Overlooked school with great academics
Written: Mar 23 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great profs. Oustanding and highly competitive U.
Cons: Lack name recognition. Your education will be great but may not be recognized as such.
The Bottom Line: In my humble opinion UTD is second only to UT Austin as the greatest public U in Texas for its faculty and competitiveness.
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| mistsy's Full Review: University of Texas at Dallas |
UT Dallas is overshadowed by UT Austin (of course - the main UT campus) and UT Arlington (a bigger campus in the Dallas area.) It should not be.
UT Dallas is a whole lot more than you might imagine. On the admissions end of things, it isn't easy to get in. It may be unheard of but it seems to me like the best of the best students already know about it. The SAT scores equal and often exceed that of UT Austin. It is that competitive.
So what attracts students here? Well, it isn't reknown because the school isn't very well known. It used to be a two year college offering only the last two years of the BA but the place has matured into a full-fledged undergraduate and graduate degree-granting institution.
Students come for the quality of the place. Admittedly it's still a little weak on the social side of things as not a lot of students live on campus despite new and nice dorms. Thus a lot of the students are commuters, not necessarily of traditional college age, and somewhat more mature.
As such this U may not be the right choice (yet) for a freshman straight out of high school. In time I think it will be a top choice but it needs time to develop the on-campus culture.
Whether you attend UTD on campus or via distance you can expect top-notch professors who are accessible and willing to help. Classes are not small, but at about 30 it's not that bad. Prof's office hours are largely unattended in my experience so you will be able to meet the prof pretty much anytime he or she is in the office.
My experience at UTD was via an online MBA program. It was an excellent experience. You should know that even though UTD participates in the UT System MBA online program, you cannot get an MBA from UTD this way. UTD has an international MBA that follows a different route and is also excellent.
Academics, again, excellent. On campus life is dead but improving. Location is excellent, right near the urban core of Dallas. Your peers are likely to be disengaged from the U and that's unfortunate. Most are working adults. Few are full time.
Despite tremendous on-campus amenities like pools, dorms, gyms, and all you could ever want, the on-campus population is still small and this is still a commuter school.
My only beef about UTD is the expense. Out of state is, of course, really high, but in-state is high too. It's about $1300 per course and that's a bit higher than UT Austin. If you're going to pay that much and you have the qualifications to get into UTD, you could probably also get into UT Austin which has the reputation and "gravitas" of a major research and highly competitive attractions of a major university. I think UTD is equally deserving but without the name, brand, and reknown, I think you'd be better off at UT Austin, all other things being equal.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
mistsy
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Location: Austin, TX
Reviews written: 152
Trusted by: 38 members
About Me:
Old, cranky, but still, umm, trying to be hip (if it hasn't been replaced yet.)
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