Surly kids who can't get into UT

[fattyflattie 4636]

2 hours ago, royiv said:

Using that logic UH shouldn't get a second look since it's a "standalone city named university." I guess UCLA grads also don't get a second look since they have a city in their name? Oh shit, I almost forgot that the school that this message board is focused on is the University of Texas at Austin. Damn, another "standalone city named university."

You're focused on the wrong thing here to try to win some sort of school name pissing contest. Texas needs to invest more in education or risk massive brain drain. Economic growth grinds to a halt when we can't produce enough quality grads to fill jobs. Companies will slow or stop growing here and we won't be able to attract new ones if we don't have the talent.

God you are a fucking beating. Are you this way in real life?  I guess keep hoping someday someone will view UTSA/UTA/UTRGV/UTEP with any modicum of respect.  Maybe the grads all stay in their respective cities or work in everything but O&G. I’ve worked with a grand total of 3 of them, and one being in Covington.  Out of hundreds of engineers. 3. Such rigorous establishments that they didn’t even require an SAT/ACT submittal for acceptance in ~’01.  Texas won’t catch UC in 10 lifetimes. 

[yoladu 4066]

25 minutes ago, Grimas said:

Top 1/4 and 1100 SAT got you accepted in '85.

[royiv 9145]

17 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

God you are a fucking beating. Are you this way in real life?  I guess keep hoping someday someone will view UTSA/UTA/UTRGV/UTEP with any modicum of respect.  Maybe the grads all stay in their respective cities or work in everything but O&G. I’ve worked with a grand total of 3 of them, and one being in Covington.  Out of hundreds of engineers. 3. Such rigorous establishments that they didn’t even require an SAT/ACT submittal for acceptance in ~’01.  Texas won’t catch UC in 10 lifetimes. 

That's one thing I will agree with you on given the path Texas is on and has been on for the last several decades. Second largest state in the nation and second largest economy in the nation. It's pathetic that we're having a serious conversation on this board about smart Texas kids going to middling SEC schools because they can't get a good degree in their own state. I don't think that's okay, but it doesn't seem to bother you.

[conVINCEd 21468]

48 minutes ago, Paper_jam said:

It's hard to believe how much it's changed in a generation. I was admitted to UT in '89 and it seemed like you could be a total mushroom and still get in with nothing more than a pretty good SAT (1250+). I don't think there was an essay, or any real need for extracurriculars. UT even threw money at me even though my family had no financial need., Tuition was like $400-500 a semester those first couple of years. I was practically making a profit.

 

I don’t think I even completed an application.  I took the SAT at the end of my junior year, received a letter a week later congratulating me on my acceptance to UT, with a postcard enclosed where I checked a box for what I wanted to major in and sent it back.  Dad had just started a new business, and I knew money was tight, so I didn’t explore out of state options, as I wasn’t Ivy caliber and didn’t want to ask or take out a bunch of student loans.  Hard to justify going to UNC over UT because I wanted to live somewhere farther from home at a school that happened to be my favorite basketball team given the tuition difference.  I literally spent 15 seconds on my college selection process.

[fattyflattie 4636]

7 minutes ago, royiv said:

That's one thing I will agree with you on given the path Texas is on and has been on for the last several decades. Second largest state in the nation and second largest economy in the nation. It's pathetic that we're having a serious conversation on this board about smart Texas kids going to middling SEC schools because they can't get a good degree in their own state. I don't think that's okay, but it doesn't seem to bother you.

I don’t enjoy it. I’m just telling you, me, I’m hiring someone from any named school before our “standalone” offshoots of UT. Signed, guy who has a couple of degrees from one of them.  I wouldn’t send my kids there unless it was all they could manage.  Sucks, but decades from now people will still long for Austin campus, or bust. 

[Beau Vine 53978]

21 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

I don’t think I even completed an application.  I took the SAT at the end of my junior year, received a letter a week later congratulating me on my acceptance to UT, with a postcard enclosed where I checked a box for what I wanted to major in and sent it back.  Dad had just started a new business, and I knew money was tight, so I didn’t explore out of state options, as I wasn’t Ivy caliber and didn’t want to ask or take out a bunch of student loans.  Hard to justify going to UNC over UT because I wanted to live somewhere farther from home at a school that happened to be my favorite basketball team given the tuition difference.  I literally spent 15 seconds on my college selection process.

