UT Austin is Overrated

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's got great placement in tech

Only CS

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the hype. What am I missing? Academics are decent but no better than a slightly above average flagship. They guarantee admission to a percentage of every high school in the state, so a lot of kids from weak high schools get to attend. The campus isn’t defined and is ugly. And finally, Austin isn’t even a college town, it’s a small city better suited for grad students.

The automatic admission is limited to the top 5%, and even that is not for every college/program, some of which are legitimately very highly regarded. The campus is quite nice with is big oaks and Spanish colonial style. Calling the 11th biggest city in the USA a "small city" is a decent mischaracterization, but it is indeed more than a college town; it has a campus and student area that is quite college town like, it has tremendous industry and government opportunities from its silicon hills and state capital status, full of music arts and good food. Hell of an alumni network, too.

If you are VA resident, though, I agree it wouldn't pull me away from UVA.

The campus is OK. Very dry area and not a lot of greenery accept for entry rectangular quad and that's not very big. Just sayin.

+100 Austin is fine but extremely overrated. There is nothing in Austin not found in Richmond. Nothing at UT not found at UVA. And the Texas landscape is very ugly compared to the mountains.

Let's not kid ourselves. Music, food, bars, and college sports are much, much better in Austin than in Richmond/Charlottesville.

Music Food and Bars is not a unique thing.

We have whole cities designed around the premise that this isn’t true.

Perhaps the premise is invalid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the hype. What am I missing? Academics are decent but no better than a slightly above average flagship. They guarantee admission to a percentage of every high school in the state, so a lot of kids from weak high schools get to attend. The campus isn’t defined and is ugly. And finally, Austin isn’t even a college town, it’s a small city better suited for grad students.

How dare a public university fulfill its mission to educate residents of its state!!

DCUMers are so insufferable.

No one has a problem with that. Just acknowledging that requirement brings with it a compromise on in-state admission standards and overall student population. Not every top public is like that.

No compromise on CS, eng, business

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the hype. What am I missing? Academics are decent but no better than a slightly above average flagship. They guarantee admission to a percentage of every high school in the state, so a lot of kids from weak high schools get to attend. The campus isn’t defined and is ugly. And finally, Austin isn’t even a college town, it’s a small city better suited for grad students.

The automatic admission is limited to the top 5%, and even that is not for every college/program, some of which are legitimately very highly regarded. The campus is quite nice with is big oaks and Spanish colonial style. Calling the 11th biggest city in the USA a "small city" is a decent mischaracterization, but it is indeed more than a college town; it has a campus and student area that is quite college town like, it has tremendous industry and government opportunities from its silicon hills and state capital status, full of music arts and good food. Hell of an alumni network, too.

If you are VA resident, though, I agree it wouldn't pull me away from UVA.

The campus is OK. Very dry area and not a lot of greenery accept for entry rectangular quad and that's not very big. Just sayin.

+100 Austin is fine but extremely overrated. There is nothing in Austin not found in Richmond. Nothing at UT not found at UVA. And the Texas landscape is very ugly compared to the mountains.

Let's not kid ourselves. Music, food, bars, and college sports are much, much better in Austin than in Richmond/Charlottesville.

Music Food and Bars is not a unique thing.

That's why people like Toledo as much as New York, right?

Now you’re being obtuse comparing a huge city to a small city.

The point is all college towns have music, food and bars. Other urban cities in the south also are home to flagship universities. The University of South Carolina has SEC sports in an urban environment just like UT.

I don't think I'm being obtuse. The unstated assumption seems to be that any two places with music, food, and bars are roughly equivalent. (Why have a Michelin-starred meal in NYC when you can have Applebee's in Toledo, amirite?) The quality of of the music, food, and bars matters. Austin punches well above its weight in terms of cultural offerings. It has world-class music on a nightly basis as well as major music and film festivals and an F1 race. It's also well known for its food, particularly BBQ and Tex Mex (both of which are infinitely better than whatever iterations are available in the DMV). I know several people from the East and West Coasts who visit Austin recreationally. Do many people in New York or Boston take vacations in Richmond or Charlottesville?

Mind you, I think Charlottesville is pretty cool and Richmond is fine. But Austin offers certain things that they don't.

