More Flagship Universities for Texas?

Parents Forum
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<p>I didn’t know about the scoreboard, but that wouldn’t surprise me. </p>

<p><a href=“http://aggietraditions.tamu.edu/reveille.shtml[/url]”>http://aggietraditions.tamu.edu/reveille.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Strangely enough, I have yet to meet a single Aggie who is able to pronounce Reveille correctly, and not something like the mumbled Reveli they seem to prefer. :)</p>

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<p>And the lady has her own book on Amazon:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Reveille-Centennial-Association-Students-University/dp/1585443484[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Reveille-Centennial-Association-Students-University/dp/1585443484&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>AG54, all good points. However, we lived in Houston for a while, and I know that A&M has always drawn strongly from Houston … it’s the closest major city to College Station, where A&M is located. The question was about perception state-wide.</p>

<p>Out of curiosity, you mentioned friends of your son’s attending A&M. Were any of them minorities (other than those going there to play sports)?</p>

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<p>OK, I know what I’m getting as a gag graduation gift for kids. Thanks xiggi.</p>

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<p>Out here in West Texas, A&M is far more popular with students than UT is.</p>

<p>I hadn’t heard about the Reveille scoreboard. That’s … weird. But colleges are full of unusual customs and traditions so why not one more?</p>

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<p>My son’s friends who are going are not minorities, but many Asians from our school are going. You may be right about it drawing alot from Houston now because of proximity. But, I grew up in Houston, basically in the same neighborhood I am raising my kids in, and A&M was the last place on earth I would have attended (sorry Aggies, that’s just how it was back in the day). Somewhere along the line this has changed. I went to college in Dallas (I’m sure you know which school) and I don’t think that school has changed one iota from when I went there, the same types of kids go now as then. I think UT is different in that it is so much harder to get into than it used to be. Back then, I think the requirement was that you had to have a 900 on your SAT. Not too tough, and I had many not too bright friends who were Longhorns. I’ll tell you that now those folks are mad as hornets when their kids don’t get accepted. And guess where they are all ending up…A&M, followed by Tech, TCU and LSU.</p>

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<p>Here in the Dallas area, A&M and UT are equally distant, so unlike Houston there is no geographical bias. Top students going to one or the other are about equal in number, and are neatly divided along “libral”/conservative lines. Those that can get into neither go to Tech.</p>

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<p>AG54, I agree with everything in your last post. Alas, the days of UT being the “common man’s” university, where a pulse got you admitted, are gone.</p>

<p>DRJ4, I’m from West Texas originally. I’m under the impression that, west of Abilene, Texas Tech is the most popular school. Granted, though, A&M has a lot of appeal in rural settings, and always will… After all, the “A” in A&M stands for Agricultural.</p>

<p>I don’t mean to blast A&M too much. I know lots of people who went there, and some shake their heads at “The Aggie Cult” as much as I do. The school delivers a good education, and most of their alumni are devoted to their alma mater.</p>

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<p>dt123, I don’t think I can go with you on the “top students going to one or other in equal numbers.” Petersen’s reports that UT’s most recent entering class had 18% with SAT verbal scores over 700 and 26% with math scores over 700. A&M’s numbers were 8% and 15% respectively. Princeton Review says 68% of UT’s most recent entering class were in the top 10% in high school, while 50% of a&m’s entering class were in the top 10% in HS. UT has 262 National Merit Scholars currently enrolled (second only to Harvard), while A&M has 136 (and the undergraduate enrollment of the two schools is just about the same).</p>

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<p>dar, I was talking about the preferences of top kids from the Dallas area. Does Petersen’s get that specific?</p>

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In my earlier comment, I meant to compare UT and A&M but you are probably correct that more West Texas students go to Tech. On the other hand, A&M is especially popular in the Permian Basin area. </p>

<p>I think Tech is viewed as a safety for many West Texas students. It’s also affordable and convenient, and many students will be admitted at Tech that might not be accepted at UT or A&M. I know West Texas students that could have been admitted to UT or A&M but who didn’t want the stress of applying to a reach college - so they only applied to Tech.</p>

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<p>Back in my high school days, it was easy to tell the potential Aggies from the potential Longhorns. If you listened to country/western, you went to A&M. If you listened to rock, you went to UT.</p>

<p>If you listened to Christian music, you went to Baylor. If you listened to classical, you went to Rice. If you listened to the bands at debutante parties, you went to SMU.</p>

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<p>Fireflyscout,</p>

<p>Excellent! And according to my TCU-educated spouse - if you liked a little bit of everything, you went to TCU.</p>

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<p>I was raised Baptist. If you listened to Christian music, you went to Baylor. If you listened to anything else, you went to Hell. (…or Tech, same difference)</p>

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<p>I tend to laugh out loud at least one a day reading CC. I met my quota early today.</p>

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<p>FFS- too funny! </p>

<p>From my S’s HS last year I noticed kids in the top 10% went to UT and those in the next 10% (10-20%) went to A&M. </p>

<p>From just looking at the HS graduates the past few years it seems like the gap is widening between the two schools. There appeared to be more of an even distribution a few years ago.</p>

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<p>At my school (suburban Houston), it seem as though 1/4-1/3 of the top 10% went to A&M, with most of the rest going to UT (a few out of state, a couple to Rice). Of the students I know who chose to go to A&M, most, but by no means all, were white. On average, they seemed to be more religious and/or conservative than the students going to UT.</p>

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<p>Firefly and Darius - ya’ll are hilarious (ooh, I’m a poet and didn’t know it).</p>

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<p>Oh and by the way, last night I was with some moms who did tours over the weekend, one went to TCU and she said that, according to (I think she said) Wall Street Journal, TCU has just been named the best business school in the region, better than UT. Of course her son is going to TCU and mine to UT. Too funny. </p>

<p>Anyway, if anybody has a link to the article I would love to see it.</p>

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<p>WSJ Business School rankings for 2005: </p>

<p><a href=“WSJ in Higher Education | Trusted News & Real-World Insights”>WSJ in Higher Education | Trusted News & Real-World Insights;

<p>And an article about TCU’s reaction to the ranking:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/print.php?id=4172&title=TCU�s+business+school+ranks+No.+1+in+Texas[/url]”>http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/print.php?id=4172&title=TCU�s+business+school+ranks+No.+1+in+Texas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;