UT Business School

UT Business School tries to be selective, but I think if you're persistent enough, you can get in (it may take a year in Liberal Arts getting good grades). Apply, appeal, etc if need be. It really can help.

UT Business Honors is more selective -- or it was several years ago. I went through that program and to be honest, the actual education isn't really that much better. The biggest benefit is that you're surrounded by and work with some bright people. In some of the subjects, the Honors professors were not-so-great and when we took regular business school classes, I discovered there were so many things that we never covered in the honors classes.

Of course, the name and the prestige of the "Honors" degree (you actually get a BBA in "Honors" and whatever your major is) does help quite a bit in getting jobs and stuff, from what I understand. But in terms of actual education, if you're actually interested in learning the stuff, you can learn nearly as much in the regular program. Of course, if you're not committed, you can coast more easily in the regular program. There are a few cool classes and experiences you get in the Honors program -- you do tons more group work, you're surrounded by some pretty good people, things like that -- but not a lot (at least not when I was there in '94-'98).

If you get in, great. If you don't, though, I wouldn't worry too much about what you're missing.

 

UT's business school is not that selective, relatively speaking. The acceptance rate is around 25 percent, which is lower than Chicago or Carnegie-Mellon, but three times that of Stanford and twice that of Harvard and Penn.

Two words of advice:

1) If you can get in out of high school, apply directly. Do not come to UT as a liberal arts major and then transfer in-- it is a waste of time and you are setting yourself up for failure. Think about it: "I could get in now, but I think I'll wait a year and then transfer in."

Trust me, there is no good reason to do that-- if you think you want to explore liberal arts or some other less lucrative major, you can do it through electives and informal classes while you're enrolled in the Business school.

If you think you need a year to "find yourself" (this point is addressed, really, to anyone, not Sland himself), you are probably not ready for college-- at least, you're not ready to approach college as an adult. That phrase is almost always codespeak for, "I need a few years to totally screw around and have fun". It rarely means "I need to explore my intellectual limits and find out how I can serve humanity".

You can "find yourself" in the former manner for a lot less than $12,000 a year in tuition, fees, room, board, and books.

2) If you do apply to a UT college other than Business but think you're going to want to transfer in at a later date, apply yourself with everything you have as a freshman. It is very difficult to transfer in internally.

I know. I had the GPA and SAT to gain acceptance to the Business School out of HS, but I decided to study liberal arts and see if I wanted to be a (gag) journalist. I spent my freshman year drinking and partying like crazy and almost never opened a book. After 33 hours, I had a GPA of jusssst over 2.0-- nice. I spoke to a Business school advisor about transferring in, and she said, nice as could be, "Sure, just fill out the application. What we typically do on internal transfers is start with the 4.0's and work our way down-- it's so competitive, we don't usually get much further down than that."

In other words, a 2.5 (or even a 3.0 or 3.2) is not going to get you in. If you come to UT and study liberal arts thinking you'll enter the business school later, work your ass off to make sure you can do it.

You're asking about Honors, which to me indicates you at least know enough to apply yourself and try to get the best grades you can. That's good. In that case, this post is directed more at the 17-yr old potential Kagys out there. This point, simple as it is, is the kind of thing that nobody told me when I was starting out; my parents probably assumed I was smart enough to figure it out for myself and my friends and I were too busy trading shots to discuss how you get what you want out of life.

Well, if what you want out of life has anything to do with making and having money, you are either going to have to be diligent, smart, or lucky (or a combination) to get what you want. Otherwise, you are stacking the deck against yourself.

 

HOnestly, I'm not sure if a 3.5 gets you in internally.

My friend is in that 5 year Masters' accounting program. She had an internship that paid her 3700 a month, advertising majors (like me) have a hard time to get a free internship. She already has lucrative job offers; I am in limbo.

BTW, U T's grad program is very prestigous as well.

 

I didn't get in to the UT Business School. I had taken some courses at a community college with a good GPA. Unfortunately, the harder pre-requisite courses were at UT. Anyway, it came down to one stupid final calculus exam and a few questions on it between getting in or not as that was my last course needed. I blew it and transferred to another school where I got the same degree and more free time to do other things. My GPA was like .02 percentage points off from the minimum GPA needed to gain entrance to the Business School. Best decision I ever was forced into, though . I hate too much school work and quick paced courses where they cram everying in one end and out the other. I had so much more time to actually enjoy the college years.

Surf

 

This admission to UT thing is very surprising to me. I didn't go there, but several of my brothers and sisters did about 20 years ago. Things sure have changed.

Are any of the other undergraduate programs that competitive to get into?

So does this just lead to eveyone getting admitted to the business school or other competititve programs , just in case they're interested, and then transferring out if they like it.

Alternatively how about liberal arts and then an MBA program. As long as you can handle math, business is not that hard. At one time MBA programs were getting tired of one sided business majors.

Does anyone know of a bbs or website to get more inside info on this, or is it so secret no one talks about it?

 

glynch,

The three most competitive majors/schools at UT are business, computer science, and engineering. Most students think "oh I'm in the Top 10%, I don't need to worry". Wrong. Top 10% guarantees nothing to these majors/schools. Also, internal transfers are difficult (you are required to maintain a certain gpa and take required courses before you are considered).

Not everyone is admitted to these majors/schools (enrollment limits), and those that are (out of high school) stick it out. Those that transfer out or don't make it opt to major in economics (in liberal arts) and minor in business foundations.

 

I've heard of businesses that prefer NOT to hire business majors. They think liberal arts majors are more well rounded.


Glynch, that doesn't sound like a bad plan.