The problem is most of the schools you mention we can’t afford. Trapped in that place where we make too much for aid, but don’t make enough to afford OOS tuition. There may not be better offers coming soon(even with those stats).
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Did anyone receive honors decisions today?
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I am on the same boat.
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There are many good private schools in Texas that offer a lot of scholarship money with good grades, EC and scores. Even without scores this year. And I think you can ask for additional merit aid, especially in a year like this. Baylor Trinity SMU TCU are more than happy to give a lot.
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I’m so sorry to hear about so many awesome kids getting the soft rejection. If your kid is still interested in UT, I would absolutely recommend the appeal process. There is nothing to lose and only an admission to gain.
We attended a Dale Price webinar this summer and I think my son got in because we followed his advice ( I posted this WAY earlier but will summarize again for the post mortem). For reference, he is a homeschooler (so not auto admit) and got into his first choice electrical engineering on Dec. 10 with a 1430 SAT.
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Dale Price said UT is very, very interested in the applicant proving their Fit to Major. They want to protect their 4 year graduation rate statistics (which affects their overall rankings) and they will only accept students who can prove a fit to major. Like, from the 9th grade, proving fit to major with class selection and extracurriculars. I had heartburn just hearing this because what 9th grader wants to know what they want to do in life?? But, that is what he said they are looking for. It is all about those 4 year graduation numbers and looking for candidates who are committed to that major and will get in and get out in 4 years.
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They are looking for interest in UT in the essays. Perhaps this where they guess on yield and if a top candidate is not going to accept but instead go on to some “bigger” name school? He said to go to the departmental websites and read up and include professors names, clubs, etc. that you want to do research with/be involved with for your particular major. Again, showing Fit to Major is critical. My son spent a INSANE amount of hours crafting his essays to reflect his interest in his major and UT. Like, to the point, that I thought it was the biggest waste of time and he was crazy to put so much time and effort into essays that will be read in 3 minutes probably.
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Dale Price said “optional” is code for “opportunity” so, of course, do it if it says optional, ie, the expanded resume. The expanded resume was something we actually put off doing because we didn’t really think he had anything to add. It was an overwhelming task especially after investing so much time in the essays. Finally, after reading many accounts of current UT students saying you HAVE to do the expanded resume, we did one. Best decision ever I think. It was so over the top and we even used UT colors to brown nose just as much as we could to show that UT interest. That wasn’t submitted till October so I don’t think they had looked at his application yet.
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UT looks at how the applicant spends their summers. Again, probably either looking for fit to major or rigor or some sort of tenacity that will aid in getting that degree. Originally, my son was signed up for a couple of engineering camps but they got cancelled due to covid and we thought, “oh well, there goes that fit to major proof”. Instead, he took 2 dual credit classes through the community college and made A’s. In hindsight, I think that probably boded well for him to show college rigor (yeah, I know, it is community college but it was also ACC so UT knows about their rigor). In his senior year transcript/courses signed up for, he showed plans to take Texas State and Local Government through ACC which I think further showed his intent to stay in state and go to UT if accepted.
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Dale Price also emphasized OVER and OVER and OVER again, to submit the application within the first 30 days of it opening. I can not tell you how many times he said this. Again, I think it must show UT interest and how important it is to the student that they want to get in.
My son truly left everything on the court and gave it his best shot to show fit to major and interest in UT. I have never seen so much brown nosing in my life but he wanted to do everything he possibly could to gain favor with the admissions officers. We really did not anticipate him getting in. I had given him a 5% chance just to prepare him for the rejection. He had his back up school planned and never once assumed admission. He was an underdog going in and we still can’t believe he got in but I think following Dale Price’s advice was crucial.
Again, for anyone rejected who still wants another shot, I would appeal with an expanded resume and whatever else you can do to show your desperation to get in! I would also do it ASAP to emphasize interest. If a student isn’t committed to doing an appeal, then that is probably your answer to move on and go to the school you are supposed to be at and not give UT another thought. Just leave it in the rearview mirror and move on to good times ahead at another school.
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Thank you for reposting. Great information. Like you said, there’s nothing to lose and an admission to gain. Good luck, everyone!!
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Interesting point about the submitting within 30 days of application opening. I know some people say it doesn’t matter, but I submitted early August and got accepted in December for Biochem.
