Hello,
I just finished my junior year of high school and received my official class ranking and was pretty disappointed to see I missed the top 6% of my class by just 4 places. I’m rank 55/850 students. Going to UT has always been my goal and is what I’ve worked towards my whole high school career. Since I’m not in the top 6%, I’m very worried and have been looking a lot to see if I will have any chance into getting into UT into the majors of my choice as I know they are highly competitive. I’m wondering as to what are my chances of getting into engineering like chemical engineering or biomedical engineering or if I would have a better chance at going for a major such a biological sciences or one in that area. I want to do something pre med. Engineering would be my top choice but I’m open to other majors as well. Would anyone with experience on this mind telling me what are my chances of acceptance into either engineering or bio sciences and which might be a better option?
I’m top 7%
4.0 GPA or 99.4
32 ACT
NHS
Eagle Scout
Good amount of service hours
Many AP classes
In state
cw3131–All I can do is give you some encouragement. My oldest D16 was top 11%. She is a smart cookie, just didn’t play the academic game in high school that has to be played at her school, where folks drop out of their electives like choir to take extra AP classes to boost their GPAs. Anyways, she had the same ACT as you (32), but a 1420 SAT, and was a National Merit Commended student. She also had lots of AP credit, service hours, etc. She applied for aerospace engineering at UT Austin. She GOT IN!–although we didn’t hear anything until around the first of March. However, she ended up going to Baylor University because she won the faculty scholarship in the engineering school at Invitation to Excellence. I also know someone who was CAPped for next year, but yet I have seen Facebook posts about him attending UT Austin orientation. Perhaps he got off the CAP list? His major is communications. I would say that you may have a decent chance, but you might not hear anything until later in the spring. So, please make contingency plans accordingly. There are many fine places where you can get in and maybe even get some scholarships. Don’t shy away from private schools due to the sticker tag as they will often give better scholarships. Look at SMU, Baylor, UT Dallas, honors college/engineering at Texas Tech, etc. if you want to stay in Texas. These are each different types of schools, so think about what attracts you to UT Austin and also your price point, how far you want to be from home, etc. Many neighboring out of state schools will give high-achieving Texas students lots of aid money. Thinking optimistically, as a point of planning, you may need to look into private dorms in Austin (there are tons) so that you will be able to make housing arrangements late in the game. Some are the same price point as nicer UT dorms or even cheaper. I have a D20 who will apply to UT as a music major. She has around the same stats as older daughter class rank wise, but her SAT is a bit lower (1360). (Our family tends to do better on the SAT for some reason.) However, D20 will audition for vocal performance at UT, and we have already put a deposit on a private dorm. Good luck! I am a UT alum and hope one of my four kids will end up there…