What's your North Texas story?

El Paso Eagle · May 12, 2023

I had attended Tyler Junior College and planned on attending UT Tyler, but they didn't offer the business degree I wanted. I had thought about going to A and M and about UT Arlington. North Texas was on the list but wasn't at the top initially. When my friend and I visited UT Arlington, it was a total disaster. Maybe I hit them on a bad day, but everyone I spoke to there seemed to be having a bad day. We drove up to Denton, and everyone I spoke to was incredible. We had a chance to go to a counselor's office, the program I wanted was offered, and as I looked through the information, it fit perfectly. So for me, it was the perfect school to attend, and I didn't even take the visit down to A and M, where I had already been accepted.

Edited May 12, 2023 by El Paso Eagle

El Paso Eagle · May 12, 2023

El Paso Eagle · May 12, 2023

Glory to the Green · May 12, 2023

The A’Cappella Choir visited Edinburg my freshman year in HS. Two years later, my older classmates ended up attending UNT to study music. I had always wanted to attend UT-Austin, so I applied and got accepted there. My choir director told me, “If you’re serious about music, you’ll go to North Texas. The Saturday’s won’t be as fun, but your music education will be a better experience.” I applied, auditioned, and was accepted. Best decision I could have made. My Saturdays are still pretty fun, though. GMG!

GBarksdale · May 12, 2023

Pretty simple for me. I always loved Denton and North Texas had a stellar RTVF program. So I always knew I'd go there.

Coffee and TV · May 12, 2023

I had U of Houston as my main choice, and was strongly considering UT-Dallas but never applied. I was living in Ennis and wanted a little distance from my parents but needed to stay in state because of the costs. As seniors we got 3 excused absences for visits to college campuses and a classmate mentioned she was headed to UNT for a tour later that week. I decided to check it out with her and it really stuck with me and felt like a great fit (I think she ended up doing a Juco-UT Arlington route). I liked that I was able to still get to Dallas in a hot minute and Denton had places like Rubber Gloves.

Coltonw83 · May 12, 2023

I grew up in Cooke County and first went to college in California. I absolutely bombed it, I was a great test taker and did well in high school, but I was extremely lazy and had no study habits or drive to be a good student. Also, right after school started there was a tournament in a game I had gotten good at and I went to LA and won some money, then turned it into a job for 4 years. With the gaming stuff I most recently played for "Complexity" which is the esports team associated with the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones, got to eat around the players at the Star's cafeteria so that was cool. I got lucky that randomly fell into my lap and my winnings/salaries paid off the out-of-state tuition I accumulated before dropping out (1 1/2 years worth, should have dropped sooner) but my GPA when I left was like a 1.8. It should've been a much more punishing experience for me than it was but oh well.

Anyhow, the gaming thing wrapped up and I moved back home to give college another go at NCTC to get my associate's degree. Thanks to finding a more suitable major and some great professors, I started to learn how to study and I began to enjoy learning. I found that I actually wanted to continue school and UNT was perfect because I could commute and my garbage GPA didn't keep me out. I am graduating with my Finance degree today, but while I was here I took Professor Engler's business law class and really enjoyed learning about the law. That spiraled me into learning about law school over the last couple of years, and ultimately I will be starting at Texas A&M Law in August. UNT let me in and provided me with an opportunity I wouldn't have had in many other places, and I've met so many people I respect and want to keep in contact with. I will be close enough to continue to come to basketball and football games and I am very grateful for this university.

Sorry for the long read, GMG

Edited May 12, 2023 by Coltonw83

bstnsportsfan3 · May 12, 2023

I moved back to New Hampshire when I was 18 ( after living in Arkansas for two years) and was going to go to a school called NHTI (New Hampshire Technical Institute) to study sports management. I had also been accepted into UIW (Incarnate Word) down in San Antonio but NHTI had a sports management degree and I thought it would be fun to move in with my best friend halfway across the country and do college back in New England where i still had family (Aunts and Uncles and such). Long story short, about 3 months later and with a complicated living situation, I ended up moving to Lewisville as my Mom had moved there when I was 16, and I stayed with her and went to NCTC in Corinth. Once at NCTC, I decided I wanted to do RTVF and heard about North Texas and the great program, plus all my NCTC credits would be accepted at NT. I applied, got accepted, joined the pit crew, joined the housing association, became an RA, fell in love with Denton and the Metroplex, and loved MG Sports (amazingly through the Dodge era, thank god for Johnny Jones). It was the best decision I ever made! GMG!

