Texas A&M vs. Texas Tech.

westsidewolf1989 · December 13, 2007, 11:06pm

this coming from a longhorn fan…go to a&m. while the school is a cult and is a sadistic group of people (i.e. “fish camp”), they do have a tradition that i do respect. while their traditions are gay and cultlike… they at least have a tradition. lubbock is an infinitely better place than college station. That being said, a&m is better in pretty much every academic aspect, and while both towns lack the amazing social life of austin, a&m is the better choice. like several posters have said

Tech doesnt have the alumni base that A&M and UT have
It is a bit (verysmall) harder to get the same job opps as a&m grads
tech is slipping in prestige- texas state will most likely catch them soon…this is mainly a cause of top 10% rule, since 70% of UT kids were in top 10% of class, 50% of aggies were, and only 22% of kids at tech were. unfortunately, tech is starting to get known for the fact that many (not all this a just a generalization) of the kids that go to tech were slackers in high school

westsidewolf1989 · December 13, 2007, 11:14pm

but also i fail to understand how UT is a peer or better than UVA or UNC, Berkely, UMich, or UCLA. dont delude yourself into thinking that UT is on the exact same level as these schools cuz its not. UT is a good public, but its not a top 5 or top 7 public. it is too large and has too many in state students to be in that list. UT WOULD be even with these schools if the state govt. cut this top 10% rule crap that is effing up the public unis. of texas. oh and last time i checked rice was the best university in texas.

JWT86 · December 14, 2007, 12:22am

You have to distinguish whether you are talking undergraduate only, or overall. At the undergrad level, UT’s large size places it below UVA, Berkeley, UMich, UCLA, and Rice. However, in terms of faculty quality and academic departments, UT is ranked much higher than UVA, Rice, and UNC, and closer to UCLA and Michigan. This is per academic evaluations from the NRC, London Times, USNWR grad program rankings, and various other ranking sources. So, you just need to clarify whether you are talking undergrad, or overall. Overall, UT is MUCH stronger than Rice in Texas (Rice actually comes nowhere close to UT beyond undergrad in terms of overall academic breadth, depth, and faculty quality per sources like the NRC). By the way, I’ll point out again, that even in the USNWR undergrad rankings, UT’s peer reputation of 4.1 places it above Rice. It’s only Rice’s smaller size and selectivity that gives it a higher overall undergrad ranking due to USNWR’s methodology.

JWT86 · December 14, 2007, 12:28am

Rice has the best undergrad college in Texas. UT-Austin is the best university. There’s a difference. UT is #1 in Texas in essentially every academic department ranking. Rice is not…

noobcake · December 14, 2007, 12:39am

@JWT86
By your argument; UCB instantly rapes any college without peer assessment of 4.9 (I think there are 5?)

Formidable · December 14, 2007, 7:06pm

I don’t need to quote anything about A&M’s honors program. A&M is ranked much higher than Tech and more recruiters go to A&M than Tech. These recruiters really go after the honors students at A&M.

Therefore, A&M Honors > Tech Honors

It might be strong program but that doesn’t outweigh the fact that A&M is a flagship university and a better known school. You are going to get more out of an A&M degree than a Tech Honors degree.

Personally I think your son sold himself short.

Why do you need to visit all three when only two of them are within the top 100 national universities?

Doesn’t really need to be because it’s already attracting a lot of quality, well-rounded students. Honestly I think if UT got more selective, they would start attracting too many of the bookworm types.

Says who? You? Not according to the rankings and everywhere else I’ve heard. From what I’ve heard, UT is right behind UVA and UNC. UVA has a better regarded business program and UNC has more specialized programs.

If you’d also read some actual student comments by UT students over at students review, you’ll realize that UT isn’t as great of a university as you make it out to be. It’s a great school, don’t get me wrong, but I wouldn’t quite put it in the same league as UNC-Chapel Hill.

I grew up within 30 miles of UT-Austin and the reason I didn’t go there was because for my program, I didn’t feel they offered substantially more than Texas A&M. Plus UT feels more like a commuter school than A&M, and to me the ranking of UT didn’t outweigh that feeling.

And it should. Common complains with UT consist of huge class sizes, facility which doesn’t even know you except by number, terrible parking, etc. Combine that with my complaint that it is harder to make good friends at UT than say, A&M.

