<p>What is the social environment like at UT-A? Conservative or liberal? </p>
<p>I have been told that the major campus is in downtown Austin and it’s not such a pretty or even necessarily safe campus. Can someone knowledgeable comment? </p>
<p>Are the academics really sufficiently excellent to offset any negatives re. campus safety, if that is an issue, or huge size of classes? </p>
<p>Can anyone comment on the chemistry coursework at UT-A?</p>
<p>UT-A is very liberal.</p>
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<li><p>While much of UT and Austin are liberal, there are many conservatives there as well. At a school the size of UT-Austin, everyone can find like-minded people.</p></li>
<li><p>The campus is not downtown, it is several miles north of downtown. The campus is pretty (IMO), but it is kind of cramped. It is relatively safe for a university of its size, you’ve got your routine bike thefts, etc., but it’s not like it isn’t safe to walk the streets.</p></li>
<li><p>Depends on your major and what you’re looking for out of a college, both in academics, atmosphere and experience. There are many huge classes, expecially in your typical pre-req type courses, but once you are in your major classes, the class size is smaller.</p></li>
<li><p>I can’t but someone else on CC might be able to.</p></li>
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<li> The campus is absolutly beautiful. I know what you mean by thinking it’s downtown. It’s close, but it’s kind of its own little section. UT does a good job of creating a urban campus, without having it stuck in the middle of the city. As for safety goes, it’s going to be the same as any other major university.</li>
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<li>Liberal</li>
<li>Campus is not downtown… Downtown is a few miles away but they are 2 completely separate entities. </li>
<li>Campus safety isn’t an issue, unless your a girl and walk by yourself after 11 or so. There were a few thefts last year, but if you stick to a few guidelines your fine(and if you have a bike get a good lock). I prefer huge classes, some people like the one on one classroom, but I prefer to be detached and figure stuff out on my own. It is all about your learning style. I have heard good things about Plan II though if you want smaller class sizes. </li>
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<p>As far as the beauty of the campus, I think it is decent right now, but a big problem is a lot of major construction going on all the time that really kills the atmosphere. It will be much better by the time you come here I expect, since it was awesome when I first got here last year.</p>
<p>Get into the Plan II Program and class size and the quality of academics quickly become non-issues :)</p>
<p>The campus is about 1 to 1.5 miles north of downtown. Some suburbanites in Austin consider it downtown but it is not downtown. That being said, its location relative to downtown is a great positive, IMO.</p>
<p>What is Plan II?</p>
<p>Funny to see your questions.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman from New York City, and I was just in Austin last weekend to visit him for his 18th birthday.</p>
<p>It all depends on your point of view.</p>
<p>To us, the campus atmosphere is moderate, sort of centrist liberals like Clinton, who when I went to college in the 60’s and 70’s would have been a Republican.</p>
<p>The campus is quite lovely, especially for an urban campus. It has its own neighborhood, is not far from downtown, and tends to blend in with the surrounding off-campus residences. If you are truly ivydreamin, I don’t know how you’ll react, but as an alumnus of an urban Ivy League school, I am thrilled that my son is at UT - in fact, it was my idea. And he’s really happy.</p>
<p>Class sizes for my son in his 5 courses: one is about 300, broken into a lab section of 20 one day per week; one is about 100, one is about 40, one is 25 and one is 17. I strongly advise you to look into joining a FIG. It adds a personal dimension to a large school like UT. My son says it was the smartest decision he has made.</p>
<p>No idea about Chemistry - my son is enrolled in Biology and Psychology, though he is a theatre and dance major, acting focus, in the College of Fine Arts.</p>
<p>^ Hmm… Penn or Columbia?</p>
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<li> UT is definitely liberal 
Although with 50k+ students, there’re conservatives around
2 et 3. It is near downtown Austin, but unless you live off campus in the sketchy part of town or you walk around during midnight with headphones off campus, on campus is really safe. Especially during the weekdays, there’re people walking around, studying, etc… at all sort of hours, so if you live on campus, there’re no need to worry about your safety, unless you consider walking uphill a danger like I do.<br></li>
<li> Chemistry coursework is pretty good. Introduction Chemistry can be a real drag unless you get a good professor or is in the honors chemistry class. Organic Chemistry is really solid, two or three really good professors, haven’t heard any bad comments about any Organic Chemistry professors yet. The grades ratio is pretty much 30%A30%B30%C10%D/F for the intro chemistry and organic chemistry.<br></li>
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<p>Chemistry Lab and Organic Chemistry lab tend to be easier, lot of effort require but nothing hard, 50% of students usually make A while the rest B, you really have to try to fail labs.</p>
<p>Anything else related to Chemistry I don’t know because I havn’t take it yet 
</p>
<p>P.S. Next year 09-10, UT will be moving to a +/- grading system, so don’t give my grades ratio too much consideration.</p>
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<li><p>Definitely liberal ;)</p></li>
<li><p>It’s not really downtown, just slightly north of it, but it’s still significantly spread out. When I went down for an admitted students event, we had to walk all over the place, and it was… well, tiring. As for safety, as long as you stay responsible and don’t do stupid things like staying out until 4am drinking and partying, you will be perfectly fine. Despite the fact that Austin is not necessarily the epitome of safeness, the campus is friendly and supportive.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes; UT Austin is a fabulous place to study (esp. if you’re going into business, engineering, or compsci!) and you’ll find that the honors programs are available in nearly every school. Even if you aren’t in an honors program, once you get past the large first-year lectures you’ll find smaller classes and intense study.</p></li>
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<p>And by the way, no one calls our Austin branch UTA because UTA stands for UT @ Arlington. UT Austin is simply “UT” ;)</p>
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<li><p>A sliver of blue in the heart of a red state.</p></li>
<li><p>UT unsafe? I walked around campus at all times of the night. I would say it’s very safe. Austin is consistently rated as one of the best college towns in the country. The live music and culture is unbeatable.</p></li>
<li><p>UT has top rated engineering and business college in the country. If you are in-state, you can not beat the bargain price for those colleges. If you are planning to do liberal arts or natural science, the honors programs are excellent.</p></li>
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<p>glory4england … please elaborate: UT is switching to +/- grading next year? So does that mean all undergraduate classes will now be pass/fail instead of letter grades?</p>
<p>crazichi, No, all grades will not be pass/fail they will be letter grades but A,A-, B+,B,B-, etc. with different grade point averages for +/-</p>