For all of those who just recently finished the CAP program congratulations! I figured this post could help people who decided to take the CAP route in order for them to get a closer insight on what they got themselves into. So if you would kindly post your stats and rather you made it through the CAP program and if not what are your future plans.
I’ll Start.
Major: Political Science and International Relations
Fall Semester GPA: 3.0 (Which is under CAP requirements)
Spring Semester GPA: 4.0 (Whoo!)
Cumulative GPA: 3.559 (Met CAP Requirements)
Will I go to UT? Yes I will and I’m very excited.
Do you regret CAP? No, it is not for everyone I’ll tell you that, but for people wanting to major within liberal arts I say go for it.
UT sister school you attended? University of Texas at Arlington.
I went to UTA. And it was awful. I loved meeting the new CAP people, but for my major (RTF) if I don’t get into UT it will be difficult for me to go somewhere else for Fall 2016. (I’m still going to UT and will try to get in for spring if I don’t get in for fall).
Major: RTF (I was originally journalism)
Fall: 3.63
Spring: 3.56
Cumulative: 3.6 (okay 3.59)
Yes I’m going to UT.
Yes I regret CAP
When people say that most of you won’t make it. There are telling the truth. @DestineeMoreh and I had the same friend group and most of them are going to other places like Tech and A&M while others are staying at UTA. Most went there and made friends and joined greek life and decided to stay. But I know some that did this first thing first semester, but once the awe of “college life” wore off, they regretted it.
If you are an engineering or business major I would definitely not recommend it unless you think you can for sure get a 4.0. UTA isn’t a hard school but calculus isn’t the easiest math class.
Most of the following pertain to UTA but it should apply everywhere
If you are CAP at UTA don’t tell your teachers or certain clubs. Our friend was rejected from joining an org because she was CAP and another received a little bit of a hard time from his teacher.
If you go to UTA bring a car. Since the campus is commuter and its in a very suburban area, there isn’t much to do and everything closes early. There is nowhere to walk to for fun. The dining hall has weird hours on the weekends and everyone goes home after 4 and every weekend.
Getting involved on campus is very difficult depending on what you’re interested in. There are many clubs that are listed on Mavorgs that aren’t active anymore. Your best bet is to go greek, newspaper, Muslim Student Association and NAACP. The theatre and dance organizations are active though.
If you choose to go Greek do it at you UT satellite campus so that it will be easier to transfer over to UT since they have 100x more competitive rush/intake (this goes for all greek councils like the Divine Nine, MGC and the APIA). If you think you will get distracted or can’t balance the workload then don’t do it. There is spring and fall rush for the Divine Nine, NPC and IFC. A lot of people are greek and there is a strong presence on campus but you can get by without joining one. If you want to get involved without greek life, you will have to work at it. Do not limit yourself to just CAP friends. But i would advise you do what our friends did and make a GroupMe filled with just CAP students so you have people to talk to over the summer and get to know so that you don’t transfer to UT alone and have a support group while you’re in CAP. The main reason why most of the ones going to UT were still able to make it was because we had people there to remind us of what we were working towards.
DO NOT bet on getting a work-study. It likely will not happen. There are seniors and junior who struggle to get the very few jobs that are open to students. Those jobs go to the same people constantly. I banked on this to help pay for school and was sadly mistaken.
On a more positive note, you don’t have cumulative bathrooms in the dorms and campus is pretty quiet. Campus is very diverse and people are generally friendly. You will get that moment where you’re sitting on the nice green grass laughing with your multicultural friends like people do in all those college pamphlets.
Don’t get a big head. Its why everyone hates CAP students.Some will go “I hate this school. I can’t wait till I get to UT! Everything sucks. Blah Blah Blah.” Just because this school wasn’t your first choice doesn’t mean it wasn’t someone else’s.
The dorms are generally nice. I would recommend staying in Vandergriff, KC Hall or Arlington hall. I lived in Lipscomb and Trinity House but spent a lot of time in the other dorms if you have any questions.
