<p>I'm applying to UT from out of state. My first choice is communications-RTF, but my second choice is Liberal Arts-Rhetoric Studies. Does anyone know anything about how hard it is to get into the rhetoric studies program? Does anyone know of any majors that are easier to get into within the liberal arts school?</p>
<p>My school doesn't rank, but I have a 29 act. So how would UT generate my ranking?</p>
<p>Thanks alot</p>
<p>Your high school provides UT with a “high school profile.” They use that to see, more or less, where you fall among the other students in your class.</p>
<p>I think Hindi/Urdu might be a good major for odds of acceptance because I think the College of Liberal Arts needs more people in that major for the Hindi/Urdu Flagship Program.
The UT Austin admissions routine for students not automatically admitted is elaborate and entails a broad concept of merit. Beginning with the entering class of 1997, for those not automatically admitted, the idea of merit was expanded from class rank and test scores exclusively to the inclusion of the following factors:</p>
<p>The Academic Index (AI)
<p>The Personal Achievement Index (PAI)
Socio-economic status of family
Single parent home
Language spoken at home
Family responsibilities
Socio-economic status of school attended
Average SAT/ACT of school attended in relation to student’s own SAT/ACT
Race (addition approved by the UT Board of Regents in 2003)</p>
<p>Thus, merit includes the ambition to tackle rigorous high school coursework, the production of quality prose, and the desire to make a difference in one’s school, home, or community. Evidence of employability (work), and some sense of having excelled in any number of areas are also considered. Moreover, admissions officials place these attributes in the context of the circumstances under which the student lived.</p>
<p>The Academic Index (AI) is determined by a multiple regression equation utilizing a high school percentile derived from an explicit class rank [1-(class rank/class size)]*100, and verbal and math test scores from the ACT Assessment or the SAT I: Reasoning Test. The equation produces a predicted freshman year grade point average.</p>
<p>After a review of the high school transcript, an applicant can be “awarded” a tenth of a point if he/she exceeded UT’s required high school curriculum. Thus, AI values range from 4.10-0.00.</p>
<p>The Personal Achievement Index (PAI) is UT Austin’s holistic approach to admissions. Admissions officers are trained each year to conduct comprehensive reviews of every application from students not automatically admitted. All applicants are required to submit two essays. Each are read and scored on a scale of 1-6. The application itself, and any attachments an applicant chooses to include, is then reviewed. A “personal achievement” score on a scale of 1-6 is then assigned to the application.</p>
<p>From the three scores, two essays and a personal achievement score, a PAI is computed. The equation reflects a 1997 faculty decision to give slightly more weight to the personal achievement score than the essays:
<p>AIs and PAIs of applicants not automatically admitted are then plotted on an admissions decision grid.
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