Chance me UT Austin?

Hello! I’m just another high school senior anxiously waiting for decisions. This being said, chance me for UT Austin? I am a Texas resident. I’ve been worrying about my rank the most, because after being in the top 7% all of high school, I dropped to 7.9% after junior year. I’ve heard some grim results from the years past regarding applicants just outside auto admit…but I am hopeful!

Location: Texas, large suburban public school
Gender: Female
Race: White
Income: ~100k
Major: International Relations/Global Studies (College of Liberal Arts)

UW GPA: 3.8
W GPA: 5.2
Rank: 49/620 (7.9%)
ACT: 35
SAT (new): 1540- 780 math 760 EBRW OR 1550 superscore- 780 math 770 EBRW
APs: World History (5), US History (5), Calculus AB (5), English Language (5), Spanish Language (5)
Senior year course load: AP US Government, AP Macroeconomics, AP English Lit, AP Statistics (if you’re curious, I planned on taking more but they didn’t fit in my schedule)

Extracurriculars:
Drill team (3 years, it’s basically like a varsity sport. Huge time commitment, volunteering)
NHS (nothing special, just a member)
Spanish Honor Society (held officer position as recording secretary)
Rho Kappa (social studies honor society)
I was a member on and off of some other clubs, that I didn’t mention much or if at all in my apps bc it wasn’t worth it.
Led a project through DECA to make Halloween cards for kids at the hospital
Community service- average

Honors:
National Merit Semifinalist! (I know UT doesn’t really care, but lots of other schools do!)
AP Scholar w/Distinction

Other:
I’ve had two jobs, my current is as an instructor at a math learning center, I do about 12 hours/week

Recommendations:
History teacher: did not get to read but I know, based on my year in his class and him as a teacher that it was amazing!
Counselor: Average, maybe sub-par…

Essays: My essay (topic A) was a solid piece of work. 9/10. I definitely tried to bring in topics that admissions officers WOULDN’T find anywhere else on my app. Short answers as well.

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
I qualify as first generation to go to college (my parents did not finish)
Second generation and bilingual (parents are Polish immigrants. I know that at least half of UT applicants are probably gen2 but…)
National Merit

Applicants not in the auto-admit category should treat UT Austin as a reach.

Actually, I think you have a good chance. Your scores are excellent and you are not applying to an extremely competitive major. Also, UT does actually care about NMF. They won’t give you any money for it but they still publish stats about how many go there. It is still something UT desires. There are no guarantees but I do think you have a good chance.

yo I just got admitted to UT like last Friday and I was around top 19%, so it’s definitely possible, and my ACT was a 34 so you did even better. it depends on when you sent your app in, I sent mine in around 8/16 and heard back on 11/17, so a) you’ll probably get in b) give it a little more time