How the Admission Process Works and one Question

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
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After roaming this board for almost a year now, I’ve heard more wrong information about the admissions process than right. In an effort to inform some of you guys, I’m going to explain how UT admits students, and afterwards I have one question that I hope one of you can answer.

For those of you who don’t know, you are admitted to UT based on a graph that plots you based on Academic Index (AI) and Personal Achievement Score (PAI). Your AI score is determined by a formula that considers your test scores and class rank while the PAI is derived from a formula that considers your scored essays and extra curricular activities.
I provide this information because many of you think the process is completely holistic where they consider everything on your app, and that is only somewhat true. Your GPA plays no factor in your admittance. Only rank. If you come from a school that doesn’t rank, they will estimate a rank based on your schools average GPA. Here is the source:
https://dl.boxcloud.com/bc/4/3149672292f381a25e90e3971f0664d7/DNblsJ2LzUZhZkbcCFrT2nlDshC-A9l8WQ8BJHvnk_3-A2fNxUYDmyY1_2EnvQJxVulNHDPZ8JsGV96kjx5cDPoI4MZxlxfemZZp8AyWoKm0z-byd4pFqJXw10tA8wsLHY_O25k-MCsdC7StDCPdZhrqCiAEXBUW2mbTEjlub9dUXVOO3xwZdcr-VL1DInFksl8i_y4-b0sCg0zGZ_DhVIZXOrYpXbAIUHPTCAGZ2JTqxRWw3Az-xhw_7xwpgv4kE_lOZSKl-9mrKnt4hfFF_uBqj4hdYfiiw7Ghb-QekiL-ycOeV2pJGUU4gnofdb6SxE7kPmBCtXa62IXcyNjs9VcEawJfrtnEVvzEukCvx1APJWEyyUZ1gEnzrTKlC2W01YtnFapqw-7Fx6Cb3EeVu8TAbunGnFYKtAkH3ueEcUuhCPTisXMbGvl4tQmj3gmbVgHkrWbKgGI5zkS63enxPFsDounwYpAhTUQzZguzmDTzs6-ECU-HuM0vpknsqIuIs6A78TTXcQZdvebEC7NZjeMyrcLmT5fbMYKBAQjNUposR4uMLX4Cy4gbj0QocaZubea5PzslRQkQYLrtx5tUpRy9-mY2pTL3tx9ZCz4I_irjABSpSK_iMxMHpA-KEgptr6-Me4h7_MZVQHuyfeQuwCnHUU9hm9uem_iw5aT-mp_943arWfjKZpiaZz6s_Yfha6qhDQqL3QiC93EQyM6ec_zeMlqHUZ7DAEJyFhTZcBuEqiGrgvpem9nSwe6gj0EhZ43Tld6z6sJJt4f3xPHxIJSCY98kk-XeHlzzfVA5ZX8TTo9FafVjtqWs9aTbziPevWLpzzVRAiz61mIN5kxdcAt2gGXgpsp-wlW2PpHGnKhuZDsofczKafDaBnim3vVxR31dqAAZax-m-5XJJ0g6zJci-XyfEUCdswx0it6ypUpRJF6Kml1OvtifzVZ1DTjtzgjyKlN19PzlbxdvElGM6KqbmW_uFx_NIlr6qYdGIxhdyM6qeq1HhBbvQnyeHE64XBbyd1CyCOdrZKtNCVJLPKByx7MzSC2o605UGT9PJr6sAQMyBlgBjlVYOyWJgs1Mp4XMD4_lYzNYAxXqjbSU_SkCcVSxfTVkI5Ag6FbfAVbkkoN5RNRX_i4U5XukauPAMHtRtyW8LWKS_93vHdVgM5o1ow9ogo2NPV20tfOtudPX43YRt2XEZ6GzTX7WXSoxw9cwt94J8De3wQ…/

So I have one question about this. Supposedly the AI is supposed to estimate your freshman year GPA. Whenever I plug my stats into the SAT business model (found on last page), my AI comes out to a 3.108. This seemed a little low to me, so I plugged in top 1% with a 2400 SAT and it came out to a 3.7 or so. I tried the same process for the ACT business model, but the max AI on the ACT model was a 4.2. So, question is, why is the highest score you can get on the SAT model a 3.7 and the highest score on the ACT model a 4.2? Obviously the admissions office doesn’t weight the ACT over the SAT, but I’m just wondering why there is such a disparity. Hoping to hear back from someone who knows a little bit about the process.

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The link provided does not open; you need to provide a “shared link” instead.

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@DVA6102 - Yeah, my bad. Tried doing this on my phone while I was preoccupied. This link should work:

https://www.utsystem.edu/sites/utsfiles/documents/institutions/best-practice-admissions-processes/ut-system-admissions-best-practices-2014-07.pdf

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This system was introduced in 2009 and has been well documented on CC. The Formula’s for AI and PAI are in this document on page 35. The closer you are to the left upper corner the better chance you have in getting into UT if you are a non auto-admit. Your correct, the ACT provides a clear advantage in the Liberal Arts calculation as it must on all other colleges. You would have to believe that they have some kind of equalizing factor or everyone would jump on the ACT band wagon.

https://www.utsystem.edu/sites/utsfiles/documents/institutions/best-practice-admissions-processes/ut-system-admissions-best-practices-2014-07.pdf

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@getchasome - Yeah, you have to be right about the equalizing factor. I wish UT would have made that more clear on this document they released.

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Does anyone know what the “ACT Engcomp” score is? Which part of the ACT do they use for that?

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@Chamomile7, good question. I’ve been assuming it’s just the English score on the ACT. But does anyone know? It could be the combined English/writing score instead. Also, I’ve always thought it a little odd that they look at English and Math but not Reading or Science (if my understanding of the system is correct).

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That is correct. For ACT It is Math + English&Writing composite score.

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@TinTintoo, how do you know it’s English/Writing and not just English? Just curious. I know a lot of schools really don’t look at the writing score.

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Finally! A school that admits on a formula!

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@Austinwannabe… I heard this from a student at UT. Also since they use CR score in their calculation for SAT, therefore ACT writing+ English makes sense.

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sorry meant to say UT for SAT uses all three CR+M+Writing.

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I’d really like to know about the “equalizing” factor–if any!–because a perfect score on the ACT model is 4.012 and a perfect score on the SAT model is 3.815. Surely they don’t put all those scores on one grid and treat the perfect ACT student as superior! Agghhhh!

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@Chamomile7, email admissions and ask. They were very nice and quick to respond to my email earlier today.

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wait for engineering the formula only includes Writing and Math, i find it odd that they use writing instead of cr on sat

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i dont understand for class rank do you input the percentage number or just the number. for example say your class rank is 15%, do you put .15 or 15 into the equation

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85

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and how did you get a 3.7 when you plugged into the formula. i did -2.668 and 800 for everything and got a 0.564?

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nevermind i got it :slight_smile:

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Thank you McCombsHopeful for posting the UT admission “code”. The formulas place much more weight on the SAR/ACT scores that I had expected. My D’s rank is 14/185…so 7.5%. Darn it.