Jonnyeagle · May 12, 2023

This is mine from the other thread:

Posted 13 hours ago (edited)

Well I started out at Navarro junior college and flunked out and my parents made me come home and attend a community college where I finally got my act together and improved my GPA while working a part time job moving furniture. I heard about North Texas from a friend of my sister and figured I ought to give it a shot as I was running out of classes I could take towards my major at the community college. Anyhow, I ended up applying and getting accepted and the rest is history. I moved into West and stayed there until end of my junior year and moved to an apartment in cement city.

UNTLifer · May 12, 2023

I will shorten mine as much as possible. Family moved to Denton in the mid-60's as my Dad had taken a position at NTSU. I was born three months later and grew up following North Texas. Went to all the games, football and basketball, ran around the campus, hung out in my Dad's office, etc... By the time I graduated high school, my father had passed away after a lengthy illness that had forced him to retire early. I loved the field my father taught, Kinesiology, but shied away from this degree plan as I am a Jr., grew up around all the professors and my Dad was the head of the department when he passed. There is a room in the PEB named in his honor and a tree planted in his memory as a former Dean outside of Master's Hall. I loved the field, but because of all that I just mentioned, I put a lot of pressure on myself thinking I had to live up to something, which was just part of being immature at the time.

Fall just prior to my freshman year I attend orientation with no idea what I want to study. I was a good high school student but had bad study habits and wasn't focused. I attended because that is what I thought I was supposed to do. Anyway, I was filling out paperwork at orientation when it asked for my major. I looked to my orientation leader and asked what his major was and he replied, "BCIS", so that is what I wrote down. I then look at him and asked what that was. Needless to say, I was pretty clueless and I actually majored in Beer and Girls for two years. I made an A in one of those and maybe a C in the other.

Decided to sit out a year and a half to work and decide what I wanted to do. Went back, majored in Kinesiology, retook a number of classes that were killing my GPA and graduated a few years later.

Edited May 12, 2023 by UNTLifer

Coltonw83 · May 12, 2023

2 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

I will shorten mine as much as possible. Family moved to Denton in the mid-60's as my Dad had taken a position at NTSU. I was born three months later and grew up following North Texas. Went to all the games, football and basketball, ran around the campus, hung out in my Dad's office, etc... By the time I graduated high school, my father had passed away after a lengthy illness that had forced him to retire early. I loved the field my father taught, Kinesiology, but shied away from this degree plan as I am a Jr., grew up around all the professors and my Dad was the head of the department when he passed. There is a room in the PEB named in his honor and a tree planted in his memory as a former Dean outside of Master's Hall. I loved the field, but because of all that I just mentioned, I put a lot of pressure on myself thinking I had to live up to something, which was just part of being immature at the time.

Fall just prior to my freshman year I attend orientation with no idea what I want to study. I was a good high school student but had bad study habits and wasn't focused. I attended because that is what I thought I was supposed to do. Anyway, I was filling out paperwork at orientation when it asked for my major. I looked to my orientation leader and asked what his major was and he replied, "BCIS", so that is what I wrote down. I then look at him and asked what that was. Needless to say, I was pretty clueless and I actually majored in Beer and Girls for two years. I made an A in one of those and maybe a C in the other.

Decided to sit out a year and a half to work and decide what I wanted to do. Went back, majored in Kinesiology, retook a number of classes that were killing my GPA and graduated a few years later.

I thought that I wanted to do computer science out of high school and I ended up having no interest in it. Finance and law have been the subjects I enjoy and my mom worked as a paralegal and financial advisor… can’t know until you try different things I suppose

meangreenfaninno · May 12, 2023

I chose UNT out of high school because they had a good accounting program where you got your Masters in 5 years. Lived in West for most of it, Cement city for one semester and after that the Pearl on University. Had a blast during my time there and really never wanted it to end. I think we had more than our share of hot coeds.

Mean Green 93-98 · May 12, 2023

I was a less-than-stellar student in high school, and had no real intentions of going to college, outside of a pipe dream of attending Berklee College of Music in Boston. So I went to work full time after graduation in the futures markets. But after a couple of years, I applied and was accepted at Berklee. Around that time I first started hearing that North Texas State was also a great music school.

Anyways, I attended Berklee for a couple of years. Great school, but by then I had had enough of big-city, northeastern Boston, and the costs were getting expensive (by early-90's standards). A friend of mine was planning on transferring to the University of North Texas (as it was known by then), and I decided that sounded like a pretty good idea. Another great music school, but in a setting that better agreed with me. So I transferred in as a junior in August of '93. My friend never made it.

Matt from A700 · May 14, 2023

My junior year of high school I still didn't want to college. I let my best friend get me interested in UNT as he was talking about going for music and I got intrigued by the film program (still had no idea what I wanted to do with my life). He didn't end up going, but I did. Un/fortunately, I met my future wife/babymama the first week of school and I didn't get as involved as I would have liked with the department.