At UTA at least, there isn’t really a sports culture. No one goes to games but there are games for you to go to if that’s your thing. The most popular sports are basketball and volleyball. There is no football team. And the sports culture isn’t on the same level as UT.
Depending on where you were ranked in high school. classes are generally easy. Like…very easy. I only made B’s because I made 85s on the final exam that dropped me from an A to high B. I would stay away from any classes frequented by nursing majors like Biomed and Biology.
You do not need to always buy the book. It all depends on your teacher (use rate my professor . com) I am selling school english books (which you do need) if you would like to buy any. If you are in Spanish, do not buy the special UTA book. Buy this and this it is the exact same book (just separated) without the picture of UTA on the front that makes the book they want you to get 150$.
Do not listen 100% to what your advisor says. In our case we had a terrible CAP advisor who told students to take classes that weren’t transferable to UT or would stress that some classes were “too hard” or would say that a class you’re taking won’t transfer even though it will. Always cross reference with the list of transferable CAP courses. Our friend was advised to take a business math class despite the fact that it won’t transfer. He ended up having to take 18 hrs (that’s a lot) the next semester to make up for the credit deficit (you have to have 30 hrs by the end of the year to transfer to UT and non-transferable courses don’t count). Make sure you have back up schools.
I would recommend having classes that go on while the sun is up. Because there is no one campus after 4, when the sun goes down and you are walking back to you dorm from class you will be completely alone.
If you’re from Houston, bring winter clothes. We had many Houstonites who weren’t used to anything below 50 degrees.
Classes I would recommend to take at UTA:
English 1301 and 1302
Math 1441
Calculus 1
Theatre and Film Appreciation
Geology (your absolute safest science if you aren’t STEM)
History and Poli-Sci
Classes I wouldn’t recommend:
Astronomy
Biology
Bio-Anthropology
Chemistry and Physics
Stay motivated. It is, as one should expect, a little disheartening to not get into your dream school or the school with the life/location/atmosphere that you wanted. It’s only a year and it will be quick. Good Luck.
PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR PRE-REQS
Major: Economics
Fall Semester GPA: 3.8
Spring Semester GPA: 3.6
Cumulative GPA: 3.7 (Met CAP Requirements)
Will I go to UT? Yes
Do you regret CAP? Nope, I enjoyed my time at UTA but am ready to attend UT.
UT sister school you attended? University of Texas at Arlington.
Here is also a list of classes I would recommend if your primary focus is getting into UT or majoring in Liberal Arts
English 1301 and 1302
History 1311 and 1312 (There are rumors that it is hard, but it all depends on the professor you get)
Math 1301 (Math for liberal arts majors and yes this counts as a math class higher than College Algebra despite college Algebra being Math 1302) or Math 1311 (Elementary Statistics)
Music 1300 (Music Appreciation) if you go to UTA I suggest taking Sergio Espinosa easiest A ever!
Political Science 2311 and 2312 which is U.S and Texas Government (if you attend UTA you should take Larry Carter easiest A ever)
Cultural Anthropology 2322 (Now this one is pretty easy depending on what professor you get, I suggest Isabel Montemayor) However a few friends of mine took this class with a different professor and their experience was different…
I took Linguistics 2301 and I’ll admit it was not the easiest class, but not impossible to make an A.
Other classes I recommend is Geology, Theater Appreciation, Psychology, Sociology.
Classes I say avoid is Biology, Chem and Physics if you absolutely can
Biological Anthropology
Jazz Appreciation
Pre-Calc (unless you’re good at math)
Also I agree 100% with what @Newsie2015 had to say.
UTA is not absolutely the worst thing on earth, but it can be a bit difficult obtaining a social life if you’re not part of Greek Life, certain cultural communities etc.
Great info!
A CAP student and I agree with @DestineeMoreh and @Newsie2015. UTA can be easy or hard. Some classes are hard, some are pretty easy (make sure you check RateMyProfessor or ask around if you can). If you expect to breeze through, you’re wrong. If you did well your first semester, you can’t slack off for your second either.
