Should I apply on August 1st (when the application opens)?

junebug693
Wed, 27 Jul 2011 01:00:50 +0000

I’m sure UT is familiar with my school-I went to A&M Consolidated in College Station, and although the vast majority of collegebound seniors there go right across the street to A&M, there certainly is a good number that apply and are accepted to UT. It is true, however, that UT probably has a special relationship with certain high schools in Austin that they know very well, and that will probably help you. They’ll most likely take your class rank more seriously than a similar class rank from a school they’ve never heard of.

Also, I didn’t really apply to many small liberal arts colleges. I wanted to go somewhere slightly bigger. But I do know that most selective liberal arts colleges also use holistic review processes. That doesn’t mean that they don’t care about test scores or grades, but those are just one factor in the process and they really want to see who you are as a person. So write good essays and get good recommendation letters from your teachers. (Try to read them if your teachers will let you. Some of mine were amazing and some of them had some pretty scary grammatical errors.) The essays and recommendations will help you out at UT and the other schools you’re applying to.

Although I don’t know much about engineering programs, I know that all of the schools you’re considering are very well-respected, and I think that your stats would give you a good chance at getting into most of them. If you’re looking for a safety, could I suggest A&M? Obviously I’m biased, coming from College Station, but I know you meet automatic admissions criteria there, and even though in many ways UT is a better school, I think A&M’s engineering programs are more highly ranked nationally. Just a thought.

Also, Deep Springs sounds amazing. I really wanted to apply there, but I’m a girl, so that wasn’t really an option. But spending two years on an alfalfa farm in California sounded weirdly cool.

Anyway, good luck with the application process!