My son is in love with the University of Texas at Austin. I have heard its very difficult OOS. What ACT/SAT TEST scores might put him in the mix for consideration? I know there are many other factors but just to give him a goal to shoot for?
As high a class rank as possible.
As high SAT/ACT scores as possible.
Can you afford the out-of-state costs?
It also depends on what major he is applying to. Liberal Arts will be quite a bit easier than something in McCombs or Cockrell in terms of getting accepted.
Getting in UT Austin from OOS is very difficult as most of the seats were taken by the automatic admission by class rank in-state. Unfortunately, it is very difficult, if possible, to find out the admission stat from OOS.
@ucbalumnus Probably not. 50K a year seems a little steep. Does it go down once you have lived there for one year?
@NosyCaliparent …no it does not.
Here are the rules for establishing residency:
Requirements
If you are independent for tax purposes, you may gain resident status if you establish domicile in the state. If your parent(s) claim you as a dependent on their federal income tax return, they must establish domicile in the state for you to claim residency.
To establish domicile, you or your parent(s) must meet the following criteria:
Live in Texas for 12 consecutive months; and
Establish and maintain domicile for 12 consecutive months, as evidenced by:
Gainful employment in Texas;
Note: Student jobs do not qualify as gainful employment.
Sole or joint marital ownership of residential real property in Texas by the person seeking to enroll or the dependent’s parent, having established and maintained a domicile at the residence;
Ownership and operation of a business in Texas; or
Marriage for one year to a person who has established domicile in Texas.
The only way to receive in state basically is to go work there for one year straight, but you cannot be taking any classes.
The average ACT for out of state is a 30 and SAT is a 1318 and has a 29% acceptance rate vs a 45% in state acceptance rate. Only 8% of the total students there are out of state
Looks like a California school in terms of value then. Can anyone recommend a California school that compares to the University of Texas?
UCLA and UC-berkeley in terms of academics.
How about schools that give you that small town college feel?
UT is far from a small town feel. Austin has a population of about a million people and it’s getting more crowded by the day. I’m not really familiar with California schools but the only publics in California I know of that match UT in terms if “prestige” are UCLA and UCB. Anything other than those 2 and you’re going to be taking a bit of a dip down in the quality of students and academics.
A&M is more of a small town feel, but i mean it is still 250k in the college station area. If you can get a 1k scholarship from a&m btw they will give you in state tuition.
Not many well-known public universities are going to be located in small towns, or any prestigious universities for that matter.
@NosyCaliparent: If you are looking for California schools that are similarly ranked at UT-Austin #56 this year, then you have UCB, UCLA, UCSB, UCI, UCSD and UCD. If you are looking for small town in particular, then consider UCD (Davis) at #44.
I personally find choosing colleges based on rankings worthless. Rankings do give you an idea of the overall academics available at each school, but personal fit is important. You and your son should look for schools that fit him academically/socially and financially.
@NosyCaliparent UCLA, UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara feel like college towns and are worth touring for UT- Austin comparisons (and all 3 schools are very strong academically as well). I’m a UCSB alum and the college town of Isla Vista (where the UCSB campus is), is 100% walkable and truly a college town (and on the beach :). All three schools are tough to get into, but certainly worth adding to the list of schools to tour for a strong student! Good luck!