Christopher Paez

May 19, 2011

The Road Ahead

As a young boy, I was always told that I’ll be attending college no matter what; and as I grew
older and college comes closer not much has changed. I plan to attend any of these three choices:
University of Houston, University of Texas at Austin, or Rice University. Each I have chosen for different
reasons, all are close to home and all are great universities.
The University of Houston is a local public college. University of Houston is very diverse and has
a great academic program. The University of Houston offers 120 undergraduate majors and minors, one
of which is Accounting/Business. This is the major I am planning to take entering college. I was always
interested in making money and the clockwork of business etiquette, and when I saw that my high school
was offering a program that allows students to learn about business I took action and joined. As a member
of a local Junior Achievement program I have learned a lot and in the process had a great time. Junior
Achievement gave me a taste of what the business world is really like and I was shocked to see just how
competitive it is. The name of the business college in the University of Houston is the “C.T. Bauer
College of Business”. The BBA in accounting degree plan is comprised of the pre-business core with 24
credit hours of accounting curriculum. The admissions requirements for the University of Houston are: an
SAT score of 1000 and up for students in top sixteen to twenty-fifth percent and are reviewed by the
following: First-generation college attendance, socio-economic background, extent and rigor of your high
school curriculum, special talents, abilities or awards earned, family responsibilities, leadership activities,
public service and extracurricular activities.
University of Texas is a four year university, public school, which is coed. Forty-seven of those
who apply get accepted. The University of Texas has about 38,420 undergraduate students and the student
to faculty ratio is eight-teen to one. The University of Texas is a large school both population wise and
area wise, in a visit to the campus last year I was able to tour the campus and saw that the campus is
maybe too big. Most students’ mode of transportation was by a bicycle. Other than that fact the
University of Texas at Austin is a great college, the business program is well known and is very
prestigious. The Admission requirements are: Essay(s), SAT Reasoning Test or ACT (If submitting ACT
the writing section is required), and for some the SAT Subject Test. Very important admission factors are:
Class Rank and the Rigor of secondary school record; important admission factors are: the
application essay, extracurricular activities, standardized test scores, talent/ability, volunteer work, and
Work Experience. If I get accepted McCombs School of Business is where I will major in business. My
last college I am considering is Rice University; it is a private school and is very prestigious. The
undergraduate population is approximately 3,262 and the Student-to-faculty ratio is six to one. The
prestige of this college can be represented by the following statistics: 85% of the student body is in top
10% of graduating class, 96% are in top quarter of graduating class and 99% in top half of graduating
class. Rice University is often viewed as an Ivy League college but really isn’t, although the curriculum is
Ivy League level. Admission requirements for Rice University are: essay(s) required, required: SAT
Reasoning Test and SAT Subject Tests; or ACT, If submitting ACT, the writing section is required.
Very important admission factors are: character/personal qualities, class rank, application essay,
extracurricular activities, academic GPA, rigor of secondary school record, standardized test scores,
talent/ability, and recommendations.