My Chances of Making it into University of Texas at Austin? (Early Chance, will update Senior Year)

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
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Current Grade Level: 11th Grade

Desired Major(s): Biology specializing in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases or BS in Psychology

Current GPA: 3.93 (unweighted)

Current Rank: 103/797 (over the years my rank has dropped gradually, 88/886 freshman year, 101/845 sophomore year)

AP Classes I have taken/currently taking/will take: World History (scored a 4), Psychology, Chemistry, Language, Physics, Biology, Calculus AB, Literature

Pre-AP Classes taken/currently taking/will take (not sure if Pre-AP is comparable to Honors, it has the course load and GPA boost of an AP without the exam for college credit): English for both freshman and sophomore years, Biology, Chemistry, Geometry, Algebra II, Precalculus, Chinese II, Chinese III

ACT Score: haven’t taken it, am planning to ASAP

SAT Score: 1310 (this was my first time taking the SAT, will be retaking it)

PSAT Score: 1380 (admittedly I didn’t study for it)

Other Colleges I’m Considering: UTD, UTSA, Texas A & M, Texas State

Extracurriculars: did debate 9th grade (NSDA, won first at one competition because it was late and everyone just wanted to go home, I’m not good at public speaking so I ended up quitting), orchestra since 7th grade (I play the violin, continuing senior year), art from 6th grade up to 10th grade (placed in 2 district shows but that’s really the extent of it, art is more of a hobby and I had to drop it from my schedule this year to fulfill another credit), HOSA 9th and 10th grade (had to stop going to the meetings due to schedule conflicts, am considering rejoining senior year)

In State Resident

Asian American, Female

Other important details: I’ve been taking health science classes all through high school since I’m planning on applying to medical school after my undergraduate studies. I have also taken US History over the summer and will take Government and Economics this summer.
My work ethic is the major cause of the downward trend observed in my class rank. I was lucky enough to get away with A’s early on in my high school career up until this year (received a 78 and 79 in AP Chem and Pre-AP Precalculus respectively for my first marking period). I am working on improving my work ethic (mainly poor time management since it’s the source of why I’ve been getting lower grades than I’d like) since the current state of it will not carry me through college, let alone medical school.
I have three alternatives in mind for if I don’t get accepted into UT Austin. One is to go to ACC for my freshman year, fulfill the class requirements and then transfer. The second is to attend another school I might get accepted in and transfer if I remain persistent in going to UT Austin. The final option is to stay at that school if I enjoy it. The CAP program is also something I am considering but am on the fence about due to me wanting to major in Biology.

Please chance me for UT Austin or any other colleges I’ve listed, as well as other factors (such as teacher recommendations, essays, extracurriculars, etc.) that I could work on in the next few months to boost my chances into getting accepted. Also, feel free to leave any other alternatives for if I do not get accepted into UT. I am pretty new to the whole college application process, so I will be seeking out an advisor as soon as possible. Please inform me of any other information I need to know/should be provided.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

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Your stats are a good match for UT and Texas A&M. In all likelihood, you’ll get into both schools. Texas State, UTD, and UTSA would be excellent safety schools.

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Your stats are a solid match for A&M.

UT places the most emphasis on class rank due to the automatic admissions rule, which will be 6% for your graduating class. If you’re not ranked in the top 6%, then you should consider UT a reach since you’ll be evaluated holistically against non auto-admits and out of state students (who tend to have competitive profiles). Being in state gives you a bonus. Take advantage of UT’s holistic process and make sure you write great essays/have outstanding EC’s before you apply.

I’ve seen negative reviews about CAP on this site. Don’t do it.

In any case, apply early. A&M tends to give out majors to early applicants. It would be beneficial to apply early to UT as well. Good luck!

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Yes, UT is a reach for you, but you can try!

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@sentry1080 Ah, I see. What have you heard about the CAP program? I was considering it as an option if I didn’t get into UT Austin straight away, especially since I am considering majoring in Psychology. Thank you!

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Yes, psychology is in the College of Liberal Arts, which is under the CAP agreement, although the only guarantees admission to MOST Liberal Arts majors. That may or may not include psychology.

I mainly heard the negative reviews on CAP from applicants seeking transfer into highly competitive majors at UT such as business or engineering. For any college outside of Liberal Arts, you’ll be evaluated holistically against other applicants in your transfer pool. But if you are fine with transferring into the College of Liberal Arts, CAP may be an option for you. I suggest you contact UT for additional details on which majors are guaranteed through CAP.

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@sentry1080 Thank you for the info!

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you need to get your SAT scores up quite a bit. don’t worry about both ACT and SAT, concentrate on one and get your score higher. get a teacher recommendation from someone who know you VERY well and can be your advocate. take the essays seriously and demonstrate a level of personal reflection. significant multi year leadership helps a lot.

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@atxwhsmom Thank you for the advice!

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You have some pretty impressive stats! I’m in the same boat as you, having just accepted admission to UT to study microbio on a pre-med track (small world isn’t it?) and honestly your profile sounds almost like a few kids at my school (I really wouldn’t be surprised if we were classmates.) For some things you can do to boost your profile:

Definitely try to do something over the summer to show involvement in health sciences or biology. Might be a bit late but anything along the lines of healthcare volunteering or summer research is a major boost.

Get involved in biology/health clubs on campus. You mentioned HOSA, which is personally my favorite club at my school, I would definitely get involved with that.

You’ve also mentioned this haha but just keep grinding and focusing on getting those grades up. Your grades don’t define you but it does really help to get them as high as you can (but not to the extent that it hurts you.)

For your UT Austin essays the main thing you’ll have to consider is WHY you want to go into the field of study you want. Whatever that raw and authentic reason is (and it can be reeeeally dumb like mine, a videogame got me interested), write your essays about it and other honest anecdotes.

In the end of the day, everything above doesn’t as much guarantee you admission to UT, but it does improve your profile as a whole and just makes high school a more fulfilling experience. Wherever you go you’ll definitely rock it with those self-reflection skills you showed in the post. Best of luck and feel free to contact me with any other questions!

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@NoNameIdeas Wow, what a coincidence! Thank you so much for your tips, I’ll definitely be needing them for the summer lol