Another real UH story
While Tom Kirkendall points out some critical missing info in the latest Chron article about the Univ of Houston, I will add my 2 cents on why I ended up here in 1990 - and stayed.
The article only briefly mentions the Honors College, which, thanks to Dean Ted Estess and others, did a great job of recruiting me as a pre-med undergrad back in 1990 (before they were considered a "college" of their own). Not only was UH one of the leading institutions sponsoring National Merit Scholars at the time, but the Texas Medical Center was, and continues to be, world-renowned for its facilities and caliber of professionals. For an out-of-state student like I was, the cost:benefit analysis was a no-brainer.
Although I did not end up going the med school route, I had great opportunities to co-op with Houston-based companies before completing both engineering degrees. And if engineering is your thing, Houston's got plenty of opportunities to go around in the energy and technology sectors.
To top it all off, when looking at Texas law schools, the UH Law Center ranks right up at the top of my book. Not only are they consistently ranked 1st or 2nd in Health Law nationwide, their Intellectual Property program is usually ranked in the Top 5 nationwide by USNWR. With a strong part-time program on top of all that, you end up studying alongside experienced professionals from various industries that make the whole law school experience MUCH more valuable than you would expect in a typical "college town." (Just don't expect much consolation if all the patent agents throw off the curve in some of your IP classes).
I suppose if I grew up in Houston, I might have been one to overlook all that UH offers, given the way they are marginalized at times by local press. And it is hard to find Cougar gear as often as Longhorns' or Aggies' ... just don't forget Andre Ware was the man when I showed up in 1990 (let's just not discuss what happened afterwards. Work with me here.)
I suppose you could assume that when I made the decision to move here to attend UH, I was clueless about the "real" college market. Well, 15+ years later, I still find myself appreciating the same great things about this school and this city. From my perspective, they both just keep getting better.
The article only briefly mentions the Honors College, which, thanks to Dean Ted Estess and others, did a great job of recruiting me as a pre-med undergrad back in 1990 (before they were considered a "college" of their own). Not only was UH one of the leading institutions sponsoring National Merit Scholars at the time, but the Texas Medical Center was, and continues to be, world-renowned for its facilities and caliber of professionals. For an out-of-state student like I was, the cost:benefit analysis was a no-brainer.
Although I did not end up going the med school route, I had great opportunities to co-op with Houston-based companies before completing both engineering degrees. And if engineering is your thing, Houston's got plenty of opportunities to go around in the energy and technology sectors.
To top it all off, when looking at Texas law schools, the UH Law Center ranks right up at the top of my book. Not only are they consistently ranked 1st or 2nd in Health Law nationwide, their Intellectual Property program is usually ranked in the Top 5 nationwide by USNWR. With a strong part-time program on top of all that, you end up studying alongside experienced professionals from various industries that make the whole law school experience MUCH more valuable than you would expect in a typical "college town." (Just don't expect much consolation if all the patent agents throw off the curve in some of your IP classes).
I suppose if I grew up in Houston, I might have been one to overlook all that UH offers, given the way they are marginalized at times by local press. And it is hard to find Cougar gear as often as Longhorns' or Aggies' ... just don't forget Andre Ware was the man when I showed up in 1990 (let's just not discuss what happened afterwards. Work with me here.)
I suppose you could assume that when I made the decision to move here to attend UH, I was clueless about the "real" college market. Well, 15+ years later, I still find myself appreciating the same great things about this school and this city. From my perspective, they both just keep getting better.
posted by Nivine K. Zakhari at
15:27
(data provided from NewsGator Online)
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