Hi All!
Thank you ahead of time for sharing your wisdom and experience!
What are my son’s chances of being accepted into UT Engineering? (Petroleum or Chemical.)
Should he specify these majors as first and second choices?
Or would he be safer to name Business as second choice so he optimizes his chances of being admitted into UT itself?
Would hate for him to not be admitted into UT as a result of his top choice majors being rejected.
What’s he’s working with so far:
Out-of-state high school junior
33 ACT
All sub-scores were 33/34
Writing score isn’t reported yet but had several perfect scores on Princeton Review graded practices.
58 dual credit college hours
College credit for Engineering Calc 1, Honors Calc 1 and 2, Chem 1 and 2, etc…58 hours
(Will apply as college freshman, not transfer, due to college credit being earned while in high school.)
4.0 college credit GPA
4.8 weighted high school GPA
Four years basketball
Track and Field
Private Pilot’s License
Community Involvement
Work experience
College Note Taker
Youth Leadership Institute
Excellent recommendations from Calc/Chem profs, coaches, employers and flight instructors
Should he take SAT and/or subject tests to enhance his application?
Any other ideas?
Thank you so very much for any and all suggestions you may be able to share based on your own knowledge and/or experience!
UT Austin Petroleum Engineering has been his first choice school/major since 8th grade. 
@learningschool, Sounds like your son has outstanding credentials! You don’t mention class rank, which UT values highly. In fact, there is a calculation on another thread which UT uses incorporating class rank, high school GPA, test scores, etc. to predict an applicant’s college GPA, if you can find it.
This year, many very highly qualified applicants did not get acceptance to Engineering. Two words of advice we were given about UT:
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If you want Engineering, first and second choice must be Engineering (two separate disciplines). In other words, you need to show you’re in it all or nothing. If you indicate a second choice major outside of Engineering, chances are high you’ll get that. (We saw that over and over.)
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UT wants to see a demonstrated interest in your major – through shadowing an engineer, attending an engineering camp over the summer etc. Use the summer to get that done – it’s good experience and something you can discuss in your essays (which I believe UT values highly).
My son was outside the top 7% class rank and was still admitted following this advice.
Good luck to your son!
Oh great information! Never would have thought about the “all in” criteria! Thank you! If he didn’t get Petroleum or Chemical would he still be admitted to UT under an alternate, yet to be determined, third choice major? And he is #1 in his class since we homeschool.
@learningschool, I just realized you are OOS. Tougher, yes, but again, it looks like your son has outstanding credentials.
And he also has college credit for Honors Calc 3 (Multivariable) also. Will be enrolled in college credit Differential Equations and Physics for this coming fall '15, his senior year
Your son is a terrific student, but OOS admission into UT engineering is difficult. Think of it this way, about 75% of slots are filled with the top 7-8% of Texas students. Then you have students recruited for various reasons: sports, artisitc talent, musical talent, etc. There just aren’t that many slots left open. Looking at admitted SAT/ACT scores isn’t really helpful as so many students are admitted under the top % rule.
Getting a major of choice is also a big hurdle. There were many, many qualified students who were turned away from UT this year.
The OOS tuition is also high and don’t expect any financial aid.
Definitely apply to UT but have plenty of other options. I think the Colorado School of Mines has Petroleum Engineering.
With his scores and records, your son might qualify for good merit scholarships. Check out the list of automatic scholarship under the financial aid tab of college confidential.
I am attending UT as an OOS Chemical Engineering major next year! Not very sure about the differences between applying to Petroleum or Chemical, although I think Petroleum is more competitive. Don’t be discouraged though, I think your son has a great chance of getting in
Some of the things that people have said you “must” do to get into Cockrell aren’t necessarily true from my experience. For one, I applied for Computer Science as my second choice major, which isn’t actually part of the engineering college! (BTW, I don’t think UT admits non-autos into the college as undeclared anymore if they don’t get their first or second-choice major.) I didn’t shadow any engineers or anything fancy like that. I was part of a robotics competition club and started a STEM club at my school, if those count as “engineering-related”.
Definitely take subject tests, especially Math 2 and Chem/Physics if he’s going to be a ChemE or PetroE major.
I honestly think that your son’s stats are better than mine, except for my ACT being slightly better (by 1 point, lol). I think UT puts the most value in class rank from what I’ve seen, though I’m not sure how they deal with homeschooled students. Essays also seem to be important, as someone else mentioned above.
Also, as the poster directly above said, financial aid is limited. I didn’t get anything from UT. Even Texas auto-admits are struggling with the lack of financial aid. It’s bad enough that the Top 10% scholarship may not be given this year because of lack of funding. As the poster said above, you should find scholarships elsewhere. My EFC is considerably high, but I got a great amount of merit scholarships from other great universities. UT was my dream school, though, so I’m taking $60k loans under my belt to attend :’)
Thank you so much for your insightful information! He plans to retake the ACT and hopefully increase by a point or two. Any advice regarding essays?
@learningscool Follow the suggestions from UT about how to maximize your application. Read this page on hints and tips for your application.
http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/freshmen/before/tips
On the essays, be yourself! Try your best not to be cliché or braggy, and be sure to make it interesting. I wrote about 10 different essays to fulfill two different prompts, chose my best ideas out of the bunch, and revised them like crazy (look at the Common App prompts first! Those essays tend to be easily changed to fit other schools’ essay prompts). Also, ask a lot of people to read the essays to get constructive criticism on how to improve them