University of Texas - AustinAcademics Summary

The University of Texas is one of the top public universities in the country. It has top-ranked programs in accounting, engineering, and communication studies, just to name a few. The professors at UT run the gamut—some are great and genuinely care about their students, and some have written the textbooks that are used in their classes and aren’t as interested in students’ input. Others are only teaching so that they can stay at Texas to further their research. Most likely in your career at Texas, you will have at least one of each different kind of teacher, but the majority of professors are wonderful and will give you a great experience. Some classes at UT are rather large—more than 100 people—but that doesn’t make them inferior, nor does it preclude learning. In these large classes, there are generally several TAs that you can utilize, and you should always take advantage of a professor’s office hours. This can help to make the large lecture class seem smaller. Depending on your major, and especially once you get into upper-division classes, there are generally smaller classes with more individual attention.

There are two classes at UT that everyone should take as electives while they are a student: EDP 367 Human Sexuality and CMS 315M Interpersonal Communication Theory. These are two of the most interesting and fun classes that the majority of students here eventually wind up taking. While neither are blow-off classes, they both teach you a lot and are enjoyable to study for.