<p>My son will apply for fall of 2010. He's a Texas resident and NOT in the top 10% at his very competitive high school (not far under, but didn't make the cut). His current understanding is that there is NO incentive to apply to UT before the deadline as they must get all the top 10'ers figured out before even considering other instate apps.</p>
<p>Can anyone confirm that this is true? I told him I'd ask the experts here to confirm.</p>
<p>No, I would spend as much time as possible working out the application and making it good, as you are going to be competing for a limited number of spots and they won’t admit you unless they are positive you will be admitted anyways.</p>
<p>The number of top ten admits for Fall 2010 is supposedly going to be in the 90-95% range of all Texas applicants, so your application needs to be flawless to have a good chance of getting in.</p>
<p>Thanks! That’s what he thought, so good to have the confirmation.</p>
<p>Yes, he knows he probably won’t get in. His ACT score was 99 percentile and his courseload was very rigorous, but I’m told it won’t be enough. It’s all about the rank.</p>
<p>The only way he won’t get in is if he doesn’t apply, he can try to get into one of the less competitive majors then transfer out or he can apply straight into it, and with his ACT in the 99th percentile he should be able to get in especially if he has good ECs and the rest, yes rank is important for UT but its not everything, and if he’s as good as he sounds he should be able to get in or be CAPed which means he goes and does a year at another UT school then if his GPA is above 3.2 he gets automatic acceptance to UT.</p>
<p>But also apply early because they’ll have more time to look at his application rather than if he applied at the last minute because if he applies at the las minute it will be harder for him to get in and thats at ANY university in the US.</p>
<p>UT is his first choice, but we are both leery of the CAP approach, so if he doesn’t get in he will go OOS. The transferring just seems so disruptive! </p>
<p>What about letters of recommendation? He got through the common app, but the scholarship part asked some questions he didn’t know how to answer, so he stopped and is waiting for me to help him fill those in. He said he didn’t see any mention of letters. Would they help? He was planning on asking for them, but his 2nd & 3rd choice schools didn’t need them.</p>
<p>Well unless he plans on applying to the honors programs he doesn’t need a rec. letter at least to my knowledge, i didn’t need one except for Plan 2…</p>
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<p>…and the top 10% law (likely) fails yet again…</p>
<p>If he gets in, will he want to live on campus? If so, he should apply early and get his housing application in as soon as his application for admission is in.</p>
<p>Yes! The housing is an excellent point. If he doesn’t need the recommendation letters (we thought he did, but they will take longer) he can go ahead and apply as soon as his high school releases the rankings. For some reason they aren’t available until mid-september. </p>
<p>I guess he should email admissions to find out if the letters would be read if sent. He’s not applying for honors, so no reason to bother the teachers if they won’t help. I do think they would write nice things, but so would everyone else’s teachers I guess.</p>
<p>Appreciate all the help!</p>
<p>Ya, I would apply ASAP. I sent my application in very quickly, and then updated my SAT scores in Novemeber and was accepted. I was outside of the top 10% and had a 1940 on the SAT with a 1350 composite. My GPA was a 3.8 out of 4 however and I went to a compettive high school. </p>
<p>Recomendation letters are a good idea. I sent mine in about a month after the application opened. </p>
<p>DP</p>
<p>chaos,</p>
<p>What majors did you put on your application? Did you get your first choice?</p>
<p>i don’t know if this is too late to respond, but a word of advice that i have heard for male applicants- apply to be an education major then transfer out because oftentimes the education school wants males to apply.</p>