UT sent me a scholarship offer after I took the PSAT. 

[tx 3 putt 76294]

56 minutes ago, skilesare said:

I don't disagree.

 

The argument for doing SOMETHING is that since 2000 we've increased the state population 43%.  The Freshman class size has gone up 0%(or thereabout).  If the state wants to keep having the same number of flagship educated students they have to find a way to graduate 43% more students.  It would suck to go somewhere else for two years, but it is one way to get more people through with a UT degree(which is what people ultimately want).  Other options might be going to a trimester system and only letting kids be on campus for two of three with the third being remote.  This also has crazy logistic issues.  We Could also just bulldoze the Erwin Center and build Tower 2.0 that is a 110 floors full of classrooms, but that takes capital and there is more prestige in using the space to train like 6.5 doctors a year.

We need educated Texans who are proud as hell of the institutions they attended and want to send their kids there.  It is good for the state and the economy.

Maybe the UTSAs and UTEPs need new, cool, more prestigious names and things just have to spread out.

But:

Texas A&M has 16,000 more undergrads than UT right now.  Over a generation that starts to make a huge difference in Alumni and donor base. 

 

Ut can grown and keep the quality. It’s in their  best to interest to start asap before the Texas house does it for them 

[FunDip 33]

2 hours ago, Grimas said:

Lots was the wrong word - the dean of the finance department told me "some" their recent graduates got positions at BlackRock and JP Morgan.  In 21-22 class, they had 221 graduates with 41 in finance where 97% either got jobs or are in grad school.

Employers of students graduating in finance that year include:

Baptist College Ministries BC Shumen BKD CPAs & Advisors BOK Financial Cinemark Theatres Deloitte EY LLPFellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) Fleming Construction Group George Kaiser Family Foundation Goldman Sachs JPMorgan Chase & Co. Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. Northstar Wealth Management Nuance Communications Verizon Volkswagen Group of America Walmart Corporate

 

Interesting thing Tulsa offers is a 100% guarantee you will find a job within 6 months of graduation.  (What that really means is they will pay for your first semester (or year? I don't recall) of grad school if you don't land a job.)

https://utulsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2021-2022-FDS-Report.pdf

Agreed “lots of” was not the appropriate words as in that link nobody from that year, not even one, were recruited to Blackrock.

Edited September 26, 2023 by FunDip

[FunDip 33]

It’s not just UT hasn’t grown population but has enrollment shrunk at UT by 20%?

I could have sworn it was 50k when I was in undergrad, a dang near generation and I read it’s at 40k today?

[conVINCEd 21468]

46 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

UT sent me a scholarship offer after I took the PSAT. 

Apparently you are a better test taker than I am.   My SAT wasn’t absurdly good and I was 1 person inside the top 10% after my junior year of HS.  

[bolverk 29394]

9 minutes ago, FunDip said:

It’s not just UT hasn’t grown population but has enrollment shrunk at UT by 20%?

I could have sworn it was 50k when I was in undergrad, a dang near generation and I read it’s at 40k today?

No. What you see listed above is only undergrad students; there are also about 12,000 grad students. It's been like that since the late 1990s when I was on campus about the time that I think they capped enrollment.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10138]

Mizzou/Missouri has a program where if you stay in Missouri summer between freshman year and soph year (very specific but can leave state  only like 10 days during period) and work you can apply and get residency that covers sophomore year on for in state tuition.

[Beau Vine 53978]

13 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

Apparently you are a better test taker than I am.

It is quite seriously my greatest talent in life.  

[Beau Vine 53978]

5 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Mizzou/Missouri has a program where if you stay in Missouri summer between freshman year and soph year (very specific but can leave state  only like 10 days during period) and work you can apply and get residency that covers sophomore year on for in state tuition.

IIRC, Mizzou's enrollment is hemorrhaging badly, partly because kids from KC and StL consider its location unappealing.  

