Chances for out of state students

[Zoidberg93]

<p>How tough is UT Austin on out of state students? Is the competition intense? Should I bother applying? Do I have a good chance? Here are my stats:</p>

<p>GPA unweighted: about 3.8-3.9
GPA Weighted: 4.1563
Class Rank: top 10 out of about 550 students</p>

<p>SAT (only taken once without really studying, plan on taking again):
1820 (CR: 600 M: 600 W: 620)</p>

<p>SAT II (might retake, if necessary):
Biology: 740 World History: 640 Math 2: 580
(probably won't submit math (and history if it seems too low) score unless I retake and do better, or if I have to)</p>

<p>ACT: have not taken*</p>

<p>AP Exams:
Biology: 5
Statistics: senior year
Chemistry: senior year
Calculus: senior year</p>

<p>High School: fairly decent suburban high school, many well-qualified students (usually a handful of students that get into top notch schools every year)</p>

<p>Classes: have taken honors at all possible opportunities, except one time in freshman year.*
So far: 15 honors classes, 1 AP class (full-year), 5 elective/required classes, 4 foreign language classes.*
Senior year (not final): 3 AP classes, 2 electives*</p>

<p>Grades: roughly 18 A and 6 A-.....as of the end of junior year, I have never got anything under an A-</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities:
Recreational soccer (since sophomore year)
Youth group (since freshman year, but skipped junior year)
Hindi school (same as youth group)
Dartmouth Community Medical Lectures (since sophomore year)
Debate Team (sophomore year only)
Free Thinkers Club (junior year only)</p>

<p>Community Service/Volunteer:
Tutored other students through peer tutoring program at school
Idk if this counts but I volunteered during 2008 presidential campaign (held up signs, went door-to-door, stuff like that)
Not much else....this is one of my weak (if not the weakest) areas....Idk maybe I'll try volunteering at a hospital in the fall or key club or something just so I can add a little strength</p>

<p>Honors:
National Honor Society
1st place in Western New England College Competition
St. Anselm Book Award*
Best Model UN Delegate
High Honors Roll
Perfect attendance....?</p>

<p>Summer:
Rec Soccer (Junior year)
Tennis Camp (sophomore year)</p>

<p>Also, I have some credits from a local community college</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Indian (of the South Asian variety, not Native American)</p>

<p>Location: NH</p>

[MidwestMom2Kids_1]

<p>What UT Admissions looks at is your “AI” Academic Index and your “PAI” Personal Achievement Index. No one has posted this for a while, so I will.</p>

<p>

The UT Austin admissions routine for students not automatically admitted is elaborate and entails a broad concept of merit. Beginning with the entering class of 1997, for those not automatically admitted, the idea of merit was expanded from class rank and test scores exclusively to the inclusion of the following factors:</p>

<p>The Academic Index (AI)</p>

<p>High School Record:
o Class rank3
o Completion of UT required high school curriculum4
o Extent to which students exceed the UT required units
o SAT/ACT score5</p>

<p>The Personal Achievement Index (PAI)
o Scores on two essays
o Leadership
o Extracurricular Activities
o Awards/honors
o Work experience
o Service to school or community
o Special circumstances:

• Socio-economic status of family
• Single parent home
• Language spoken at home
• Family responsibilities
• Socio-economic status of school attended
• Average SAT/ACT of school attended in relation to student’s own SAT/ACT
• Race (addition approved by the UT Board of Regents in 2003)</p>

<p>Thus, merit includes the ambition to tackle rigorous high school coursework, the production of quality prose, and the desire to make a difference in one’s school, home, or community. Evidence of employability (work), and some sense of having excelled in any number of areas are also considered. Moreover, admissions officials place these attributes in the context of the circumstances under which the student lived.</p>

<p>Beginning with the entering class of 2009, the Academic Index (AI) is determined by a multiple regression equation utilizing a high school percentile derived from an explicit class rank [1-(class rank/class size)]*100, and test scores from the ACT Assessment or the SAT I: Reasoning Test. The equation produces a predicted freshman year grade point average.6 After a review of the high school transcript, an applicant can be “awarded” a tenth of a point if he/she exceeded UT’s required high school curriculum. Thus, AI values range from 4.10-0.00.</p>

<p>The Personal Achievement Index (PAI) is UT Austin’s holistic approach to admissions. Admissions officers are trained each year to conduct comprehensive reviews of every application from students not automatically admitted. All applicants are required to submit two essays. Each are read and scored on a scale of 1-6. The application itself, and any attachments an applicant chooses to include, is then reviewed. A “personal achievement” score on a scale of 1-6 is then assigned to the application. From the three scores, two essays and a personal achievement score, a PAI is computed. The equation
reflects a 1997 faculty decision to give slightly more weight to the personal achievement score than the essays: PAI = [(personal achievement score * 4)+(mean essay * 3)] / 7. </p>

<p>AIs and PAIs of applicants not automatically admitted are then plotted on an admissions decision grid.

</p>

<p>These words, footnotes, and graph are in this document. <a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/research/HB588-Report12.pdf[/url]”>http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/research/HB588-Report12.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The AI and the PAI are plotted and those in the upper left are considered best. Being in an unusual school or major is helpful. If it is a major that not many automatically admitted students chose, it is more open to those not automatically admitted (those not in the top 8% of a Texas high school, out of state students, and international students.)</p>

[Zoidberg93]

<p>Gosh, I think I’m roughly in the top 2% of my class. If only my school was in Texas haha. I’m a little concerned about my PAI…I don’t have any work experience/leadership positions and little volunteering. What do you guys think my chances are?</p>

[lockdown22]

<p>You still have a shot with your current stats.</p>

<p>What do you plan on majoring in? If it is something in the sciences I’d say that you have a pretty good chance as long as you write good essays (because your rank is so high). If it’s something tougher like Business, I’d recommend retaking the SAT or take the ACT again and at least get a 2000/30.</p>

<p>On that note, I’d retake the SAT/Take the ACT regardless of what major you want to do since your GPA isn’t going to change before applying and you probably can’t add any significant EC’s in a few months.</p>

[Zoidberg93]

<p>Yeah, I’m going to try to retake the SAT twice and try to take the ACT once. I’m thinking natural sciences, business, or liberal arts.</p>

[VAlonghorngal]

<p>I’m an out of state student, going into my 2nd year. Your stats and ec’s are more impressive than mine were, and I was able to get in. </p>

<p>That being said, there is no way to guarantee your acceptance unless you’re in the top 10% in-state… so just do your best, rock out your essays, and go for interviews and visits to get your name on record so they know you’re for sure interested</p>

[Zoidberg93]

<p>A visit may be out of a question, seeing that I live nowhere near Texas. Also, I didn’t know u Texas Austin required interviews?</p>

[lockdown22]

<p>^It doesn’t.</p>

<p>I can see where going to an interview or campus visit may help, but I honestly doubt that it would make them accept one student over another.</p>

<p>Just do well on your SATs/ACTs and write decent essays, I’m sure you’ll be fine as long as you put in the effort.</p>

[Zoidberg93]

<p>Yeah I’ll try</p>

[Zoidberg93]

<p>…really hard</p>