What Should I Do?

Colleges & Universities The University of Texas at Austin
1

Hello all,

I am trying to figure out what I should do since I haven’t researched UT a ton, considering I wanted to be an Aggie for the past six months or so. While I believe Texas A&M is a good school, UT is better and would be a significantly better fit for me. Here is a fair amount about me:

Rank: 19/475 (Top 4%)
GPA: 3.6025 (Taken almost every AP/Honors classes available at my school)
ACT: 32 (Without a lot of studying, willing to take again)

EC’s: Band/Drumline for 3 years (numerous awards at the district level, 2x Area Qualifier and 2x All-State Alternate for Percussion. Drumline was best in the state for those 3 years and won almost every competition, 26/28 or around that amount), Business Professionals of America for 2 years (2x Regional Qualifier/Winner, 2x State Qualifier/Finalist and 1x National Finalist and President of the school chapter), Opinion Editor for school newspaper, Staff Member for school yearbook, NHS, Peer Tutor (3 months and continuing until the end of the school year), Peer Mentor (2 months and continuing until the end of the school year), Full Orchestra Member (This was for Percussion so I am not sure if this one really counts)

Employment: Cashier for 9 months (October 2014-July 2015. Quit to spend time with my grandma from India), Baker (October 2015-Present), Content Writer for an eSports (electronic sports blog, eSports.GO, July 2015- August 2015) then moved on to the biggest eSports blog (August 2015-Present) eSportsNation (268K followers on Twitter), Contributor/Writer for MapQuest (October 2015-Present). Also, I am a certified writer by the International Association of Professional Writers and Editors (IAPWE)

Others: I am half African-American and Indian but am considered African American on school papers (they couldn’t remember my other half lol), I am also a first-generation college student and my parents make between 92-98k net annually but my dad has back degeneration, which can limit expenditures
Essays/Rec Letters: Good/strong essays and rec letters from teachers I have had for multiple years.

(Hopefully) majoring in Geological Sciences or Business.

So, what should I do? I have applied and been accepted but not exactly on how getting into the major works and financial aid at UT. Any thoughts? Thank you.

2

If you have applied (and completed scholarship applications) and paid the housing deposit, then you are just waiting for your major at this point. Not sure what you mean, by what you should do?

3

You will easily get into geosciences and they have some scholarship money. Business is more competitive but you are a strong applicant. If you’d rather do business then you need to put it as your first choice.

Scholarship and financial aid at UT are generally not as good as TAMU. If you have a lot of financial need you should fill out FAFSA early and apply for need based scholarships.

4

@gettingschooled what I should do relating to honors and/or retaking tests. Things of the like, I should have been more specific. I apologize.

@JAMCAFE Thank you, I am going to fill out the Honors application also because why not. I think I prefer UT over TAMU now, considering the demographics. I think I will fit in better at UT and it seems that UT is progressing more than TAMU is. Also, the few people from my school that go to TAMU as a freshman, typically transfer to UT due to feeling uncomfortable at TAMU.

5

I think your ACT is fine for McCombs but as pointed out up thread you would need to switch your order. BHP application is pretty short and worth a shot too. Good luck.

6

@gettingschooled I did, swapped 'em. Thanks a ton!

7

You need to get on the housing list for UT. This requires a $50 deposit to hold your spot. You’ll find the housing tab on your UT Portal. I dont know if you can retroactively apply for Homors. There was a box to check on the Apply Texas app. I’d email UT and ask.

If you are really worried about affording college, you should consider applying to UT Dallas. I think applying via Apply Texas is easy. You would likely receive a generous scholarship.

http://oue.utdallas.edu/aes/

Your stats might be a bit low for Rice, but I think you should consider applying to Rice but run the NPC first, though. I like your ECs.

8

@txstella I did check the honors box, so they allow me to apply for it.

I applied to UT Dallas already, I haven’t kept up with anything with them since they have been relatively quiet. I shall check out Rice as well. Thank you for the kind comment also!