College of Liberal Arts: African and African Diaspora Studies

I had no idea that it was so serious to get into UT Austin until after I applied as a transfer student. I’ve heard it is easier to get into the college of liberal arts than some other departments and both of my majors are under COLA. I want to study African and African Diaspora studies and UT Austin is one of the only school in Texas with that major. It covers the most material and is one of the best schools in the US that covers black studies. Is that an easy major to get accepted into? My second choice was history. From what I’ve seen most people are interested in mccombs or nursing or some other big program.

For the last 5 years I’ve been doing my own independent research into Africa and it’s people. I just made it back from Senegal and was given the very first interview in history with a secretive ethnic group known as the Serer people. I conducted interviews and lived with them for 4 weeks documenting their culture and traditions. I am also in the process of writing a book and putting together a documentary discussing my most recent trip to Senegal.

I felt confident that I would be accepted but that was before I started doing research on the school. I didn’t realize how many qualified people they deny admission. I’m surprised people are getting accepted into Ivy League schools but not to UTA.

Regardless can someone tell me if it’s easy to be accepted into African and African diaspora studies. I’m transferring from Prairie View A&M University with 78 credits. I’m only transferring because PV doesn’t have an african studies major. I was studying animal science at pv. Im 26 and withdrew from Priaire view in 2014 in my junior year to take care of my ailing father. While I was out of school I I began my research. I just decided to return to school and I wanted to move to Austin so I applied to UT right before the deadline. I’m low key nervous about whether I’ll be accepted or not.

My application has been in “review,” for over a week now.

@jeanmarie, I’m familiar with the freshman admissions process as I have had two sons admitted to UT with one being admitted to the Liberal Arts Honors program for the entering Class of 2016, and the second child recently being admitted to the McCombs School of Business for the entering Class of 2019. Freshman admissions is obviously different than transfer admissions; however, I think there might be a couple of insights you can take from the freshman admission process that are likely applicable to transfer applicants as well.

First, again in regards to freshman admissions, certain colleges and majors at UT-Austin are more competitive than others. Generally, the College of Liberal Arts, which is where the African Studies Department is located, is less competitive than College of Natural Science, McCombs School of Business, School Architecture and the College of Engineering. It is highly likely that the high-stats UT applicants who you may have heard who were denied admission to UT were seeking admission to one of the uber-competitive majors in UT"s business, architecture or engineering schools. My statement is not intended to snub UT’s College of Liberal Arts (COLA) as my eldest son is a liberal arts major and I got my own undergraduate degree from COLA. It is a reflection of how supply and demand coupled with how UT does admissions by major can result in some high-stats kids not being admitted. I assume that for transfer admissions, you’d be considered against other applicants to COLA.

Second, in addition to an applicant’s academic record, UT places a heavy emphasis in the freshman admissions process on what is referred to as the applicants Personal Achievement Index (PAI), which includes the applicant’s extracurricular activities, essays, fit for major, and so on… Based on your post above, it would appear that if you included in your admission packet info such as your independent research in Senegal, you’ll score very high on the fit for major component of your PAI, if UT utilizes such a metric in the transfer admissions process. Also, overcoming personal hardships is another factor that can be considered for admissions as well and your post above suggests that may have occurred with you, which if communicated to UT’s admissions department would likely also be another factor in your favor.

Good luck with your transfer application.

@fatherof2boys Thank you for taking the time to reply. This was very helpful.

I will try and answer a few of questions. It’s easier to gain admittance to the school of Liberal Arts than some of the other high demand majors but it is still difficult to gain entrance into UT. You did not provide your stats so I can’t address what are your chances. You will be treated as a transfer student and you must complete 60hrs at UT in order to get a degree from there. This means you will lose some hours if your admitted. Best of luck to you.