Hey!
I just recently got into UT Austin without being auto admit. Being from an Asian family, I know the kind of pressure there may be on many people who arent auto admit but still want to get into UT. I got in for Public Health (premed). I can share my stats, some of my essays, and essay tip in general with anyone who may need it. Just looking to help… hopefully it’ll alleviate some stress for some other people 
Got into UT A. non-auto admit! Willing to share essays tips/stats with anyone looking for help......
Congratulation! Yes, please share.
Yeah of course!
So in terms of stats I’m in the top 10% of a pretty competitive high school in Austin. I’m Asian and come from a pretty solid background of doctors so don’t really have any hooks or anything like that. My ACT score was 34 (better than my SAT) so I only ended up sending that. I didn’t really study for my ACT and still did better on it than my SAT so I would recommend actually studying and taking the ACT as well if you haven’t done as well on the SAT!
In terms of extracurriculars, I have above 500 hours volunteering at a free health clinic, the VA Hospital, our local soup kitchen, and medical camps in India (that I set up). I’ve also done pancreatic cancer research at John Hopkins and research at the Brain Development Laboratory at UT Austin. My recommendation letters were from the people I interned with at UT Austin (a chemistry teacher, and my volunteer health clinic director) and I think that may have helped my application! I also teach dance and music classes (been learning for many years) and am the co-president of a student government type organization at school along with the largest volunteering club on our campus. I have also shadowed doctors and dentists around my city many times. This is kind of a basic overview of the extracurriculars I made sure to highlight in my application
In terms of essays, I chose the first prompt (Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high
school career that have shaped who you are today?). Just a reminder that prompts do change from year to year! I wrote about a powerful experience that I had with a girl who had illegally immigrated as a minor to the United States at the free health clinic I volunteer at and how that helped me realize that I truly did want to go into the medical field. For essay tips, make sure to make it personal and try to squeeze in some first person if you can (especially for a prompt like this). Don’t make anything up as admissions staff can usually tell but try ur best to really communicate the kind of person that you are through your essay. UT also requires short answers so be sure to try to mention some of your prominent extracurriculars throughout ur essays/prompts. Don’t make it too obvious that ur trying to squeeze in as many mentions of ur extracurrics as possible but try to incorporate them throughout ur essays/short answers in a “not so obvious manner” lol. BE PERSONAL, TELL PERSONAL STORIES. (but make sure they aren’t too cliche)
APPLY EARLY. I applied the first week of October and I think that really helped me. I didn’t have a college counselor of any type so I ended up getting my essays/short answers by 2 of my English teachers and my counselor. Get recommendation letters from people you know REALLY well. For example, I chose to get my rec letter from the ppl I interned with at UT since they knew me better and I had interned with them longer than my mentors at John Hopkins. Try to build relationships with your teachers/mentors and ask them atleast 1.5 months in advance as they usually have a list pililng up of requests the closer you get to the deadline. I started writing my essays towards the end of August.
This is kind of a basic overview of everything but please let me know if u have any other questions
Good luck! (and don’t stress)