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University of Texas – Dallas is a public research university started in the year 1961. In spite of being relatively ‘young’, UTD has already made a name for itself and is considered, especially by Telecom students, as one of the finest universities for engineering. The low fees, excellent research facilities, and exciting job prospects together make it an ideal destination for Indians, which is why they apply in such massive numbers.
The UTD campus is located in Richardson, which is about 20km away from downtown Dallas. Garland and Arlington are both less than half an hour away, while Austin, Oklahoma and Houston are at worst, a 3-4 hour drive away.
University of Texas at Dallas is built on a lovely 710 acre campus. Although the infrastructure is quite decent, it’s nothing to boast about, especially when you take a look around the rest of the universities. That being said, it still has all sorts of facilities and is certainly not lacking in any department. But yes, it can get rather boring.
While on-campus living is certainly an option (at about $5500 per year), most grad students choose to live outside of campus, so as to get some much needed space, privacy and freedom. The rents in and around Richardson work out to about $7500 per year on an average, but this too gets divided considerably if you live with roommates. The further away from the university you go, the lower the rents fall, so it’s not difficult to find a place to match your wallet.
Dallas experiences extremes of climate across the year. Summers are terribly hot, while winters can get rather cold, though there isn’t any snowfall. Fall (autumn) and spring are quite pleasant compared to the rest of the year, when the weather really is curse-worthy.
Dallas has a complete mix of professors, but this isn’t always a very good thing. You find some professors who are absolutely excellent, have done their PhDs from Ivy League schools, and are extremely approachable and understanding. On the other hand, it’s not uncommon to come across professors who have a bit of an arrogant air around themselves, in spite of not being the most intelligent people in the world. However, students are more or less satisfied with what they get, though you do sometimes hear the occasional complaint about professors being way too involved with their research work.
Being a public university, UTD tends to be generous with scholarships and freeships, though you can’t take them for granted, since they’re all performance and/or need based. Of course, you can also always get Research Assistantships and Teaching Assistantships, especially if you’re Indian.
Placements are good, but not out of the world. Telecom students find the jobs (and the salaries) pretty heavenly.
While the crowd isn’t exactly multicultural – you’ll just find a crazy number of Indians – it certainly doesn’t mean that it’s bad. Students do complain of a lack of ‘pretty faces’, but you can always find your type of people, it’s said.
Naveen Jindal - MD and Vice-Chairman of Jindal Steel&Power Limited. Dipak Jain - Professor of Marketing at Kellogg School of Management. Melendy Lovett - Senior Vice President of Texas Instruments
It’s good but certainly not great. If you think you have a profile that can do better, you probably shouldn’t settle for Dallas.