<p>Hi I am a junior looking to become an engineer and stay in Texas because I am a state resident.
My dad got his PHD in Industrial engineering from UT Arlington and we are hispanic, so I am wondering how much will those factors help my engineering admission chances to not only UT Arlington, but also UT Austin, A&M, and Texas Tech.</p>
<p>It won’t, for the most part.
Admission to UT is ranking-based: if you’re top 7% you’re in (although not necessarily to any major, that’s another process of selection). If you’re top 10% or top 25% with specific test scores, you’re in at TAMU. recommendations, legacy, etc, don’t factor in.
If you’re not among the cases above, the #1 criterion will be whether you can be an academic admit.
As an hispanic applicant interested in STEM fields, you could get nice admission offers (and financial aid offers, depending on whether you can get merit aid) from other colleges - look into Rose Hulman, Olin, Union, Clarkson, Lehigh, Lafayette, Connecticut College… (these colleges cover a variety of high-end universities in the North).</p>