Cockrell and EHP

<p>I'm currently a HS Senior who is planning to attend UT Austin for an Electrical Engineering degree. I would like to hear from those who got in what my chances are.</p>

<p>Also, what are my chances to get into the Engineering Honors Program... if so, is it worth it to go through it? I heard it was really friggin' hard!</p>

<p>My Stats</p>

<p>-Texas Resident
-Texas Public School</p>

<p>-ACT Score: 31</p>

<p>M: 34
E: 32
R: 32
S: 26
Essay: 11</p>

<p>Do they look at the science part by the way?</p>

<p>-SAT Subject Tests</p>

<p>Physics: 720
Biology: 670
Math Level 2: 650</p>

<p>(I hate CB's Tests)</p>

<p>-GPA</p>

<p>4.0 (4 Point Scale)
5.3 (6 Point Scale)</p>

<p>-AP Scores</p>

<p>5 in US History
4 in English III AP</p>

<p>-High School Rank</p>

<p>12/900</p>

<p>-ECs</p>

<p>Vice President of my high school's Math and Science League
-We have qualified to State Competition every single year
-Participated in UIL district
-Robotics Team</p>

<p>Member of NHS
-60 volunteer hours per sememter to maintain membership
-Tutoring</p>

<p>-Extras</p>

<p>Parents are refugees, immigrant, Spanish as my first language.</p>

<p>Admission to EHP is pretty much based solely on rank and SAT. They have a conversion chart somewhere between ACT and SAT. Honestly, there aren’t too many perks in being in the honors program. The only honors classes they offered this semester were Cal II and Chem I. The only reason I signed up for it was for the honors dorms, which are pretty close to the engineering buildings.</p>

<p>Thanks for your reply Bacdgk.</p>

<p>Do they look at the ACT Science Section? Or do they do a M + R like in the SAT… </p>

<p>Also, do you think I can get it with my stats? Im just interested in the Honors Senior Project. The classes are whatever… Since I want to get a PhD in EE, I would like to be able to attend the seminars and stuff (well… I guess dorms close to the Engineering Buildings are good since UT is so huge)</p>

<p>They will take your ACT score and convert it to a comprable SAT score:</p>

<p>[ACT-SAT</a> Concordance](<a href=“http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/]ACT-SAT”>The ACT Test for Students | ACT)</p>

<p>According to the table, it is about equivilent to a 1380 SAT, a little low for EHP, but your rank is excellent. Those 2 things seem to be pretty much the only thing they look at for EHP. I don’t think they will pay attention to your science score, just the composite, so I wouldn’t worry about it. Can’t tell you what your odds are, because I don’t know whether they put more weight on test score or rank. Good luck!</p>

<p>Should I report those Subject Tests? I did very pathetically in the Math II</p>

<p>You mentioned that you are interested in the Honors section of the EE senior design class. I am currently enrolled in this class. The only difference between the honors version and the regular version of the class is the fact that you have a faculty advisor who agrees to supervise your project. The honors thesis part of senior design (EE464) is completely optional and very few students do it. </p>

<p>If you are interested in a PhD in EE, a better plan would be to approach professors in a field that you wish to research in and ask them whether they would take an undergraduate student to do research. This can be done regardless of acceptance into EHP.</p>

<p>kkwa thanks for your reply.</p>

<p>Could I take a look at your stats?</p>

<p>Hmmm. that was a long time ago haha. i had a 1490 (M + CR) and 4.5 weighted. But I didn’t apply in high school. I was invited to apply to the program after my first year in EE. At the time of application, I still had a 4.0 in residence.</p>

<p>Thanks again kkwa… from your experience, do you think I have a chance of getting in with my current scores… or I need to substantially improve my ACT/SAT scores.</p>

