I have a 96.65 GPA, rank 99, top 17% of class, still waiting on SAT/ACT score. I go to a pretty competitive high school (what HS isn’t competitive these days lol) and am involved in NHS, National honor society, national science honor society, Mu Alpha Theta (national math honor society), National Spanish Honor Society, Ceramics Club, Marching and concert band all four years, student leadership team for marching band and will have other involvements for end of junior year and senior year. I am REALLY worried about my chance of getting into UT and yes I do realize that the majority of students that are accepted are in the top 7%. Thanks.
When you say you have a 96.65 GPA, do you mean that’s your average grade from all of the classes you’ve taken so far? When you send in your GPA to colleges, it will need to be on a 4.0 scale (unweighted). If you’re this worried about getting accepted, go the extra mile to ensure you have a good chance by getting your essays done early and well and getting good recommendation letters. Keep in mind that your scores may or may not need to be pretty high depending on what major/college you apply to.
Gonna be quite honest. You’re better off taking CAP or transferring. I was too 17% at a competitive high school, and I had NO chance at getting in. It’s really unusual to get accepted if you are not in the top 7%. You would have to have some outstanding criteria that lets you stand out from the rest. I’m in my first year at college right now, and transferring in. Way easier.
My son was told that UT was a long shot by his counselor because he was only top 25% not top 10%. He was bummed but applied anyways and got high scores on his SAT/ACT. His essays were very well written. He was told A&M would be a better bet for him and to concentrate on that. He was accepted into UT and PSA for A&M. Students that were in the top of the ranking were getting CAP while he got in and awarded his major as well. What I have learned is that your grades and scores are about 50% of the decision. The other criteria’s are also a big part of the decision. In the end don’t get discouraged. Do the very best you can. Nothing is impossible. He was invited to the Best of Texas this past weekend and they were told they were the best of the applicants and that they were thought to be the future leaders of UT. They also said this year was a great year for applications with about 51,000 of them being received. They only take about 10,000. Each University has their own standards. Know the background of those Universities you are going to apply to. My son’s essays were very liberal in thought, which did not go over well with A&M because they are considered a conservative college. Those same essays were probably what pushed him ahead of some of the other applicants at UT. I also recommend applying early because a lot of the majors fill before December. Good Luck!
Everybody is giving you good advice above. You may get in and you may not. Alot of it depends on your major. You recognize that UT Austin is a reach school for you. Make sure you have at least one other school that is more of a safety that you would be happy at. There are lots of good schools out there.
Sorry, you probably won’t get in. My child had all the same things as you, minus ceramics, plus a 4-year varsity sport and 98.9 gpa. He also had several other clubs, including one he founded. He got CAP’d. UT is ridiculous with it’s moronic 7% rule. I wish someone had told our family what I’m telling you now. It would have saved us a lot of heartache by not applying in the first place. Go where you will be appreciated for all your accomplishments.
Wow, very negative responses here. What on earth is the 7% rule you are all talking about, please enlighten me.
According to actual data: About 72% of kids are from the top 10% of their classes. 92% are from the top quarter and 98% from the top half and this can vary greatly from school to school, so no one can tell you based on “their experience” whether or not you will get in.
UT overall has a 39% acceptance rate. Your GPA is very good and of course you have a strong shot based only on that. However, UT will care about your SAT scores… come back and let us know how you made out there! They also want to see strong essays. Do you have any volunteer work or actual work experience you can include on your resume? These can help as well.
Also, this is just not true
. You are supposed to send in your GPA exactly as it is listed on your transcript - you are NOT supposed to convert anything. Each HS and college may calculate GPA differently and UT will handle any calculations that need to be made.
@Fishnlines29 You can read about the Top 7% cut off here:
https://admissions.utexas.edu/apply/decisions
UT’s published acceptance rate can be deceptive because 75% of the class is filled by automatically accepted students who hit the Top 7% threshold.
@PokeyJoe Very interesting, but it doesn’t change the fact that 1/3 of students accepted are under the top 10% of their class and are subject to holistic applications.
@Fishlines29 If you subtract the auto admits from the applicant pool the actual admission rate for UT is 15%. This rate will be lower for more competitive majors such as engineering and CS. That being said my son was admitted to Aerospace engineering despite being ranked 15% of his class. He tested well (34 ACT) and wrote excellent essays.