Virginia has all of that and yes, I do know people that vacation to Virginia. Charlottesville and Richmond are not Applebees’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What you don’t understand is that DCUM only loves prestigious schools. As long as UT Austin is on the top 10-20 whatever list status seeking parents will love that school. Most state flagships accept their own state students from a variety of high schools. Their admission criteria for their instate students are much lower. This is true for UVA, Michigan, Berkely, GTech, etc.. but some parents prefer spending more on college for slightly better ranked schools. So parents send their kids to UT Austin or Michigan over UMD.. or Michigan over UVa or UVA over UMD.. or Wisconsin over UMD.. get it? Its about perceived prestige.

GA Tech is not an easier admit for in-state students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you don’t understand is that DCUM only loves prestigious schools. As long as UT Austin is on the top 10-20 whatever list status seeking parents will love that school. Most state flagships accept their own state students from a variety of high schools. Their admission criteria for their instate students are much lower. This is true for UVA, Michigan, Berkely, GTech, etc.. but some parents prefer spending more on college for slightly better ranked schools. So parents send their kids to UT Austin or Michigan over UMD.. or Michigan over UVa or UVA over UMD.. or Wisconsin over UMD.. get it? Its about perceived prestige.

GA Tech is not an easier admit for in-state students.

UGA’s acceptance rate is below 30%, too.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the hype. What am I missing? Academics are decent but no better than a slightly above average flagship. They guarantee admission to a percentage of every high school in the state, so a lot of kids from weak high schools get to attend. The campus isn’t defined and is ugly. And finally, Austin isn’t even a college town, it’s a small city better suited for grad students.

The automatic admission is limited to the top 5%, and even that is not for every college/program, some of which are legitimately very highly regarded. The campus is quite nice with is big oaks and Spanish colonial style. Calling the 11th biggest city in the USA a "small city" is a decent mischaracterization, but it is indeed more than a college town; it has a campus and student area that is quite college town like, it has tremendous industry and government opportunities from its silicon hills and state capital status, full of music arts and good food. Hell of an alumni network, too.

If you are VA resident, though, I agree it wouldn't pull me away from UVA.

The campus is OK. Very dry area and not a lot of greenery accept for entry rectangular quad and that's not very big. Just sayin.

+100 Austin is fine but extremely overrated. There is nothing in Austin not found in Richmond. Nothing at UT not found at UVA. And the Texas landscape is very ugly compared to the mountains.

Let's not kid ourselves. Music, food, bars, and college sports are much, much better in Austin than in Richmond/Charlottesville.

Music Food and Bars is not a unique thing.

That's why people like Toledo as much as New York, right?

Now you’re being obtuse comparing a huge city to a small city.

The point is all college towns have music, food and bars. Other urban cities in the south also are home to flagship universities. The University of South Carolina has SEC sports in an urban environment just like UT.

I don't think I'm being obtuse. The unstated assumption seems to be that any two places with music, food, and bars are roughly equivalent. (Why have a Michelin-starred meal in NYC when you can have Applebee's in Toledo, amirite?) The quality of of the music, food, and bars matters. Austin punches well above its weight in terms of cultural offerings. It has world-class music on a nightly basis as well as major music and film festivals and an F1 race. It's also well known for its food, particularly BBQ and Tex Mex (both of which are infinitely better than whatever iterations are available in the DMV). I know several people from the East and West Coasts who visit Austin recreationally. Do many people in New York or Boston take vacations in Richmond or Charlottesville?

Mind you, I think Charlottesville is pretty cool and Richmond is fine. But Austin offers certain things that they don't.

Virginia has all of that and yes, I do know people that vacation to Virginia. Charlottesville and Richmond are not Applebees’s.

Good lord.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the hype. What am I missing? Academics are decent but no better than a slightly above average flagship. They guarantee admission to a percentage of every high school in the state, so a lot of kids from weak high schools get to attend. The campus isn’t defined and is ugly. And finally, Austin isn’t even a college town, it’s a small city better suited for grad students.

The automatic admission is limited to the top 5%, and even that is not for every college/program, some of which are legitimately very highly regarded. The campus is quite nice with is big oaks and Spanish colonial style. Calling the 11th biggest city in the USA a "small city" is a decent mischaracterization, but it is indeed more than a college town; it has a campus and student area that is quite college town like, it has tremendous industry and government opportunities from its silicon hills and state capital status, full of music arts and good food. Hell of an alumni network, too.

If you are VA resident, though, I agree it wouldn't pull me away from UVA.

