I am currently a UTD freshman with a major in Electrical Engineering and I was wondering what I can do to have the best chance of being accepted into UT my sophomore or junior year. I applied to UT but was CAPed and after reading about the program, I decided it wasn’t the best program to put me in the Cockrell School of Engineering. So I applied to UT Dallas, who also has a very good engineering program, and was accepted automatically. The problem with UT Dallas is, its boring, I’m a commuter so it’s hard to make friends, they claim to be diverse but if you are not Asian American or Indian American, you stick out like a sore thumb in the Engineering building, and overall the school is in no way close to being my dream school (UT Austin). My plan is to transfer to UT Austin, but I have no clue exactly what it will take. So what would be some key things that I should focus on so that I can transfer from UT Dallas to UT and still be able to stay in my Electrical Engineering major?
Why did you decide CAP was not for you? When you say you have no clue as to what it would take do you mean you have not looked at the external transfer requirements on the UT website? Or the Cockrell website?
You should start there. You’ll need to make sure you have the right classes during freshman year.
Others will chime in on work experience, extracurriculars and GPA.
@gettingschooled I’ve looked at the website. It says chemistry, physics, and calculus classes will be looked at carefully and all the typical stuff. As far as CAP goes, I knew that I didn’t have a guarantee spot in Cockrell. And I live with my aunt who lives near UTD, so not paying room and board made it a lot cheaper. I need to know what GPA should I strive for and what would give me the very best shot to get into the school.
http://www.engr.utexas.edu/undergraduate/admissions/changeofmajor
The link above is for internal transfers but it is the only GPA info I could find. It says this year’s internal transfers to EE had a 3.14 cumulative GPA cutoff and a 3.25 technical GPA cutoff. I would GUESS that internal transfers get a little more slack on GPA than external transfers so I would shoot for higher than that.
I would have also guessed that it gets tougher every year but if you look at 2013 and 2014 it doesn’t look like it does, so guessing is risky.
http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/cap/2015-2016/uta.pdf
Here is the CAP course guide. I would follow the recommended courses for CAP. You want to be competitive with CAP students (page 2).
http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/acc/current/engineering.pdf
This is last year’s guide for ACC students. Looks pretty close to the CAP document but you want to be competitive with those students too.
Lastly, go to an advisor at UTD and ask what they recommend you do.