[conVINCEd 21468]

Mine too.  I went to Hawaii for two weeks several years ago because I could pass professional designation tests with little to no effort.    Everybody else labored to get the certifications required to go on the trip.  I got a 98 on the first one.  My boss told me I was spending too much time on it, that the company considered it a pass/fail course.  I took the rest of them cold and passed.

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

I guess I simply have a different philosophy on college than most here.  I don’t want my kids to look at majors based on earning potential.  That’s what grad school is for.  They’re looking at small Liberal Arts schools, primarily on the East Coast. 
 

[TexEx15 17456]

Does anyone have experience with the CAP program? Have 3 daughters. Oldest is in 7th grade and an A student but I understand how competitive it is now. Her dream is Dell Medical School eventually but also has her heart set on Texas for undergrad. 
 

When I was in HS it was called provisionals and you had to go to summer school and maintain a certain GPA after which you were admitted. I didn’t want to go to summer school so I went to ACC expecting to eventually transfer in (back when that was a realistic possibility). Like so many I fucked around and tanked my GPA. Then 9/11 happened and I joined the military. I eventually went back to school, graduated from Texas State and got my Masters degree from Texas.  I say all that because I think it’s important for my girls to know there is more than one way to end up at your dream school. Hence the CAP question.

[JesusSweatDuck 17780]

57 minutes ago, bolverk said:

No. What you see listed above is only undergrad students; there are also about 12,000 grad students. It's been like that since the late 1990s when I was on campus about the time that I think they capped enrollment.

From what I remember is around 2002 we had 51K undergrads and we were the second largest university in the nation. They intentionally pulled back enrollments after that

[tx 3 putt 76294]

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

UT sent me a scholarship offer after I took the PSAT. 

a college classmate identified himself as a black native American. He had multiple scholly offers off his psat score. His mail was unreal, full of college wanting to talk with him

he was just a poor white kid that wanted to surf 

[bolverk 29394]

6 minutes ago, JesusSweatDuck said:

From what I remember is around 2002 we had 51K undergrads and we were the second largest university in the nation. They intentionally pulled back enrollments after that

Nope. 

https://news.utexas.edu/2022/09/22/ut-austin-enrolls-largest-ever-student-body-sets-all-time-highs-for-graduation-rates/

AUSTIN, Texas — This fall, The University of Texas at Austin has admitted its largest-ever incoming class and enrolled more students than ever before. The university has 9,109 first-time, first-year undergraduates, according to data collected on the 12th class day of the current fall term, surpassing the record high from the previous year of 9,060. Total university enrollment rose to 52,384, surpassing the all-time high of 52,261 set in 2002. 

Edit 1: Yes, about that time is when they pulled back some when they capped it, but it was only a couple thousand from what I recall.

Edit 2: Just googled and found historical data on enrollment figures going back to 1980.

https://reports.utexas.edu/statistical-handbook

Edited September 27, 2023 by bolverk

[Brisketexan 104537]

It is quite seriously my greatest talent in life.  

You and me both brother. Was hitting 99th percentile on standardized tests starting in 3rd grade. Nailed the SAT hungover as hell. Day 1 of the Bar exam was the multi state (standardized), I was the first person in an auditorium of 500+ to finish.
My grades, on the other hand, which depended on my self discipline and dedication….they were…fine. I wouldn’t get into UT today.

[Gatorubet 30083]

I have not read any of the previous five pages, but obligatory..

[ztejas 43262]

53 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

partly because kids from KC and StL consider its location unappealing.  

Jesus. 

[Francisco 2.0 32313]

12 and 10 here.

The oldest wants to be a volcanologist or meteorologist; the girl has no clue, but wants to go to Washington, because Seattle is "cool".

I'm sure either option will not be cheap.

 

 

 

 

 

[Gatorubet 30083]

2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

You and me both brother. Was hitting 99th percentile on standardized tests starting in 3rd grade. Nailed the SAT hungover as hell. Day 1 of the Bar exam was the multi state (standardized), I was the first person in an auditorium of 500+ to finish.
My grades, on the other hand, which depended on my self discipline and dedication….they were…fine. I wouldn’t get into UT today.

