Why did UT create PACE?
–copious students applying for business or engineering are offered a program in which they have a high chance of not getting into the major they want (about 10-25 students are accepted to each engineering department for external resident applicants)
(for Mccombs I assume its about the same difficulty)
– applicants can only apply to one major not in liberal arts and, if not accepted, they can only go into a liberal arts major, a major not tantalizing to science and business students. Could it be that UT desires to ruin a student’s career, their life?
It’s because of the not well thought out law that states UT must accept a certain percentage of students based on class rank. UT simply does not have the space or the funding, and the quality of students in the top x% of their class vary widely.
You reference external transfers, so you’re sure that PACE students are considered external when attempting to transfer into different majors?
@frostcause
I only know that about 50% of internal transfers were admitted last year for Mccombs. I don’t have gpa data for engineering or business.
I can only assume the worse case scenario: PACE students aren’t in the internal transfer group.
@gee1eed
I am in the top 17% and I was offered PACE. The top 10% fetter does not apply this year.
I am confident UT understands that at least 200 students will be in PACE this year. What happens to those students who don’t get into engineering or business because of space constraints? Does UT remain placid knowing very well that numerous students can only choose a shackled path into a career that they may find no happiness in?
PACE students transfer internally. The “compete for admission” link via this (http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/pace) page redirects to an article on internal transfers. Not sure how much this changes the stats, but there ya go
@SlimShadyLady
There have been countless sources-- office heads, documents, official websites-- that reverberate contradicting messages: some say PACE is internal, some say its external. One provocative source, the new student orientation course-sign-up-sheet PACE students received in 2014, indicated that PACE students would compete with external transfers.
**I saw this sheet on the facebook PACE 2014-2015 group.
@punctiliouseye I think PACE is designed for those who want to go to UT no matter what. They are either living on the hope that they will beat the transfer odds or they believe a liberal arts degree from UT is worth more than the degree they want from another school. There are some people who would prefer an Economics degree from UT to a Finance degree from Tech for instance. They believe the UT name will help them overcome the liberal arts degree in an employer’s eye.
I personally think it is more about misunderstanding how difficult it is to internally transfer than anything else.
@gettingschooled
Would the economics degree situation apply to an engineering major?
I don’t think PACE students, who work hard to get a 3.9gpa, whom UT still rejects from engineering-- a second time–, would nevertheless safely fall back on a liberal arts major.
@punctiliouseye I do not know much about Chem E versus Chemistry. Could you use Chemistry as a Plan B? I personally would rather go to a school that can promise me the degree I want rather than offering me a Plan B. College is too expensive to not get the major you want. But some people would rather be in Austin than anywhere else and will sacrifice the major choice to do it.
I see in other threads you could go to A&M but you are probably going to do PACE. You seem to have a good understanding of the odds of getting into Chem E. Why do you think a chance at UT chem E is better than a more or less guaranteed spot at A&M? I know A&M puts you in general engineering first year and then has you decide. I am asking for your honest answer because I really don’t think I would choose PACE over a spot at A&M and you seem to have decided that with a lot of thought. What swayed you?