However I do disagree on one part that @Newsie2015 mentioned. If you are planning to take Physics in UT, it’s better to take it at UTA. Physics here is much easier. I got an A both semesters for Physics 1 and 2. If you took AP Physics in high school, this would be a good suggestion for you especially if your AP scores were less than stellar.
Chemistry is hard in general in UTA. The professors are fantastic (I recommend Rogers), but the tests and labs are hard and it WILL require a lot of studying and memorizing. Calculus is doable, I never read the textbooks and did all my homework last minute yet I managed with decent grades. Everything else was a cruise in my opinion.
Attempted Majors: Mechanical Engineering
Fall GPA: 3.82
Spring GPA: 3.47
Cumulative GPA: 3.66 (Met CAP requirements)
Will you go to UT? Yes
Do I regret CAP? Yeah. I shouldn’t have turned down Purdue.
UT sister school you attended? UTA
Classes I took - Calc 1, Calc 2, Physics 1, Physics 2, Chem 1, Sociology, English 1, and Political Science (US Govt.), Music
I did well my first semester, but underestimated my second semester. From what I’ve been reading the bare minimum to get into Cockrell is somewhere around 3.87.
@cherry018 of course about the physics thing. Both that class and chemistry will be easier at UTA if you are a STEM major. But geol is best if you aren’t.
Geology with Wickham at UTA was one of the easiest classes ever if you had the test bank.
Major: Economics
Fall GPA: 4.0
Spring GPA: 4.0
Will I go to UT? Yes, without a doubt.
Do you regret CAP? Of course not - I voluntarily made the decision to participate in this program for the sake of the added security CAP would offer me in terms of transferring.
UT sister school: UTA
Let me be frank - I did not have a blast at UTA (probably due to my negative outlook throughout the process), but it is FINALLY OVER!!! I am very happy to have participated in CAP because it allowed me to develop a strong work ethic that I continuously lacked throughout high school which I can now apply towards my remaining 3 years at UT Austin!
Professors I recommend: Dr. Carter for POLS 2312, Dr. Coleman for PSYC 1315, Dr Wickham for GEOL 1301, and Professor Wehr for ECON 2305-2306.
JUST A WARNING TO ALL POTENTIAL CAP ECON MAJORS AT UT - ECO 304K Intro to Microeconomics & ECO 304L Intro to Macroeconomics
Calculus I & Calculus 2 (M 408K & M 408L, or M 408C and M 408D, or M 408N and M 408S)**
- Starting in spring 2017 transfers will be required to meet the prerequisite requirements above to be considered for the major. Admits to UT for the Spring 2016 and Fall 2016 semester will not be required to meet the criteria above, however it is highly encouraged!
Anyone have any idea until we find out officially we are in UT? I’m just ready to sign up for orientation
Not sure when we will find out, but I can almost guarantee that Liberal Arts majors will most likely find out before any others.
I come from UT Tyler as a CAP student for the 2015-2016 academic year. Here are my stats:
Fall GPA: 3.4
Spring GPA: 3.8
Cumulative GPA: 3.6
Will I go to UT? Yes, of course!
UT System School? University of Texas at Tyler
I’m very excited to attend UT! Now, CAP admissions: (Source: Admissions Counselor in Person)
Most Liberal Arts will be announced at the end of May early June.
All other majors, beginning of June to mid June.
We should be able to register for the first Orientation of UT in June.
Hook 'em!
Whats your major @calacmul ?
Right now, I am an IRG major. But I’m planning to internal transfer to Biochemistry or Biology @JackM82
My app says its in review. Does anyone know how long will it take to find out if we got in? Also, anyone accepted yet?
@calacmul Soon literally like I wouldn’t be suprised if you get a decision by next week.
ohho yeah. My friend got accepted yesterday to Computer Science at CNS.
Was he a CAP student? @calacmul
Yeah. He was. So, that leads me to believe that with UT Austin, you never when you get in.
Interesting well congratulations to him, hopefully we will hear back soon