law.

[artsyguy]

That is very true.

Originally Posted by nomore07

Yes places like Berkeley are Tier 1 for a reason, and have a very long history of becoming the standard for that status. UT acquired it by fiddling with numbers and statistics. Even tier 3 schools have large programs in some fields that UT has only touched on (biophysics, neuroscience, bioinformatics, for example).