I had just moved to Louisiana and the brick shit house chick I just started dating came down for Mardi Gras to see if we were still a thing. That next Friday my brother called me up and wish me luck the next day. I had no idea what he was talking about and he reminded me I had signed up for the LSAT.   I figured I’d get it out of my system, and the next morning drove to a daiquiri place, got the biggest daiquiri they had, and sat down to slurp it and speed take the LSAT.

Oddly, I did so well I got a scholarship and went to law school.   And whatever GPA you had Brisket, yours made mine look like you were a Rhodes scholar.  I could not even touch getting in the University of Florida today.

[ztejas 43262]

3 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

You and me both brother. Was hitting 99th percentile on standardized tests starting in 3rd grade. Nailed the SAT hungover as hell. Day 1 of the Bar exam was the multi state (standardized), I was the first person in an auditorium of 500+ to finish.
My grades, on the other hand, which depended on my self discipline and dedication….they were…fine. I wouldn’t get into UT today.

I'm sure Surly is full off assholes like this. I was like top 8% or 9% in a class of 550 and I probably had a higher SAT than all but.. two people? Three people? It wasn't a lot. I'm sure half my class in college had a better GPA than I did. Then I think I was top 10% on the GMAT without studying much. 

[tx 3 putt 76294]

I’ll say it here - it blows my mind to see surly kids get into UT, but not get into engineering and they decide that a random degree from UT is better than an engineering degree from a smaller state school. 

go get an engineering degree if you can. You’re an engineer for life. That degree carries a lot of weight with all companies for the rest of your life. Ut RGV engineers are getting hired by every company that recruits ut Austin / collie station. The same for several other smaller engineering programs around the state 

Edited September 27, 2023 by tx 3 putt

[Gatorubet 30083]

Dude -  there is a reason some of us are political science majors… and ex-engineering majors.

[Beau Vine 53978]

8 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

I’ll say it here - it blows my mind to see surly kids get into UT, but not get into engineering and they decide that a random degree from UT is better than an engineering degree from a smaller state school. 

go get an engineering degree if you can. You’re an engineer for life. That degree carries a lot of weight with all companies for the rest of your life. Ut RGV engineers are getting hired by every company that recruits ut Austin / collie station. The same several other smaller engineering programs around the state 

It's like you don't realize that 125% of the country is terrified of math.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Beau Vine

[HenryJames 65884]

35 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

The oldest wants to be a volcanologist

Is that like a disaster scientist?

[tx 3 putt 76294]

1 minute ago, Beau Vine said:

It's like you don't realize that 125% of the country is terrified of math.

If you can make B / A in hs math, you can pass college math. My small school offered free tutoring for all classes 

The math for engineering is over blown, needs to be cut back. You don’t need cal3, DiffyEQ, or a higher level math. You do need a good stats class. All majors should take stats 
 

the only math I use :  4% of everything I invoice = big paychecks 

[Beau Vine 53978]

4 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

If you can make B / A in hs math, you can pass college math. My small school offered free tutoring for all classes 

The math for engineering is over blown, needs to be cut back. You don’t need cal3, DiffyEQ, or a higher level math. You do need a good stats class. All majors should take stats 
 

the only math I use :  4% of everything I invoice = big paychecks 

It's like you don't realize that 145% of the country is terrified of math.

[Helobious 9480]

UTSA is a damn good school in a large city so there’s plenty of job opportunities both while in school and after. My cousin did computer science undergrad there. Hired at a bank in Houston a few months after graduation, starting salary in the six figures. One 2 month internship working for the AG’s child support office one summer was his only work experience.

[crash_davis 23081]

10 minutes ago, Helobious said:

UTSA is a damn good school in a large city so there’s plenty of job opportunities both while in school and after. My cousin did computer science undergrad there. Hired at a bank in Houston a few months after graduation, starting salary in the six figures. One 2 month internship working for the AG’s child support office one summer was his only work experience.

IMO a comp science grad from UTSA is going to have a much better chance of landing a decent to good salaried job out of college than an English major from UT Austin. Schools matter but majors matter more, if your goal is to find gainful employment out of college. 

