Top 10 Study Spots at UT Austin
I have spent exactly half of my college career in person and half on zoom.
As I leave this campus, this is my tribute to the spaces around our university that have collected my tears, sweat, and laughs. I hope you all can check these out for yourself in remembrance of me.
*not ranked in superiority
1. jester & the quiet lounge
Jester has seen the most vulnerable, the most hardworking, the most stressed, and basically any other version of myself that you could think of. We cried, laughed, stayed up all night, procrastinated while playing mahjong, Avalon, werewolves… The piano room waited for me in consolation, and the quiet lounge when I needed to shove 50 organic chemistry synthesis problems in 20 hours. It might not be the most aesthetic nor the most efficient, but it was our home.
2. WELCH
This is a new(er) member to my collection. The first time I went to Welch was when I had biostatistics lab in the computer room. With the new upgrade, Welch has been our go-to spot for this past semester, at least, until they kicked us out from the big rooms. It reunited our class (of 2022) into reminiscing the community that we built our freshman year in Jester, after COVID distanced some of us from each other.
3. UNION
The aroma of panda express and the combination of everyone else’s lunches surrounds you as you walk in, but we as AACM have spent many hours here together studying together, having small groups, prayer meetings, etc. I will never forget the day that my small group took over an entire corner of the showroom.
4. SAC (or WCP as they call it now)
The WCP is great except it’s really hard to find seating sometimes. But if you go up to their top floor, they have a patio that is really nice to sit in if the weather is nice! My freshman year girl’s appreciation took place here, so shoutout to our boys for hosting such a memorable event for us.
5. LIFE SCIENCES LIBRARY (in the tower)
This is the beautiful harry potter-esq library that is located on the second floor of the tower. This is actually the one place that I pride CNS on being named after (because ‘life sciences’), and she is quite beautiful and airy. The downside is that it is really quiet, and everyone stares at you if your chair screeches when you try to get up.
6. NHB
This building might be unfamiliar to non-science majors, but NHB is the home of a lot of our science labs and the neuroscience department! They have chairs that face the window on the higher floors which is really nice, so I used to go here after class and people watch during passing periods. My research lab is also in this building, so maybe you can find me here if you get lucky. ;)
7. EER
I would sit in here and all of my engineering friends would walk by and look extremely confused as to what I was doing in their building. It is probably the prettiest building on campus (in my opinion, at least), which justifies the longer walk.
8. PCL
There was a night before my ochem final that I stayed here for 48 hours straight (do not try this).
9. GDC
Although notorious for smelling like musty computer science students, GDC has really nice study spots on every floor, and it’s located centrally on campus. My favorite memory from this building is when I pretended to be a CS student and got free donuts from recruiters after my neuroscience class.
10. Some honorable mentions: Rowling, FAC, Greg
No matter the location, my best memories on campus were those with my friends and the AACM community who have made me laugh and de-stress regardless of the circumstances. I hope that this was helpful, and if you ever need a study break next year, hit me up! And remember, the grind never stops!
about sophia choi
Sophia is a third year at UT and CEO leader of AACM. She loves asian bakeries and is a coffee shop enthusiast.
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