<p>I'm just looking for some input, since my college counselor had never heard of these honor colleges before. Also, I've been looking around at some of the threads and now I'm kind of intimidated. :/</p>
<p>I went to a Texas public school my freshman/sophomore years, but moved to an international school overseas. My grades dropped from straight A's to A's and a couple B's, but my counselor says colleges will understand that I moved to a harder school.
Unweighted GPA: 3.75 (I think this is it, but I had to calculate it myself)
SATM: 800
SATV: 750
SATW: 710
SAT II's: 750 on Math 2 and 700 on US History
No class rank, but my counselor will send a distribution graph of GPAs of my class. Unfortunately my class has a a lot of hard workers in it and it probably won't look especially impressive.
Taking the full IB Diploma with four higher-levels.
ECs: Almost completely swimming; I was really focused on it before I moved, but now I can only get involved during the short season. National Charity League until I moved, with a leadership position my soph year. Now I am involved in school-sponsored service clubs and teach younger kids at a school-sponsored swim school for 6 weekends, twice a year. Otherwise I have no leadership.</p>
<p>Do my essays need to be REALLY good? I heard you should be stressing love for learning, curiousity, etc? What about being self-motivated?</p>
<p>For Plan 2 the essays are a major component of admissions consideration. I don’t believe that what you choose to write about is as important as how well you write it. I don’t know that you should be outright stating a love of learning and curiousity in your essays. These are however valued traits and it would propbably be good if they were reflected in a sincere way in your writing. It is a very competive program that seeks all around scholars with multiple interests. I don’t know about Dean’s scholar.</p>
<p>My son is in Plan II. I believe the essays need to reflect “how Plan II” you are. We interpreted that to mean how a student would benefit from the interdisciplinary program and what the student would bring to the program.<br>
I think that once you pass the threshold of SAT scores and grades, the essays become most important. I would recommend that you spend a great deal of time on them.
Your SAT scores are in range and the IB diploma will be impressive. Ranking is an issue. Would the distribution your counselor is preparing show that you are in the top 10%? If not, it will be harder for you to get admitted to the University.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it would look like I was in the top 10% just because I go to a pretty strong school with less than 100 kids in my class. At my Texas public school I was in the top 2% at the end of my sophomore year, if that counts for anything. In my defense I am taking the most rigorous program the school has to offer, according to my counselor. I’m assuming she’ll mention that in my rec letter.</p>
<p>As for the essays, I’m just trying to figure out how to show that I genuinely do like learning, which is true, even if school has squished some of the enthusiasm out of me. I know I can write some pretty decent essays if I could just get an idea down. I could write something that has to do with my sport, but I’m just worried that won’t really be what they’re looking for. Ugh I’m over-thinking this I think. >.<</p>
<p>I’m a freshman in Plan II, and I know plenty of people who weren’t necessarily in the top 10% in their high schools, especially if their schools were out of state. Just make sure your essays are really good… They can compensate for any other weakness in your application.</p>
<p>UT cares a lot about your “ideas”, essays can reflect your ideas, the Dean’s honor’s essay topic is very interesting, I know my friends’ kids spent weeks to find a thought to start the topic. They want to know your central philosophy and thoughts. But because Dean’s honor only take about 30 people, so, if you are not good in academics, still very low chance. My D is at 3% of a very good school, SAT 2 math 790, Physics 750, SAT math 790, Reading 750, writing 740, her essay for Dean’s is remarkable. but still just being told to contact director for second chance. </p>
<p>She got Plan II, she also got U. Chicago and Notre Dame, She loves UC, but the grade deflation stopped her for going, Notre Dame with good FA attracted her, but Plan II curriculum got her signed up with UT finally. She wants to do music, art and science the same time. Not sure about major yet. Dean’s honor told their acceptance, they will have to stay on campus doing research in summer, my D wants to go out, overseas for summer, some summer programs in UT may take you out to Amazon forests to do ecology studies. Or Rome for many fun things. Dean’s was her most desired program when applied, but end up with something she didn’t think of at all.</p>
<p>hard to assess without the essay. many people applying to both programs have same stats as you do. so might as well apply to some more prestigious OOS schools</p>
<p>Ideas may stem from any goals or aspirations that you have in life. Think about what you would like to do beyond college. What are some of the things that you are truly passionate about? Would you like to pursue a career that combines your passions with a profession? I think having some kind of long-term direction coupled with how a UT honors program will help to enable or achieve your goals could benefit you in your essays. You also have to remember that the credibility of programs like Plan II are not only based on the academic quality of the students accepted, but also largely on the achievements of it’s graduates. </p>
<p>@pierrechn,</p>
<p>I would suggest doing some research prior to offering advice on UT honors programs. Plan II heavily weights essays because everyone who applies already has strong stats. Class rank won’t matter as much due to the relatively small size of Mettee’s class. The adcoms people in Plan II will take into account the fact that Mettee is on a different playing field than that of somebody coming from a very large Texas public high school. I graduated from an international high school with a class of 18 people. Admissions at all the schools we applied to realized that only 2 people could be in the top 10% of our class, yet we sent people into Stanford, Chicago, Tufts, Georgetown, 4 to Boston College, one kid to UT’s Plan II (and myself to plain old UT).</p>
<p>This was taken from Plan II’s website:</p>
<p>“The essays you submit will make a BIG difference in whether or not you are admitted to Plan II. Plan II must often deny admissions to applicants with excellent grades and test scores who submit mediocre essays. A great essay can sweep us off our feet and perhaps make up for somewhat lower scores or relatively lackluster grades.”</p>
<p>It looks pretty clear that you were refering to somewhere other than UT’s Plan II program, in particular, your reference to an out of state school. Further, you started your post by saying that Mettee would likely get dinged because of class rank. Either you should clarify your points with greater research, or not post at all.</p>
<p>Well every school is considered Out Of State for him. Rank will hurt at a school like UT where majority of the students are Auto Admits. Maybe rank wont hurt his plan ii chances, but as far as general admission it will.</p>
<p>How do you know that every school is OOS for him? Have you asked Mettee or done any research on what makes somebody considered out of state? Do you think that because somebody with an American citizenship or green card is going to an international high school that it makes him or her out of state? I went to an international high school, but had no problem showing that I was a resident of Texas. Do you have any clue how the Texas adcom works with private schools and its application to the top 10% rule (which happens to be a public school rule)? </p>
<p>Let me also ask you this. Are you a UT student or staff member? Have you ever been? I mean UT Austin. It sounds like you don’t know what you are talking about on almost every thread you post. My advice to you is to not offer advice to people till you actually know what you are talking about.</p>
<p>Once again, Top 10% DOES NOT MATTER because his school does not rank. And UT (like most schools) uses a holistic evaluation process for non-Top 10% students, be they in-state, OOS, or International.</p>
<p>"Do you have any clue how the Texas adcom works with private schools and its application to the top 10% rule (which happens to be a public school rule)? "</p>
<p>well BK pointed that out</p>
<p>@Maine
Tim sees your reason for correcting me, hes just saying theirs no need for the insults. Even if you have corrected me a million times, you can do it a million more without the insults.</p>
<p>What you are missing here, pierrechn, is that the necessity of correcting your repeated misinformation is irritating, annoying and frustrating. It is detrimental to the purpose of the forum, is a distraction and a waste of time for people who come here for information and sound advice. People have gotten testy about it.</p>
<p>Anyone can be mistaken from time to time, and folks certainly sometimes have a difference of opinion. But this situation goes far beyond that. Please give this some serious thought and consider your contributions in that light.</p>