Many Texas resident students wonder which school to attend for their major. Employers do not care which of these two excellent schools you attend, only how well you perform (my worst employee - engineering -
graduated from Carnegie Mellon, LOL). Regardless of your major, you are kidding yourself if you which of these two schools matters compared to your overall GPA and experience. It’s not like you’re choosing between Harvard and University of New Mexico! The choice of which to attend is determining where you will be happy. (BTW, being in the top 7% does NOT guarantee acceptance into your college of choice at either school - only university admission in ‘general studies’ is guaranteed for auto admits. You will be evaluated with everyone else when it comes to acceptance into your major.)
My daughter chose UT (business). At her (elitist) high school, A&M was considered a ‘consolation prize’ acceptance, because it is significantly easier to get into than UT. To me, that is a ridiculous reason, but it did bias her opinion. More importantly it’s more about culture than acceptance rates. A&M has a very strong culture that you either love, or you find oddly uncomfortable. UT is more sophisticated, but also feels impersonal/aloof. Texas A&M campus is not attractive, but they have a warm and friendly student body. UT campus is pretty, and in a very hip city, but has both the advantages (opportunity) and also the disadvantages (safety) that come with that. Chose the school based on your personality. The ranking difference is absolutely a non-factor, because you can find your ‘people’ and get an excellent education at either school. Texans are lucky to have such great choices.