The University of Texas - Arlington

Overall Rating: I find UT-Arlington to be a great school. The professors are great, and the academic programs are very good also. Tuition at both the undergrad and graduate level is reasonable and much money is given in financial aid and scholarships. Arlington is a suburb of Dallas, which is one of the best business cities in country.

My Background: I transferred to the Univ. of Texas-Arlington after spending 2.5 years at a private university that was also in Texas. In all, I have taken courses at 4 universities.

Academics/Curriculum: I am a student in the Electrical Engineering department. Overall, I find the professors to be very good. They are nice, polite, and approachable. The courses in my major are also well-chosen and prepare students well both graduate school and a career in electrical engineering. The professors give a very reasonable amount of homework and teach the material well. Electrical Engineering is difficult, but not too difficult. From my experience, students are not overwhelmed with homework. I took 17 hours this semester of junior level classes. On average, I spent about 20-30 hours studying each week. I learned the material well and earned A's in all of my classes. I also had time to watch movies, see friends, and go to out on the weekends. So, the course load is not too high. The professors are very understanding about the course loads. They will give extensions and make changes to the syllabus if students are having problems in the course. From my experience at 4 universities, not all professors do this.

Tuition: The tuition is set by the state government. I find the tuition to be very reasonable. I am an IN-STATE STUDENT, though, and in-state students receive the most FEDERAL financial aid. So, I receive more money in financial aid than OUT-OF-STATE STUDENTS would. If you are an OUT-OF-STATE STUDENT and receive $1000 or more each semester in scholarships, YOU WOULD BE GIVEN IN-STATE STATUS instead of the $1000 scholarship. All public universities in Texas have this policy. The school also gives LOTS of financial aid. Per semester, I receive $1500 in scholarships, $4500 in grants and work-study, and $2500 in Stafford loans. So, tuition is very reasonable. I have to work about 6-10 hours per week for my work-study. I receive lots of financial aid because my family contribution is low, though. So, other people who come from richer families would probably receive more aid.

Location: The school is located in down-town Arlington. Arlington is right between Dallas and Fort-Worth. There are TONS of things to do, and many great jobs in the technical, scientific, and business sectors.

Social Life: The social life is okay. The school does not have a football team, and the multipurpose athletic center only seats approximately 2,000 people. INSTEAD OF SPENDING MONEY ON SPORTS, THE SCHOOL SPENDS MONEY ON ACADEMICS AND RESEARCH. So, if you want to go to a great research-oriented university, come here. If you only want to watch sports, go elsewhere.

Most of the students don't have much school spirit. I’m sure that the social life and school spirit would be higher if athletics were better. The social life doesn’t really bother me, though. The students here are very friendly and approachable. Making friends isn’t difficult at all. There are many things to do here in Arlington, Fort-Worth, and Dallas.Please feel free to contact me.

1st Year Male -- Class 2006

Education Quality: A+, Social Life: B

This university has been, for the most part, very good to me. It is widely recognized as a top transfer school, which was the main reason I came here, besides finances. The school itself is quite impressive. A tier 1 research institution lends itself to science majors like myself. Furthermore, a VERY impressive campus (cost of attending considered) is here to enjoy every single day. The landscaping is top notch, however, 70% of the buildings are drab, monolithic brick things. The university is phyiscally quite large, relative to the *average* university (no, not TAMU or UT-Austin), which on one hand means a long time to get between classes, but also gives me many more places to explore and enjoy myself. Not a day goes by that I do not enjoy the extremely green campus. The dorms here are definately the best in the entire state. Arlington and KC Hall are extremely nice.

My professors have always been there to help me out even in their spare time. Competition among science majors in the school can be pretty brutal, however.

The student body is extraordinarly diverse, with a large percentage hailing from different nations. Two students in my dorm alone are from Oxford. The university is also known for its rather large Asian population. While I enjoy the cultural aspects (my roommate is international, even), it can sometimes create language barriers between students you'd otherwise be able to communicate with.

Nonetheless, it is the student body that I find my biggest complaint with. There is so little school pride, even though there is a lot to be proud of here. The school doesn't go out of its way to share the lists of famous alumni, hugely successful engineers, researchers, military officials, politicians....so the students don't know about them. Furthermore, a large percentage of students come to this school for its price, using it as a stepstone to UT-Austin. These students, obviously, will lack the school pride for Arlington, as the Austin students (referred to as CAP students on campus) are so undyingly loyal to the longhorns. Most of them that I know (certainly not all) won't even tell you they attend UTA (even when you're in an Arlington dorm). Ask them and they'll say they've been going to Austin all along. "Where do you live?" I might ask a fellow student in one of my classes, referring to which dorm\apartment. "I live in Austin" is not an uncommon reply. No, they're not from Austin, no, they don't attend UT-Austin (yet)....it's actually quite bizarre and rather annoying. If you were to look on this website to compare this university to other major Texas schools, you'd find that in most cases (all that I'm aware of, but for safety, most) our students have a higher percentage of being in jobs they like, have a higher starting salary and have a higher average salary. Go ahead and check, since you, the reader, will undoubtedly find skeptiscism.

Unfortunately, it is this passionate LACK of school pride that drives me away. I desperately want a unified campus, a school I can be proud of and that other people will respect, a city that recognizes our existance! Alas, the students are not unified. The Greek percentage is very low (something like 7%) and very elite. While it's definately true that not all Greeks fit the stereotypical bill, you can most certainly find those that do here. Unfortunately, due to lack of mid-semester activities, being Greek may be the only feasible way to stay awake past week three in the fall semester. There is the occasional good campus wide activity or dorm party, but it hardly searches YOU, the student, out, like it did at the other institutions I have friends at. If you're a socialite and like a large group of friends, you will probably find difficulty here, as I am. But at least you'll have plenty of time to study (if you're science/engineering). You'll probably need it.

This is a fashion-oriented campus, moreso than even the private schools I toured. This is quite surprising.

Campus sports are a mixed bag. With top notch volleyball and basketball teams, we definately have a lot covered. But we are lacking the essential, critical factor-a football team. Yes, readers, we lack our own football team (though one is schedualed to reappear in about four years) , and this is a major obstacle in creating that much desired traditional, unified campus here in Texas.

Overall, for the price, I don't think you can beat the education anywhere in the world. Furthermore, if you're a future scientist wanting to get seriously involved in research, it would be very difficult to beat Arlington. But, while a traditional campus experience can be had if you want it bad enough, it will not come so easily as TCU, BU or TAMU. This is, most certainly, not a party school. I am currently working to build school pride and establish Arlington for the excellent institution that it is. Something *I* can be proud of. Failing this, I don't know what I'll do...I don't know if I can handle a student body who's its own worst enemy.

1st Year Male -- Class 2007

University Resource Use/ spending: A+, Faculty Accessibility: F