Thirty-five to forty students are selected for the program each year. The Debate Program at the University of Texas is composed of highly motivated students from a variety of disciplines. The UT Debate Team is a nationally ranked, intensely competitive program that offers students the opportunity to compete in intercollegiate CEDA and NDT Debate at national and regional levels. Debaters generally spend 20 to 40 hours per week researching and writing arguments on the NDT topic. Travel opportunities are determined by ability, work effort, and experience.
Some scholarships are available.
The University of Texas Individual Events Team is composed of approximately 15-25 students representing nearly every college at the University. Students compete in events ranging from interpretation of dramatic and literary texts, to memorized speeches to persuade, inform, and analyze communicative events, to limited preparation speeches dealing with philosophy and current events. In recent years, the team has produced five national champions, placed seven students in the top 20 overall standings, and has retained a national ranking of second. To qualify an event for the national tournament, each student must place in that event at three separate tournaments with a cumulative ranking of no more than nine, and each student may compete in as many as six events. For this reason, the team travels to about eight tournaments each semester.