Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas
This isn't a rant, just some stats/facts.
Southwestern University in Georgetown is the oldest university in Texas. It was founded in 1840.
Baylor University in Waco was founded in 1845, and is touted as the largest baptist university in the world.
The University of Texas was established in Austin in 1883.
Texas A&M University was established in 1871.
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I'm well aware of Texas' universities. It has many fine schools, as I originally said. I currently work in higher education and formerly taught at UT Southwestern and UT HSC-Houston. When I said that it was a relatively new state for higher ed, I meant relative to states that have more of these so-called "top tier" universities. Texas is a much less established state for top-notch higher ed than the older states in the Northeast/Mid Atlantic/Midwest and than a state like California. Texas has just not long served as a national hub for higher education as long, so I wouldn't expect it to. If it had, then that would indicate they've been doing something wrong as to not gain the national recognition. Based on its size alone, one would expect Texas to have more of these "tier 1" (which translates as "ranked in the Top 50") universities, until you realize that the state's schools, though very good, have not served as draws for national and international scholars for as long.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Schertz1
Are UF and U of M really of the same caliber as Rice and UT?
While I am not a UT booster, I recognize they are a great school. I believe better than any school, public or private, in Florida. In addition, to compare Rice to one of them is borderline insanity. In defense of Texas A & M, it is a tier 1 university.
Texas has many excellent universities that do not focus as much on research. Trinity, TCU, Southwestern, U of Dallas, and SMU are a few. You should not assume attending a research university provides you with a better education than a good Masters or Liberal Arts University. It just is not true in many cases.
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According to what is considered to be the standard for ranking undergraduate education programs,
US News & World Report, yes they are of the same caliber. University of Florida, University of Miami, Rice University, and University of Texas are all ranked in the Top 50 colleges in the USA. (By the way, UT and UF tie in these rankings, just to let you know since you think UT is "better"). Bottom line is, they are all great schools with tremendous offerings in many disciplines. Is one particular school "better" than another? Maybe so, maybe not. That's not what the point of the conversation is anyway. As for Texas A&M, I think it is a great school, but it does not rank in "tier 1" in this system. It comes in at 61.
As for your last paragraph, I completely agree.