When Cady Heron arrived at high school for the first time, she had to choose which lunch table to sit at. It is now that time of the year when all high school seniors are basically Cady Heron in terms of choosing where to go to college. If your college choices lie in Texas, I'm going to pull a Janis Ian and give you some quick information:
Freshmen - Texas State University
These newbies are cute. The Bobcats probably think that "fetch" is actually a thing. Texas State is the outsider looking in. They are on the cusp of being in the Austin city limits. They are in Division 1, but they play against UTA instead of UT. Being called "Texas State" should give them more recognition, but most people outside of Texas don't know that they exist.
ROTC Guys - Texas A&M University
Texas A&M gets the most sports news coverage since they're the only Texans to be members of the (somewhat overrated) Southeastern Conference. Their football team revolves around the 12th man. If a male Aggie is not an athlete, they're possibly either a part of the Naval, Army, or Air Force ROTC; some of the best leadership courses in the country.
Preps - Southern Methodist University (SMU)
SMU's mascot may be the Mustangs (horses), but I also think that the sports car had something to do with it as well. SMU has been called Southern Millionaires University. Even though the tuition is high and they live in the most affluent area of Dallas, they can still afford to go shopping, boulevarding, etc.
JV Jocks - University of Houston
Tom Herman was the head football coach of the Cougars. Now, he's at UT. He was able to put Houston on the map; they were highly ranked last football season ending with a victory over the once #1 Florida State in their bowl game. However, since Herman has left, we'll see if Houston continues to get as much recognition as Texas A&M, Texas Tech, TCU, etc.
Nerds - Rice University
Karen definitely couldn't go to school here as their acceptance limit definitely exists. They only accepted 15% of applicants last year. These applicants' average ACT score was 34. They're smart. They may not be great in terms of athletics, but these Owls (they even chose the wise bird as their mascot) may be our bosses in the future.
Unfriendly Hotties - Texas Tech University
The Texas Tech head football coach has been compared to Ryan Gosling. Many of their students are attractive as well. However, throwing tortillas and saying that they're going to "wreck" their opponents gives the rest of us raider rash.
Desperate Wannabes - University of North Texas (UNT)
UNT is in a similar boat as Texas State: they're the outsiders looking in. The Mean Green tries to be like the more well-known schools. Heck, their team name is almost the title of this movie.
Burnouts - University of Texas (UT Austin)
Unless you're a Texan in the top 7% of your class, good luck getting in here. UT Admissions are burned out from that 10% rule to the point that they had to limit it even further. The Longhorns football team is burned out as well; Tom Herman is their third head coach in five years. They went from being one of the top teams in the country to not even qualifying for a bowl game.
The Greatest People You Will Ever Meet - Texas Christian University (TCU)
Okay, this is my school. I'm biased, but we Horned Frogs are well-balanced: our academics are great, faculty is top-notch, acceptance rate is low, and campus is beautiful. While the football team did not perform as well as they did in past years, our basketball team is improving and our baseball team has appeared in the College World Series three years in a row. I've also met the nicest people at this school as well.
And The Worst - Baylor University
Okay, this one is biased as well. They're TCU's main rival. We compare each other in every aspect imaginable. The Bears offered a deal for me to apply for them free of charge and with no essay. However, I didn't want to live in Waco and go to chapel three times a week. At least they have Magnolia Farms and the country's longest lazy river nearby.
In the end, these are all great, reputable, fun schools. However, college-level work may have you resort to putting your whole fist in your mouth at times.
