<p>I’m thinking of transferring to UT Austin from a lesser known school that is really good with academics, smaller so I can get one on one with teachers (and get recommendation letters out of them for graduate school) and it’s CHEAPER. Everything is so great at my current school, I don’t know if I should move on to bigger things in UT Austin. I know it’s a large school where it’s easy to get confused and get bad grades since it’s so academically challenging.
I know I’m on the UT Austin board and people with pride for this school may tell me to transfer on over, but seriously, let’s be honest. Does an undergraduate degree from UT Austin hold more weight than one from- say-UT Tyler? Has anyone been or is currently in my position? I currently have a 3.9 just from taking basics here.
Thanks in advance for any responses. All opinions are welcome.</p>
<p>Of course it’s worth it. I don’t share your experience. But to even think a degree from UT Austin isn’t really worth it is kind of silly. Also, I’m sure it holds much more weight then a degree from UT Tyler, no offense to the school or it’s students.</p>
<p>Sent from my Desire HD using CC</p>
<p>What major?</p>
<p>UT Austin and UT Tyler are on entirely different leagues. Of course UT Austin is far superior to UT Tyler. Whatdamcfudge is correct.</p>
<p>Okay, let me change the nature of this conversation a bit…
I’m going to admit it, I attend UT Tyler. If I manage to make amazing grades here (the grade system is different here, An A is an A, so all A’s would equal a 4.0) all four years and apply to graduate school, would I have as good a chance of getting into a good one as someone with a degree from UT Austin with mediocre grades? I feel like if I did transfer to UT Austin, I may not do so well academically since we all know UT is challenging.
Keep in mind I’ve also heard stories about people who do exceptionally well in junior colleges that have transferred to schools such as NYU and are now producers in big companies.<br>
Any more opinions?</p>
<p>LivingWithFaith</p>
<p>It really depends on your major. What is it? What do you want to study in graduate school?</p>
<p>I would love to study film in graduate school, but I applied for the film program here at UT Austin for undergraduate, don’t know if I got in yet. I’m also considering Psychology and the Psychology program at UT Tyler is really good, I don’t know how it is at UT Austin. I worry that the class sizes at UT Austin are so big that I won’t be able to get a close relationship with professors, who are useful as connections/recommendation letters though. I worry about getting lost in the mix of things at UT Austin, sure it’s good for some people, but could I really benefit in the long run from it?<br>
And to the person who said that UT Tyler and UT Austin aren’t even in the same league – that’s a bit overstated. UT Tyler is a branch of UT Austin. If I apply to a job after college, the employer may not even care about the difference. Sure, UT Austin has more prestige, but it’s not an ivy league school. They may call it “public ivy” but who knows, maybe someone with a degree from UT Tyler will get in a higher position than someone with a degree from UT Austin. Cases like that happen all the time by the way.</p>
<p>
If you want to study film, then UT-Austin’s undergraduate program is one of the best around according to this site (ranked #10):[Top</a> 10 Film Schools | Best Film Schools in the Nation](<a href=“http://education-portal.com/top_10_film_schools.html]Top”>http://education-portal.com/top_10_film_schools.html)
Or from the Hollywood Reporter (ranked #13):[The</a> 25 Best Film Schools Rankings - The Hollywood Reporter](<a href=“http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/25-best-film-schools-rankings-215714]The”>The 25 Best Film Schools Rankings – The Hollywood Reporter)
So, clearly UT-Austin’s film school, with its reasonable tuition since you are in-state, and prestige as noted above, makes it a strong candidate for what you may want to major in–much more so that UT-Tyler.
Undergraduate psychology departments are not ranked separately as it is typical to get a graduate degree if one majors in psychology. UT-Tyler’s graduate program, while it may be good, is not on the level of UT-Austin’s psychology graduate program (UT-Austin ranked #13; UT-Tyler is not ranked):[Best</a> Psychology Programs | Top Psychology Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/psychology-rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/psychology-rankings)
Again, UT-Austin has a superior psychology department, if that is what you are interested in majoring in.
