Biased Opinion:

I graduated last spring with an M.Arch from UT. I'm now working in NYC and the program there served me well. For me it was a great experience. The program is NOT as design oriented as Columbia, GSD, MIT, etc, but is highly respected and, as a state school, is one of the best Public architectural educations available.

Austin is an amazing city. Despite the greatness of NYC, I still reminisce of outdoor music festivals (SXSW, ACL, etc), great bars and a generally amazing city. It is NOT the best place for public transit, but if you manage to live close to campus then your life there should/will be great. It's a good place if you're concerned about 'quality of life'.

100% behind UT. It served me well. You might even get through without a Texan accent. You'll probably leave the state wearing a cowboy hat, however. ;)

I will second UT. I don't go there, but to another Texas school. UT is exceptional as it is with all its professional programs. I simply didn't have the grades to get in.
Because I live in Texas (Vienna actually), I know more about it than Cornell or UW. I do know UW has a lot of great aspects regarding sustainable design. Honestly, it is personal. When they say there are different "schools of thought" you can take this very literally when it comes to Architecture and a "school of thought." Decide what you are interested in ultimately and make a decision!

yeah...i third and forth UT. i agree with pDESIGN about austin being a great city to live in....specially when you're a student. howeever i think there are several design intensive studios there as well. i think some of the new faculty there have very exciting new ideas.
i too live in nyc...but i definitely miss austin!

cornell/UT, then UW

i believe that UT and Cornell would be very different both in atmosphere and academics right? the decision should be easier after you get a taste of both places. its going to be your call in the end, g'luck

I just graduated from UW and I really enjoyed my time there. Seattle is an amazing city, after visiting Austin a few weeks ago, I would say the cities are very similar in vibe, just seattle is literally more green. All of my professors at UW were really awesome and I felt that they really wanted to teach me and help me develop my own creative process, rather then fit into their mold of a creative process. UW also has great travel studios and study abroads which I really enjoyed. Also, if you like materials/digital technology, they have some new faculty who are really stepping these aspects of the department up. There is also a furniture studio offered every year if that is something that interests you, in addition to the other design studios (there are ususally 4 or 5 of them so that there are about 10 students in each studio). The small studios are really great and everyone knew everyone and the studio culture was really awesome.

hah holz. Way to represent Seattle.

I would pick anything over upstate NY. Unless you like 8 feet of snow all the time.