OK so I am an in-state rising senior at a pretty tough competitive private school. The school does not rank, but does inform UT if I am in the top 8%-- which I do not know if I qualify yet. So, otherwise I will apply as an unranked in state student.
My GPA is about 3.92/4.00 with pretty tough course load and 8-9 APs. My ACT is 32 as of now and SAT (out of 1600) is 1400. I’m aiming for pretty good recs and essays, and I have good leadership positions in a variety of clubs.
ALSO, someone told me that UT grads who major in economics have a tougher time finding jobs since they’re seen as business school drop outs? Is this true? Because I do have a genuine interest in economics and other than economics (if I don’t get into business) I don’t know what I would want to major in. Thank you 
Rank is such a huge part of the equation at UT. Without it, your chances are hard to assess. Even with it, McCombs is hard to guess. I would make sure you have a safety in place (another school)or be prepared for PACE or CAP and allow yourself to be pleasantly surprised.
I have not heard what you were told about economics. Check out the business foundation program. It is a nice compliment to Econ.
I agree rank is critical. You should be able to go to your high school registrar’s office (even in the summer) and order a transcript for yourself…with UT applications opening up later this summer, you need to know where you stand now from an auto-admit standpoint. Assuming you are auto-admit, I personally think you have a good shot at McCombs. You have a solid ACT score, and I’ve seen before some formula that UT apparently uses to evaluate applicants using rank and ACT or SAT score…there are actually two separate formulas (one for ACT and one for SAT) and I think the ACT one tends to produce a better “score”. If you are not an auto-admit, it may be less likely but you are still a strong candidate so best of luck.
I have a friend who comes from a very competitive school in Dallas. He was top 20%, made it to BHP, just via his test scores and GPA. I would say if your school is really competitive, your chances of getting into McCombs are very good.
About econ, you would definitely want to have a McCombs degree to your name. The career services in McCombs are far better and would make it easier for you to get a job