Rice is an impessive school but it’s too small to really give UT or A&M a run for their money. Most corporate officers I have met in Texas have came from UT or A&M, not Rice. To pick Rice over UT or A&M would be to pick it’s environment because you find that Rice is closest to your personal values. But when it comes to career opportunities in Texas, there’s no real advantage.

Actually, I was the one that said that. UT really shines in business, engineering, and geosciences but the rest of their programs, like liberal arts, are no better than many other state universities. Hell, I know that advertising majors from Texas State aren’t having problems competing against UT ad majors for the same jobs.

But even if you are not in one of those top three programs, the sheer name of UT is impressive. You benefit not because your program (like liberal arts) was exceptional but because UT has quite a brand name to it.

True but if you are going to school to get a degree and then a career in the private sector, this doesn’t really matter. That said, I do think having SOME sort of research at the school is impressive. That’s one of the reasons why I feel that UT and A&M outshine Tech; they don’t just give out a bunch of degrees, they do a lot of research. But between A&M and UT, it’s not going to matter because students from both schools really compete with each other for the same careers.

Personally, I had the brains to go to an Ivy but I didn’t want to because I would not have liked the environment up there, nor did I have any interest in moving up north from Texas. I was in the “jock crowd” in high school and I’m fairly sure that I would not have fit into the Ivy crowd. But I do not regret my decision to go to A&M at all.

I think it’s more impressive when someone goes to a state university, which isn’t an Ivy, and can still achieve a lot of success and wealth in his life afterwards. If you have talent, you won’t need an Ivy League name of your degree. Although Ivies are the best choice for certain careers.

Formidable · December 14, 2007, 7:15pm

I was never really a part of the traditions at A&M. You can go to A&M like me and not get too caught up in the Aggie cult.

Besides, I didn’t see their traditions as any worse than many frat initiations.

Obviously you have never been to Lubbock. Name at least five things you can do in Lubbock that you cannot do in College Station. Also name at least three major cities that are within 200 miles of Lubbock that are worth going to.

If you’re an 18-year-old kid barely out of high school who has nothing to compare Lubbock to, then yes I can see why you would think that Lubbock is the greatest place ever. But once you start visiting other college towns, you’ll see what I mean.

1) I’m actually going easy on Tech compared to some of my fellow Aggies.
2) Depends on your major and GPA.

curmudgeon · January 6, 2008, 2:28pm

Formidable. I heartily disagree. My D could have gone anywhere (and has the acceptances to back it up, not just her own horn-tooting wishful-thinking words) and the only Texas school she ever considered , and the only one she applied to, was Texas Tech.

A large part of her good feeling about Tech was the the campus. Much more attractive and much more “collegiate” than either TU or Aggieland. A real campus.

Additionally the opportunities she would have had in the sciences working with the med school profs’ etc. trounce anything that could be done at your two hotshot schools.

A friend of D’s ( number 3 in her class) had gone to Tech and joined the Honor’s College. She is there now and still loving it . So to anyone reading this please understand that Tech may be right for you, A+M may be right for you and if you can get into Plan II Texas may even be right for you-but I got to tell you - if UT is really 40 acres , 39.5 of it is crap. ;)

Fellow Texan

JWT86 · January 6, 2008, 3:20pm

Obviously campus “attractiveness” is subjective, but how many famous architects have built anything at Tech? (I seriously have no idea - that’s why I’m asking) Off the top of my head, UT has buildings by Cass Gilbert, Paul Cret, and a campus master plan by Cesar Pelli. The central campus is indeed a uniform Spanish Renaissance. Really the only ‘ugly’ parts are structures built during the 60s and 70s, which is a phenomenon at a lot of universities.

Some more campus advantages UT has over Tech -

largest university art museum in the country - Blanton
largest university rare book/manuscript library on any university campus - Ransom Center
the top 2-3 largest Perfoming Arts Complexes on any university campus - PAC
world famous resident faculty quartet - Miro Quartet

Not sure how Tech (or any university for that matter) can in any way match UT’s cultural offerings. It’s not meant to be a slam, just a fact. So explain to me again how Tech is more of a ‘real campus’?

And how many NAS members does Tech have compared to UT or A&M? UT has more prestigious NAS faculty members than Tech WITHOUT even having a medical school (and among the top of all universities in the country without med schools in this regard).