If I had to have do things differently, maybe I would have taken a gap year or done my basics at a community college. HEB was my high school job and it would have been awesome if Denton had a store so I could keep saving money. Instead when I had to start paying rent sophomore year my jobs ranged from Hobby Lobby, to Texas Rangers usher, to a couple of country clubs, and finally the hotel front desk at Winstar.

MDH · May 15, 2023

Started at University of Victoria (Canada), decided I wanted to move back to the US (did HS in Canada so stayed for 2 years at UVIC). Missed transfer deadlines for intl students at UT/A&M, didn't want to live in Houston or Lubbock, didn't want private school tuition, wanted to attend a school w/ FBS football, was looking for Accounting/Finance and proximity to large city for work and internships. Ended up being a perfect fit as I'm a big music fan so both school and Denton were great.

Edited May 15, 2023 by MDH

southsideguy · May 25, 2023

My story starts in El Paso. I was attending UTEP and life was going alone smoothly. All of sudden life had some big changes I lost my parents and was on my own. I started thinking more about my future and what I was going to do. I want to find a school that had a job market after school. We were in the big recession and jobs were really hard to find, especially in El Paso. Oh yeah my girlfriend at the time was dating my friend without my knowledge. It was time to reset my life.

So I decide to go to the UTEP football game one Saturday night. They were playing this team from North Texas State University. Loved the green uniforms and did some research on NTSU and were it was located. NTSU and University of Houston both fit what I was looking for so looked at both carefully. Scratched U of H off the list because it was located in a big city. NTSU had the program I was interested in and it was in a small town but close to a big city.

Never every regretted my choice to schools. I had a lot of friends at Tech and I visited them and just not like Lubbock that much so I never considered them.

Fell in love with Denton and NTSU and finished my degree. Move to Albuquerque, NM for a job and stayed there for 30 years. When my wife and I decided to retire we decide Albuquerque, NM was not place to be. I do miss the Mexican food and sunsets and mountains but that was it. We decided to retire in Denton, TX because is small and had low crime and so I could attend the NtSU games and kayak.

Sorry to see Denton growing so much though, we are becoming more and more like any other suburb but more run down lol. There is no place I rather be and love to be at the games even though it can be an upsetting event.

letsgiveacheer · May 25, 2023

Born and raised in Norfolk, Va. Circa 1970, my high school band and orchestra director had once been the band director of Roy Miller HS in Corpus Christi. He told me about North Texas and suggested I apply there, and so I did.

I will immodestly say I was accepted to the top East Coast music schools but as North Texas offered me a full ride, it was a no-brainer. For reasons I'll not go into here, the school was, and remains, a very special place to me.

greenminer · May 25, 2023

9 hours ago, southsideguy said:

I do miss the Mexican food and sunsets and mountains but that was it.

The fast food joints in the Southwest usually have an option to add green chili to your order, year round.

I miss that a lot.

southsideguy · June 5, 2023

Red or Green was the question and my answer Christmas. yep green chili hamburgers were the best.

southsideguy · June 7, 2023

My down vote must be from a tex-mex food lover. We all have different tastes. You can keep the cheese goo and I take the green or red chili anyday of the week but that is just me.

Dannymacfan · June 7, 2023

3 hours ago, southsideguy said:

My down vote must be from a tex-mex food lover. We all have different tastes. You can keep the cheese goo and I take the green or red chili anyday of the week but that is just me.

How can you not like Tex Mex man? That's just odd.

southsideguy · June 7, 2023

Odd is liking tex Mex lol. When I worked in Albuquerque, my bosses would fly into to work with me and we always had to go to a Mexican Food Restaurant. They loved it I think the term for Mexican food there is Northern New Mexico Mexican food. it is different from El Paso and El Paso is different than DFW.. I guess everyone has a twist to their Mexican Food. All is what you are use to.

I have friend here that I grew up with him in El Paso. I arrived he called me and wanted to go to Chuy's. He told me that enchiladas like that had at our elementary school in El Paso. I will say Mia Dias does a pretty good job on their Mexican Food.

One other thing in New Mexico you get free large Real Sopapillas

UNTLifer · June 8, 2023

If it has the term “Mexican” in it, I like it. Why choose one or the other and enjoy the differences?

TripleGrad · June 13, 2023

I was at SFA on the drumline, and NTSU came into town. I liked their drumline, so I transferred. Unfortunately work and life got in the way, so I was only on that line for a semester/football season.

6 or 7 years later I got the first of three UNT degrees.