<p>Yet I’ve heard other people say that they are pretty sure (one heard this from a UT admissions person at an info session) that the date an application is submitted makes no difference in getting in. I guess I’ll never know for sure. Anyway, how much would something like raising the SAT to 2350 range help (assuming im applying late October) I can’t think of anything else to improve on, except class rank (which is too late to do anything about).
and we’re talking regular, not Honors.
Anyone? Thanks</p>
<p>Ok, are you ok with waiting to find out until March by waiting to apply until late October since you are not an auto admit?</p>
<p>Yes, the date I find out really doesn’t concern me, whether it’s February or April or whatever. I’m just worried about whether I will actually get in. And like I said, most my important application stuff comes in October, so I really don’t even have a choice in applying in August, because even if they are more lenient in August, my application will be pretty weak until October/November.</p>
<p>What comes out in October?</p>
<p>I’m taking the SAT again in October, the official paper saying I’m Commended PSAT, AP scholar awards, I’ll probably be part of a District champion sports team in mid October</p>
<p>Frankly none of those are needed or will help.</p>
<p>PSAT commended - If your score is under 215, the lowest score in the last 3 years for national merit in Texas, you are automatically commended. You can say expected to be commended.</p>
<p>AP scholar award - you will know based on your test scores, where you fall. you can list as expected and list your scores. </p>
<p>A score better than 2200 won’t do much for your app if 2200 won’t get you admitted.</p>
<p>[2011</a> SAT/ACT Scores | Be a Longhorn](<a href=“http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/whyut/profile/scores]2011”>http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/whyut/profile/scores)</p>
<p>Sports team won’t help your academic admission at UT. It will only help if you are good enough to be recruited which is a separate track admission.</p>
<p>If they don’t admit you right after you apply, then you can go back and update.</p>
<p>I am from out of state, got into mcombs business school with a 2060. The average scores at Texas aren’t close to even my score… You’ll be fine</p>
<p>My son is in state, not in the top 8% (is 3rd in a class of 24 which is 12.5%), applied on the deadline and was accepted to the Engineering School. His essays were great and he had a good ACT score of 34. Not sure what it was about him they liked. He heard in February of his acceptance, or rather read about it online.</p>
<p>I don’t know if I’m the person you were referring to who went to the information session, but I can affirm that that is indeed what they say at the informational sessions.</p>
<p>One suggestion I could give would be to apply for majors in two different schools. While I don’t think your rank will be any hinderance to you, the schools review applications separately, and some are more holistic while others rely mainly on class rank. </p>
<p>For example, I wasn’t top 8%. Hell, I wasn’t top quarter. I was top 33%, 64/193 or something. I was denied admission by my first choice (Comp. Sci in the College of Natural Sciences), but was admitted to my second choice (Electrical Engineering in Cockrell).</p>
<p>Once you get to the college, you can always change your major/school if you put in some decent effort. So if you’re really worried about your class rank, or if you think you have one blaring weakness, apply to two different schools and hope that one of them takes a more holistic approach that doesn’t put as much weight on it. </p>
<p>But it should be stressed that your class rank is not what’s going to make or break you, even at a college like the CNS which weighs rank heavily. You have a strong rank, and if your SAT scores and ECs are just as strong, there’s no reason you would be denied. Raising your SAT would obviously benefit you, but you’re already up there in the top percentile and honestly there are better things to do than toss the dice taking the test again. For example, work on making those ‘good’ essays into fantastic ones.</p>
<p>Good luck. I really think you have little to worry about.</p>
<p>Oh. I didn’t know I could say “expected” on the application. That helps a lot</p>
<p>And I’ll definitely try applying other majors where I would have a better chance, and working on those essays. And I wanted to confirm if the essay questions on the UT website right now ([Admission</a> Essays | Be a Longhorn](<a href=“http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/freshmen/admission/essays]Admission”>http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/freshmen/admission/essays)) are the same ones every year, so I could start working on these now and over the next few months? Or do the prompts change every year?</p>
<p>And any other info/past experiences/suggestions to reassure me that I might get in would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s input!</p>
<p>For the influential person, don’t talk about a family member. My college advisor constantly stressed that and all of his kids who applied to Texas out of state got in so might as well believe him</p>
<p>I don’t know if the essay prompts change (kind of doubt it), but UT loves, loves, loves that expanded resume, which is the other chance–in addition to essays–you have to make youself jump off the page and really shine. Too many applicants just throw something together, which is blowing a huge opportunity. Read all the helpful links and examples. Get your parents to help with details and also brainstorming how your participation in each activity–in school or out–caused you to develop as a leader, involved member of your community, inspired you to hone skills, etc. You get the picture!</p>
