University of St Thomas

Graduated in 1993 from UST. I am not a Catholic and never felt any religious influence during my time. I love the campus. Professors were dedicated to their teaching. I hope it grows bigger and better.

This is the school I’m currently attending, parking in the street is a bit difficult but there is a garage which you pay $ 75 a semester. The professors here are amazing most of them. The only bad thing is that no matter what… you are you are forced to take three theology classes as well as three philosophy, you need it in order to graduate. We have a pretty small campus so it’s really easy not to get lost and you don’t have to walk so much and be in a rush to get to your classes. The teachers are great since it’s a small private school your classes will be small and they really help you out the most they are willing to come in for you. It is a beautiful campus! It is an expensive school but it’s definitely worth it!

Every school is what you make it. It is a good school, and yes it is a Catholic University, but people from religions around the world. Since it is a private school, it is going to be expensive. The teacher to student ratio is low, and they are willing to help students outside of class that needed the help. When I was a student there, Campus Ministry was big on campus, and it was becasue we had great leaders (Fr. Hanna and Sr. Jane). Dorm life was a blast and like one big family… weekends were for fun, and weekdays were for studying and going to class. There were activities for students on the weekends, the Fiddler’s Festival on the mall, concerts, theater productions, mass, etc. We had Basilian Priests as UST President during my time, and yes, there were professors that were boring as hell, but there were fantastic professors.
I have also enjoyed attending the UST Alumni activities.

I don’t attend this university; I was only here as a visitor and to help host a volunteer event that was held in the Jerabeck Athletic Center in their Scanlan Room.
I have to say that as a campus, it is very unique in that unlike other Houston Universities, UST is almost built in seamlessly with Montrose. Some of the office administration buildings look like residential homes. There’s also plenty of street parking. Overall, UST is a very nice campus, quiet and filled with friendly people (except the security; they were quite rude).
The reason I give them 3 stars though is that the campus actually feels more like a high school in terms of building interior design. I don’t know why that is, possibly because the brick walls (both inside and outside) look almost exactly like the walls in my high school. Or perhaps is the lack of windows and dim, yellow lighting.
ALSO do NOT order a smoothie from Freshens. It is definitely not worth your money,
Overall, I have to say that this is a nice campus, and I’m sure they have a great education! But not someplace to come visit as a visitor unless you’re a prospective student.

Love this campus!

I took my daughter to UST for a pre-​view /​campus visit. UST in located in Montrose, down the street from Rice U., the Texas Medical Center, Museum District, and Hermann Park. Downtown is a very short distance away. UST has a small walkable campus. There are no tall buildings, so it really blends in with the neighborhood. We really like the diverse neighborhood of Montrose and the surrounding area. Lots of shops and restaurants within walking distance. Rothko Chapel and Menil Collection are near by and one can walk there. Definitely a nice urban vibe. Three stars for now since I can’t comment on the education valve of UST.

I came here on a campus visitation, but it happened to be a rainy day. There were a lot of vendors out and I got to sit in on a brief lecture to learn about what all the campus had to offer. The place was pretty small and was in the midst of undergoing renovation.
The staff was heartfelt and friendly, you should take a tour and see if this campus suits your educational needs!

I did not attend this University so I can not comment on the education, but from a visitor’s standpoint I can only critique the campus. I must say it is smaller than I thought after visiting Rice, but then again Rice was bigger than I thought. I always imagined these two universities being about the same.
After exploring the campus I must say they do keep it beautiful. They had many nice gardens that were well kept and the grass stayed green even in the Texas Hot heat, I guess all the rain has helped.
The beauty of this campus the chapel of St. Basil though.
It also doesn’t hurt that the Menil Collection is just around the corner too.

Like Danielle S, I also received my bachelor’s degree from UST. I would echo most of her same concerns (please read her review, as she’s a much better writer than I am).
I entered UST as a transfer student from a University in another state. The process of getting my credits transferred was fairly simple. Once I got there, I was informed that I had to take 2 religion classes. I was disappointed to find out that I wasn’t told about all the options. I was basically signed up for a catechism class and that was that. Later, I found that I could have taken a comparative world religions class that would have satisfied the requirement. Not everyone who attends the University is catholic, and those options needed to be more clearly stated.
When I entered this University, I made it clear that I was not Christian and was told that the school was not exclusive to Catholics and Christians. Um yeah, tell that to the student body. I never pushed or really made evident that I was an atheist, but when asked what church I attend, I’m honest. I don’t. Twice Other students told me that I shouldn’t be attending the University because I wasn’t catholic. How accepting of them.
Many of my science professors were very good. I appreciated that evolution was never an issues and was treated as the strong theory that it is. There wasn’t debate about evolution in class, it was used as the basis for most of our scientific study, as it should be.
I ended up graduating the University with my teaching certification. The University placed me in student teaching at a local public high school. I was placed with one of the WORST teachers ever. She sat at her desk and handed out worksheets. She didn’t even know her student’s names. I explained this to my professors at UST and asked to be moved so that the experience would be worthwhile. They said if I chose to change mentor (ha!) teachers, I would be penalized by having to take the class for a longer period of time and possibly into the next semester. I chose to stay (but just moved myself inside the building without UST consent or knowledge so I could learn something). UST didn’t screen any of the mentor teachers and basically collected money for doing nothing (mentor teachers are not paid to have student teachers in their classes).
UST has both pros and cons, just know what you are getting into before you enroll. The place is EXPENSIVE and costs are rising all the time.

