Utsa

[td4mvp21]

I looked at it this weekend, I thought it was a nice campus. I just want to know anyones opinions about it. What do you like/not like about it? Would a business degree from there get me a decent job? (I plan to get my M.B.A) How good is there journalism/communication college? I'd appreciate any thoughts about it.

[CharlieMac]

It's a great school. You want a decent job, get into engineering. I think there are only a few dozen students that graduate from that college per semester. They are usually the ones being recruited by employers before they even graduate.

If you like math of course. You better if you're getting into business.

[E20]

Devin Brown went there, that's what I like about it.

[ashbeeigh]

Good luck finding a parking place.

[txdixiechick]

The school is a great school. I am a communications major there, and will be graduating this December.

The communications department is a good one if you want to go into Public Relations. They also have a master's program in Communication, but no doctorate degree plan, yet. The program is not a good one if you want to go into journalism. Most classes focus on public relations, new/electronic media, technical communications, etc. As far as I know, there are no journalism classes. The communications department is under the College of Liberal and Fine Arts (COLFA).

As far as an MBA, let me say this. Large numbers of people are getting MBAs these days. I would assume that even with an MBA, you will face very stiff competition in the job market after school.

I would suggest looking into the math or statistics programs if you like math. The stats program used to be under the College of Business, but it has been moved to the College of Sciences. Not many people are pursuing masters in statistics, and I hear there is high demand in the market for statisticians, because not enough people are pursuing stats degrees.

As far as the campus itself, right now it is one big construction zone. They are currently expanding the rec center, expanding the university center, building a new physical plant, building a new parking garage, and building a HUGE new on campus living facility. All of these things are being built over existing parking spaces. So, parking is a major beeotch. But there are shuttle lots, and the shuttle system has been improved dramatically, and you usually do not have to wait long for a shuttle.

I would suggest taking an official tour of the college if you have not already.

[Jekka]

If you don't mind not having the traditional college experience, UTSA is alright. I know there's more student housing there now than when I started, but it is still ultimately a commuter school.

Also, a few tips for if you go there:

1. The administrative aspects of the school are completely and utterly fucked. It's a big dysfunctional machine and you will get lost in the crowd in about two minutes if you do not make immense efforts to avoid doing so. I SO wish that someone had told me to do this when I started, but what you need to do upon first enrolling is get the actual direct office phone number to a specific person, any person, in the financial aid office. It takes about fifty billion phone calls, 300 office visits, and 20 years off your life every time there's a glitch in your financial aid you have to fix if you do not know someone. Get someone's number that rings at their desk and if you find that you have a problem, call them directly and keep calling until they fix it for you. Seriously, it is the only way to get answers and help without wanting to kill yourself.

2. Also, your academic advisor is your new dumb best friend. See them often. They are nice and have good intentions, but frequently fuck up and forget to tell you about pre reqs and required classes for your degree plan, so the more often you see them, the more likely you are to have an approved degree audit the semester before you think you're graduating.

3. The parking situation is royally fucked (remember, these are the dumbasses whose solution to the parking issues was to build a tiny two level parking garage). Do yourself a favor and either get there early, park at lot 13 (Valero) and take the shuttle in OR just take the bus. The added bonus with the latter is that you have time to do your reading on the way to class after you procrastinated the night before.

[CharlieMac]

Yeah, good points, if you're not there all day, you might as well use the parking meters.

Stay on top of your financial aid situation at all times. If someone messed up, and they will, you wont know about until you're screwed. I had some idiot have me fill out forms to accept summer financial aid, then forget to enter that info into the system. It took all of 2 seconds for their supervisor to do it when I went over there and bitched. 2 weeks later.

[td4mvp21]

Thanks for the info, anyone else have something to offer?

