Whoever said that a 3.5 was a bad GPA? If you score well on your SAT/ACT, I still think UT-Austin is sill a decent possibility. Texas A&M is also a top school too. Both of them go off of class rank. If you’re in the top 10%, you’re an auto-admit to A&M. Either way, you have plenty of great options. When you go out of state, admissions tends to get more competitive, because these schools put preference on their own state residents.