<p>There is this girl at my school, very wealthy family, she has had everything handed to her and now is relying on her parents to get her places. She is ranked about 26% in a very tough public school in plano, 31 ACT, very limited EC’s (kicked out of NHS for cheating this year, and spanish honor society is her only EC left), and is currently failing BC Calc–and most likely will for the semester–which will only worsen her ranking and GPA. As I am only out of the top 10% by a little over 30 people, when she told me someone at ‘UT basically told her she was in’ due to family connections, someone owes her parents a favor, i was kind of confused and a little angry. Is it possible that she is telling the truth? do people well out of the top 10% get in due to connections?</p>
<p>Idk about Texas in specific but yes, connections to high ranked admins, professors, or directors can help you</p>
<p>I don’t know in this case, but I can tell you that a few years back, I knew the close family member of a UT Board of Regents member thought she was a shoe-in, but got rejected. Now, a happy Bama student!</p>
<p>I’d wait to see the actual results.</p>
<p>jkaplan1212, where do you get your info? My dad IS a highly-ranked professor (he’s been at Texas since 1965 and does a lot with UT athletics), and he can pull NO strings in helping his grandkids getting into UT. My friends are always surprised that my kids will get no help, admission- or financial-wise. I tell them, “Just think about it - Texas is so huge, if every kid with some connection to high-ranked people at UT got financial help, nobody would be paying any tuition!”</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn - I agree with you about “connections” and admission to UT - but maybe, for junior or (especially) for senior year, a grandparent professor could help an oos grandchild (who had been accepted at UT on his/her own merit) get a 20 hour/week research assistant position that would come with an oos tuition waiver. That sounds possible.</p>
<p>I’ve heard about it happening at Emory, a family friend graduated from there and puts in a lot of money/time/resources into the school, helped to get his daughter in</p>
<p>‘when she told me someone at ‘UT basically told her she was in’ due to family connections,’</p>
<p>Well, be sure to let us know when she gets her official acceptance letter:0</p>
<p>By now that girl probably knows where she’s going to college. Did she end up getting accepted into UT.</p>
<p>yeah she did as an education major</p>
<p>Education isn’t that hard to get into. She did have a good score on the ACT despite her rank and probably didn’t mention anywhere on her application about the NHS situation. Her essays and recs may have been good as well. There are a lot of other factors that may have helped her chances, with or without connections.</p>
<p>Education is one of the easiest majors to get into. If she had gotten into business or engineering, then that would be a whole other story.</p>
<p>lol it doesnt involve you anyway, people that know people will always be in a better position than people that dont… btw her ACT did/will help</p>
<p>and @maine im pretty sure your dad can pull stings, even if he denies it … maybe more in the way that @midwest said it, but he definitely can…</p>
<p>OP it seems like your a little jealous</p>
<p>Gracious. Was she Plano West?</p>
<p>She most likely got in because of her ACT score and the fact that she applied to Education. Is is highly unlikely that she got in because she knew someone or had connections. After much research on these boards and from talking to others in the know, there are many factors that can help someone get into UT who is not in the top 10% such as:
- Applying EARLY
- good Essays
- Major applied to
4.Test Scores
5.A hook - Your high school…does it historically send alot of students to UT?</p>
<p>If you are not in the top 10%, I would say that applying early and into the “right” major are huge factors for getting in. Parent Alumni status has absolutley no weight…Pierrechn…</p>
<p>Pierrechn…We are all still wondering why in the H…L you are still on the UT board?</p>
<p>plano senior</p>
<p>I don’t mean to stereotype, but I hear these kinds of stories about Plano West ALL the time 
Senior not as much. And East is too ghetto for this kind of thing.</p>
<p>(Go Panthers!)</p>
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<p>That alone isn’t bad. What was her weighted GPA? Probably close to 3.9 or higher? If she were in an easy public school, she would have been top 10%.</p>
<p>Sounds like she got in on her own merits.</p>
<p>As for being a rich spoiled brat, she’ll either suffer a miserable life or she’ll eventually mature and become somewhat normal.</p>