[InkaUtexas 25486]

Neither kid went to UT. Son is a Bobcat, went there to play baseball. Now he works for a niche firm (Business and IR degrees), no debt, and make some good money for this Australian firm running US operations. Daughter is at George Washington going got Aerospace and Mechanical degrees. Minor in Journalism. Just got back from setting up a program in Uganda. 

UT is a great school, but kids need to follow their vision and dreams, and the University needs to continue to give opportunities to all. 

Agree about Major vs. School. A

[Superhero 8762]

11 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

I'm batting .500.  One is a senior in HS and really liked his trip to AR and the more he dug, the more he wants to go the biz school route and supply chain logistics (which AR does a great job with).  It's close, but not too close.  Decent size, not too expensive, and has that "big" college feel nestled in the mountains and the town really supports the school.  Fuck aggy and when we toured OU and they played that ass-whipping of a fight song my wife grabbed him and they left.  It was kind of awesome

The other one, she's got her mom’s genes.  Straight A's, multi sport athlete and every hoodie she has (which is all she wears) is Longhorn gear.  She can get in and more importantly, wants in.  Possibly via athletics

TPIWWP

[Texas Jeff 1932]

Some random thoughts from my two kids' college app experience...

For those of you considering Arkansas, why not take a look at Auburn?  It's a cool college town, about an hour from ATL, the campus has a ton of new buildings and the people are some of the most polite folks I've met.  Even when drunk.  Also, it rains and stuff grows there.  Also, they have an unlimited supply of Southern blondes.  It's not Harvard but they do a reasonable job of educating folks and a high ACT or SAT score will knock tuition down to close to in-state levels.  They have the big football stadium and a great gameday atmosphere, but are not as pre-programmed and as money oriented as UT athletics.

We visited UT-Dallas and Texas A&M, and before our visits I had UTD ahead of TAMU.  Afterwards, I would have been OK with my kids picking TAMU but not OK with them choosing UTD, even with a scholarship.  During our visits, we started talking about the "Rah rah" of each campus, meaning how much did it feel like you were part of a community while you were there, how much school spirit did you see.  A&M did that better than anyone else.  UTD tried but didn't have it.  UTD felt about as exciting as going to college in Richardson sounds.

However, UTD put an emphasis on the low cost of education, via scholarships, and how they tried to connect students to job opportunities.  If you are poor in Texas but smart, want an engineering or business degree, and just need a cheap place to get a good education and get started in the world, UTD may be for you.  Your kid may miss out on the "college experience".  They really need a walkable "west campus" student housing area to get more energy on campus.

We visited NC State for our engineering kid.  Great engineering school.  Not so great everything else.  A huge engineering campus, but it was a short bus ride from the "main" campus.  The football stadium was miles away, but they had a nice softball stadium right in the middle of campus and it seemed like the entire campus was at the game when we were there.  Everyone in Raleigh will offer you a biscuit with your meal.  They should all be 400 lbs just because of the biscuits.  The airport was small and kinda sucked, but they do have direct flights from Austin.  Trees and plants everywhere at a time when Austin is just starting to dry up.

I tried to get both of my kids interested in Cal Poly .. a STEM-ish school in a great location in California.  No interest.   I still think it looked like a nice place to go to school for a kid that wants to "get away".

I would rather have my kids at Texas State than Texas Tech, if they whiffed on the better Texas schools.  San Marcos vs Lubbock is no contest IMHO, and we know a lot of kids that are enjoying Texas State.  In Lubbock, the dust dusts you.

UTSA -- never been but had to go pick up a car near there in May.  Much nicer than I thought it would be.  They are working on the "rah rah" and becoming San Antonio's team.  Seemed very promising and I was happy it was part of the UT system, but I don't know much about the academics.  I work with a UTSA grad who loved it.  Will be interesting to see if they ever build an on-campus football stadium or keep using the Alamodome.

UDub aka Washington -- beautiful campus, awesome stadium, great transit.  Kinda cold and dark in the winter.  They mentioned that counseling was free and would be available for anyone that needed it during the winter.  Yikes.  The closest thing we saw to UT.  Their homeless are way, way crazier than our homeless.  Their museums are way, way cooler than our museums.