I received my bachelor’s degree from UST, so I guess I’m qualified to write a review of this place on Unilocal.After all, I R write gud n stuff bcuz I went 2 kollege.
What’s great about St. Thomas? For one, the professors. I learned so much from these dedicated individuals and still keep in touch with many of them. Prof. Nicole Casarez is a great example of the kind of professor St. Thomas attracts. After working on the case (along with her students) for nearly ten years, she was recently able to help overturn the murder conviction of innocent man Anthony Graves. These folks really care about what they do, so if you’re serious about learning, your opportunities are nearly boundless.
I never had a single class that had more than 30-​odd students enrolled (freshman science classes are a different story, but still not gigantic). If you make even just the tiniest bit of effort to be known to your teachers, they’ll help you in any way possible. During my time there my professors went above and beyond to help me succeed and the education they provided me prepared me very well for further studies. I was recently accepted to UH for my Master’s and they were very impressed by the fact that I’d already given a paper at a mini-​conference and written a thesis (apparently not everyone is doing that anymore).
The campus is beautiful, tucked away in a Montrose neighborhood, and is small enough so that you’ll be able to park anywhere and reach your destination in ten minutes or less. (The flip side of being on such a small campus is that EVERYONE knows your bidness. Do not date anyone here, because it will end badly and people you don’t even know will be intimately acquainted with the details of your drama. Not that I know anything about this.)
I’ve worked extensively with the Irish Studies program (I minored in Irish Studies and continue to be a supporter) and it’s truly blossomed into one of the crown jewels of the University. Recently named one of the top 10 Irish Studies programs in the US by Irish America, it’s one of only a handful of schools that offers Irish language programs, and only one of four that’s funded by a grant by the Irish government. The other three are Boston College, NYU and Notre Dame. As you can tell, the Irish Studies program is in good company and is fast on its way to becoming one of the very best in the nation. Director Lori Gallagher works absolutely tirelessly to improve the program with new courses and cultural outreach opportunities, and I’m proud to know her and consider her a mentor.
And now, to the frustrating bits.
When I entered St. Thomas it was billed as the university that was «Catholic, Classical, Cosmopolitan.» That last adjective in their slogan was taken seriously. St. Thom’s location in the middle of Montrose and close to downtown meant it was a crossroads for all sorts of people, and the administration reflected that. Former presidents and administrators encouraged divergent viewpoints, listened carefully to students’ and parents’ concerns, and one university president even engaged in a campus debate with an atheist about the existence of God. You have to admire a person who’s willing to put his beliefs out there for examination and doesn’t feel threatened by another view.
The new administration has essentially changed St. Thomas’ slogan into «Catholic, Catholic, Catholic.» If you’re more Catholic than the Pope, this is a great place to be. If you’re not, you may feel a bit out of place. Remember the debate with the atheist? Instead of following in that vein, the current incarnation of St. Thomas has cancelled speakers’ engagements because of their pro-​choice views (even though their speech was completely unrelated to that hot-​button issue).
When I entered as a freshman, credit hour rates were hovering around $ 500. Pretty heart attack inducing all on its own, but they’ve skyrocketed to more than $ 750 as of this writing. My half-​tuition scholarship was more like a one-​third tuition scholarship by the time I left – and I finished in four years. What, exactly, have students been getting with that money? Well… uhhh…not much of anything, unless you count some COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY well-​funded sports programs. Seriously, a campus of 3,000 (including a host of nighttime MBA students) does not need a volleyball team on scholarship when you just axed the economics department. Oh, and there’s also a plastic statue of St. Francis in a garden area, if you didn’t feel like your money was being spent wisely.
As you can tell, it’s decidedly a mixed bag. tl;dr version: professors are awesome, administration is terrible. Go in knowing this and your life will be a lot easier.

The University of St. Thomas campus (original) by Phillip Johnson shows that while Johnson was indeed a hack (self-​admitted), occasionally he could put some architectural rules in motion, meditate on them and make something with quite a bit of refinement. Here he’s riffing on Mies’ IIT campus in Chicago, but it’s not bad at all. A two story ambulatory forms a long narrow rectangle that joins a bunch of modernist boxes. You can quibble about the odd proportions of the quad (best noted on Google Earth), but really, this is not meant to be a place you toss a pigskin around. The main quad makes an occupant mindful of «ordering» as a goal of both architecture and academia. But the individual units linked along the quad don’t relate much to it, or potentiate any sub-​portion of the lawn: a missed opportunity. The Quad is really something you cross, not something you occupy… which is probably fine.
Stepping outside the quad produces frisson, as the chaos that was so nicely suppressed inside is allowed to flourish. The real trouble starts as you move west onto the newer portion of the campus which is positively woeful space-​making …just, bargain-​basement, nutritonally-​empty boxes pooped out of some cluttered mind, and approved by a board of mediocrity-​loving trustees. What does it mean to hold a degree from a university whose largest building (Moran Center) is the parking structure? Even the spaces between the buildings realize no basic goals, and nothing under an architect’s control is to be admired. This stuff would be feeble even at some no-​name community college In rural South Dakota, let alone next to Johnson’s modest triumph. A big, shocking FAIL!
Sadly, Johnson himself is not above being such a philistine. The boxy, white, Greek orthodox (?) church at the end the quad, which he added much later, is a desperate dud that shows how willing he was to disrespect his own work for cash. It’s a scale-​less monstrosity clearly blown up from a detail-​lacking cube no more than an inch or two tall, and It insults the unity of the entire space. The cube relates to the quad and ‘necklace’ of connected buildings in no way at all. It’s a gee-​gaw designed to push a grab-​bag of junky, instantly-​dated motifs from the 90s; platonic solids… the slice… the curtain…
The Johnson quad is really something to see. But, can you really still call it «higher learning» when the University is anti-​gay? St Thomas U has a tin ear; which may explain why talks with the Menils broke down in the 70s and the very fine Menil Gallery was built in the adjacent neighborhood, instead of ON the campus.

LOVE THIS SCHOOL! Wonderful location. Wonderful people.