Hi, I’m new around here and I was wondering if anyone could tell me based off of personal experience my chances of getting in UT Austin or UMD. I am an African-American female with a 3.8 weighted gpa. This year I will . be partaking in a half day schedule and take classes at my local community college. I have been on varsity cheer all four years of high school and will most likely be captain my senior year. I have ran varsity track for two years and jv for one. Other than that, I will by volunteering with kids at a summer camp this summer, but that’s about it. I am highly interesting in business, but I am willing to go in college freshman year as undecided. Also, is there anyway I can show these colleges that I am interested?
In terms of UT Austin: are you instate? Do you know your rank? UT takes most of its students from Texas and a good amount from automatic admission (top 6% of one’s high school class).
I’m sorry I forgot to include that I am an out of state applicant for both schools.
Realistically, as an out of state applicant your chances aren’t good for UT, right off the bat. UT is state public university. The vast majority of the accepted body of students are going to be Texas residents. But, it’s not entirely impossible, just highly improbable. The true admission rate for UT, out of state, is below 10%, IIRC. Are you, by chance a recruited athlete? If not, UT is going to be a high reach.
UT doesn’t care about “demonstrated interest” as an admissions qualification. UT places high value on rank, rigor, test scores, essays, GPA, extracurriculars, community engagement, talents, etc… So, you don’t need to worry about showing them that you’re interested. You need to show them that you’re academically qualified, that you’re engaged in your school, in your community, and if you have some extraordinary talents, that would certainly help. In your favor, UT does care about diversity. What may not be in your favor, is that you don’t mention test scores, or rigor, and you only mention a weighted GPA of 3.8.
No one in these forums can tell you if you have a legitimate shot at admission to UT, especially from out of state. UT is a very tall order for in state applicants who didn’t attain “Top 6%” of their class, but are otherwise highly qualified. But, you’d stand a better chance of getting some sort of anecdotal assessment if you provided more information about your academics, extracurriculars, and community engagement. For example, you need to qualify an “weighted gpa of 3.8” with the scale, and also provide your unweighted GPA along with the scale (e.g. unweighted 3.5/4.0, weighted 3.8/5.0, or whatever the scales are for your school). It’d be much more helpful to get anecdotal opinions if you’d include your class rank (e.g. 64/317). Standardized test scores are also necessary if you want people to opine about your chances for UT. What about your class rigor? Did you take honors, AP, IB, or dual enrollment classes in grades 9-11? Do you have AP scores, or SAT subject tests?
I’m not sure if “UMD” is Univ. of Mass - Dartmouth, or Univ. of Minn - Duluth. Either way, you’ll probably still need to provide more info on your academics, rigor, rank, and test scores if you want members to give “best guesses” based on their anecdotal experiences.
^ Maryland
Thanks for the response! My school doesn’t share my unweighted gpa or class rank with me, so I’m looking to talk to my guidance conseleur about it. I took the SAT June first, so my score doesn’t come out until July 10th. I have not taken any SAT Subject tests yet. I take all my standard classes (english, math, history, science) in honors level and am planning to take AP english and AP Spanish next year for senior year. And yes, I used UMD for University of Maryland- College Park. Sorry for the confusion/ lack of information. Thanks again!
Most state schools , particularly the larger ones, which are the two you are asking about, have some sort of UW GPA/class rank matrix that is an important component of the admissions process. You have given us none of that information. Your weighted gpa will then give the schools insight on the difficulty of your curriculum.
Another very important thing is what your planned major is which indicates to what school or program within these universities you are applying. Some of the programs are highly competitive, others more competitive than others.
UT Austin is a whole other category of selectivity over UMD College Park. Because UT-A auto accepts the top 6% of most Texan schools, it has a limited amount of seats left for Everyone else. I do not recall the number of seats left in the last few years and what the % acceptance rate is for that group which is where you would fall as an OOS applicant.
As a AA female, you’re much better off applying to private colleges where race is taken into account more than UT Austin or UMD, of course assuming the private colleges are affordable.
Both UT Austin and UMD do look for diversity.
This is a chances thread so I did not go off into my usual discourse on getting a school that will definitely accept the OP and is affordable. But that is the most important thing.
It’s not easy to get money from most schools OOS to an applicant. Some schools do have scholarships open to all, but financial aid is s whole other story. Neither school meets full need, and OOSers tend to be last in line for money.
McCombs is hard even for the in state auto-admits (auto-admits guarantees admission to the uni, not the program of choice). It’s likely going to be a reach for oos with a 4.0 uw and excellent test scores. Also don’t plan on applying with an undecided major if you really want business. There is a formal internal transfer process at UT and internal transfer to in demand majors is far from easy.
I just wouldn’t waste the app fee on UT Austin. Where is your home state, what is your budget? Which 4 yr is affiliated with your CC so you can take credit for any classes?
No reason not to apply to those schools as long as likely bases are covered. Also make sure affordability issues are addressed.