JWT86 · January 6, 2008, 3:34pm

I already stated ‘says who’ - not me, but the National Research Council (NRC), London Times, USNWR Graduate rankings (I’m talking PhD programs, not only professional schools), Shanghai Jiao, etc. Again, I was referring in the context of overall university perception, not just undergrad. (And if UVA was so much better than UT, then they should stop trying to raid NAE faculty from UT, for starters, since wouldn’t that bring them down??)

y7bbb6 · January 6, 2008, 3:39pm

TEXAS TECH ROCKS! Double legacy baby. This thread makes me want to apply there! It’s probably just a waste of money though…

MomofWildChild · January 6, 2008, 4:46pm

Agree with Curmudgeon. Tech is getting a bad rap on this thread. I have a good friend who has a PHD from A&M and has taught there (A&M) for many years. He said he the only Texas state school he would recommend for undergrad is Texas Tech- more individual attention and great research and honors opportunities.

Plan II is great, but very hard to get into. I love visiting Austin, but don’t feel the UT campus is really a campus. Plus, it’s simply too huge of a university. I’m not knocking it, and I also know people who have done great at A&M (but College Station- oh, please… U G L Y), but DON’T WRITE OFF TECH.

Besides, any school that welcomed Bobby Knight with open arms is good in my book!

euclid · March 15, 2008, 8:01am

It is my observation thatTech has made major efforts to improve accademics during the last several years.

Tech’s last capital campaign raised over $500 million, much of it ear-marked for construction. Tech is now in the planning stage to raise it’s endowment to over $1 billion, with the intention to direct monies toward scholarships and endowed chairs.

Tech recently opened it’s second medical school in El Paso.

Tech has far more resources than Texas State etc. and is positioning itself to be the next flagship university in Texas. For whatever reason, many Texas A&M alumni feel threatened by Tech’s plans and are Tech’s most vocal detractors. Keep this in mind when reading these comments…

dalarch88 · August 11, 2010, 4:56pm

Wow, I am a little late to the party, but whats with all the Tech hate? I just graduated and loved every minute out in Lubbock. I just have a couple things to say to some of the common things I read on here for anyone that is actually taking the next step to further their education and is not just on here because they feel the need to build up their school while putting down others.

1st off. Yes, Lubbock is isolated. However, it is not a small town. It is also fastly growing. I took a picture as a freshman four years ago of the area around campus and another when I graduated a few months ago and I hadn’t even realized how much it had changed in 4 years. But that is neither here nor there. There is actually a lot of culture in downtown lubbock as well. Every month there is an art trail that takes you around to all the downtown art galleries. When chosing a school, you also need to think about the surrounding areas. Thats one of the reasons why I chose Tech. I LOVE West Texas and New Mexico. Tech is literally the flattest place in the world, but drive 45 minutes to an hour and you are in Paloduro canyon and the cascades of the texas caprock. Its beautiful and we would go camping out there all the time when I was a student! Also, I am a big skiier and you are 3 hours to the mountains at Ruidosa and about 4 to Taos and Albuquerque/Santa Fe. Okay thats my rant on location.

As far as Academics, its been said on here and everywhere else. UT is a step ahead of A&M, and A&M is a step above Tech…OVERALL! I was an architecture student and as far as architectural rankings go (which I dont typically believe in) they are neck and neck. It all just depends on what you want to do. Also, A&M and UT are both larger than Tech (I think currentyly A&M and UT are pushing 50k and Tech just crossed the 30k marker last year). So naturally, the Tech network is smaller as far as alumni connections go. But if you are looking to land in any major city of Texas, this is a non issues. There are plenty of Tech alums across the state whereever you go. On a side note, I know Tech isn’t as big as UT & A&M, but when did 30,000 become “small”?

Lastly, I cannot stress enough to anyone reading these threads here or on any site for that matter, to take them all with a grain of salt. Everyone hear on the internet is faceless and free to say whatever they please. The best option is to narrow down your search to a few schools you are interested in and go visit. Do the campus tour, try and meet a few people on campus and ask questions, sit in on a class, etc. Only then can you make a decision about what is best for you! Best of luck to anyone about to begin your college career, I’m jealous! They will be the best years of your life, as they should be!

Texas A&M vs. Texas Tech.

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