Cost Constraints / Budget
If I stay in-state (Texas), I will have to pay my first year and my dad will use his Hazelwood credits for my education after I prove myself. If I go out of state, I will have to pay on my own. My budget is around $15,000 a year. I will be getting scholarships and the FAFSA and working part time to counter the cost.
(income before taxes of my parents is around $170,000 and after checking on the UT Austin net calculator, my estimate is around $12,000)
Intended Major(s)
Business Management (1st Choice)
Management Information Systems (2nd Choice)
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
GPA: 3.5 (unweighted) 3.8 (weighted)
Rank: 578/1582 (top 50%)
SAT: 1350 [630(m)720(r)]
ACT: 26 [28(r)25(e)26(m)23(s)]
(weighted is on a 5.0 scale)
HS coursework
AP Exams
Human Geography - 4
World History - 4
US History - 4
Biology - 3
English Language - 4
Currently taking Government, Macroeconomics, English Literature, and Statistics
General education course work:
Honors Geometry
Honors English 1 & 2
Honors Biology
Honors Chemistry
Honors Algebra 1 & 2
Major preparation course work:
Principles of Computer Science
Computer Science 1 & 2
AP Computer Science A
Principles of Engineering
Engineering Design and Presentation 1
Principles of Business
Business Management and Administration
Securities and Investments
Entrepreneurship
Awards
National Hispanic Recognition Award
AP Scholar with Distinction
Underclassman Award for Outstanding Entrepreneurship Student
Extracurriculars
Blue Ocean Competition (2024 & 2025)
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Certificate (Certiport)
Family Responsibility (Summer 2024)
Part time work (Aug 2023 - Jan 2024)
Essays/LORs/Other
LORs from Entrepreneurship, Securities and Investments, and English teachers
Planning on asking my past employer for a recommendation
Your class rank of 50% or so could be an obstacle in terms of getting accepted to UT Austin, in my opinion.
What scholarships are you guaranteed to get? The FAFSA is a financial aid application form. From what you have posted here, the only thing you will get by completing the FAFSA is a $5500 Direct Loan for your freshman year.
The cost of attendance at UT Austin is about $28,000 a year. You have $15,000 budget and $5500 in Direct loans. So $20,500. Where will the remaining money come from?
I’m not trying to be a Debbie downer, but I wonder how realistic your expectations are about UT Austin.
Hoping others reply.
@AustenNut can likely give good ideas of your chances of acceptance at the colleges on your list.
To be honest, I think your chancing estimates may be too optimistic. Given the grades and class rank, I think UT-Austin and TAMU will be high reaches. I’m not sure that Baylor, OU, and Babson will meet your budget, even if admitted. I do think UT-Dallas and U of Houston are good options. What about Texas Tech? Very solid business program, and more likely to be affordable with in-state tuition than some of your other options.
I love to encourage people to take their shot and hate that this comment is going to…not be that.
I don’t think you really have a chance at McCombs and I think TAMU Mays is a reach. If you really want to go to UT I think you have 50/50 shot if you pick a major in the School of Education and an excellent shot at TAMU if you pick something less competitive than Mays.
Again I’m sorry to be negative. Your grades and scores are good, but to get in to McCombs you need truly excellent grades and scores and EC, and even then it’s a reach. Mays is not quite as hard as that but still a reach for someone with your stats.
I do think you’ll have lots of good options and you have some on your list that should work. Best of luck to you!
It’s great that you’re thinking about where you want to apply to college. Below are my guesses as to what your chances might be at the schools on your list.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
Likely (60-79%)
U. of Houston
U. of Oklahoma
U. of Texas – Dallas
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Baylor
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Low Probability (less than 20%)
Babson
Texas A&M
UT – Austin
As UT guarantees a spot to the top 6% of high school students across Texas and Texas A&M does the same for the top 10% (I believe), that makes it very competitive to gain acceptance to those schools. For their most popular majors (including those in the business college), it is even more competitive.
Since you will be paying for your first year and you have a budget of $15k, I would strongly recommend focusing on schools that will meet your budget or come closest to it. I’ll second the recommendation of Texas Tech and add in Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin as two additional possibilities. I suspect that all three schools would be extremely likely admits for you. Additionally, they might be more apt to give you bigger scholarships than the other schools on your list, helping you to decrease your costs even more.
I teach in Texas public high school, title I campus, graduating class size about 800. SAT 1350 would definitely be top 25%, possible 15%. However, in the past two years I can think of one student accepted to UT with SAT in the 1300’s. I believe he applied to performing art major. My current seniors with similar stats (1300’s, 30% ranking) are applying to other UT schools as matches, Texas state and Texas tech as safety, community colleges if budget is important.
Realistically, Texas Tech, Texas State, A&M Corpus Christi, Sam Houston, SFA and UH are your best shot for Business, in state.
I see ZERO chance of getting into UT or A&M, certainly not McCombs or Mays, with 50% rank.
I agree with the other comments. Stats are good, but likely not enough to get into UT-Austin’s business program. You’ll need to widen your school search.
Regarding scholarships, your SAT score might be enough to get a partial scholarship at UTSA or Texas State. By the way, UTSA’s MIS degree is nationally ranked, mainly in the field of cyber security (100% job placement). And they have a really good football team too.
UT and A&M are going to be strong reaches though you will likely get a System Admit. You could also consider A&M Galveston. If you are talking about McCombs or Mays and are outside the Top 6/10% you need a very strong resume. You have some nice stats but those are both very competitive.
You should look at Arkansas as well. You can likely get in state tuition there or close to it. Good business school as well. Alabama and the Mississippi schools also tend to give out a lot of scholarship money.