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STEM majors like CS and ECE are super competitive indeed, GPA/Ranking even SAT are not enough, those showed you’re a great student indeed, but you still need something extra to compete for a spot in CS/ECE I believe, e.g CS coding tournaments, Math competitions, prestigious summer camps, research projects, etc. This applies to Business major as well, you need extra stuff on top of a flawless GPA/Ranking/SAT, e.g. great at debate, did some business while in school, showed your leadership in various organizations or clubs, etc. All I’m saying is that, GPA+Ranking+SAT might not be enough to secure a spot in highly competitive majors at UT, from what I observed.
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@chillycow THIS!!
While I have no idea who Dale Price is, I wholeheartedly agree with what you said 100%. I have a current hs senior who decided to take a pass on applying to UT for a variety of reasons - didn’t like what he saw of their virtual general info session, didn’t like how Covid was handled, and didn’t want to sit and do all those essays!
I do have another kid at UT and this is exactly the process she followed. She spent a tremendous amount of time on her essays. Really showed who she was and made her connections. She spent hours and hours on her resume. It has come in helpful for clubs and internships she has applied to as well. She had rigor, and good grades and a great test score), etc. In her case she was most likely top 5% in her class (our school doesn’t rank), we are OOS and she was accepted to a competitive major in early December her year. There were people from our school with much lower grades and scores and even rigor that got into their majors too, but mainly because their essays shouted those majors and were unique. I have seen in other posts on CC of one student saying he applied to ove 20 schools while using the same “Why us” essay every time. He just interchanges a few words. That is NOT what Texas wants. If you don’t put the effort in that will make a difference.
@xyz18 I understand your frustration with the process, but just because someone is #1 in their class, that doesn’t give them the right to be guaranteed their first choice major and that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s illogical either. What if they had not one extra activity in high school? What if their essays sucked? What gives them the right to get their first choice major just because they had the highest grades? What if they were #1 in the worst school in the state? That’s also part of the problem. You can be in the top 25% in your class at the best school in the state and not get into UT. Is that fair? I have heard of many people who move around to other schools or send their kids to private schools just so they can guarantee admission to UT. That’s also not fair. Also, fyi University of Michigan tends to do the same thing. They often don’t accept top students and defer them indefinitely or ultimately reject them because they assume they want a more “prestigious” school. So it happens all over. Furthermore, when applying for a job this happens as well too. Many companies don’t just look at GPA. They look at the whole package. It’s disappointing and it’s tough, but at the end of the day it really does all work out.
A lot of kids also start at ACC and then just transfer. I know you can live in the private dorms and do that and be a part of social life at UT. Not sure if you can live in the university dorms. But if someone wants to go to UT that badly, there are ways to do so.
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Also, Last summer I zoomed my admissions counselor from UT and asked him a lot of questions. One of them was if we compete against the state or our school, admissions counselor told me that they get assigned 2-3 schools that they select students from. What I interpreted this as is that you are directly competing against ur classmates as well, and the less people in your class the less they will except for the “diversity aspect”. They wouldn’t want too many ppl from one school. The UT counselor said having a good holistic application is also important when I shared my worries about a rank that could hurt application chances. He told me UT does not want someone who is JUST completely submerged in his academics, and shows potential to be a leader, has varying interests and activities, and unique experiences. They know there is more to a kid than just grades and they weigh essays heavily. Just like what chillycow said, UT is picking students who fit the vibe and values of their campus, you may have frustratingly worked hard for perfect grades, and you apply for engineering, but if your essay reflects no passion for the major itself along with very few to no extracurriculars that tie in with stem or engineering, UT will pick priority to a person who had a 15% rank and 1430 sat that choose to make an engineering initiative or directly internship with a college professor to produce research, even someone who may have been in a school engineering club for 4 years and had some sort of leadership postition. I feel like it could work the other way around too, having a good rank and good grades, but because high schools vary on resources/wealth/competitiveness/size, someone who is ranked 10% at one school could be 4% at the next. This plays a big factor because for non-ranking non-autos, Ut makes them a rank based off other applicants and your school itself I believe
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Still not enough for many kids/parents without having to eat a ton of debt.
Does anyone know how long the appeal process will take?
