UT without honors -- research opps & quality education....still?

Colleges & Universities The University of Texas at Austin
1

<p>I’m hearing about all the great research opportunities at UT and the wonderful advising, etc. when you are in the Dean Scholars or other honors program. My son is accepted into the comp sci program, but not into the honors. </p>

<p>Just wondering (especially since we’ll [likely] be paying big, out-of-state tuition) whether an undergrad would still have a quality education – e.g. chances for research, good, accessible professors – w/out the honors component?</p>

<p>Nervous about son being in the (reputed) 400+ classes and getting lost in the huge sea of kids. He’s bright but (so far in HS) not the most diligent of all workers (never needed to study much). He is required to be in a FIG as a prerequistite of a (small) scholarship.</p>

<p>Thanks for any thoughts!</p>

2

<p>Yes they are there, but you have to go looking for them. There are things which will probably be mailed to you for programs like TIP scholars and other programs which allow students to get a sort of honors feel without being honors students, and there are lots of research opportunities if you go looking for them.</p>

<p>The huge classes do exist, especially for non-honors students. You just have to pay all the more attention to avoid getting lost in the crowd. I believe that FIGs have reserved seats in the front of classes, but they are still in large classes.</p>

3

<p>Texas has many great research opportunities, it’s just that if you’re not in a program like that, you’ll have to put in more effort to get them.</p>

<p>If your son has not already decided on a FiG, and is interested in research, consider the Freshman Research Initiative program. It’s a program that holds open spots for freshman to do research in labs the spring of their freshman year. You can join it by applying for a ‘research fig’ during orientation. There is also an early application process until May 7th.
In short: The program is the only one of its kind where it puts 500+ freshman into research labs doing original research – it also facilitates getting into other labs because one would have already had that freshman research.</p>

<p>[Freshman</a> Research Initiative](<a href=“http://web3.cns.utexas.edu/fri/]Freshman”>http://web3.cns.utexas.edu/fri/)</p>

4

<p>For Research opportunities try this: <a href=“https://www.utexas.edu/research/eureka/about/index.php[/url]”>https://www.utexas.edu/research/eureka/about/index.php&lt;/a&gt;
and
[The</a> University of Texas at Austin - Department of Computer Sciences - People - students - Undergraduate](<a href=“http://www.cs.utexas.edu/academics/undergraduate/current_students/research_opportunities/]The”>http://www.cs.utexas.edu/academics/undergraduate/current_students/research_opportunities/)
and
[SURGe</a> - Science Undergraduate Research Group at The University of Texas](<a href=“http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/surge/]SURGe”>http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/surge/)</p>

<p>There are many opportunities for undergrads to do research at UT and you don’t have to be in Honors to do it.</p>

5

<p>The class sizes will be huge, but the TA sessions are smaller.</p>