The University of Texas - Arlington

To be frank, never come here. A little background on me- I was a psychology major at the time, interested in neuroscience research, especially Parkinson's disease. Well, I started off with just a simple Psych-major, destined to go to graduate school. However, rather than being advised by someone within the psych department, all the freshman get shoved into a shitty entry level department. This caused me to take quite a few classes that ended up not being needed for my major, one of which I ended up failing, even after studying 3+ hours for the class 7 days a week. The advisers are completely unhelpful and have no clue what they're doing. And parking here? Oh boy. I lived in a gated off apartment complex that was considered "on campus" - and even though I never parked my car anywhere besides the parking garage that I already paid for in my ridiculously expensive rent, I was given a citation (that I never paid). I went here the entire Fall '14 - Fall '15, as I had a little bit of trouble transferring to UT Dallas (which has been a great experience, go there instead). When I was just going twice a week Fall '15, they started this fucking stupid new parking system that scans your license plate. The thing is, I paid for my parking pass before the semester even started. I still received several citations that I had to appeal to, wasting my time, and no one ever bother to fix it until I stopped being a student there. It was just awful. The professors here were divided, some were awesome and some were horrible. Meals here suck ass, there's not nearly enough options and the cafeteria is horrible. Campus is kind of ugly compared to others. Ugh...so much was wrong with this school. Oh, and when I finally did leave, somehow my financial aide got sent to UTA instead of UTD, despite us updating my paperwork. The nasty woman from financial aide basically tried to lecture us on what we did wrong (but we didn't do anything wrong, it was a government worker who sent it to the wrong place) rather than helping us fix the problem. I'm so done with this university. I've never been happier to leave. TL;DR, it's a shitty university and everyone is unhelpful. Nothing works. Pick a different shcool.

1st Year Female -- Class 2018

Campus Maintenance: C-, Education Quality: F

Okay, I would like to preface this review by acknowledging my own responsibility in the decision to attend UTA. I went there because of the financial aspects. I had many other options, but in the end I got cheap. I choose to go there, I paid nothing for it, and had great internships at nearby companies. The saying "you get what you pay for" does apply here absolutely. The place is a cesspool. Of course there are some great departments, like Aerospace for example.

With that out of the way I have to emphasize just how bad most things are. Most of your core classes are filled to the brim with people who will attend briefly and drop. Signing up for classes is a downright rat race. Ironically the race to register is really unnecessary since most students won't survive to take mid terms. The professors/lecturers for most core classes absolutely do not want to be there with some exceptions. I would've taken these classes at a nearby community college if they weren't already paid for. These classes seem vindictive in nature. I remember taking an intro to History class that required 4 textbooks. The amount of reading was out of sync with reality. These intro classes seemed overall a way to eliminate students while siphoning their funds. I did not fall victim, but it was a significant waste of time that detracted from my major studies.

As far as the students go, well..... Do not come here expecting to live the college lifestyle, because it is simply not possible. Sure there are some attractive students, but they are jaded. I don't blame them either, I became jaded myself. I dated a biology major briefly, and she was so upset over her classes that she actually went into a full blown depression. Cute girl, but the establishment ruined her. Really the reason I am taking the time to write this is to stop people from making the mistakes I did. I became complacent, and did things the easy way. In the end I was deprived a college experience.

Also the counselors and administrative faculty, I can't stress this enough. The mass majority of them are unprofessional. They even hassled me about CLEP tests. They behaved as if I was doing something dishonest by trying to achieve college credit via testing. I eventually found a nice adviser and stuck with her, but without her I might have simply given up. Though I personally didn't have any transfer credits, I've heard second hand that it's an absolute nightmare.

Parking; Yes, what you've read is true. It's a total mess, and your car will likely be dinged to hell. I even purchased myself a beater for the sole purpose of commuting here.

Positives: I have to give credit where credit is due. The speaker series is great. You get free admission as a student, or at least you used to if things have changed. I took full advantage of this, and it was definitely worth my while. Bottom line is, if you can afford to go somewhere else do so. I'm attending a Masters program elsewhere and it's a night and day difference. Also I by no means want this to be a blanket statement about UTA. There are quality people there, but they are vastly outnumbered by less than mediocre employees who appear to be simply cashing a check.

3rd Year Male -- Class 2009

Education Quality: A-, Faculty Accessibility: F