out of state chance?

Frenchlaw
Sun, 16 Nov 2008 12:53:56 +0000

My son is a freshman at UT from the New York City public schools. He is thrilled to be at UT, notwithstanding that the percentage of in-state students is disproportionate with other top public universities.

He is enrolled in the College of Fine Arts with a major in Theatre and Dance, focus in acting. During our campus visit after his junior year, we were told by the admissions counselor that out-of-state students were under-represented in the School of Architecture (my son’s HS had an engineering/architecture program in which he was quite engaged), and that to apply there would improve his chances. He chose to apply to Fine Arts, which I believe was probably similar in terms of out-of-state representation, and male enrollment is low as well.

We know of one case of a local kid with a 4.0 average who was rejected by UT but is at Brown. He was applying to the pre-med program, fully booked by Texas applicants.

If you are applying for liberal arts, sciences, engineering or business, your chances are slim. You’ve got to be off the charts in every respect to be considered for the few spots that are available to out of state students. Other schools and programs may have more flexibility.

I also suggest you take the ACT. My son’s first SAT scores were about your level, but his ACT score was stellar. It is more of a ‘what you know’ than aptitude test. We don’t tend to consider the ACT here in the northeast, but I suggest you look into it.

There are ways to improve your chances. It is worth it - people up here may think that UT is a weird choice for a New Yorker, but we know that our son is attending one of the finest Universities in the country and are delighted he is doing so.

Hook 'em!