<p>Son and I went to UT VIP event yesterday with the Computer Science dept. I was blown away by the opportunities in CS for students at UT. No other way to describe it, besides “wow”. The research and internship and job opportunities are incredible. </p>
<p>Note to Mom’s of daughters: If your daughter is in high school and interested in Computer Science, look into the First Bytes program for HS girls.</p>
<p>eaglemom, I’m glad you liked it! Last year, my son applied to eleven schools, and I toured seven of them with him. I got a kick out of the tiny schools proudly proclaiming their size. I kept my mouth shut, but I wanted to say, “But there are so many opportunities at a large school!” I also found that most of my classes at UT weren’t that big, and I enjoyed some of my biggest classes a lot, anyway. My son’s already started doing work in a lab as a freshman. I’m thrilled he chose UT.</p>
<p>Hey eagle…</p>
<p>I thought of you yesterday when we were at Bass wondering who you were. We had a great time! Of course I am partial to UT so I won’t give my opinion on where your son should go. :)</p>
<p>That’s how I felt when we went to Longhorn Saturday last year and went to the Communications School…I was just blown away by the programs and faculty and the awesome opportuities that the UT Comm school has to offer. It made me so proud that my D was going there! Hook-Em!</p>
<p>I can’t even believe that my son is getting to do research in the BME lab already, as a freshman! He loves it. He tried to explain to me what he was doing. Something about inhibiting an inhibitor. He lost me really quickly.</p>
<p>@MaineLonghorn The research opportunities for engineers/cs/business students are only going to continue due to UT’s IC2 project that allows students to research, develop a good, then connect them to the huge tech venture capital scene in Austin to help them bring their products to market.</p>
<p>USofP, I hadn’t heard of IC2 before. I’ll have to Googgle it.</p>
<p>One of the things that blew me away was the opportunity to form a multi-disciplinary group starting as a freshman to work toward bringing a product to market. CS referred to it as “one semester” startup. A law student, a CS student, a marketing student and a visual arts/storyteller for instance would pair up to design a new game. </p>
<p>Each group is mentored by sucessful business people, such as the guy who invented ethernet (yes, you read that right … he’s at UT). Its a great opportunity for all discliplines to do their thing and bring a product to market. My son has had a great idea for an iPhone app, for instance, but has not had time to develop it and get it to market. </p>
<p>This is just one opportunity. The head of CS told us that students could only take advantage of about 15% of the opportunities availalble and would have to let the rest go, and what a great problem to have … more opportunities than time!</p>
<p>I could go on and on and on … Am hoping now he chooses UT. Austin is closer for us and more convenient to visiting him like once a month or so.</p>
<p>Such wonderful comments to hear from all you parents! My husband, D, and I are planning to travel to Austin so she can spend time learning about HSH and CNS. It won’t be a planned event, like VIP, but the Recruitment Coordinator is putting together an itinerary for her so she can shadow an HSH student, meet faculty etc… We are really excited and I am thrilled to hear about the innovative teaching and opportunities available for UT students. Thanks for sharing.</p>
<p>So good to read other mom’s that are endorsing UT.</p>
<p>We attended the event on Saturday as well. We couldnt have picked better weather, huh? We toured the dorms, did the general tour but did not make any special sessions as my son is undecided on Liberal Arts/Pr Med, lol. We have also done Georgetown and Aggie land and Rice and when we arrived at UT, my son knew it would be where he would go to school in 2012. We are from a 5A school in Houston and alot of his buddies are aggie bound but he was 100% not aggie interested when we went to College Station. </p>
<p>Curious if you all looked into dorms? My son is not a partier type but very social and a football player. We liked San Jac but heard it was not the best for a freshman. He may or may not room with a friend so having a livelier dorm (social not drunk) is important. Thoughts?</p>
<p>Can you arrange a visit where you get to meet professors in the college you were admitted to? I can’t seem to find that information on the web site.</p>
<p>Typically visits like that are made privately with the school in question. Call the particular school and they will fill you in.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. We have visited several other schools that had all of that outlined on their website, so it was easy to set up. He got admitted to the college of engineering.</p>
<p>robinbr, I would call the department your son was admitted to. I know that if it’s my dad’s department, he would be very happy to set up a meeting with him. He does that a lot. That’s actually how my future husband decided to attend UT grad school. My dad and his secretary were the friendlist people he talked to, and he called a lot of good schools. Thank goodness my dad was friendly to DH, or we would never have met.</p>
<p>@MaineLonghorn: A UT love story … how great is that?! :)</p>
<p>I am a Dad, lol. I went with my wife and daughter. We also attended WEP and Chemical Engineering sessions. We were told this year school of engineering is trying to fill a class of about 1000 from more than 6000 applicants. Most of the BME and ChE acceptees are top 2% students. Overall, it was a very competitive class. We feel confident that UT offers quality education on par with the best in class in a bargain price if you are in-state. She has decided this is it for her even though she is still waiting to hear from 10 other schools. We as parents are very excited that she is staying in Texas, going to a top 5 program and paying in-state tuition. What more can we ask?</p>
<p>Dad, doesn’t sound like much is left to wish for! Congrats!!!</p>
<p>ML…did you get the Alcalde magazine this month? There was an article in there with stories about UT love stories. You and your H should have been featured LOL…
FYI…Alcalde is the magazine for Texas Exes…</p>
<p>SWTCAT, I received the magazine but I haven’t looked at it yet. I will have to check it out!</p>