Top 6% rank in Texas high schools fills up about three quarters of the admission space at UT Austin. The rest of the class is filled by (holistic?) review of those below top 6% in Texas and all out-of-state applicants. If your rank is nowhere close to the top 6%, your chances are extremely low.
However, many other Texas public universities should be in reach or automatic admission for your rank and test scores. A Texas high school district published this chart from a recent previous year, but verify all information directly with each university, since it may have changed since then: https://cycreek.cfisd.net/download_file/view/279/1003
You did not mention what your cost constraints are.
Yeah, I was hoping my ECs may really help me for UT. I’ve got a lot of experience in the field I want to go into.
Cost-restraints. It’s the main reason I want to stay in Texas. I don’t want to be in over 50k worth of debt after college. I won’t get much financial aid because my parents make too much.
What is your budget for each year of college…starting with what can/will your parents pay? You can take out $27K in total in loans over the 4 years of undergrad ($5.5K frosh year, then $6.5K/$7.5K/$7.5K). Loans above that will be on your parents (either directly or as co-signers).
So counting your student loan, your budget would be around $20K-$25K/year. Journalism isn’t a high paying career, so you might consider limiting loans to the $27K in total.
Is there a school near you that you can commute too and live at home? You might also consider starting at a community college, and then transferring after two years.
Look at University of North Texas, UTSA, Texas State, U Houston, TAMU and Texas Tech…some of those might be reaches either academically or financially. Run their net price calculators to get cost estimates to see if they would be affordable. Does your HS use Naviance to help you understand acceptance patterns at these colleges?
Go to the library, get a Baron’s guide and thumb through Texas…see all the schools.
Or get a list like this - and look at their PR/Journalism depts. Then you’ll know. Not all will have journalism - but it won’t take you forever to look at each school - but I’m sure schools like Tx State, Tx Tech, Stephen F Austin, etc. --some will have programs.
But don’t assume good aid only comes in Texas - Private - check U of Tampa, Bradley. Public - Alabama, Arizona, MS State, Arkansas…there are great schools out there that give $$$.
While you can afford more, you may find money as a POC - for example Pitt. Or an HBCU - such as Prarie View. Your budget will be tough - because room and & board alone is $12-18K depending on the school.
Your own success in journalism so far is a hint as to why it is so hard to make money as a journalist: there are lots of high quality free sources of information out there. When you do the debt repayment calculators @Mwfan1921 noted, put those repayments against a salary of $22-$30K (pre-tax), which is roughly where journalism salaries start.
2 years of community college, living at home, and transferring to UT-A could let you graduate with a degree from UT debt free.
According to the chart from the Texas high school district listing auto-admit criteria, the following should be auto-admit with top 50% rank (3.4 HS GPA) and 1230 SAT. Verify on campus web sites in case any criteria have changed.
Angelo State
Concordia
Lamar
Midwestern State
Sam Houston State
Stephen F. Austin
Sul Ross State
Tarleton State
Texas A&M Corpus Christi, International, Kingsville, San Antonio
Prairie View A&M
Texas Southern
Texas State
Texas Women’s
University of Houston main, Downtown, Victoria
University of North Texas
University of Texas Arlington, El Paso, Permian Basin, San Antonio, Tyler
West Texas A&M
No, you will not get into UT. My son has similar stats and a bunch of musical ECs and he’s not even going to bother applying. The good news is that there are two other state public schools that have great journalism and music: UNT and Texas State. You should also consider applying to Trinity, Southwestern, and St. Edward’s. As an URM with decent stats and great EC’s, you will probably get some amazing merit aid, bringing it down to the cost of a state school.
You should always apply to your dream - just know it’s a super stretch. I’d still encourage you to apply - but have the match and safeties. I’ve even look into Mizzou, Syracuse, Ohio U and others. Often they are looking for minority students.
With Common App, it’s so easy to apply today - and if you get on email lists of schools, many will send you free apps.
But yes, hit your targets - and as i showed b4, you can find serious aid at many schools, not just in-state publics.
I disagree. Better to let go of dreaming and start being pragmatic. College is not an end in itself, it’s the next stage in a long journey. OP is being realistic.
As for that list of schools- they are simply unaffordable on a $25K/pa budget. OP might be admitted to Syracuse- GPA is in the lower 1/3 of admitted students, SAT in the bottom half- so reachy but not impossible. But the CoA is $75K+. OP is unlikely to get merit aid, and even if s/he did, the average is ~$8.5K.
The others are public universities, none of whom give much merit aid at all, much less to OOS students who are -at best- in the middle of the pack stats-wise. For example Mizzou is a lot less expensive than Syracuese, at ~$45K for OOS, and has an average of $8k merit aid.
I didn’t say to focus on the dream - I said to apply. Nothing wrong with swinging for the fences.
The reason I mentioned Syracuse (known for journalism) or others is the OP is a URM - and schools have programs we may not be aware of.
She should make a list of 20, 30, 40 schools - start digging into what types of “aid” opportunity is there for a URM. It may surprise you.
I don’t think she can get into W&L - but they have an excellent journalism program - and they have Johnson Scholarship which is hoping to attract URMs. American has the Frederick Douglas.
btw - U of Al and ASU both have great aid - and are both good for journalism - she’d be a safety for both.
University of Alabama would give the OP a $6,000 scholarship based on current stats, if they take weighted GPA at face value (which they apparently used to do): https://scholarships.ua.edu/freshman/out-of-state/ . However, the out-of-state list price is $51,424, so that would be a net price of $45,424 after the scholarship: https://financialaid.ua.edu/cost/
There’s still time to take tests - and as said she should seek out schools that are seeking POC. Unfortunately, in the end, there’s no dirt dirt dirt cheap - and she may (or may not) want to go to an HBCU. I meant Arizona State - Cronkite School.
The thing is - like Pitt - you have a 28 ACT and a POC gets $15K - so there are hidden options that I, as a caucasian, am not aware of.
https://scholarships.asu.edu/estimator estimates a net price of $36,038 for most campuses of Arizona State University, except for $22,026 at the Havasu campus, for the OP’s stats. However, the net price drops to $17,238 ($15,258 at Havasu) if the OP is a “National Scholar”, meaning National Merit Finalist or College Board National Recognition (both PSAT-score-based): First-year Student Admissions | Barrett, The Honors College | ASU