And, for your engineering kids ... some schools let them directly into engineering their freshman year and some delay the decision on getting into their major until their sophomore year.  My engineering kid did not want to go through an entire senior year of college apps and a freshman year of competition just to get into an engineering major.  Texas A&M and Washington do the delayed thing, Texas does not.  If your kid is choosing engineering and headed to a school that has a competition for different engineering majors during their freshman year, be sure to have that conversation with your kid.  They might go to a school intent on a chem E major and get slotted into civil engineering.

UT had an interesting listening session.  It was all kids who had changed their major.  They all told their stories about what they thought they wanted to do when they got to school and what they actually learned they liked while they were there.  Lots of kids do that and don't be surprised if they go to school to study one thing and pop out on the other side with a different major.

[texasdago 7552]

4 hours ago, Grimas said:

Top 1/4 and 1100 SAT got you accepted in '85.

Try top 1/2 

Ask me how I know

Edited September 27, 2023 by texasdago

[FunDip 33]

17 minutes ago, Texas Jeff said:

Some random thoughts from my two kids' college app experience...

For those of you considering Arkansas, why not take a look at Auburn?  It's a cool college town, about an hour from ATL, the campus has a ton of new buildings and the people are some of the most polite folks I've met.  Even when drunk.  Also, it rains and stuff grows there.  Also, they have an unlimited supply of Southern blondes.  It's not Harvard but they do a reasonable job of educating folks and a high ACT or SAT score will knock tuition down to close to in-state levels.  They have the big football stadium and a great gameday atmosphere, but are not as pre-programmed and as money oriented as UT athletics.

We visited UT-Dallas and Texas A&M, and before our visits I had UTD ahead of TAMU.  Afterwards, I would have been OK with my kids picking TAMU but not OK with them choosing UTD, even with a scholarship.  During our visits, we started talking about the "Rah rah" of each campus, meaning how much did it feel like you were part of a community while you were there, how much school spirit did you see.  A&M did that better than anyone else.  UTD tried but didn't have it.  UTD felt about as exciting as going to college in Richardson sounds.

However, UTD put an emphasis on the low cost of education, via scholarships, and how they tried to connect students to job opportunities.  If you are poor in Texas but smart, want an engineering or business degree, and just need a cheap place to get a good education and get started in the world, UTD may be for you.  Your kid may miss out on the "college experience".  They really need a walkable "west campus" student housing area to get more energy on campus.

We visited NC State for our engineering kid.  Great engineering school.  Not so great everything else.  A huge engineering campus, but it was a short bus ride from the "main" campus.  The football stadium was miles away, but they had a nice softball stadium right in the middle of campus and it seemed like the entire campus was at the game when we were there.  Everyone in Raleigh will offer you a biscuit with your meal.  They should all be 400 lbs just because of the biscuits.  The airport was small and kinda sucked, but they do have direct flights from Austin.  Trees and plants everywhere at a time when Austin is just starting to dry up.

I tried to get both of my kids interested in Cal Poly .. a STEM-ish school in a great location in California.  No interest.   I still think it looked like a nice place to go to school for a kid that wants to "get away".

I would rather have my kids at Texas State than Texas Tech, if they whiffed on the better Texas schools.  San Marcos vs Lubbock is no contest IMHO, and we know a lot of kids that are enjoying Texas State.  In Lubbock, the dust dusts you.

UTSA -- never been but had to go pick up a car near there in May.  Much nicer than I thought it would be.  They are working on the "rah rah" and becoming San Antonio's team.  Seemed very promising and I was happy it was part of the UT system, but I don't know much about the academics.  I work with a UTSA grad who loved it.  Will be interesting to see if they ever build an on-campus football stadium or keep using the Alamodome.

UDub aka Washington -- beautiful campus, awesome stadium, great transit.  Kinda cold and dark in the winter.  They mentioned that counseling was free and would be available for anyone that needed it during the winter.  Yikes.  The closest thing we saw to UT.  Their homeless are way, way crazier than our homeless.  Their museums are way, way cooler than our museums.