<p>I agree you don’t need to take the SAT again. A 2200 is great–well done! All in all, your credentials look good. With all those APs, why are you taking regular not honors (or more APs) senior year? Maybe I misunderstood your comment, but it sounded like you might be dropping down, which is not advisable if there are more rigorous courses available that you can perform well on.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk</p>
<p>yeah, even if you get lazy…it’s worth it to at least be in the class.</p>
<p>My senior year i took AP english,bio,calc(ab),econ/gov and pre-ap latin</p>
<p>i only needed to take english and econ/gov to graduate</p>
<p>i feel like it benefited me ALOT even though towards the end of the year i got lazy and stopped trying as hard.</p>
<p>even if you don’t take the AP credit you will be at least have had a semi review of calculus and stuff that you took.</p>
<p>Oh I don’t know where you got the impression im slacking next year, but don’t worry, I’ve already registered for classes and 6 of my 7 classes are AP haha.</p>
<p>I was admitted to McCombs this year… Ended up falling right outside top 10%. However my final SAT was 2210 and my one-time ACT was 33. I had a pretty great internship and clubs and whatnot, but a large portion of my ECs was art related (not sure if it helped at McCombs too much lols… Initially had intended to go to art school). Anyhow I’m under the impression that UT is very stats oriented so I would definitely try to increase those scores.</p>
<p>I think Cockrell looks heavily at your math classes and standardized scores in math. They have a renewed push to get students out in four years, so having AP credits in the science classes is helpful.
My son was admitted to biomedical engineering, was in top 10%, but not auto-admit top 9%. He didn’t find out he was admitted until that giant wave one evening in February. He scored 5s on all science aps…will have credit for biology, chemistry and physics. He made 36 math ACT and 35 composite. He did complete the “optional” essay c and wrote about why he wanted to study engineering. He also shadowed a doctor his junior year and did some programming for his highschool his senior year.</p>
<p>I was so excited about his admission…but he decided to be an Aggie!!</p>
<p>schmegel - why did he choose A&M over Austin? UT is my first choice, but I might be considering A&M as well.</p>
<p>mikez…it was a hard decision; he chose a&m for several reasons…not all objective ones! I still wish he had asked more questions about the differences in cirricula at the two schools. The biomed programs are fairly different from each other.
We actually live in Austin and his big sis is a senior in engineering at UT. I think he wants to try something outside of his hometown and he loved the “campus feel” and “friendly feel” that a&m had when he visited. They are both so closely ranked…both excellent engineering schools…that he went with “his gut instinct” in the end. </p>
<p>My D has had such wonderful opportunities at UT that I am a bit biased. But they are different people so I think his choice is probably best for him. I hear great things about a&m too.</p>
<p>Visit both when students are there and ask, ask, ask questions. Be sure to visit the specific departments that you are interested in at both. (a&m did a much better job with this part of our visit than UT…) UT has a “general engineering” session…usually Fridays. But schedule a visit to the individual department as well. They may not “advertise” these, but you can go and talk to an advisor. </p>
<p>This time next year I might be truly able to compare and contrast the two…house divided!
Best of luck making your decision! You’ll be a successful engineer if you graduate from either one!</p>
<p>also Mikez and other engineering apps to a&M AND UT…</p>
<p>it absolutely makes a difference when you apply to a&m engineering…make sure you apply by Oct 1…they use rolling admissions, so if you are an auto admit and put engineering as your first choice, you get it. Those majors will be full at the beginning of October. </p>
<p>UT is completely different…especially this year. They took many more students outside the auto admits into engineering than they did in prior years…those from very competetive highschools with very high standardized scores and math/science APs. Just three years ago, when my daughter graduated, few students got into Cockrell outside of top 10%. </p>
<p>The two schools just have very different selectivity philosophies…if you are an auto admit and want to “try engineering”…you can do so at a&m.
But a&m has many more students drop out/not make it through engineering that first year. UT only selects those it truly thinks will succeed in engineering. Both philosophies have good points…intelligent kids from highschools that don’t have the accelerated, advanced math and science classes can still get into engineering and do well at a&m. Sometimes my daughter felt like they cared more about her “hurrying through” than whether she had a firm foundation at UT. (Although she is very happy with the education she has received!)</p>
<p>schmegel</p>
<p>Me and my D have nothing to do with engineering but I want to thank you for your posts. </p>
<p>This is the best comparison of programs at UT and A&M I have ever seen.</p>
<p>Usually people just compare rank and prestige…And rank and prestige are not informative and sometimes pure rip-off</p>