So, I really don’t know what it takes to get into Plan II so if someone who has gotten in could give advice and their stats/why they think they got in that would be great. I go to an unranking private high school in Texas and I have a 3.93/4.0 GPA and a 33 ACT score w 31 writing score. I earned 4’s on APUSH, AP Spanish Lang, and Stat. I have solid extracurriculars and leadership positions as well. Assuming I have great essays (haven’t written yet), do I have a solid shot at getting in?
Plan II is hard to predict. My son was Salutatorian at a selective private HS, 4.0/4.65 GPA, 32 ACT, one 4 (World Hist) and five 5s (Eng Comp, Eng Lit, APUSH, Gov’t and Bio) for AP tests, great extracurriculars, leadership and what I thought was a great Plan II approach (mixing music and engineering). I thought his essays were very good. He was not accepted to Plan II.
I agree that Plan II is hard to predict. Stellar essays are critical plus you have to show creativity. Creativity is a must. They also like to see a broad range of interests and someone who is really involved in their school and community. Essays are 40% of their scoring rubric, but they also want to see good stats. They have a lot of information on their website if you read through it that should help you in understanding what they like to see in applicants. Be sure and spend time crafting your short answer honors prompts as they really do pay attention to those. I would shoot for at least a 2100 + SAT just because their average SAT is very high. My daughter got in with a 2110 and #2 class rank and my son got in with a 2160 and #1 class rank. But my daughter’s extracurriculars and essays were unusually good which helped compensate for her scores not being remarkable by Plan II standards.
Here is the 2015 admissions brochure from Plan II with various stats you may find useful: https://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/_files/pdf/adm-visit/15_16pg_new_brochure.pdf
Thank you collegefind!
Also, what is this personal/academic 5 sentence statement about?
They might change the prompts up a little each year. But the one they used last admissions cycle was this one I am pasting in here. My advice is to be highly creative / unique in answering these. Here it is: “Please write five sentences describing yourself, your life, and your experiences that taken together form an accurate view of who you are. Be creative! Do not list information provided in your résumé or in your essays. This is not a rehash. These five sentences should be little nuggets of information that give us insight into who you are. It’s information that you couldn’t work/sneak into an essay or onto your résumé, but information you feel is really important in showing us just who you are, “where you come from” and how you are “Plan II-ey.” The sentences should not simply reiterate information from your résumé, but they may enhance information mentioned on your résumé. Smart applicants will make good use of this little “application gift,” and make each of the five sentences about something different.”
Also, I’m in a bit of a dilemma. I took the ACT twice and my scores were 32 and 33. Although when I got a 32, my math was 31 and writing 30. When I got a 33, my math was 29 and writing comp 31. And I heard that UT only looks at writing and math for admission to colleges (not speaking of Plan II right now) so to enhance my chances of admission to the college I wAnt- shouldn’t I use the 32? But then again I’m pretty sure Plan II uses the composite so in that case it would be better to use the 33. I’m just confused