BHP/McCombs Student taking questions!

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
21

<p>@josephblow</p>

<p>His rank is good, but his SAT score is about 200-400 points lower than it needs to be. You listed some activities, but it’s hard for me to gauge his chances since I don’t know where he stands within the organizations. If he’s only a member, then I’d say his chances are very slim. </p>

<p>If he doesn’t get into McCombs, he can always do internal transfer and get in with a high freshman gpa.</p>

<p>Everyone enters McCombs as an unspecified business major. After receiving credit for BA101, Microecon, Macroecon, Differential Calc, and Integral Calc, he can declare his major as accounting. There is another competitive application process if he wants to do mpa.</p>

22

<p>@rdshah13</p>

<p>Everyone will receive notification at different times for an interview. Also, I’m not 100% sure it always goes in chronological order, but it most likely does!</p>

23

<p>Is it true that the BHP gives preference to in-state students? I’ve applied and I’m from California.</p>

24

<p>@ Hayacostbh,</p>

<p>What are the chances of my son getting into BHP or McCombs with the following credentials? </p>

<p>He is a TX In-State applicant and has has applied for the EA decision last month.</p>

<pre><code>* ACT - 33 Combined (ENG-33, MAT-35, REA-32, SCI-32)
- Has taken ACT again for improvement on Oct 27th.

  • SAT- 2180 (COM-640, MAT-740, WRI-800)
  • SAT II Math - 800
  • Class Rank - 41/762
  • Was placed 3rd in Economics in Academic Decathalon competetion at State Level.
  • Has taken all 7 AP level courses and is taking 4 AP courses in this Semester in Sr Yr.
    • Currently has a score of 5 in five (5) AP Courses and a score of 4 in two (2) courses.
  • Had done volunteering in a number of charitable organizations.
  • Has done internships at Hospital during Sophomore and Jr yrs.
  • Is currently co-ordinating the activities of Economics club at school.
    </code></pre>

<p>Thanks for your feedback.</p>

25

<p>How important are recommendations letters? One of the admissions counselor essentially said that most recommendations letters don’t add to the application. I know that doesn’t mean that they are ignored, but what I made out of that was the fact that they don’t much weight at all. How much truth is behind that? </p>

<p>The reason I ask is because I have one recommendation letter from my counselor, but I’m wondering if I should get one more from my math teacher. </p>

<p>Thanks. </p>

<p>And is top 4% and being in the 1900s for the SAT out of reach for McCombs general admission?</p>

26

<p>Hayacostbh - Do you know when they will start sending out acceptances for McCombs? I am an auto admit but still waiting to hear about McCombs.
Rank 7/396, 30 ACT, President of one club for two years, member of a handful of other clubs, many volunteer hours, currently have 2 jobs. I submitted average (in my opinion) essays. If I am not accepted into McCombs am I better off going to Mays or stay at UT and attempt to transfer? Thanks for your advice!</p>

27

<p>how should i write the 5 sentences describing yourself on the honors application? I’m not sure how to approach it. What is bhp looking for in these sentences? Can you give me some good examples?</p>

28

<p>Oh boy. Before I start, I just wanted to throw out a disclaimer. My responses are in no way “the law”. I am merely providing input based on my own experiences, my peers’ experiences, and the research I did when I applied. With that said, I hope my advice proves helpful, and that all you seniors can then relax; enjoy the sun and the rest of your childhood. :)</p>

29

<p>@vv2017</p>

<p>I don’t think it’s true. McCombs, maybe. But for BHP, if you’re qualified, you will make it in, regardless of where you’re from. I was actually surprised at the amount of people in my class that are OOS. It’s quite a handful, and they are no more impressive than the in-staters. It’s quite an even playing field and I don’t think you will be disadvantaged for being from Cali.</p>

30

<p>@vbasavar</p>

<p>It’s hard for me to gauge where he’s at since you didn’t list too many of his extracurriculars. Does he have a lot of leadership positions? That may be the only thing holding him back. Clearly your son is very intelligent. I’d say decent shot at McCombs, possibly bhp, depending on the number of leadership role he has/is involved with.</p>

31

<p>@texaspride17</p>

<p>Recommendation letters generally don’t hold much weight (unless your teacher has written things like “Z is the best and most extraordinary student I have had in my 37 years of teaching”). However, a bad recommendation definitely can and will hurt you. So it’s one of those things that won’t add, but will subtract (if negative) from your application. I do think, though, that when using a rec, it is probably better to use one from a teacher (perhaps one that has had you for more than one year; one that has seen you grow) because they spend more time with you than a counselor (whose recs tend to be more generic).</p>

<p>No, I wouldn’t say your stats are out of reach for McCombs, but you better have the EC leadership roles (and AP scores, in this case would be beneficial) to compensate.</p>

32

<p>@texaskid17</p>

<p>I heard back roughly two weeks after I submitted my application (notified by snail mail). However, I know this year UT is being slower with applications. Last year, admissions for McCombs (and UT) were done on a rolling basis and the general rule was the longer you didn’t hear back, the less likely it was good news. If they don’t do that this year, I want to say some people should hear back by December, and the rest around February/March.</p>

<p>I do think you stand a decent chance of being accepted.</p>

<p>Definitely apply to Mays so you have a back-up. I think it’s up to you. If you think you are capable of making a high gpa, then stay at UT. You can also apply for a transfer to Mays during your first year just in case McCombs doesn’t work out. Or you can go to Mays and try to external transfer to McCombs, but in the event it doesn’t work out, you still have Mays. Which risk are you willing to take? Would you be okay in the event that you wouldn’t be able to transfer in or the event that you wouldn’t receive a business education? This has to be your decision. My advice would be to weigh the pros, cons, and outcomes of various scenarios and choose the one you are happiest with.</p>

