So I’m a junior in high school and my dream school is UT Austin, but I’ve heard it’s getting increasingly competitive especially for out-of-state students (which I am). If anyone can offer any insight as to what my chances of getting admitted will be, that’ll be great! Also, I plan to be applying as either a Biology or Neuroscience major!
My Stats:
3.7 gpa
27 ACT (hoping to a get a 30 before I start applying)
Top 15% of my class
Was a full IB Diploma student:
IB English HL
IB Bio HL
IB French HL
IB Chemistry SL
IB Math Studies SL
Pre Cal
EC’s:
FCCLA since freshman year (VP this year and President senior year; one of the major things I’ve done is organize a youth suicide prevention event for my school which actually turned into a big hit)
Beta Club since sophmore year
Debate Team only sophmore year (won 3rd place in my first Lincoln Douglass Debate)
Choir since freshman year (will be in the most advanced choir next year)
I’ve also applied to a summer health program at the local university and I’ll know if I got accepted next month
Volunteering:
Public Library all of sophmore year
Cancer treatment center summer after sophmore year
Daycare all of junior year
Math tutor all of junior year
(Among other events and such I’ve helped organize throughout highschool)
Not 100% sure what volunteer activities I’ll be doing this summer
Plans for Senior year:
I’ve dropped out of the full IB Diploma Program mainly because I wasn’t getting any satisfaction out of it and I wanted to take other classes so my classes next year will be:
IB English HL
IB Bio HL
IB Chemisty SL
Dual Credit Physics
Honors Anatomy
AP Calculus
IB Psychology
Choir
@thisisfine2020 How does that help the OP? That’s just bragging. If you’re going to talk about your own experiences at least contribute some advice. Saying you got in no problem is arrogant (you have no idea first of all whether you got in no problem; it could have been really close). Add something beneficial or don’t say anything at all.
Applying with a 30 is fine but you’ll need to apply to plenty of other schools, matches and safeties. UT CNS will still be a reach OOS with a 30 and in the top 15%, and it’s probably going to be next to impossible (~2%) with a 29 or 28. If you had a 32 and were closer to top 10% I would think your chances would be quite a bit better, like low reach/high match range.
One of the more important factors for getting into UT is class rank. Next year, the auto-admit criteria for instate will be being in the top 7%. I would say that if you’re OOS, you should try to get your rank to top 10%. If you do get your ACT to 30, your chances will be much better. Good luck, fellow student!
The last few pages of this document lays out details of how UT admits. They use a combination of an academic index and a personal achievement index by major. More competitive majors require higher AIs. Engineering, CS, business are toughest it seems with majors in CNS right after.
Your ACT may be a bit low given the last few year’s trends but it depends on how you scored on certain sections. See the formulas toward the end of the document. They take test results up through December so you still have time to test.
Regardless, UT is rarely a safety for OOS candidates and a very high match for many. The law limits them to 10 percent international and OOS total. They just can’t take many non-residents.
Texas is very hard to get into out of state. Your best chance is with a higher ACT score, anything above a 30 will make you more competitive, especially with such a rigorous major. Your GPA seems a little low as well, but you take tough courses so it might balance out. Ultimately, work hard to finish your junior year strong and also apply to your home state school or a not-as-good state school that’s out of state. Texas is a top tier public university and is therefore extremely tough to get into. Keep practicing for your ACT, as a higher test score (32 range) will balance out your lower GPA.
I know someone who got into Neuroscience this year from OOS with a 4.12 Weighted/3.8ish unweighted and a 30 ACT. Decent ECs but no ECs related to Neuroscience or science in general for that matter. @ama323 I’m not sure which out of bio or neuroscience is more competitive but they are both very competitive, but not as much as Engineering, Computer Science and Business. You definitely have a chance, but don’t get your hopes up.