So today I found out I was rejected by both UT and A&M, and I don’t know why… I worked really hard for the past four years in my grades and extracurriculars, in order to be secure in going to college. I am a little under the 8% of my class, have an SAT score of 1800, ACT score of 28, competed in two national academic competitions, studied engineering since eighth grade, and have had an engineering internship for two years. But was rejected. How is this possible? What really makes me upset is knowing that other people that I know were accepted to UT and A&Ms engineering schools when they have never taken any engineering courses, and have a lower class rank and test scores than I do. It looks like I have no hope in getting to any engineering school. What should I do???
Low SAT and likely out of state or country? Try for a lower ranked schools. GL
A lot of people face rejections and sometimes we don’t understand why. Sometimes admissions can be so unpredictable, even if an appplicant is very qualified. Same thing happened to me–I applied to a school that I thought was my match, but got rejected. We just have to bounce back. 
It’s difficult when you grow up thinking you will go to a particular school and then get rejected. My son just got rejected from the only place he ever wanted to go, and he too had friends with lower scores and gpa’s get in. When I questioned admissions as to why he got rejected, they explained that they base their decisions on the high school that was attended and how the student did compared to others within their school. My son goes to one of the top high schools in the nation and while his gpa was 3.7, one kid had a 4.79. So in reality, it is easier to get in if you go to a crappy school with no competition! As SAM says…just gotta bounce back!
Rejection is difficult, as everyone above me has said.
But life’s unfair and I guess you have to make the best with what you’ve got left.
Look for engineering schools with rolling admissions. Several [Association</a> of Independent Technological Universities: AITU](<a href=“http://theaitu.org%5DAssociation”>http://theaitu.org) schools do this.
Often, if a college doesn’t have a good history of accepting people from your high school, they won’t start accepting now. Some schools also like inexperienced talent.
Don’t be too fazed. Engineering is at least something you can do without a college degree with the right resources. There are plenty of great engineering schools if you’re set on going, too.