The University of Texas at Dallas is the most selective public institute in the state of Texas. Oftentimes, the average SAT scores exceeds that of the flagship university in the system. In regard to reputation, UTD is considered the third best Texas public institute after the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University at College Station. It is located in the heart of Telecom Corridor (Richardson, Texas), and had its roots in the development of the Metroplex's high tech industry.

The university was originally started as a research arm of Texas Instruments as the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest in 1961. The institute was later donated to the University of Texas system by its founders Eugene McDermott, Cecil Green and J. Erik Jonsson. By law, UTD conferred only graduate degrees until 1975. Upper-division undergraduate students were allowed to start enrolling in UTD starting in 1974. Eventually freshmen and sophomores were allowed by legislative decree in 1990.