Parents & Visitors

• For information about admitted students, please see our FAQ

Advising

The Center for Strategic Advising helps students to explore their educational options and career plans if they are not sure what their major at UT will be. Our advisors specialize in helping students to develop a customized path through the university, combining majors, minors, certificate programs, and internship experiences as appropriate to further their academic interests and career goals. Students enrolled in Undergraduate Studies are required to meet with our advisors, but we welcome students from any college or school at UT.

New students may apply to Undergraduate Studies through the University of Texas’s Office of Admissions.

Community

Student enrolled in any of UT’s colleges or schools may take advantage of university-wide programs designed to provide a small-college experience at a major research university.

In First-year Interest Groups (FIGs), small groups of students form strong communities, develop critical academic skills, and connect with professors through shared classes.

The Freshman Reading Round-Up is a two-hour event that introduces small groups of incoming students to books selected and discussed with UT’s top faculty.

Core Curriculum

The UT core curriculum requirements, shared by every undergraduate, are designed to put the major coursework into a broader intellectual context, incorporating the perspectives of a wide variety of disciplines. The core stands at the center of a university education, as it is an essential component of our effort to develop the traits of educated persons in students of all majors.

Students are introduced to the core curriculum, and to university studies in general, by participating in a shared intellectual experience known as the Signature Course in their first semester on campus. Signature Courses are taught by faculty from every college and school and cover a vast array of topics from an interdisciplinary perspective, while incorporating common elements that help to cultivate a community of learners.

A central element of the Signature Course program is the University Lecture Series, which is designed to create a campus-wide conversation by giving first-year students an opportunity to hear distinguished members of the faculty discuss topics of contemporary importance. Students then discuss the topics covered in numerous forums, including Signature Courses, First-Year Interest Groups, honors program events, and residence hall activities.

Flagged courses, which can be found in every department, ensure that all UT students acquire important skills in writing, independent inquiry, and quantitative reasoning, while being exposed to content relating to cultural diversity, global cultures, and ethics and leadership.