There are way more valedictorians than seats in these college, applicants with perfect grades and scores are rejected, there just isn’t enough room. I’m sure there are a lot of excellent applicants disappointed.
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Sorry you feel bad…but UT was plan all along?
Arguably it is your best option, first choice and a top CS school….AND very affordable relative to your other options.
Congrats…many other kids would love to trade places with you! Enjoy your time at UT and don’t look back. There is nothing wrong with you.
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Stay positive. UT Austin is an excellent university!
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Go look at the UT Austin admissions thread from this past cycle. You will see multiple incredible applicants (4.0 UW GPAs, SATs well over 1500) that were auto admits but still got rejected from UT Austin CS. This could have been much, much, much worse for you. You secured an elite option for CS.
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I’m not sure what you mean by this, but I think you are underestimating your own state flagship. The CS program at UTAustin is one of the very best in the country. This student won’t be one of the few like themselves; they will be surrounded by similar students.
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Several of my former students said that it wasn’t easy to find colleagues to work with. I didn’t ask what the obstacles were. Eventually they found the team members but it took some effort.
Don’t forget - you worked hard, you took the shot, and you deserved to take the shot!!
And that’s what matters.
You can’t control others (the schools) - just yourself - and you did well.
That’s where resilience comes in - and you’ll have it!!
And that’s a great trait for life!!
You should be proud of yourself - you did well to muster through all the work of the apps.
Best of luck.
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Wow, I feel so bad for him. I think that my perspective on Ivy Leagues were too out-of-proportion due to all the reaction videos online, but in reality, I now realize that there are so many who don’t get in opposed to those who do. Hopefully I meet him in UT Austin
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I’m sorry, OP! The valedictorian of our competitive NY public school is good friends with my son. He is a National Merit Finalist, a varsity athlete, and an absolutely terrific kid. Beloved by his friends, teachers and community.
He was rejected from all Ivies, MIT and Stanford. He got accepted to two great state schools, but the rejections were brutal. You are not alone. There will be tons of outstanding students at UT Austin. There simply are not enough seats for all of them at the 96% rejection schools! Plus, many amazing students have their state flagships as their #1 choice, preferring to be closer to home, or having financial restrictions.
When our Val has had some time to process what happened, my DH may talk to him. DH had his heart set on Princeton back in the day. He didn’t get in and went to a state flagship with a 70% acceptance rate. He knocked the ball out of the park in college, plus he loved it. He’s now an MD/PhD with his dream career. He’s glad he didn’t get into Princeton because he thinks he would have stuck to his strengths (math) and not branched out academically and ended up loving philosophy, languages and science.
There’s nothing magical about prestige. You will make the magic happen wherever you go!
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First of all, congratulations! I happen to know several amazing East Coast kids who dreamed of getting into UT Austin and did not get an offer. I also know kids who actually got into Ivy League schools, and one Stanford admit, who also did not get into UT Austin because OOS is just really hard. It’s coveted because like only a scant few other schools, it has everything, including several summer and semester programs that can bring you to the East Coast, Europe, Singapore and beyond! Plus, there are countless options for grad school with the tuition money you’ll save. There are far more valedictorians in the US than spots at selective schools. That doesn’t make your accomplishments any less! Best wishes:)
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I’m so sorry and it’s normal to feel bad. 
When 95% applicants are rejected (most of whom are top students) it means most valedictorians, most genuinely smart and incredible kids, are rejected. And the rejection after rejection after rejection is like being punched in the gut over and over again - it feels awful for you and all of them.
In May there’ll be a list of colleges that miscalculated yield.
If you look at the list, you’ll likely find that there’s not one that’s better than UT. Their CS program is one of the best in the country, it was a reach but your hard work and achievements were recognized and you got in - plus you get to attend at instate prices. 
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You are not alone! My son is #2/36/4.0/4.7- going to guaranteed state option and it’s not ranked as high as yours. There will be so many students like you doing the same- these schools are so rejective-I promise you are in same boat as many.
A rejection from these schools imo means little. You won’t ever be able to find out why. You had everything they are looking for stat wise, so who knows what it comes down to. This has zero bearing on your actual intelligence, work ethic, and future success. You will do well wherever you go!