33

<p>@kliseong</p>

<p>Unless they’ve changed the application, I’m pretty sure the five sentences are for Plan II honors, not BHP. The application process for BHP was just applytexas, teacher rec, resume, submit button.</p>

<p>If it’s for Plan II honors, just be yourself! It’s very open-ended. They just want to see how your mind works and who you are. I guess the best advice is to be weirdly creative.</p>

<p>-----edit
Okay, never mind. The website does say that all honors programs write the five sentences. Hmm. I didn’t realize that was for BHP as well. In that case I guess it doesn’t matter too much for BHP (but it does for Plan II) because I BSed those 5 sentences when I turned in my application. Literally wrote them in ten minutes and then hit submit. So don’t over think it and you’ll be fine.</p>

34

<p>Everything for me is perfect, except test scores. </p>

<p>4.0 GPA, (ranked 1)
Many extracurricular activities
And I’ve already taken Micro and Macro through dual credit at my high school.</p>

<p>What are my chances?</p>

35

<p>I’ll just post a semi version of my Resume I sent them… please tell me if I have a fairly good shot at McCombs and/or BHP :)</p>

<p>School and Grades:
Pflugerville High School: G.P.A.: 4.50638 (4.00 out of 4), Rank: 3/563
SAT: 2060
Math: 770 (790 on the first try) Reading: 590 (***) Writing: 700</p>

<p>Work Experience:
1)Texas State Independent Living Council (Austin, Texas)
Marketing and Advertising Intern (This June - present)</p>

<p>2)City of Pflugerville’s Lifeguard (Summer 2011)</p>

<p>3)Private Home (Round Rock, Texas)
Tutor (For over 4 years now)</p>

<p>EC:

  1. Sierra Student Coalition
    Founder, past Treasurer (9th-11th: elected), and Campus Organizer (12th: elected)
    • Organized environment-friendly activities such as tree planting and park/creek cleanups
    • Worked with the Sierra Coalition for anti-coal demonstration in Austin</p>

<p>2)Science Olympiad
Member (10th-11th) and Historian (12th: elected)</p>

<p>3)Key Club
• Volunteered in activities around the school like recycling, Little League Baseball, and more</p>

<p>4)National Honor Society</p>

<p>5)Austin Korean Presbyterian Church
Worship Leader</p>

<p>6)Lord’s Church of Austin
Worship Leader</p>

<p>7)Pflugerville Assisted Living</p>

<p>• Volunteered on Bingo Nights, morning prayers, and assisted elderly</p>

<p>8)City of Pflugerville
• Volunteered in creek cleanups, marathon races, and more</p>

<p>School Academic Awards in subjects of: Math, Science, History, English, Spanish, Technology, etc.</p>

<p>Honors AP Scholar</p>

<p>Science Olympiad Regional Gold Medalists for Fermi Questions and Dynamic Planet</p>

<p>1 of 3 in Region to qualify for State competition for Science Olympiad</p>

<p>Languages (other than English… duh)
• Fluent in Korean
• Conversational Speaking level in Spanish</p>

<p>Musical Instruments
• Piano (from age 5 - present)</p>

<p>Logo Creating & Branding
• Health/Fitness Brand for TxSilc (2012)</p>

<p>Communication and Presentation Skills
• Many experience presenting documents in organization (TxSilc) and leading meetings</p>

36

<p>@jake18</p>

<p>It’s really hard to say because I don’t know what your definition of “perfect” means. I will say that they’ve constantly mentioned how they’ve rejected tons of vals/1600s in favor of us. Based on the high rank/low test scores position, it would probably come down to your resume, which you didn’t provide, but hopefully you’ve had lots of experience being a leader.</p>

37

<p>@znznsi</p>

<p>Your SAT is 120 points lower than the average of BHP last year (1480). And if it follows the trend, CO2017’s SAT average will be even higher.</p>

<p>If you didn’t have your internship, I’d say no admission to either. But since it’s semi-business related, I’d say it significantly increases your chances to McCombs. For McCombs, you’re in the middle. Definitely not a shoo-in, but not a reject, either. It’ll depend on how impressive everyone else is. They’ll probably take a look at the general admissions pool before making a decision. For BHP, I’d say it is very unlikely. </p>

<p>I don’t know if you just pasted the info from your CV, but if you did, you might want to clean up the formatting a little. It’s a little bit cluttered. UT has a really good example of an extended resume; you could copy the template. And try to expand a little more and be specific in your descriptions.</p>

<p>Lastly, as a word of caution, be really careful what you put on the Internet. It would be incredibly easy for me to find out who you were if I wanted to. I don’t want to leave on a creepy note, so just be aware! Also, sometimes admissions comes on to CC to look around, haha.</p>

38

<p>In the interest of time, it’d be awesome if everybody could keep to specific questions. If you want a chance, make a thread. I hate to leave questions unanswered, but I never really liked chancing. You’re either in or you’re out, and a year from now, you’ll be exactly where you need to be.</p>

39

<p>Does Mccombs look mostly at Test scores?
I have a 1810 on my SAT and I am worried that is what will keep me from their school.</p>

<p>Otherwise, I am 1.2% of class, 4.0 gpa, TONS of ECs/Awards/volunteer, Pretty good essays.
I haven’t been able to take many tests due to band conflicts and I have only one more shot at SAT in two weeks (no time to study!!)</p>

40

<p>Hayacostbh-thanks for the info. Do you know anything about the job prospects for UT grad’s with an Economics degree with a minor in Business?</p>