@MisterPeabody is right. Alot of this decision will be based on your major. Even if you get accepted because you are in the top 7%, that does not guarantee you will get your major. UT Austin should be considered a reach school for everybody not in the top 7% and within certain majors, CS and engineering, a reach school for everybody. UT Austin does do holistic reviews for admission (outside of 7%) and for acceptance to majors. Every year there are top students, scorewise, that are very disappointed because they cannot get into their major or even get accepted. This year, in particular, the number of great students that got capped was unbelievable. Know this going in and have a good backup plan.
@Fishnlines29 The holistic process does not apply for overall admission to UT Austin for those in the top 7%. Those students are admitted by law.
The holistic process comes in to play with what major all students are accepted into. If the student is not granted their first or second choice major, they are still accepted (if in the top 7%) and then allowed to choose from the majors that still have space or put into UGS.
@PokeyJoe I hear you, but still talking about the 25% of admits UNDER the 7%/10% threshold. It’s holistic at that point.
Yes, for the remaining 25% it is holistic. Of those remaining spots, 10 % are for OOS and internationals and 15 % are Texas residents.
That is why the published acceptance rate of 39% can be misleading. The remaining students are competing for smaller slices of the admissions pie.
My bad, it seems that @Fishnlines29 is correct about the GPA part.
I must agree that a majority of these responses are very very very negative. Guys… it’s not wrong to have some hope.
If you do not believe you will get in with 17%, then don’t waste your time on it. But keep in mind that many students out of the top 7% were still accepted. I mean, seriously, even I was accepted just a few months ago and I was around something like 24%. I even got into honors. Seriously, rank and GPA are not all that constitute your application. Do everything in your power to make your essays, letters of rec, and test scores as good as you can. (With the letters of rec, I mean you should probably get people who know you very well and have positive things to say to write them for you.) I know someone that got into CS last year who was also almost second quarter. While admission does depend heavily on your major, it’s not a death sentence if you want to apply to a more difficult major.
@nosyllaste, everything you say is correct but students need to know that there are no guarantees. You hope for the best, present yourself in the best possible way but have other options. I know too many kids that thought UT was their safety school and were really left hanging in March w/o any other good options.
Agree with GTAustin totally. My nephew wasn’t an auto-admit, but he had amazing ECs (Eagle Scout, one of the very best high school jazz musicians in the state, etc.). He didn’t get in. He even appealed without success. He was born with burnt orange blood, so it was devastating to him. He was offered CAP, but he was afraid he wouldn’t get into the business school when he transferred, so he decided to go elsewhere.
The bottom line is that it can’t hurt to try but go in with your eyes open.
Hey some people were being really negative in this thread so I just thought I’d share my story.
I was barely top 20% at my somewhat competitive school (4.0 Weighted GPA) and I just got into UT Computer Science. So it is possible.
One thing I think a lot of people are missing on here are the essays. If you look up UT’s admission criteria, essays and resume are a HUGE part of it. I wrote essays that reflected who I am, and how much CS means to me, and I had them edited by a professional college counselor who specialized in UT Austin. My essays weren’t perfect by any means, but from what the counselor told me many essays written by students alone aren’t up to par and are what stop people from getting in.
Last thing that I think that is important is show that your major and education are really important to you. In my spare time I love to do Computer Science competitions, so I mentioned that. If you want to be a doctor, go like apprentice under a doctor and watch surgeries, talk about how you like to learn about surgery in your free time (my friend did exactly this).
Good luck, don’t get too discouraged, but don’t forget to pick a great backup school, multiple if they don’t have auto admit procedure! There are other schools that will be great for you. My backup was UT Dallas, they have a good CS program and fit me well, and they would’ve covered all of my tuition and most of my housing. Do the research! Good luck!
Like mentioned previously, UT’s acceptance rate is very, very low is you take out the Top 7% admits. The acceptance rate would be around the same as Cornell’s. In your case, I believe your GPA is strong, all you have to do is maintain it. Make sure your standardized testing scores are solid, and you might want to consider SAT II’s. Then, you need to make sure your essays and recs are polished. Be sure to send a resume as well (Make sure to use the Bevo Template.) Best of luck! It never hurts to try.