I agree with you but also if anyone from co 2026+ reads this, you don’t have to have stem ECs and what not to get into engineering. and it’s ok if you didn’t know what you were going to major in until a few months before applications so you didn’t hv ECs to back up your major choice. you can get into a major by showing passion and work ethic through your essays and what not, but it’s not the case that you hv to hv a stem packed resume to get in to thinks like engineering. in my case, i had no stem in my resume so i think it’s hard to try to put an explanation behind UTs admission process, which is obv very ambiguous
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I was told not to put on essays that’s already on your transcripts. Besides taking all STEM AP classes, he took 4 years of sequential EC’s in AP-PLTW in Engineering and Computer Science. I am not sure how else he can show that he wants to be an engineer only. Can UT explain to him how he can succeed in life by taking Liberal Arts, where he scores the lowest grades?
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That seems like some bad advice. Essays should not be recitations of activities or classes on the resume, but can be vital to explain why those events happened or how they impacted an individual. There are some very competitive programs at UT where I believe the essays carry the most weight in consideration.
The 2019 cycle was the one where appeals were granted at unprecedented levels. It could’ve been just a way to manage class size that year, but they also happened to a degree last cycle. You can read more about it from UT admissions guy. That year appeals were supposed to be notified by April 1, but the timing of the process was changed as it happened.
I am so sorry to read about your AA son and the others who did not get their majors. If not successful appeal, I hope they all find an alternate place or path to their most successful happy place.
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Absolutely aggree with @noready
These are not people we are trying to get into some college ,these are human beings developing skills, exploring interests, and having fun. We should be encouraging them to explore interesting clubs and sports that spark them, not telling them that they need to be joining ones that will “support” a stem major. My child has all his extracurriculars focused on one sport that he has decided not to pursue in college. He wrote his essays on how, while the sport is not stem focused, it helped teach him about constant improvement, leading others, and pursing excellence. He has been accepted into so many amazing stem programs already. It was his passion and that came through. Please future applicants, do not focus your energies on getting into one college, but on finding exciting interests and seeking joy, these things are just as important as good grades and the rest.
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I agree too. All his essays were geared towards how his extracurricular activities (music, volunteer work, employment, etc) helped him succeed in life and be a better human being.
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I have never heard of Dale Price but the research we did pointed to all of the same suggestions. For any applicant who has done this, other schools will offer you admittance and give you money to attend their program. Unfortunately our kids live in a crazy time of college admissions/ where colleges have treated it like a business to increase their numbers.
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I think people over analyze UT admission and I do not believe UT admit students with such noble holistic review. It is just about fulfilling quotas, demographic and racial profiles.
I was admitted with fewer APs, 0 ECs (work in Target all years), 0 volunteering. The only thing I can think of is that I am minority and not Asian or Caucasian. My friends rank 9 and 6 are Asians with 14 and 16 APs, their resumes have 4 pages worth of ECs and volunteering. They welcome me to their study group and basically help me pull my stats within their range. Similar to those in Houston and Austin suburbs, we are in northern Dallas suburbs and UT believes my friends have better choices and reserve quotas for more rural areas.
I don’t believe students with such high stats don’t know how to write short essays. As a matter of fact due my lack of EC and volunteering my essay is boring and only filling the minimum number of lines. My eyes used to be set on UTD instead of UT as I badly needing merit scholarship. My resume doesn’t even fill one page as my only experience is working at Target.
I ranted earlier this month complaining the long wait from UT but I never doubt a second in my life that my friends wouldn’t make it. We have been joking all this winter break about renting an apartment together in Austin and they said I can bring my 80 year old granny along instead of leaving her alone in Frisco.
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@playinthegame non-AA. 6A Public Texas non ranking school. Submitted ACT. High GPA and ACT score (not going to post her numerical stats because as we have seen high numerical stats are irrelevant especially when majority applying have her similar stats). IMO what set her apart were her essays and expanded resume. I completely agree with what @ChillyCow (post #2439) posted. My daughter is an excellent writer and she uniquely conveyed her fit to be a nurse in her essays and expanded resume. It’s not just about taking a bunch of AP science courses but what we were advised is that colleges want to see serious interest and dedication to the field and a concrete knowledge of what nurses (insert your career) do. Her 7 essays were written in narrative storytelling format to demonstrate personality, not just a regurgitation of items listed on her resume. She also shadowed in two hospitals and an assisted living community for a year. Earned multiple health related certifications including patient care technician certification. All high courses geared towards nursing (fortunate school offers healthcare electives). Lots of volunteer hours. NHS. HOSA. All star competitive cheer. Varsity cheer 4 years.
Good luck!!!
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