As you begin taking your major-specific classes (junior and senior level), class size is usually no larger than 30 people. That is small enough to get to know your professors, yet even in large classes students can visit professors during office hours and get to know them that way. </p>
<p>As to the benefit of attending UT-Austin, only you can answer that. A few questions, though: 1) Have you visited the campus? 2) If you have, did you tour the Communications building/Psychology department, meet with an advisor, or ask to sit in on a class? 3) If you haven’t visited the campus and met with folks to ask your questions and get a feel for UT, then you really can’t make an informed decision. </p>
<p>Posters can give you facts as to how good UT-Austin is academically and share their anecdotes as to the social setting, but it would be a shame for you to make up your mind if you haven’t really investigated UT-Austin.</p>
<p>With that said, if you have visited and you are still this unsure, then maybe UT-Austin is not your cup of tea. But, long story short, yes a degree from UT-Austin really is worth it.</p>
<p>^^Thank you so much for the honest advice, I feel a bit better now about my transfer.</p>
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<p>Sorry, but I think you’re being a bit delusional if you truly believe that. I don’t mean to sound elitist, but UT Austin is truly in a different league than UT Tyler. UT is regarded as a [tier</a> 1](<a href=“http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/tier-one-universities/about/]tier”>Tier One universities | The Texas Tribune) university. If you read the article, you’ll notice that the state funding appropriated to bring more Texas universities to tier 1 status did not even consider UT Tyler as a contender, though it did recognize UTA, UTD, UTSA and UTEP.</p>
<p>And in regards to the class size being too large, it is not that difficult to get to know the professor if you actually put in a little effort. Most students do not visit office hours, let alone ask questions during class. The majority of the time, the front two rows aren’t filled up. Sit in the front, ask questions and visit offices hours and you’ll have no problem getting to know them.</p>
<p>I’m GLAD I get to go here for my undergraduate. This school is so top notch.
My chances at getting in to UT Pharmacy aren’t the greatest, because it’s like #4 is the country or something. </p>
<p>I’d rather be here than anywhere else.
I’m paying for first-class experience. The professors, the resources, the campus itself, and so on. Even my classmates are great. It’s just what college should be like here. </p>
<p>Just because it’s undergraduate does NOT mean you have to half arse your four years. Make it all worthwhile. </p>
<p>Whatever makes you happy though.</p>
<p>UT-Austin is extremely average. You like UT-Tyler, you’ve probably made a lot of friends there, so I’d stay there.</p>
<p>Sure, it’s not ivy league here, but UT is definitely not “extremely average.” That’s ‘extremely false’ so to speak! And actually, it’s the highest ranked in Texas. </p>
<p>[|United</a> States Universities in Top 500 - 2010](<a href=“http://www.arwu.org/Country2010Main.jsp?param=United%20States]|United”>http://www.arwu.org/Country2010Main.jsp?param=United%20States)</p>
<p>It’s a big school, but you can still find one-on-one time with professors. I’ve hung out in one of my favorite professor’s office from time to time. You just have to make an effort and not sit in the back of class and such. </p>
<p>Tyler does not even compare to Austin. There’s no Barton Springs, no green belt, no big music comes by. You probably have to drive to Dallas for the things like that. That’s inconvenient. </p>
<p>You’re getting a bachelors of something from xyz, yes, you’ll still leave with that certificate. It’s not what, but where and how. I guess it depends on your priority. If you’re just talking about the weight of a degree, then stay at UT Tyler. Have fun.</p>
<p>I was going to say maybe they have the same amount of study abroad programs, but not even. Maybe Tyler’s nice and relaxing for you though. Who knows!</p>
<p>Tyler actually does have some great study abroad programs, scholarships involved as well. If I had to stay here for another year, I’d spend it in France like some friends I know from this school did. And you’re right sasha, about the attractions that UT Austin has that Tyler lacks, but we’re talking about academics here. I grew up in Austin. I’m completely aware of how fun it is. But I’m not trying to get all distracted like I was in high school. And it’s not always about how high a school is nationally ranked. It’s how you perform in it. It’s WHAT you do with it. I’m not going to get anywhere hiding behind a school’s prestige. Now please, someone with an all 4 years experience from UT Austin, share your opinion!</p>
