Hello. As my username indicates, I am an Aggie mom. My son was an auto admit kid and knew since he was 10 where he was going to college. My daughter, graduating this May, surprised us last week when she said she was going to apply to UT.
So, I’m playing catch-up and concerned she is already behind on housing. She is in-state and auto-admit, as well. Her first choice was business. I’m reading here about “soft rejections” and will be interested to see if she gets her first choice.
She is has an excellent resume. 1st in Class. Excels in leadership positions. Created and runs a non-profit local service organization. Mock trial state team. Varsity athlete. But her SAT is her achilles. It will be the limiting factor for her.
With getting her application in on October 14, when can she expect to get an answer? Do I understand correctly that it will be after Christmas?
We are out of state and my child applied EA. I’m confused about the housing. They received an email to sign up for housing. Am I understanding that they need to sign up and pay registration before finding out if they will be accepted? (Which even with good stats is a hard admit out of state.)
To get the first housing registration slot, yes. Putting the housing deposit (separate from the admissions deposit) down now would guarantee an early housing registration time. If that’s important to you, feel free to do it now. However, housing usually doesn’t fill up until March; you can reasonably wait until decision time before putting your deposit down.
Last year it was a mess. They should release decisions in two waves–Jan 15 and Feb 15. (I say should because they change this timeline at the drop of a hat, with little to no prior communication.) Getting her application in by October 14th should guarantee a response by Jan 15, but the response might be a deferral. (They deferred a lot of people last year.)
Will echo my earlier response–there is no housing concern if you get your deposit in now. She will get on-campus housing if she wants it. On-campus housing doesn’t fill up until late March. Feel free to put the deposit in now, especially if she’s auto and is interested regardless of McCombs acceptance.
Yes UT doesnt have enough on campus dorms for freshmen. Roughly 60% get space on-campus. You pay the $100 nonrefundable housing application fee to get “in line” even before acceptance. The date of your dorm selection is based on the day you paid the $100 and applied for housing. Since the application opened on August, you wont get 1st day pick if you apply now but you wont get leftovers either. Mine applied to UT last cycle on 8/1, was able to apply for housing the first day it opened to freshmen which was 8/30, got the 1st time slot to select and got his first choice with an open bed in the room to pull his roommate in. If you wait, you risk getting leftovers or not finding a room with 2 open beds to pull a roommate in for the most popular dorms (roommate with the earliest window selects for both once they form a roommate group). This is not uncommon for popular universities where housing is limited.
My LH was one of the lucky ones accepted EA last cycle (they accepted 5% of EAs and deferred the rest to RD). He was also admitted to one of the 3 CNS honors programs. Ask me any questions you got. He is an only child so I got lots of time on my hands now LOL.
Thank you! I have so many questions…. UT is new to me. So, if I’m reading this correctly, the earliest an applicant may expect to know about acceptance is mid-January. And even auto-admits may get notice of deferral then only to get an actual acceptance (which is secured as an auto-admit–to the school, not the major) until mid-February?
Thank you for explaining. I think we’re going to hold off for now since the OOS acceptance rate is like 12%. She has excellent stats, but I know it’s a reach with such a low acceptance rate. Kinda feels like burning money. If my child gets in EA I will make sure we do the housing ASAP.
It’s even less then 12%. 90% has to come from Texas per state law. The remaining 10% is split between out of state and international, which was 4% OOS two years ago. It’s worth not wasting the money. If your child gets in, there are many different options for housing now with all the new buildings in west campus. Not all are over the top expensive, so are comparable to University housing.
Yes although last cycle (the first official EA cycle for UT) there was this very weird wave of acceptances in December (very small in number) and when we all compared notes, it was kids with perfect or near-perfect test scores (in state and oos so auto and non-auto). UT used to be notorious for putting out unannounced waves in past years…we all thought we would see more but nope…we all waited until EA decision day which was 1/15 last cycle. They accepted about 5% of EA and that made everyone MAD. People thought they didnt have enough people reading apps, were behind. Everyone who applied EA expected a yes/no but were not prepared for deferral to Regular Decision. When you look around mass deferrals are not uncommon. USC was on their 2nd year of official EA and was deferring 85%. We think it is the “new normal” but until we see this cycle we wont know for sure. When you get your decision, you will know your major. For autos nothing is guaranteed. My son’s friend was the valedictorian, near perfect SAT, Natl Merit Finalist. He was soft-rejected with undeclared liberal arts instead of his desired major in engineering. That’s pretty much how UT controls the number of autos applying. He went to TAMU since he knew internal transfer are difficult and you only get 2 attempts. Just not worth it to most. RD last cycle was mid-February and they actually came out a few days earlier than anticipated.
