I have been hearing that UT does not give much financial aid or merit based scholarships is this true? I am about to be a senior interested in attending but I do not know if i can afford it.
These are my academic stats so far:
W GPA: 4.7
UW GAP:4.0
SAT: 1350/1600
Rank: Top 1%
State: TX
Will I be able to receive any considerable merit based scholarships from UT with this, I have been thinking I won’t since most of the accepted are top 10% also and my SAT is average ?
Parents income is about $ 45,000.
Edit: I also have over 70 college credit hours between AP and dual credit. Would I be considered a Freshman or Junior when applying and would this qualify me to any scholarships. College GPA is a 4.0
Read this thread-
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/1879298-ridiculous-aid-i-need-some-help-or-advice.html
UT has very little in the way of merit awards. There are some (Presidential and 40 acres) but they are very competitive. You appear to have similar finances to a couple of posters in that thread who ended up with almost all loans. I don’t think the net price calculator on UTs website is all that great but you should run it.
You will be considered a freshman since all of your hours were earned via AP and Dual.
While you are auto admit, UT can’t be a safety if you cannot afford it. Get a financial safety.
@UTBound15
Actually, with your strong credentials, consider these recent experiences of my DS:
- DS was a 1600/2330 with U4.0 from rigorous online high school, NM Scholar, star athlete, etc…
- strongest area was math, and got accepted first into CNS/Math major, but only a $1000 scholarship
- tried for prestigious 40 acres Full Ride scholarship, the best on campus, but surprisingly didn’t make it into semi finals. VERY competitive and possibly need alumni hooks or other strong reasons for selection besides academic and normal extras. Read 40 Acre Winner bios online. This $ comes from off of campus.
- applied but missed on Presidential. Again, extremely competitive and may need hooks.
- Plan II dept came through with a $10k/yr scholarship, covering tuition and ultimately caused change to this school.
- We messed up his application to Bus Honor/Bus School, so didn’t get to learn what kind of $ they have there, but you have to imagine they’ve got some. They are the most snobbish honors program at UT. If you don’t select them as first preference of the numerous honors programs, they ignore your app.
So there is some scholarship $ to be had for the best of the best, but you need to know where to look (40Acres/PII and possibly Bus School), and where it is Not (CNS).
Also, if you are set on UT, it is time for you to look at the AP credits… They are pretty tough on a number of them. State law now requires credit for any score over 3 on AP’s, however, UT gives you credit to classes you would not need to take for most of the majors… i.e., more at a remedial level. That said, DS did get 39 hours credit towards majors making him a sophomore, and if we had chosen our AP’s a little more carefully (didn’t think UT would be the choice) with UT in mind, he could have had over 50 hours credit easily. You may have more. So far, we’ve not found any disadvantage at UT to coming in with all the extra credit, as long as it goes towards a major. Unnecessary hours hurt you for some tuition rebates and be-on-time loans. I have heard of problems at some other schools, (Pepperdine), but haven’t gotten confirmation of any issues at UT so far. (Fyi, AP credits do cost $6/hr so you could have over $400 in fees). One big plus to credit is that your prioritization for getting classes when you register goes up as you gain credit towards your degree plan, so that AP helps a ton, but not until after the first registration. The prioritization bump doesn’t kick in until your second registration in October for the spring.
Once you get credit for the AP hours, it does help your registration, even if they are slow to “call” you a sophomore. E.g., if you want to change majors, you can’t do this until you have 30 hours IN RESIDENCE. Regardless of the label, you get registration prioritization, credit for prerequisite completion, and you get the hours, so the other distinctions don’t seem to matter as much.
Best of luck and congratulations on such an accomplished H.S. career!