Is UT=Ivy of Texas?

jr1038
Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:01:10 +0000

They could start by raising admissions standards and reducing enrollment. This includes raising standards significantly for athletes. By doing this, they would increase the quality of students, as well as improve the quality of education for these students who would benefit from it. Reduced class sizes+better students=better education=better UT.



I could care less about the athletes–who make up a small percentage of the student body and are talented at something–as opposed to the thousands of top 10% admits that have pathetically low SAT scores. The top 10% law might actually work for UT if an SAT (or ACT) score threshold was implemented, e.g., 1100 (2 section) + top 10% of graduating class to be automatically admitted. Sorry, but people who can’t score an 1100 on the SAT and who aren’t truly talented in arts or athletics have no business attending a well-regarded university like UT.

There’s little question that the pace and rigor of classes at UT suffers at least somewhat due to the enormous disparity in academic achievement of incoming freshmen, or else the graduation/retention rates would be much lower than they are now. The official university reports provide some insight: black and hispanic students in liberal arts account for 30% of students but, together, average below an 1100 SAT; nearly 2,000 students majoring in education with an average SAT score of 1077; 13% of top 10% admits (all majors) in 2009 had below a 1500/2400–national average–on the SAT; hispanic students, excluding engineering majors, account for nearly 20% of the student body but have an SAT average of 1090, etc. (check it out for yourself: [Admissions Research: Top Ten Percent Reports - UT Austin](http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/research/topten_reports.html))

I’d love to see UT slash liberal arts, communications, and education enrollment and raise tuition to make up for the lost income, implement a test score threshold (since the top 10% rule is likely here to stay), and focus on admitting only high SAT/ACT-scoring students outside the 75% cap (along with, of course, the athletes that aren’t academically inclined). The faculty, infrastructure, and high-ranking programs are in place–a few “adjustments” and UT would truly be a top public.