The trouble with west campus housing is most are on a 12-month installment contract unlike dorms which are Aug-May. So if in a private apartment you either pay for the summer you might not be there or try to sublet to recoup some money. There are some private dorms - Castilian and Calloway are popular with those who rush since the frat and sorority houses are close. They do fill. Scottish Rite is very popular all-female but you need to get on a waiting list for that like 10th or 11th grade. The $100 nonrefundable housing application is peace-of-mind and you will probably find similar at other universities without enough housing. I think last cycle housing was able to send contracts to those who applied all the way to the beginning of March. They got last pick, so leftovers, unless they formed a roommate group with someone with an earlier application date/selection window. There were quite a few who waited on Rice and ivies and applied late but they had run out of contracts by then. Housing in Austin is expensive. Some popular 2bedroom 2 bath occupied by 2 people run 1200-1400/month for 12 months and parking is NOT included in that. Some parking runs 150-250 extra per month. It’s crazy how much more expensive it is than when I went there (80s-90s)
You are right about the 12-month installment. That does add up if you don’t sublet. My son has lived in West Campus all four years and was lucky to find someone for those few extra months, but it is extra stress. It is also important to consider moving dates, because it has been tougher for OOS. You have the apt. until July 31 and the move-in date for the new year is usually 2 weeks later. It has all worked out though. The good thing about a lot of the West Campus housing options is that they are furnished like a dorm. You get a bed, desk, chair, and dressers in your room, and furniture in the public areas. Not for all though, so always check that. In the end I am not stressed about housing in case by daughter were to get in this year. There are at least 4 new highrise buildings that have opened since our son started 3 years ago. Craziness right? Housing at universities shouldn’t be this complicated.
Our LHD26 is in a 4 bedroom-2 bathroom at one of the multiple --Yugo Austin “X” – building just a couple blocks of G-Lupe in west campus. Nice enough facility, other than not being on campus, it’s a pretty nice location.
Her current Rent is around $ 1,450/month plus another $ 125 or so a month in utilities/fees. We transitioned her over to a flat monthly amount living stipend when she moved out of dorms after sophomore year - we have her on $ 2,400 month to cover her housing, food and extra entertainment. (we cover all -school related- expenses and travel etc separately) She also has about 15+ hours per week paid employment thru the University. She is not a big spender, budgets and counts her pennies - and says she is quite comfortable on that.
You just never know. He wasnt alone. The 2029 thread was littered with kids who practically cured cancer that were in the same boat and probably went of to MIT or Rice or some ivy.
I went to my daughter’s scholarship page to see what there was to apply for. All I see is a freshman interest, 7 cola scholarships, and then a few others with 11 total.
Does this mean she got cola?
I have a 2029 kid who was accepted to UT McCombs but chose another school, but I have a 2031 one who for sure wants UT and major is CS. I know it’s one of the very competitive majors so thought I’d ask for any tips or recommendations for when it’s time for her to apply.
As of now she is in the top 1% of a class of 800 and taking all the computer science classes they offer, doing whatever computer sciencey things in her free time, along with other ec’s like orchestra, clubs, volunteering etc. so think she’ll be able to show fit to major.
Does applying very early August matter vs early September? I think my 2029 kid applied early September and her application was processed within a few days, and then just having to wait until February to find out major.
I dont think August vs September matters for acceptance. The real advantages to applying early is being able to access the housing application if you have a particular dorm in mind. Selection windows for dorm are given out in the order the application was submitted (with $100 nonrefundable application fee). Most popular dorms go first. As selection continues it gets harder to find 2 open beds in the same room if you are pulling in a roommate in those dorms and eventually it gets to the point you get the least popular dorms/leftovers. Mine dropped all his college apps on 8/1 last year (to be done before senior year). He was early accepted, I dont think applying super early necessarily did anything for that, but more importantly he got the exact dorm he wanted, exact tower/floor/room/view of the tower he wanted, private bathroom. Choosing (nearly) first was great for that and made the dorm year a pleasant experience.