Posted on 04/22/2006 7:43:24 PM PDT by Pharmboy
Well, we just registered. We were down in Austin on Tuesday and Wednesday, did the tour and she fell in love with the campus, the town and the people.
Just posted this to get any comments or advice from my Freeper colleagues who are Longhorn alumni and/or Texans who know about the school.
Smart girl. My daughter looked at UT too, but decided on a small private university in Georgetown a few miles north of Austin. She loves it and heads down I-35 a few times a week to visit her high school friends who go to UT. The only thing I hear her UT friends complain about is the campus parking situation. A few of them left their cars at home because it's so bad. They say the campus shuttle works well.
Well, Pharmboy; you've done your level best. You've taught her right from wrong; what is moral and what isn't. Now, she's going to decide for herself 'who' she is going to be. She'll make some decisions that will make you proud, she'll likely make some that you will wish you were never heard about.
But, for a town; there are plenty of places a lot worse than Austin. Now, I'm a So. Dakota boy; and I'll tell you flat out, when my alma mater calls for money; my response is "call me again, and I'll sue you for harassment. Never call me again, do not write me; If my employer's stock takes off (again) and I have to give money to a school for tax purposes ..... it's going to UT Austin."
Why? UT loves their students, you see the pride UT takes in it's students is second only to the pride the students take in UT. My Alma Matter was more concerned about abusing their students and taking their money; forget what the kids want or think .... their purpose was to give the university money, and be gratefull that they are allowed to hang around between registration periods.
An added bonus of UT over Texas A&M. The Aggies are truly insecure psychotics. Wear an A&M bumper sticker, shirt or hat; and frankly very, very few people in Austin will care. You see, to the Austinites, Texas A&M is an annoying little brother.
But, wear the Longhorn in Aggie-land; and you are in for some unpleasant experiences. The aggies hate UT and everything about Austin. While the Aggies are jealous and insecure, we Austinites have bigger things to worry about .... like, is Rudy's gonna run out of their ribs before I get mine?
My next in line would NEVER want to go to a large university and will wind up at a small scholl as did your daughter, but my oldest always wanted a big school. And I wanted her to go to a midwestern or southern university in order to get a different perspective on life (we live in NJ).
We feel privileged to be adopted in this way by The Lone Star State.
Congratulations to her, Pharmboy. UT is tough. My son is a UT graduate. (Ph.D - Psychology). What's her major?
Math major as a pre-med. She wanted a challenging school, and UT certainly has a great reputation for scholarship.
That is does, Pharmboy. Best of luck to her.
Shameless self-bump to get a few more Texans and/or Longhorns to read...
Not sure who keeps the Central Texas ping list, but know Basil is in the Austin area. Maybe she can help.
Yes--another freeper freepmailed me about Basil...thanks.
UT is basically considered a very liberal/left leaning campus, but that is probably because the nutcase professors get the most media attention. The University is so large that your daughter can pick and choose with whom she wants to associate. I do know that they have a large, active Young Republicans club on campus. I've met quite a few of these kids, and find them very impressive.
Mainly, it will be up to your daughter to make the choices that are right for her. Having been raised in NJ--UT will probably seem ultra conservative to her--LOL!
If you would like and think it would be helpful, I'll be happy to give you my telephone number to pass on to her in case she thinks I might be helpful to her in any way. It might be good for her to have a local contact of the adult persuasion (grin).
And, of course, when you come to visit, I'd love to meet you.
That's what I liked about UT--it's HUGE--so she can find anything that suits her there. She already expressed interest in joining the Young Republicans. I raised her as a conservative first and a pubby second (she is well aware of the saying "I vote Republican to stop the Democrats").
She wanted a big university, and I figured that although you cannot escape the libs on any campus, UT would have a bit of a more conservative bent.
Next time I'm down there let's all try and get together for some texmex or ribs. I look forward to meeting you (and, I am a Lifetime NRA member since 1975, so I love the fact that you are a charter member of the Second Amendment Sisters).
If I knew a lawyer in South Dakota, I'd file suit for libel.
WE ARE NOT INSECURE PSYCHOTICS..
We just need some external validation every now and then, that's all.
That aside, Austin is a very nice college town. If I knew then what I know now, I probably would have applied to Rice. But tu is a good school, even if they DID reject my application for law school...
It's impressive that you are a life time member of the NRA. It's not impressive that you are NOT a member of SAS--and yes, we do have lifetime members, too--both guys and gals!
I work with a guy who's a graduate of A&M (PhD in physiology). And he's NOT and insecure psychotic, he's quite secure. ;-)
But seriously folks, he's a great guy...and I never met an Aggie I didn't like.
Excellent--would look forward to any kind of shindig with Texas Freepers. I'll give you plenty of notice...hopefully the dates will work.
"An added bonus of UT over Texas A&M. The Aggies are truly insecure psychotics. Wear an A&M bumper sticker, shirt or hat; and frankly very, very few people in Austin will care. You see, to the Austinites, Texas A&M is an annoying little brother.
But, wear the Longhorn in Aggie-land; and you are in for some unpleasant experiences. The aggies hate UT and everything about Austin. While the Aggies are jealous and insecure, we Austinites have bigger things to worry about .... like, is Rudy's gonna run out of their ribs before I get mine?"
That being said, many of the wonderful things that were around on campus when I was a student are gone: Captain Quackenbush's Intergalatic Espresso Cafe and Desert Company (Quack's got me thru college with its nearly intervenous drip of caffeine), Les Amis, Mad Dog & Beans, The Varsity Theatre... but many are still there: Scholz' Biergarten, Dirty Martin's Kumbak (up the Drag quite a ways, but still easily walkable), and any of a number of Vietnamese food carts that allowed me not to go hungry after I'd spent all of the rest of my money on books and booze.
There's nothing to be afraid of in intellectual diversity---as long as your daughter stands up for her beliefs. I had a very liberal government professor who announced his colors at the beginning of the semester, telling any students uncomfortable with him should transfer out, but that he didn't care what you believed as long as you could support it in your writing. For that, I truly admired him. He also had get-togethers (totally apolitical) for his students, where he would provide beer and accompany Irish drinking songs on guitar. Sadly, Prof. Philpott committed suicide not long after I graduated. But I had some fantastic professors, a wonderful class teaching the history of the development of science that had us reading Galileo, Tycho Brahe and other direct source texts, and a class on art history that serves me well even today. I still remember the German Stammtisch on Wednesdays held by Professor Michael and his wife, who always baked treats for the occasion and also sewed the costumes for our German language plays (we also performed at Winedale, like the UT summerschool group that performs Shakespeare there).
Anywhere in the world you meet a Longhorn, you're guaranteed to find at least *something* in common---your love of The University!
Indeed--the love the students have for UT clearly comes through (for example, see the post by the South Dakotan above).
My oldest daughter and son-in-law in Virginia cannot WAIT to visit Austin, and the same can be said of my son in NYC. We're all thrilled to be in the Longhorn family. Thanks for your reply.
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