when does non-top10% decision come out?

ag54
Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:03:34 +0000

Tdrag, I appreciate you not snarking over my post. Frankly, I regretted it after I posted it because my s would absolutely die if he knew I said that stuff online about him. I just wanted to point out that not all top 10% kids are as sometimes described…

On to your post…

You’re right, I cannot say for a fact that my s never cheated. I certainly wasn’t there at school with him to check up on his behaviors. But, I do know when he was studying at home. I do know that many times when his friends called to say, “hey, we’re going to ?” My son had to say no because he needed to study for something. I know that he sacrificed many things because he was looking forward to more than the weekend ahead, a concept that, at the time, his friends gave him a lot of h**l for.

My point in is that somehow, some way, he decided that grades were important to him. Maybe it was because he saw us yell so much at his older brother that he wanted NO part of that. Maybe it was because he figured out how much he had to put forth and made up his mind he was able to do it. I really don’t know. I am just really glad he did.

Most (really all) of his friends are in the same boat as you, waiting to hear if they get in to UT. They’ve already been accepted at other places, but their dream is to be in Austin. Many of their parents are as frustrated as the kids because back in the good old days when we were going to college, everybody we knew went to UT - obviously there was no top 10% rule. At schools like yours and ours, the kids are extremely well prepared to excel at UT, the classes are rigorous, the expectations are high. In a perfect world, all of the kids who did well in those classes and scored well on the SAT/ACT would be accepted. But, right now, we are all constrained by the 10% rule, and until it is changed we must all live with the consequences of it.

The hs that my kids go to has around 2200 students, the senior class is around 500. This is one of those typical “feeder” high schools - suburban Houston. Everyone expects to go to Texas!! Unfortunately, not all will…

As I said before, my older son was NOT top 10%, in fact he wasnt’ even in the top 1/4. He had to wait and wait and wait until hearing from UT (late March, early April!). He finally got that acceptance, but by the time he did, he was so sick of it that he threw it away… He had gotten the offer from UF in February and went to visit. They basically wined and dined him (but no wine) and made him feel like he was really wanted there, and that went a long way with him in his decision making process. He felt that UT really couldn’t care less if he was there or not and UF really did (hard to explain to a hs senior that 1 kid really isn’t going to make or break a freshman class of over 10000 kids, but it’s all in the perception ). It ended up being the best decision he ever made in his life.

From my experience over the last 2 or 3 years, kids that are not top 10% get in, many also do not, it may be that their test scores were great, it may be that they had wonderful leadership in their ec’s, or maybe their essays really captured someone’s attention, I don’t know exactly why, but I do know a large number of non top 10% kids who got in, so don’t lose hope. I also know that even if you don’t, you can have an incredible college experience. It will be what you make it.