<p>
Well, I thought I gave you a pretty thorough response above, and I have an accounting degree and a law degree from UT. So, that equates to 7 years experience, plus I have a kid there and another attending this fall. Does that meet your criterion?</p>
<p>Look, posters are trying to help you here, yet the questions I posed to you about investigating the campus by way of a thorough visit (as I described above), you did not answer. So, ask some concrete questions and perhaps you’ll get some concrete responses. Sasha and others have given you some feedback already. But, by the sound of it, you don’t want to attend UT-Austin and are rationalizing reasons not to, e.g. “I’m not going to get anywhere hiding behind a school’s prestige.” What does that mean, exactly? </p>
<p>Look, if you don’t want to attend UT-Austin, then don’t. It’s OK. There are plenty of kids who want to and will gladly take your place. Just peruse the transfer thread as to how many prospective students there are anxiously awaiting an update to their application status. Good luck with whatever you decide.</p>
<p>texex86,
I wasn’t trying to bash the school, sorry if it came off that way. I can list a bunch reasons why UT Tyler is not the best school either. And to answer one of your questions, I’ve been on the UT Austin campus plenty of times, but I’ve never sat in for a class. I haven’t picked a major yet, still a freshmen, so I worry that I may take classes I may not even need next year, regardless of which school I attend.
Now I have a concrete question for you: if you took the majority of basic courses (US History, Economics, Biology, etc.) should you linger in UT Tyler for one more year, or quit delaying the inevitable and just transfer to UT Austin? Keep in mind UT Tyler is a lot cheaper so I’d save money, but I’m not sure if there is much opportunity there.</p>
<p>You might be better off finishing your core req’s wherever it’s cheapest. However, you should be cautious when transferring in the middle of a multi-semester sequence (e.g. between Ochem 1 & 2) because the continuity isn’t even perfect between professors here.</p>
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<p>US News has the university ranked 45th. I’d call that average, with the exception of McCombs, Cockrell, medical and law schools. The classes I took in the COLA and CNS were an absolute joke. I benefited far more from networking than academics there. I know it’s a tough pill to swallow after looking at your tuition loan size, but it’s the truth.</p>
<p>What an embarrassingly arrogant thing to say about those colleges. You must not have gotten very far in either of those colleges and even if you did, that’s a very ignorant thing to generalize about. Any one college is not a walk in the park once you get up there. Ask a philosophy student or a chemistry student, whatever. Each one is a science. And if you think one’s better than the other or even easier than the other, than you’re pretty darn shallow and obviously not very aware of certain things. </p>
<p>Have some tact.</p>
<p>Otherwise – I don’t even care about what follows, but I’ll continue - </p>
<p>The ranks, fine, sure. #45 from whatever source.
Not the extreme like you said, however.
“Extreme” is bottom of the barrel. </p>
<p>Networking and academics go hand in hand. One in the same almost.
Which one is more important, the left wing or the right wing of a bird? I read that somewhere around here and it’s true. It’s not better to be a social idiot or a social-phobe genius. Gotta have balance. Benefits? It is what you make it. You think here it’s limited? Think longer about it and look in more places. “Ya look, ya find.” I mean, really, you want the benefits to be spoon-fed just like you think the classes are here? No.</p>
<p>And it doesn’t matter where you go, it’s going to cost money. There is no such thing as free rides. Somebody somewhere pays for it. It might be you. Really, unless it’s like Hallmark College or some dodgy school like that, it’s will cost! Anyway if someone’s good at what they do, wherever it is, they can still get scholarships and grants. Debt is everywhere, and dude, the south is where it at price wise no matter what school you go to so long as it’s public. Yeah, just look at mortgages and property values. Go the east cost, tuitions up; west cost, same thing. Consider that.</p>