The campus is OK. Very dry area and not a lot of greenery accept for entry rectangular quad and that's not very big. Just sayin.

+100 Austin is fine but extremely overrated. There is nothing in Austin not found in Richmond. Nothing at UT not found at UVA. And the Texas landscape is very ugly compared to the mountains.

Let's not kid ourselves. Music, food, bars, and college sports are much, much better in Austin than in Richmond/Charlottesville.

Music Food and Bars is not a unique thing.

That's why people like Toledo as much as New York, right?

Now you’re being obtuse comparing a huge city to a small city.

The point is all college towns have music, food and bars. Other urban cities in the south also are home to flagship universities. The University of South Carolina has SEC sports in an urban environment just like UT.

I don't think I'm being obtuse. The unstated assumption seems to be that any two places with music, food, and bars are roughly equivalent. (Why have a Michelin-starred meal in NYC when you can have Applebee's in Toledo, amirite?) The quality of of the music, food, and bars matters. Austin punches well above its weight in terms of cultural offerings. It has world-class music on a nightly basis as well as major music and film festivals and an F1 race. It's also well known for its food, particularly BBQ and Tex Mex (both of which are infinitely better than whatever iterations are available in the DMV). I know several people from the East and West Coasts who visit Austin recreationally. Do many people in New York or Boston take vacations in Richmond or Charlottesville?

Mind you, I think Charlottesville is pretty cool and Richmond is fine. But Austin offers certain things that they don't.

Virginia has all of that and yes, I do know people that vacation to Virginia. Charlottesville and Richmond are not Applebees’s.

Good lord.

Companies now headquartered in Austin include Tesla, Oracle, Dell, AMD and Austin is home to Apple's second largest campus.

[Anonymous]

Austin is ranked 21st globally in startup funding. The only cities outside of the U.S. and China that are ranked higher are London, Delhi, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Paris. No Virginia cities are in the top 50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Austin is ranked 21st globally in startup funding. The only cities outside of the U.S. and China that are ranked higher are London, Delhi, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Paris. No Virginia cities are in the top 50.

Didn’t know startup funding makes a good college town. You do make Austin seem weird, but a bad weird.

[Anonymous]

"A good college town" is very subjective and doesn't have much to do with the quality of the school. Some kids want to go to school in NYC and some in Ithaca and some in Gettysburg and some in Tempe and some in Tampa and some in Omaha and some in San Francisco and some in Charlottesville and some in DC. This conversation is going in circles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Austin is ranked 21st globally in startup funding. The only cities outside of the U.S. and China that are ranked higher are London, Delhi, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Paris. No Virginia cities are in the top 50.

Didn’t know startup funding makes a good college town. You do make Austin seem weird, but a bad weird.

Trite

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Austin is ranked 21st globally in startup funding. The only cities outside of the U.S. and China that are ranked higher are London, Delhi, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Paris. No Virginia cities are in the top 50.

Didn’t know startup funding makes a good college town. You do make Austin seem weird, but a bad weird.

Trite

Move on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you don’t understand is that DCUM only loves prestigious schools. As long as UT Austin is on the top 10-20 whatever list status seeking parents will love that school. Most state flagships accept their own state students from a variety of high schools. Their admission criteria for their instate students are much lower. This is true for UVA, Michigan, Berkely, GTech, etc.. but some parents prefer spending more on college for slightly better ranked schools. So parents send their kids to UT Austin or Michigan over UMD.. or Michigan over UVa or UVA over UMD.. or Wisconsin over UMD.. get it? Its about perceived prestige.

GA Tech is not an easier admit for in-state students.

UGA’s acceptance rate is below 30%, too.

lol no it isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you don’t understand is that DCUM only loves prestigious schools. As long as UT Austin is on the top 10-20 whatever list status seeking parents will love that school. Most state flagships accept their own state students from a variety of high schools. Their admission criteria for their instate students are much lower. This is true for UVA, Michigan, Berkely, GTech, etc.. but some parents prefer spending more on college for slightly better ranked schools. So parents send their kids to UT Austin or Michigan over UMD.. or Michigan over UVa or UVA over UMD.. or Wisconsin over UMD.. get it? Its about perceived prestige.

GA Tech is not an easier admit for in-state students.

It's actually one of the toughest for a Top 10 Public at 28% Test Required. OOS is a crazy 8%.