Edinburg and UT Pan American (Houston, Austin: rent, co-op, houses)

[kdb05f]

I would appreciate any information anyone could post about Edinburg and the area around UTPA and what it's like to live there. thank you

[doss1]

Are you from the valley or have you been there before? If not, then go down and do the campus tour and check out the town. It's pretty much a modern border town with all the amenities of a big city, including the same growing pains (traffic, noise, etc). The area around UTPA is growing North, I believe. It used to be farmland just a few years ago.

Nothing excited to get over, though. If you don't want to do anything other than shop, eat, eat and eat again, then it's gonna be great for you. Good luck!

[kdb05f]

Originally Posted by TexasNick

Are you from the valley or have you been there before? If not, then go down and do the campus tour and check out the town. It's pretty much a modern border town with all the amenities of a big city, including the same growing pains (traffic, noise, etc). The area around UTPA is growing North, I believe. It used to be farmland just a few years ago.

Nothing excited to get over, though. If you don't want to do anything other than shop, eat, eat and eat again, then it's gonna be great for you. Good luck!

I've never been there before. Is it like a "college town" with bars, coffee houses, restaurants, bookstores, and a few hippies?

[rockelscorcho]

Originally Posted by kdb05f

I've never been there before. Is it like a "college town" with bars, coffee houses, restaurants, bookstores, and a few hippies?

I live and go to UTPA as a graduate student.

Edinburg is a very simple, and yes, rather boring city. We don't have much excitement. Other than annual cookoffs, 10K's and other activities, the RGV is slow and simple. A nice place to live though.

UTPA is a commuter college town. Everyone is on campus from about 8 until 2, then it gets crowded again around 5. Usually many people leave campus to eat or just go home. Others do stay on campus, but it is not like a major university where everything on campus is driven to excite the students.

During the week, the campus is nice and moving, as well as Edinburg, but on the weekends the city gets very slow. This is nice so you can get anything done (groceries, work,etc).

For what you are asking for you want to go to our neighboring city McAllen, which is always moving. The city itself is not that different than Edinburg, but more variety with bars, bookstores (B&N) coffee shops. As for hippies, a couple. Edinburg is a great city, but you need to put some effort to find a group of individuals you are seeking.

Good luck

[teatime]

UT-PA is not what you'd consider a typical university experience and Edinburg isn't a typical "college town." It's more like a city that happens to have a university rather than a university-centered city.

The colleges in the RGV have a high number of part-time students by necessity. The vast majority of the students have lived in the RGV and must work in addition to going to school. There are a lot of older students as well who have families. I don't know what the percentages are at UT-PA but I'd venture that a big majority of even the freshman students don't live on campus.

It's a good school. It's just not a typical university. A lot of students come from Mexico, too, and you'll notice that a lot of the activities and focus are geared toward Hispanic culture. That's a big difference, too -- most universities seek to broaden students' cultural and world views but the schools in the RGV get so many first generation Latino students that they seem to take great pains to reinforce their culture and not as much to get people to ponder a world outside of their socio-economic status. I found that a bit odd.

So, if you're looking for a real university experience with a variety of world views and active campus life, you'll probably want to go somewhere else.

[Seaworld]

hi, i actually hav a question too:
i got accepted to UT pan american, and some other colleges and im having a tough time deciding which to choose. Since im not from texas, i don't really know how utpa is; i applied their because i heard they have a good pharmacy program and my parents want to move to texas. SO my question is, how does utpa rank among the other UT schools, and is it easy for a non-hispanic to assimilate, since it is predominantly hispanic?

[rockelscorcho]

Originally Posted by Seaworld

hi, i actually hav a question too:
i got accepted to UT pan american, and some other colleges and im having a tough time deciding which to choose. Since im not from texas, i don't really know how utpa is; i applied their because i heard they have a good pharmacy program and my parents want to move to texas. SO my question is, how does utpa rank among the other UT schools, and is it easy for a non-hispanic to assimilate, since it is predominantly hispanic?

Hi, i read your posting. First of all, I'm glad you got into UTPA. It's a very good school and I'm happy I was there for six years (B.S. and M.S.). But UTPA does not have a pharmacy program. They are like any other school where you can take any course you want. The UTPA Biology department does help students getting into pharmacy school with advising, but there is NO actual pharmacy programs. There is however a UTPA and UT bridge program for pharmacy. This is where you take your lower level courses and utpa and then go to pharmacy school at UT Austin (if you get accepted and get a good PCAT score).

For more, just visit UTPA :: College of Health Sciences and Human Services - Cooperative Pharmacy Program

Finally, it is not difficult to adjust to the environment here. We are primarily hispanic, but we meet a lot of various races. Since I've lived here (24 years) I've never seen any segregation or racial issues at all.

[Seaworld]

Hi, i read your posting. First of all, I'm glad you got into UTPA. It's a very good school and I'm happy I was there for six years (B.S. and M.S.). But UTPA does not have a pharmacy program. They are like any other school where you can take any course you want. The UTPA Biology department does help students getting into pharmacy school with advising, but there is NO actual pharmacy programs. There is however a UTPA and UT bridge program for pharmacy. This is where you take your lower level courses and utpa and then go to pharmacy school at UT Austin (if you get accepted and get a good PCAT score).

For more, just visit UTPA :: College of Health Sciences and Human Services - Cooperative Pharmacy Program

Finally, it is not difficult to adjust to the environment here. We are primarily hispanic, but we meet a lot of various races. Since I've lived here (24 years) I've never seen any segregation or racial issues at all.

well, yeah, i meant the co-op austin pharm program
but also among all the UT schools where would you rank UTPA?

[Lindsey Wallace]

Hi there, I know your post was a few months ago, but I also have a few questions. I am thinking of going to UTPA for Physicians Assistants studies. I typically do better in smaller schools, I went to Sam Houston State University for my under grad. It's also a "commuter school". So, I am probably used to the lifestyle- though I could stand a little more excitement.
Anyway- to the questions- what is rent like? Are there resources for finding a room mate? I know most professional schools say "dont work" while in the program, but is it typical for most people to have a part time job anyway? Do you recommend any safe and reasonably priced areas that are close by (20-30 minutes or so)? How far is Mc Allen from Edinburg?
And also, I am a pretty easy going causcasian- do many locals have prejudices? I'd love the chance to try to speak the spanish I learned in under grad.
Thanks for any and all of your help!

[hellpaso]

hi--can't really help with your school questions, but i can tell you that mcallen is right next to edinburg. the way this part of the valley is, one side of the street is mcallen, the other is edinburg. to the east, one side of the street is pharr, to the west you go right into mission. so it's really like one larger city with little distinction between them all. so when you look at population stats, just add up the populations of mcallen, edinburg, mission, pharr, san juan, alamo, and donna. that would give you a more accurate idea of the size of the area. pretty much any of the upper valley is within 20 minutes of edinburg.