And, for your engineering kids ... some schools let them directly into engineering their freshman year and some delay the decision on getting into their major until their sophomore year.  My engineering kid did not want to go through an entire senior year of college apps and a freshman year of competition just to get into an engineering major.  Texas A&M and Washington do the delayed thing, Texas does not.  If your kid is choosing engineering and headed to a school that has a competition for different engineering majors during their freshman year, be sure to have that conversation with your kid.  They might go to a school intent on a chem E major and get slotted into civil engineering.

UT had an interesting listening session.  It was all kids who had changed their major.  They all told their stories about what they thought they wanted to do when they got to school and what they actually learned they liked while they were there.  Lots of kids do that and don't be surprised if they go to school to study one thing and pop out on the other side with a different major.

Your experience is similar to mine.

You didn't mention at Auburn, every educational session loves to tell you that Tim Cook went to Auburn.

The only difference is I think TTU > Texas State.

[Pescado_Rojo 19330]

57 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

IMO a comp science grad from UTSA is going to have a much better chance of landing a decent to good salaried job out of college than an English major from UT Austin. Schools matter but majors matter more, if your goal is to find gainful employment out of college. 

My son is interested in computer science with a security specialization. One of his buddies is doing that now at UNT, and that kids older brother did it and got a 100% remote $120K/year job working for a big tech company. They hired him middle of his last semester and he started two weeks after he graduated. 

[InkaUtexas 25486]

9 minutes ago, FunDip said:

Your experience is similar to mine.

You didn't mention at Auburn, every educational session loves to tell you that Tim Cook went to Auburn.

The only difference is I think TTU > Texas State.

Nope, we have Sewell Park. @Beau Vine   

Man, If I could have gone there to study vs. the UGL I would have studied more. Not saying my GPA would have been higher, but.... 

Plus fuck Lubbock. I like the smell of cows, but not cow shit. 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10138]

2 hours ago, Liquor and Poker said:

I guess I simply have a different philosophy on college than most here.  I don’t want my kids to look at majors based on earning potential.  That’s what grad school is for.  They’re looking at small Liberal Arts schools, primarily on the East Coast. 
 

Some people can't justify paying $100k-200k+ for college per kid without some kind of expected payback though. It's more of a reality than a philosophy.

 

[FunDip 33]

7 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Nope, we have Sewell Park. @Beau Vine   

Man, If I could have gone there to study vs. the UGL I would have studied more. Not saying my GPA would have been higher, but.... 

Plus fuck Lubbock. I like the smell of cows, but not cow shit. 

To be fair, we didn't visit Texas State and it wasn't on our radar.

Things change, and sounds like things have changed for the better, as my opinion of Texas State is frozen from 25 years ago(when it was called Southwest Texas State or something) and I was at UT, but...it felt like a second tier school all around, from the second rate Greek life to academics to floating the square or whatever that whole thing was and back then most of the Texas State students would drive into Austin for the weekends for the house parties and 6th street and football games anyways, so there wasn't a real sense of Texas State having much of an identity outside of UT rejects who wanted to be adjacent to Austin and UT.

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by FunDip

[InkaUtexas 25486]

12 minutes ago, FunDip said:

To be fair, we didn't visit Texas State and it wasn't on our radar.

Things change, and sounds like things have changed for the better, as my opinion of Texas State is frozen from 25 years ago(when it was called Southwest Texas State or something) and I was at UT, but...it felt like a second tier school all around, from the second rate Greek life to academics to floating the square or whatever that whole thing was and back then most of the Texas State students would drive into Austin for the weekends for the house parties and 6th street and football games anyways, so there wasn't a real sense of Texas State having much of an identity outside of UT rejects who wanted to be adjacent to Austin and UT.

 

They have some damn fine programs, but it is odd. They are cut out from the community. A school on the hill. I am class of 2000 at UT and felt the same way when my son was invited to visit and play ball. I said hell no. His other options were Aggy, Tech and a few D-2 schools in East Texas.

We came down, walked, and I was impressed. It is not SWT anymore, even though they still have the female talent every 17 year old thinks about. 