<p>My son just graduated EE last spring. He was accepted into the engineering honors program with an SAT of 1500 (cr800 + m700) a GPA around 4.2 out of 5 and class rank around 2.9%. He took one honors class his freshman year and then nothing after that. Being accepted into the Honors program probably helped him get the 50% tuition scholarship he received. He didn’t graduate with honors since he didn’t submit an honors thesis but his GPA was around 3.7 or so. When he applied to grad school he was denied at MIT, Stanford and Cal Tech but accepted at UT for biomedical engineering. He had good research experience including a summer internship at the University of Chicago. Who knows? Maybe if he had made the effort with the honors program he would have had more choices for grad school.</p>

<p>pharmacistmom, what kind of support did your son receive with regard to the honors thesis? Was he completely on his own? Was he not enthused? </p>

<p>I keep hearing over and over how most EHP kids don’t complete an honors thesis. Why is that? I would love to hear your take on it.</p>

<p>(Our son is considering EHP at Texas. So far I haven’t heard any real benefits other than the scholarship offers and honors housing.)</p>

<p>Alex–I can’t comment on EHP acceptances since I actually don’t know any one else in the program in EE. This is not to say there aren’t any. It just means that any differences between you and non-EHP EEs in your final year are so trivial that seniors are indistinguishable in regards to EHP.</p>

<p>Doing a senior thesis is completely self-motivated. There is no support for an honors thesis built into the EE program. In fact, to register for 464H (senior design honors), you do not even have to be in EHP. The EE 364/464 professor has never mentioned it, and very few people even know that it is an option. The only time that I have heard it being done is in the context of joining one’s Plan II thesis with the EHP thesis. Otherwise, the honors thesis does not fit well into the types of senior design projects expected for 464.</p>

<p>givings, besides the honors section of one of the freshman engineering classes there really wasn’t much to the honors program. There was an email list for the honors students that invited them to seminars and special events. My son was pretty busy his senior year working on his senior project and just didn’t have the time to complete an additional thesis. Although if he had really believed that it would have made the difference to getting into one of the top grad schools he probably would have found the time. I would still recommend the honors program for the scholarship consideration though! :)</p>

<p>^^Thanks. I’m disappointed about UT’s EHP. I haven’t heard one person speak of any real benefit, other than access to honors housing and the potential for scholarships.</p>

<p>This bothers me, since my son is truly looking for a small community within a large university. </p>

<p>But thanks for your response!</p>

<p>For engineering scholarship purposes they convert your act math + reading to sat. Good news for you!</p>

<p>Other ways to experience small community within a large university are participating in a residential FIG or joining a student project team.
Students in residential FIGs live in Whitis and take a block of courses together, creating built-in study and social groups.
Student projects are a great way to apply concepts students are learning in the classroom, provide opportunities to work with upperclassmen/grad students, interact with corporate sponsors, and build a resume.
There are LOTS of engineering-specific student orgs, so it is easy to find a smaller group.
[Learn</a> about Student Organizations](<a href=“Student Life”>Student Life)</p>

<p>My son signed up for the residential FIG. Although he’d sent his housing deposit in October, he was too late, so he didn’t get in. There are also FIG “classes,” though, so he’s in the biomedical engineering FIG. It’s very helpful. They do fun stuff, like ordering in pizza or going to the art museum, and also get tutoring and resume advice.</p>

<p>i have two question about the UT honors program.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>i was accepted into my first choice major (biomedical engineering), but i listed my second choice major as mathematics, which is thorugh the school of natural sciences. So, for my honors application, it give me the option to apply to both of the honor programs, through engineering and through natural science. is there any reason to apply to both?</p></li>
<li><p>how big of a factor are essays to acceptance into the honors program?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>If you know you’re going to accept BME, then just apply for the engineering honors program. If you’re not sure, try for both.</p>

<p>I don’t know how important essays are. My son applied for the science honors program and didn’t get in. Since his stats were really good, I have the feeling his essay wasn’t up to snuff. He decided to go into BME, anyway. He didn’t apply for engineering honors because we’d heard it’s almost impossible to get into. Also, from my own experience and from what others have posted, the EHP doesn’t do much for you, anyway.</p>

<p>MaineLonghorn could I inquire about your child’s stats? How well did he do on his SAT/ACT and class rank?</p>