University of Texas at Austin

Location

As the name quite clearly suggests, the University of Texas at Austin is located in Austin, Texas. Being the ‘live music capital’ of the world, Austin witnesses a massive number of concerts week in week out. It’s a nice, laid-back place, where the major modes of transport are bikes, cabs or just foot. Shuttle buses are available within the university, though. Most students live off-campus, because it’s cheaper and you get a little more freedom. Three major off-campus options are West Campus, North Campus and Riverside, of which West is quite expensive. The other two are slightly more affordable, but they’re further away from the UTA campus. Of course, one should also take into consideration the appreciable crime rate when renting a house in Austin. It’s not that bad, really, but things do happen.

Campus

The UTA campus is spread over 350 acres, complete with all sorts of state-of-the-art facilities for anything you can think of. They have 17 huge libraries, having over a million publications between them. There are as many as SEVEN museums within the campus! There is a bar within the campus (oh yes, you read it right) called Cactus Cafe, and a Starbucks Café as well. They also have a bowling alley, and a quite fantastic movie theatre.

Residing Options

Although most graduate students prefer staying off campus, the San Jactino and Jester dorms are the ones to die for if you’re living on campus.

Faculty

University of Austin – Texas is one of the most popular universities around, and you don’t have to look beyond the faculty and the research facilities to gauge why. Among the faculty are recipients of the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the Wolf Prize, and the National Medal of Science. A lot of emphasis is laid on research, and the institute’s infrastructure has been designed in such a way so as to make research an absolute joy.