<p>Seems like to get automatic academic admission to A&M you would need higher ACT (30 or higher) … see <a href=“http://admissions.tamu.edu/freshman/admitted”>http://admissions.tamu.edu/freshman/admitted</a> but if you were a Texas resident attending high school in California might be a little easier as you could rely on just needing top 10% class rank.</p>
<p>At UT it also seems a stretch - their average ACT for out of state admits is 30. See <a href=“http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/whyut/profile/outofstate”>http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/whyut/profile/outofstate</a></p>
<p>But why would you want to go to A&M or UT unless you were eligible for merit aid (A&M has some great merit packages for national merit finalists for example)? California has some great public colleges that are almost $25,000/year cheaper (see <a href=“Cost & Tuition Rates - Texas One Stop - University of Texas at Austin”>Cost & Tuition Rates - Texas One Stop - University of Texas at Austin; vs. <a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/paying-for-uc/tuition-and-cost/index.html”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/paying-for-uc/tuition-and-cost/index.html</a>) since you are in state. I like the state of Texas and the people are friendly … but … that is a lot of money.</p>