<p>Hey guys, UT is kinda my safety school. I'm not trying to sound like a tool, just I'm Valedictorian of what is starting to be considered a good Houston high school, and most of our top 10 percent gets in (and their SAT's aren't even very high). In any case, whenever I refer to it as my safety school, my dad gets kind of uneasy and tells me not to underestimate it.</p>
<p>So really just out of curiosity, I'm wondering if any of you guys know someone who seemed like a real shoe-in at UT austin, but got denied? 2230 SAT, 5s on only two AP's school offers, plus a 5 on a self study. 4.0 UW GPA... Math up to Linear Algebra at local CC. Anyone about like that ever get denied? </p>
<p>I remember this forum had some really surprising rejection stories on in-state students in the 11th to 15th percentiles of their high school graduating classes in 2009. Students who you could not believe were rejected by UT.</p>
<p>^ But the problem was that they were not in the top 10%.</p>
<p>Unless you have a criminal record, or you do/have done something scandalous that becomes publically and widely-known, I believe you are a shoe-in as Valedictorian…unless your entire class is only 9 people, at which point I can’t say because you would be top 11%.</p>
<p>UT has 75% of all spots in a major reserved for top 8% applicants. It fills these by taking the 1%, 2%, 3%, etc. until 75% of the major is filled.</p>
<p>It is only done like that for entrance to the university. You get admission to your major based on academic and personal achievements afterwards. Like, someone could be in the top 6% but their major be really competitive and them have to declare their second major or even undecided because other applicants have taken the spots in that major. I’m not sure if that’s what you meant or not.</p>
<p>To echo what Hookemhorns0 said, if you’re val at a school that ranks, you will get in. The issue is, which college? </p>
<p>Note that the earlier you submit your app, the better your chances of getting into your 1st choice. My dau waited until the last day, so even though she was a stronger candidate for Liberal Arts, she was admitted to her second choice Natural Sciences because LA had maxed out capacity! (This was the 2009 admission cycle, don’t know how that played out in 2010.)</p>
<p>We are lucky to live in a state where our flagship is a truly awesome safety! And if you haven’t spent much time exploring all of the honors programs, I encourage you to look at their web pages to both get excited about some of them and familiarize yourself with their supplemental application requirements. Some will offer fall info sessions–plan a trip! Honors admission may be as challenging as some of your reaches, so it will pay off to go the extra mile.</p>
<p>@MidWestMom: Yea I’m not surprised. As I said most of the 10%ers at my school get in, but only 1 kid out of it got in (really stellar kid though), and several in the 11-15 area got denied. UT really is surprisingly hard to get in to if you’re not in the top of your class.</p>
<p>TXArtemis: I agree! UT is an awesome safety school for me. I have my sights set on Cornell, but to be honest if I had to go to UT, I’d be pretty freakin psyched to live in Austin. </p>
<p>Also, for what it’s worth, I’m applying to the Cockrell school of engineering, Biomedical Engineering major. I read on their site awhile back (if I remember correctly) that they only accept something like 100 BME undergrad students, and that acceptance is based solely on GPA I believe… in which case I’m in good shape, but I’d still need to get my app in early I’m sure. Any comment on this, guys?</p>
<p>BME is all about rank and SAT scores. Yes, they accept around 100 students each year. You probably need to be in the top 1-2% with a 1450+ M/CR. GPA doesn’t really matter, because it varies a lot between high schools.</p>