Is my class rank the sole thing that could over shadow most aspects of my application ? I have a good amount of leadership roles and extracurriculars, near perfect ACT , am looking to start a small business over the summer, have raised money for fundraisers and is involved in a school wide business organization. I am worried my top 22% class rank will drag me down in the admissions process and will untimely be the reason I don’t get in, regardless of my other activities. I’m Asian and in state by the way.
Rank is important for UT in general, but especially for the more competitive schools. I won’t say it’s impossible for you to get in if you really have a 34 or 35 ACT and those EC’s, but your rank definitely hurts, a lot.
Assignment to majors is formula driven. Half of the formula is rank/scores. So yes, it can hurt. One thing you might want to try is to apply to BHP. It does appear that BHP is more focused on the EC and leadership side of the equation than the rank. They do appear to care about scores though.
Starting a business right before applications are submitted is probably too late to matter for the application purpose.
@gettingschooled @danfer91 Thanks! A main reason my grades were low throughout high school was because I had severe depression issues. Do you think if I made that the main focus of one of my essays it would help the admissions officers understand the reason for my crappy rank? & also, i am interested in engineering and have heard it is easier to get into. Do you think i have a better shot applying to engineering over business?
@pinxrt They DO want to hear about personal troubles and triumphs, however, depression may not be a good topic. (read in an article from someone in admissions from a couple of years ago). Maybe instead of calling it “depression”, talk about problems your depression created… without referencing depression… and how you overcame it.
No- engineering is NOT easier to get into.
DO NOT write about depression in your essays. It’s a huge red flag. You may have a line in there about overcoming serious health issues that plagued you in 8-9th grade, and the difference it made to your perspective for you to understand what a bounty being healthy is, but that’s it. They want to hear about what you did since then, and they do not want to worry that your mental health issues are more serious than you disclosed.
Do apply to BHP but the odds of anyone ranked higher than 10% making it into UT are slim at best, and for a competitive major even less. They may well CAP you, and if you don’t screw up your CAP (which an incredible number do) you’ll be in at UT but your odds of making it into McComb are still minuscule.
Private universities, including in Texas, are not bound by the ranking system. Apply to SMU for instance. Look at UAlabama honors college and their stem/mba program. Apply to states away from Texas - Carlson in the Twin Cities, for instance. Your top scores and excellent EC 's will really be appreciated at Vanderbilt, WashU, Notre Dame, USC.
Based on my son’s experience, and I am sorry to say, Engineering will not be feasible at UT and McCombs unlikely as well with your class rank. I would still apply, if I were you, but keep in mind, because you are not auto admit, your chances instate are very, very slim.
My son was top 11% and National Merit Commended with 2110 SAT, (1340 M+CR) with a current, during school days 2x per week and all summers through college, internship at Lockheed Martin (one of 13 chosen from our 6A school district of the 100 invited to apply), leadership, UIL State Award percussionist in solo/ensemble. a lot of awards,AP’s, etc and was offered CAP, PACE, other majors thought the wait list. He could have attended UT under some liberal arts Major but what a waste for the expense. Internal transfer is more difficult than getting in as a freshman. Even with CAP and PACE, you are only offered Liberal Arts majors. He was also accepted at UT Arlington and TAMU engineering and ultimately chose A&M.
@MYOS1634 thank you so much! I greatly appreciate your output. I am definitely looking at a few out of state colleges as well, as i know many do not consider rank as high as UT. For BHP however, isn’t that a major option within Mccombs? I thought that in order to be admitted to BHP you would have to get into McCombs first.
Yes. That’s why I said “do apply for BHP”, meaning “if you get in, why not try for that too”, but I followed up with “but the odds… are minuscule”. In other words, if you go for a hail mary pass, why not go for two, but they’re so unlikely that you really should focus your energy on schools where you have actual chances.
Basically all universities use rank less than Texas publics (since rank is the way Texans have chosen to select their instate students and remain fair to all parts of the state. The other choices were affirmative action or raising taxes a lot to ensure all districts offered similar curricula and the same offerings to all.)
However, top universities want top 10% students (most top 100 LACs and top 50 universities, in particular) and most “good” universities want top 25%. Of course, over half high schools in the country don’t rank.
Apply to 2 safeties (you like it + know you’ll get in and can afford it), 3-5 matches (you like it + think you can get in and know you can afford it), then add whatever reaches you wish/can afford.
Thanks! Helpful post.
There’s a 'helpful ’ button 
Go to your school library and borrow/ start reading Fiske Guide, Insider’s guide to the colleges, and Princeton Review 's best colleges. Put a post-it next to each college you like and start your ‘long list’.
ACT scores that count are the Math and the Writing combo score- Look at the formulas for the business school versus the liberal arts school- Math counts a LOT in Mccombs-( not as much in Liberal Arts) if you scored high in Math it will help alot. if you didnt score as high, try the formula for Liberal Arts and apply to Econ. You can transfer to Mccombs if you score high in Econ the first year and meet some other criteria. - if you don’t end up being able to transfer you can choose one of three business minors in mccombs which gives you a good foundation for business careers or grad school. You can always apply Mccombs first choice Econ ( in liberal arts ) second choice.
Based on the information you shared, I would apply LA/Econ, and either try to transfer after 1st year or stick with Econ and do a business certificate. Your odds would be much better if you did that, of getting into UT in the first place. In addition, if you get Capped -which is highly likely - you can do Econ there.
Your odds at McCombs are minuscule (sorry for repeating myself). However, if you want to take the risk, do it with your eyes open (and since you’re going for a hail mary pass, why not go for two and add BHP :p)
@MYOS1634 Okay thanks! Do you have any good tips or books I can read to help me with my essays?
Admission essays = read Essay hell the website and the books by that website 's author.
okay sounds good. is there anything that I can elaborate on to appeal to the committee? like how I’ve raised money for different projects and stuff
@pinxrt1 I have an essay tip… write your essay so that noone else could have possibly written it. If you’re writing and it could be passed for someone else’s, it’s not personal enough. Make it all about you, your opinions, stories, experiences, etc. Don’t just write an essay about the importance of voting, for example, without telling specific personal experiences, reasoning, etc. I hope that makes sense In my issue of importance essay, I wrote about the importance of failure. It was ALL about what has happened to me and why I appreciate failure before success. Another note, your essays are NOT to be written as a list of your academic accomplishments, they can see those on your resume and application, use the time to get them to like you and want to now who you are, you want them to look at you as if you have something to provide to them.
@britni12 thank you so much! This was extremely helpful
@pinxrt1 You’re welcome!