I know it’s hard, but start to focus on getting excited about where you are going. Stop reading the college forums and acceptance threads for the places you’re not going. Mute social media of you have to. Start researching the programs, the clubs, programs, research avail, all that the school has to offer you here soon. All of your hard work did pay off, this school is an amazing school! It’s a huge accomplishment, and with how well you’ve done, and how hard you are able to work, you’re going to be a success there.
Once you start your studies, surrounded by like minded people, doing what you love, you won’t miss the schools that are merely names to you now.
Hang in there, these feelings will pass! And you will love it there!
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First of all, these schools have missed out on a great kid - their loss, truly. And I’m sorry.
Second, do you have any desire to play Juniors and take a gap year?
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Maybe they had a “hook” …? Those schools are hard to get into without a hook.
The private schools on this list are all very, very selective. The public schools on this list are just as selective for out of state students. For those schools that admit by major, computer science is probably the toughest undergraduate major to get accepted into. UC Berkeley for example is exceptionally difficult to get into for CS. So is UW, regardless of whether you mean “Washington” or “Wisconsin” or “Waterloo”.
As one example, MIT had something like 34,000 applicants for the last class that I checked (using MIT’s published figures). There are about 35,000 high schools in the USA including public and private schools. If you are the #1 or #2 student in your high school, then you are an average applicant to MIT. The vast majority of applicants are rejected.
However, there is one thing that you should keep in mind right now: UT Austin is SUPERB for computer science.
Given how strong UT Austin is for computer science, I think that it is perfectly reasonable that all of your applications to out of state universities were to very, very selective high reaches (even for a valedictorian).
There really is one thing that you should think: UT Austin is superb for what you want to study. UTD I do not know as well. However, you are going to a great university in the fall. You can do very, very well in high tech with a degree from UT Austin.
Also, the high tech industry in Texas is growing, and high tech companies nationwide will recruit from UT Austin.
Also, you will be saving your parents buckets of money by attending an in-state university, while still getting a superb education.
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Aw, man. I’m really sorry. This stinks. Even though UT is fabulous, especially for CS. Congrats on that. And also you get to laugh at all these people saying UTA, cause they don’t realize they are putting you in Arlington. Heh Heh. Ok that was silly…I’m just sorry this happened to you and I know several others with similar outcomes. Everyone I know is landing somewhere great but it still stinks to go through what you are going through. I really appreciate the poster above who mentioned resilience. You will get past this disappointment and thrive, superstar!
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Congrats on your acceptances. It is hard to face rejection when your life experiences have been so very successful thus far, and perhaps you have been fortunate to have had little experience with disappointment thus far in your life.
Its disappointing if you didn’t have good college guidance that could have helped you craft a list that was not so top heavy. The top schools repeatedly say they could full their classes with vals and sals multiple times over if they wanted to. Hopefully you will love the choice you make, and if you really want to get out of TX, you can either take a gap year and reapply or explore transferring. Keep in mind transfer spots, especially at top schools, are commonly also quite limited. Its fine to lick your wounds, but look forward now and do great things!
I agree that UT Austin is very strong in CS. However, whether it will save the parents money depends on the family’s income. For an upper income family, that is undoubtedly true. For a lower income family, one of the super selective private universities could be less expensive. Does UT cover room and board for low income students?
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“UTA” is UT Arlington. It’s UT or UT-Austin you want to get into.
And yes, any student who gets into UT-Austin’s CS program is very qualified and very fortunate.
OP, I was in your shoes long ago. I was a female valedictorian who wanted to study engineering. Back then, I could probably have gotten into just about any school I applied to.
UT was 20 minutes from my house and my dad was a professor there. Yes, it would have been cool to go off to the east coast to study. But why would I pass up a civil engineering department ranked in the top ten in the country? Plus the cost of tuition was only $4 / credit hour (not a typo). So I didn’t even apply to any other schools.
I had a fantastic education at UT. I did well in undergraduate school and got a full fellowship (including a generous stipend to live on) to grad school at UT. And in grad school, I discovered that students from all over the country were very happy to have been accepted to the program.
You’re going to get the valedictorian scholarship your first year, too? You really are fortunate! Enjoy your time in Austin. 
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Two words:
Hook 'em!
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