Advise w/ HS senior Texas schools

State Forums
1

New to this forum but have gained a wealth on knowledge so far. Really appreciate it so much.

Wanted to get some advice from some texas folks that have ‘been there, done that’.
My son is going into his senior year. Weighted GPA of 4.2. A dozen or so AP courses with 4+. 1400 SAT (first cold turkey run) and a 35 ACT (latest w/ strong prep). He’s a very good and accomplished musican so there will be some auditions forthcoming. He is right at the cutoff for NMS if the cutoff stays the same so a good chance at that.

Looking at Engineering or Business Finance.

His top schools are:
UT (obvious reasons)
TCU (Legacy)
A&M (Engineering)
Texas State (Close to home)
SMU (Business)
UNT (Music minor)

3 other kids so family $ is tight. Scholarships will be a big player.
I guess my questions are:
I know UT is not highly competitive. Do you think he will get in and can he get some $?
I know with his stats the other school should admit, but what about $ at the others?

2

UT IS highly competitive. LOL

3

UT has engineering and business programs in the top 10 in the country. Admission will depend largely on his class rank.

4

He is about 16% class rank

5

What is your budget?

Also, what is his class rank?

6

He’s just a hair outside the top 15%

7

You can go to each school’s web site and look for the Net Price Calculator. Put your financial info and his stats in to see how much each school would award him. I think UT looks doubtful, the rest look possible to good.

8

UT Austin will be a high reach since he is far outside the automatic admission range (top 6%) that fills about 3/4 of the space there. Engineering majors and business are additionally competitive.

For Texas A&M, you can check if he falls into the “Academic Admits” range, although that may only assure admission to the school, not necessarily to the engineering division. See http://admissions.tamu.edu/freshman/admitted . If he does get admitted and makes National Merit, there are some scholarships listed at https://scholarships.tamu.edu/Scholarship-Programs/National-Scholars#0-NationalMeritScholars .

For Texas State, looks like he has assured admission, according to https://www.admissions.txstate.edu/future-students/freshman/admission-requirements.html . Note that some majors admit to a pre-major; prerequisites must be completed with a high enough college GPA to enter the major: https://www.admissions.txstate.edu/future-students/additional-program-requirements.html .

For UNT, looks like he has assured admission, according to https://admissions.unt.edu/freshman/admission-requirements . Check to see if his majors of interest are additionally competitive.

9

http://www.collegeforalltexans.com/apps/CollegeMoney/ is the NPC for Texas public colleges and universities (and a few private ones as well). Unfortunately, it is a very poor one which gives huge net price ranges like $0-25968/year that may not be very helpful for many students and families to estimate affordability.

10

Here is a Texas public university where the student may be able to get a full ride (check if 3.50 GPA minimum is unweighted): https://www.pvamu.edu/faid/types-of-aid/scholarships/university-scholarships/

11

I don’t think UT-Austin is a realistic possibility.

12

UT Austin is a reach for Business and Engineering. Unless your income falls under the new tuition program, I doubt your family will get any money.

Your DS might be admitted to A&M or to one of the other avenues to engineering like Galveston. Can you afford A&M?

You should take him to visit UT Dallas where your DS will receive merit money (the NMF scholarship is excellent). UTD is strong in both engineering and business. The University of Houston is worth considering for engineering. Make sure Texas State and UNT have ABET accreditation for engineering degrees. I think your DS will receive money from TCU but TCU might still too much so run the NPC for TCU. Note TCU does NOT have engineering. Try the NPC for SMU and for Trinity.

Start investigating NMF scholarships. Check out ASU, Central Florida, Florida State, UNT and UT Dallas among others. You will have to search college websites for this info.

13

I don’t doubt that you’re right, but it seems crazy these days that a good student and a 35 ACT is pretty much a non-starter at UT. And you ‘might’ get into A&M.

14

Yeah, that site is pretty much worthless.

15

Consider Baylor as well. They give good scholarships to NMF. Their business school is nationally ranked.

16

Class rank is the most important factor in Texas public university admissions, so it is not surprising that a student with 35 ACT but class rank well outside the top 6% is unlikely to be admitted to UT Austin.

Unfortunately, the emphasis on class rank generates a lot of the rank-grubbing stories out of Texas.

17

He should be able to get merit money from UTD, UNT, TCU & Baylor. If you have other kids in college then he should be able to get good financial aid from Rice (RI initiative makes it affordable for many families who doesn’t get aid elsewhere)if he gets admitted. Apply to all of these and then go with the best fit.

18

Fellow Texan here. I don’t think UT is a safety but I don’t think it’s impossible. His ACT is great! He needs to really demonstrate his strengths in his application. None of the “optional” items are optional. He needs to do them all and do them well. You should look up the UT admissions guy online. He has lots of tips.
There’s a UT admissions thread on CC for the UT class of 2023 that might be a good reference. People posted their stats and if they were admitted.
I think he has a good chance to be admitted to A&M based on kids we know who were admitted from my son’s school.
Scholarships…everyone will tell you that UT is stingy with merit money. Believe them! There are very few scholarships that do not have a need component.
Also, UT admits by Major. If he does get admitted and does not get into his chosen major, then he really needs to weigh his options. It is very hard to transfer into business, engineering or CS and they make this very clear.
I know several kids majoring in engineering at UT Arlington. With your son’s scores, and their connection with Lockheed, that might be a great option. A friend’s son was offered 10k a year for an SAT of 30.
Texas Tech also has some great scholarships and you get that big college feel with sports.
Best wishes to you and your son wherever he applies.

19

Thanks, for all this.

Does anyone have much experience with fine arts scholarship $? He is a multiple year state qualifier percussionist and all-state soloist.

I’m wondering if he could get admission through the fine arts dept? He had a kid he was in band with that was a very good musician but have very pedestrian grades but got in to UT and got scholarship $

20

I do know someone who received a sizable UT Fine Arts scholarship and was not auto-admit.
I think that it really needs to be his passion if he goes that route. There isn’t much room for another interest or activity. The person I know literally has 4 classes of their fine art and one other course. If he wants to major in business or engineering, this would not be the way to go. (In my opinion.)