again, she’s a POC and that changes things at many places…she needs to “research”.
1° no, you cannot get into UT (Austin) because Texas public universities admit based on class rank. They have a little leeway, but not much. 75% will be top 6% students, then 25% will be out of state applicants, athletes, international applicants, and some non-top6% students, mostly top 10% and a couple top 20% with exceptional records that just happen to be in a hyper competitive school. Top 50% is nowhere near what they want to see.
2° UNT is nationally known for music, so apply there, apply early, apply to all the special programs you can find there (definitely honors).
University of Houston Honors would also be a great safety/low match and you’d be able to continue your collaboration with their newspaper. This type of experience is invaluable if you want to have a job in that field.
3° your EC’s have the potential to get you into pretty competitive schools. But these won’t be in Texas and certainly not large public universities, which usually admit based on combination of GPA * rigor *test score. You will need to apply to private universities, including many out of Texas.
Therefore, so that we can help you with good suggestions, can you tell us
- your FAFSA EFC (the minimum your family will be expected to pay)
- your parents’ budget out of pocket (from current income and past savings) – you said 15-20K.
If your EFC is 15 to 20K, then you need to target “meet need” schools. If your EFC is much higher than that, you need to target schools that offer merit aid and the list would be quite different.
“Merit” is anything you bring to the college that they don’t have in abundance and really want. Therefore, each college will define “merit” differently.
In the meanwhile, look into “fly-in” programs at colleges. Those are selective so you need to apply to several in order to get one or two. Students admitted to the “fly in” program have much higher odds of admission and it’s a cool way to visit places. The “fly in” program will pay for your plane ticket to the campus. They will have assigned you something to read and you’ll participate in a class where they’ll evaluate how well you handled the reading and discussion. You will also meet students, professors, administrators. It’s an opportunity for them to evaluate whether you’d be a good fit for them but also for you to see whether the college would be a good fit.
BTW this is a high reach program where EC’s would matter tremendously - run the NPC first. (NPC = net price calculator, to be run on every college website since each college calculates your “net cost” differently).
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I also thought of the UH Honors College for you. However, it seems quite challenging for those below the top 20%.
620 entering freshmen
1380 average SAT
Top 10 percent, including 17 valedictorians 52%
Next 10 percent 21%
Below 20 percent 10%
Unranked 17%
However, give it a shot! Also, apply to UT and maybe get capped. Then go to the CAP school (maybe UTSA) and transfer into journalism. You seem to want journalism more than music performance like UNT’s strength.
Hey, thank you for taking the time to type that information out. I have heavily looked into UNT and I know that it’s a school I will apply to for sure.
I wish I would’ve put more effort into my grades my freshman and sophomore year because those two years are what hurt my GPA.
I have also looked at schools like Trinity, Southwestern, and St. Edwards. Are my chances at those schools low as well? I really like Trinity.
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Thanks for the info on UH! Personally, I don’t want to stay in Houston. I’d like to get some ways away from my hometown which is why I really like the Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin areas.
Thank you so much for the information. I had already planned to apply to Trinity, Southwestern, and St. Edwards, and I really like Trinity. I hope my ECs would give me a boost there! Thank you for the realism and honesty!
Thank you for the list!! I’ve screenshotted it and I will definitely keep it in mind.
Trinity looks at demonstrated interest - so get on their email list, join a few sessions. Reach out to the admissions counselor that would cover you - and ask about programs for URMs.
So - they don’t have journalism and it’s small - so not sure how it’s a fit. They do have a large population of URMs, mainly hispanic, not African American.
Can you get in? Possibly. It’s competitive -but that’s where demonstrated interest comes in.
But if you can’t study what you want - and it’s tiny vs. others you’re looking at, then how is it a fit?
One more thought I had… Loyola New Orleans. Terrific journalism AND music departments. You will get in, no problem, and with pretty good merit aid to boot. It’s not Texas — however it’s a cheap, short flight from all major airports in Texas.
Great thought - and you could take classes at neighboring Tulane as part of their agreement.
As for Trinity, they have a great Communications major that focuses on both Journalism and Public Relations.
My boyfriend’s brother and his girlfriend both went to Trinity and loved it. There’s a chance my boyfriend may go there so I won’t pretend like that doesn’t play a part in my opinion on it.
They also partner with the San Antonio Spurs for journalism opportunities and such, and that’s definitely something I’d be interested in. Trinity is a school I really like.
https://admissions.utexas.edu/enroll/cap/prospective-students/enrollment-reqs
Definitely work to make sure you’re in the top half of the class. It keeps your options open to any CAP program like UTSA. Otherwise, you’d need to enroll at UT-Tyler or UTEP. UT-Austin has a phenomenal journalism program. For journalism and liberal arts, I’m a big fan of CAP.
How did your bf’s brother do in school and in test scores? Per their common data set, GPA, rigor and class rank are all very important at Trinity. Your test score is solid. You may also consider Southwestern which is a bit easier to get into and is a great school in the area. Of course, if you go to a private university, you could go out of state as well. They will look at your family’s earnings and wealth to determine affordability.
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Not too sure about my bf’s brother’s stats, he played football there. His girlfriend had the exact same SAT score as me and our GPAs were pretty similar though. My ECs are a lot better than hers though.
Southwestern is definitely a school I’m considering!
As for the CAP program at UT, I’ve looked into it, I hope they’d offer it to me at a school like UTSA. I’d heavily consider going.
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