I really want to major in Business and minor in Journalism. I want to do something with the NBA, whether it be a GM, sportswriter, marketer, etc. I have no interest in science or engineering, so those are definitely out of the question. I visited the campus on Thursday and I thought it was pretty nice, despite all of the construction. Mainly, I want to know if its a good experience, if the curriculum is very good, how far a degree would get me, etc. I don't want to "underachieve", so to say, when choosing a college. My top choice right now is UT-Austin, and I know that they have very good business and journalism colleges.


If you don't mind not having the traditional college experience, UTSA is alright.
What do you mean by that, because I want to experience college life at its fullest :lol.

[Jekka]

What do you mean by that, because I want to experience college life at its fullest :lol.
I already said it was a commuter school, by definition that's not a "traditional college experience." Most of the friends you make in class won't be living on campus, so you won't see them a lot outside of class because they might live on the other side of town, and it's just pretty difficult to keep a tight network of friends. At least the dorms have gotten better since I lived there - I couldn't move in for two weeks after my first semester started because we had mold in the room.

[td4mvp21]

I already said it was a commuter school, by definition that's not a "traditional college experience." Most of the friends you make in class won't be living on campus, so you won't see them a lot outside of class because they might live on the other side of town, and it's just pretty difficult to keep a tight network of friends. At least the dorms have gotten better since I lived there - I couldn't move in for two weeks after my first semester started because we had mold in the room.

Ok, I didn't read that part. I didn't actually see the dorms in person, I saw them in pictures, and they looked pretty damn nice.


So I'm guessing they don't have a good journalism college, from what I've read?

[txdixiechick]

Yeah, no journalism college at UTSA. SuX cause that's what I wanted to do.

I know that UTSA is still a "commuter school". Hell, I'm a commuter myself. But I do know that UTSA is making a huge investment to change its image as a commuter school into one that is a "traditional" campus.

But if you are looking to have the "traditional" college experience at UTSA now, then it won't happen.

If you want to stay in the San Antonio/Austin area, then I would suggest looking at some of the private schools as well. University of the Incarnate Word has a FABULOUS sports marketing program.

[SequSpur]

school is school. all schools are commuter schools if you don't live there.

[cherylsteele]

It's a great school. You want a decent job, get into engineering. I think there are only a few dozen students that graduate from that college per semester. They are usually the ones being recruited by employers before they even graduate.

If you like math of course. You better if you're getting into business.
My dad is one of the engineering Prof's there.

[CubanMustGo]

You can get a good general education at UTSA just like you can most four-year colleges. UT or SMU would be a better choice when you go to pursue your MBA. The business school at UT rocks and you *will* get the entire college experience there.

Trinity, St. Mary's, UIW would provide superior educational opportunities for your undergrad degree, the only problem is the tuition to any of them makes UTSA look WAY cheap.

[ploto]

If you want to stay in SA, the colleges seem to be graduating more students than there are jobs available in this area in fields like marketing, communications, PR...

[ashbeeigh]

If the "traditional" experience is what you're looking for, cost is an issue, along with location, consider Texas State as well. I know there are a ton of Bobcats at ST.

[Nbadan]

If you got a decent GPA, and Journalism is your thing, apply for a grant/scholarship to Incarnate Word...they really are not too difficult to get and much better than UTSA, but if business is your thing, then UTSA is just as economical as any other area university.

[TDMVPDPOY]

how much does a MBA business (accounting major) cost at UTSA???

i just recently finish my bachelors, takn a break now on welfare hopefully before i take my ass out of me room apply for a job or do the CPA course....i want to damn travel

[CubanMustGo]

It depends on how many hours you take per semester. If you take 9 grad hours per semester and live off-campus the current cost is something around $2600/semester (x 4 semesters = around $10K). Details available via http://www.utsa.edu/fiscalservices/

[peewee's lovechild]

UTSA is pretty cool because they give me a paycheck.

[Michael]

It's been several years since I've been at UTSA, but I think you should look into the Honors College if you're interested.

The Honors advisors are really helpful, and you have access to some interesting and challenging courses.

A complaint I had about UTSA when I started law school was that the regular classes didn't prepare you very well for grad school.

The classes that helped prepare me the most were the honors classes.