I went to UTA. And it was awful. I loved meeting the new CAP people, but for my major (RTF) if I don’t get into UT it will be difficult for me to go somewhere else for Fall 2016. (I’m still going to UT and will try to get in for spring if I don’t get in for fall).
Major: RTF (I was originally journalism)
Fall: 3.63
Spring: 3.56
Cumulative: 3.6 (okay 3.59)
Yes I’m going to UT.
Yes I regret CAP
When people say that most of you won’t make it. There are telling the truth. @DestineeMoreh and I had the same friend group and most of them are going to other places like Tech and A&M while others are staying at UTA. Most went there and made friends and joined greek life and decided to stay. But I know some that did this first thing first semester, but once the awe of “college life” wore off, they regretted it.
If you are an engineering or business major I would definitely not recommend it unless you think you can for sure get a 4.0. UTA isn’t a hard school but calculus isn’t the easiest math class.
Most of the following pertain to UTA but it should apply everywhere
If you are CAP at UTA don’t tell your teachers or certain clubs. Our friend was rejected from joining an org because she was CAP and another received a little bit of a hard time from his teacher.
If you go to UTA bring a car. Since the campus is commuter and its in a very suburban area, there isn’t much to do and everything closes early. There is nowhere to walk to for fun. The dining hall has weird hours on the weekends and everyone goes home after 4 and every weekend.
Getting involved on campus is very difficult depending on what you’re interested in. There are many clubs that are listed on Mavorgs that aren’t active anymore. Your best bet is to go greek, newspaper, Muslim Student Association and NAACP. The theatre and dance organizations are active though.
If you choose to go Greek do it at you UT satellite campus so that it will be easier to transfer over to UT since they have 100x more competitive rush/intake (this goes for all greek councils like the Divine Nine, MGC and the APIA). If you think you will get distracted or can’t balance the workload then don’t do it. There is spring and fall rush for the Divine Nine, NPC and IFC. A lot of people are greek and there is a strong presence on campus but you can get by without joining one. If you want to get involved without greek life, you will have to work at it. Do not limit yourself to just CAP friends. But i would advise you do what our friends did and make a GroupMe filled with just CAP students so you have people to talk to over the summer and get to know so that you don’t transfer to UT alone and have a support group while you’re in CAP. The main reason why most of the ones going to UT were still able to make it was because we had people there to remind us of what we were working towards.
DO NOT bet on getting a work-study. It likely will not happen. There are seniors and junior who struggle to get the very few jobs that are open to students. Those jobs go to the same people constantly. I banked on this to help pay for school and was sadly mistaken.
On a more positive note, you don’t have cumulative bathrooms in the dorms and campus is pretty quiet. Campus is very diverse and people are generally friendly. You will get that moment where you’re sitting on the nice green grass laughing with your multicultural friends like people do in all those college pamphlets.
Don’t get a big head. Its why everyone hates CAP students.Some will go “I hate this school. I can’t wait till I get to UT! Everything sucks. Blah Blah Blah.” Just because this school wasn’t your first choice doesn’t mean it wasn’t someone else’s.
The dorms are generally nice. I would recommend staying in Vandergriff, KC Hall or Arlington hall. I lived in Lipscomb and Trinity House but spent a lot of time in the other dorms if you have any questions.
At UTA at least, there isn’t really a sports culture. No one goes to games but there are games for you to go to if that’s your thing. The most popular sports are basketball and volleyball. There is no football team. And the sports culture isn’t on the same level as UT.
Depending on where you were ranked in high school. classes are generally easy. Like…very easy. I only made B’s because I made 85s on the final exam that dropped me from an A to high B. I would stay away from any classes frequented by nursing majors like Biomed and Biology.
You do not need to always buy the book. It all depends on your teacher (use rate my professor . com) I am selling school english books (which you do need) if you would like to buy any. If you are in Spanish, do not buy the special UTA book. Buy this and this it is the exact same book (just separated) without the picture of UTA on the front that makes the book they want you to get 150$.
Do not listen 100% to what your advisor says. In our case we had a terrible CAP advisor who told students to take classes that weren’t transferable to UT or would stress that some classes were “too hard” or would say that a class you’re taking won’t transfer even though it will. Always cross reference with the list of transferable CAP courses. Our friend was advised to take a business math class despite the fact that it won’t transfer. He ended up having to take 18 hrs (that’s a lot) the next semester to make up for the credit deficit (you have to have 30 hrs by the end of the year to transfer to UT and non-transferable courses don’t count). Make sure you have back up schools.
I would recommend having classes that go on while the sun is up. Because there is no one campus after 4, when the sun goes down and you are walking back to you dorm from class you will be completely alone.
If you’re from Houston, bring winter clothes. We had many Houstonites who weren’t used to anything below 50 degrees.
Classes I would recommend to take at UTA:
English 1301 and 1302
Math 1441
Calculus 1
Theatre and Film Appreciation
Geology (your absolute safest science if you aren’t STEM)
History and Poli-Sci
Classes I wouldn’t recommend:
Astronomy
Biology
Bio-Anthropology
Chemistry and Physics
Stay motivated. It is, as one should expect, a little disheartening to not get into your dream school or the school with the life/location/atmosphere that you wanted. It’s only a year and it will be quick. Good Luck.
PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR PRE-REQS