On that note. My daughter won Texas Science Fair (HS) with work she did in HS working with Texas State. Pretty cool shit. That got her to the East Coast. We did not expect it and she was cool with doing a year or two (COVID) in San Marcos and then transferring. 

It is not what we all remember. They want to align with UT. Not Aggy. 

I would put UTSA in the same place. My Intern is a senior there. Strategic Marketing (whatever that means) but his professors are very engaged on his program. We are designing Social Media outreach for some real poor organizations in Kenya and they have all stepped in. 

I would love to see a UTFW and UTH to expand the opportunities, but until then, just don't let them go to OU unless they want to study meteorology. 

[Texas Jeff 1932]

I was curious, so I looked up enrollment numbers for Texas public schools, in this case from Fall 2022.
Here is everyone with an enrollment over 20k, which is about 80% of the Texas public university enrollment.

The Aggies are growing their main campus but UT is putting together a system:

• Texas A&M: 67,165
• UT Austin: 52,189
• U of H: 46,580
• UNT: 44,349
• UT Arlington: 40,942
• Texas Tech: 39,743
• Texas State: 38,171
• UT San Antonio: 33,557
• UT Dallas: 31,570
• UT RGV: 31,317
• UT El Paso: 23,880
• Sam Houston: 20,996

Other UT System:

• SFA: 11,232
• UT Tyler: 8,968
• UT Permian Basin: 5,250

Other former SWC Texas schools:

• Baylor: 20,709
• TCU: 12,273
• SMU: 7,056
• Rice: 4,494

Any surprises on this list?  I didn't realize that UNT and U of H were that big....

[Texas Jeff 1932]

7 minutes ago, Texas Jeff said:

IOther former SWC Texas schools:

• Baylor: 20,709
• TCU: 12,273
• SMU: 7,056
• Rice: 4,494

Correction: SMU's enrollment is actually about 12,053.  Rice is about 8,672.  I think I left off grad students for those two schools...

[jimmyjazz 45538]

10 hours ago, BeardIP said:

If you can't get into UT you likely can't get into UF or Georgia either, though.

UT:  average SAT 1355, average GPA 3.83

UF:  average SAT 1360, average GPA 4.42

UGA:  average SAT 1325, average GPA 4.00

 

I'm going to refrain from editorializing, but I have some thoughts.

[jimmyjazz 45538]

2 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

If you can make B / A in hs math, you can pass college math. My small school offered free tutoring for all classes 

The math for engineering is over blown, needs to be cut back. You don’t need cal3, DiffyEQ, or a higher level math. You do need a good stats class. All majors should take stats 
 

the only math I use :  4% of everything I invoice = big paychecks 

Your perspective is not universal.  I literally use DiffEQ every day.  I've stumbled my way through a couple of stats issues maybe twice in my career.

[mchookem 16184]

1 hour ago, Texas Jeff said:

During our visits, we started talking about the "Rah rah" of each campus, meaning how much did it feel like you were part of a community while you were there, how much school spirit did you see.  A&M did that better than anyone else.  

i mean...lol

i've shared my niece's umprompted reaction to our aggy tour..."is this a cult??these people are weird!" 😄

UNT is big. it's a nice campus, but the surrounding prairie and shitty Denton is wearing on her. she really just wants to gtfo of Texas asap. but she only has a year left! 😊

i'll say this... setting up her TTF in 2002 just before prices started jumping was the best decision i ever made. we (family) had to subsidize a little for housing her first semester...after that UNT just started throwing money at her. and she's been working since her sophomore year. we haven't had to supplement since then... and she's graduating with zero school debt. amazing in this day and age. we got really, really lucky with timing, and she's done the work to be the kind of student UNT wants to keep happy and reward with $$.

good luck to all surly kiddos! 

 

[Gatorubet 30083]

14 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

UT:  average SAT 1355, average GPA 3.83

UF:  average SAT 1360, average GPA 4.42

UGA:  average SAT 1325, average GPA 4.00

 

I'm going to refrain from editorializing, but I have some thoughts.

Mutts are not an AAU Member, btw