Out of State Plan II/Regular Liberal Arts Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
1

<p>Hi guys,
I know all the "omg what are my chances?" threads are probably annoying, but being from out of state, i'm wondering where i stand in terms of the possibility of acceptance into plan II. Any input would be awesome:)
GPA: 3.93 unweighted ~4.3 weighted
SAT: CR- 800
Writing- 750
Math- 730
SAT Subjects (Plan to take in October)- French, Literature, Math II
AP English Comp score: 5
Senior Year Schedule: French 4, AP Calc, AP Econ, AP Lit, Biochem, Debate, Gov, Dance II</p>

<p>EC's and other stuff:
national merit commended (waiting to find out if i advanced)
4 year varsity dance team (captain)
3 year policy debater with some success (qualified to and debated at nationals, won various regional tournaments, i actually attended summer debate camp at UT which is what sparked my interest in the school)
3 year National Honor Society
2 year French Club president
4 year member of Elite, (it's a dance company not affiliated with the school, but i've won different awards and competitions dancing with them)
3 week summer program at University of Texas National Institute of Forensics
3 week summer program at Gonzaga Debate Institute
120 volunteer hours for fresh start (it's a freshman mentoring program at my school)
100 volunteer hours teaching at dance camps for kids</p>

2

<p>Regular Liberal Arts - you're in
Plan II - what is your class rank?</p>

3

<p>my school is out in the sticks in oregon and doesn't rank...but i imagine in the top decile</p>

4

<p>Peach,</p>

<p>You are within the numbers for applicants that Plan II typically admits. Here's a link to the statistics for last years' applicants: <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/students/profiles/freshman_2006/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/students/profiles/freshman_2006/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The big unknown with Plan II is where the out-of-state (OOS) students fall within those numbers. It could be that OOS students have significantly higher numbers than Texas residents or it could be the reverse. My guess, and it's just a guess, is that far more Texas residents apply to Plan II since it has an excellent in-state reputation. Thus, there may not be that many OOS applicants with the high SATs and GPAs that Plan II wants. (This would explain the 94% Texas resident statistic. UT, as a state school, requires that approximately 70-80% of its students be Texas residents.)</p>

<p>Like all good liberal arts programs, I'm sure Plan II wants geographic diversity so the fact that you are from OOS may actually work in your favor. On the other hand, as you can tell from the link, Plan II apparently has more qualified female applicants. It appears you may be a female and, if so, the competition will probably be more intense from a gender perspective. My guess is that these factors would balance out or perhaps work slightly in your favor.</p>

<p>The fact that your HS doesn't rank may work against you. Our son came from a non-ranking school and my feeling is that it helps if Plan II knows the HS and believes it provides a good preparatory education. The Plan II advisors are excellent and will give your application a careful review but they may not know as much about your HS. If possible, ask your guidance counselor to provide as much information as possible about your HS (e.g., curriculum, where other graduates have gone to college, AP courses, national or state ranking, etc.) to send with your Plan II application.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the help. Though it is a liberal arts program, do you think plan II can really strive for/attain geographic diversity as it's part of a state school? Do you know of anything that plan II specifically looks for in its applicants?</p>

6

<p>Peach,</p>

<p>
[quote]
Though it is a liberal arts program, do you think plan II can really strive for/attain geographic diversity as it's part of a state school?

[/quote]

Actually, I do think so but it depends on what you mean by diversity. UT will never have more than 20-35% OOS or foreign students. Under Texas law, approximately 70% must be Texas residents. If diversity means “more than 50%” then UT will never be geographically diverse. However, UT has around 50,000 students. If 20-30% are not Texas residents, then at any given time there will be 10,000-15,000 OOS and foreign students at UT. That’s a lot of people, and certainly as many in numbers as you would find at the most geographically diverse liberal arts or Ivy League college. So if you measure diversity by how many people are there for you to meet and interact with, UT is diverse and there will always be people to meet who may share your interests.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Do you know of anything that plan II specifically looks for in its applicants?

[/quote]

My guess is that Plan II primarily looks for 3 things:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>High GPAs and National Merit recognition, especially National Merit finalists and semi-finalists. Look at the past years’ freshman classes and these factors are consistently noted. <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/students/profiles/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/students/profiles/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li>
<li><p>Plan II seems to have an emerging interest in geographic diversity, although I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or by design. The Plan II website notes the percentage of non-Texas residents and last year it specifically mentioned where the OOS and foreign students were from: “Non-Residents from: India, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Illinois, Tennessee, New Mexico, New York, Mississippi, Washington, Wisconsin, Colorado”. <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/students/profiles/freshman_2006/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/students/profiles/freshman_2006/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li>
<li><p>To a certain extent, Plan II cares about applicants’ interests and ECs but I don’t think they are looking for any particular activity or accomplishment. My view is that Plan II wants students whose ECs reflect a person who is willing to work hard in order to accomplish a personal goal. In other words, I think Plan II is looking for mature students who are interested in working, learning, and taking advantage of the resources UT has to offer. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>It’s interesting how many Plan II students pursue dual majors in disparate areas: the young lady who wants to be a doctor and an astronaut, the young man studying Russian literature and business, and the theatre major who is also a mathematician. Here’s a link to some of the dual and triple majors from last year’s graduating class: <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/students/profiles/graduate_2006/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/students/profiles/graduate_2006/&lt;/a>. Now multiply that by 4 and you have an idea of how many interests these Plan II students are pursuing. The nice thing about UT is that it can support these varied interests, because it has over 130 majors in 12 colleges. I think Plan II wants students who will take advantage of what UT offers.</p>

7

<p>eatatpeach - you have the stats...great applicant. just wondering, why UTA? I mean, with those stats you have a good shot at a top 30 private school for maybe 5k a year more compared to UTA OOS expenses. But I'd say Liberal Arts college will be easy for you and you will likely get into Plan II.</p>

8

<p>just like brand says. you'll def get in. Also I hope UT isn't your first choice. With those stats you could get into UCLA or Berkeley and be closer to home. Or top LACs if thats what you want.</p>

9

<p>i'm pretty sure it's arguable as to whether a top LAC is better than PlanII....PlanII has such a good reputation.</p>

10

<p>Brand- When I was in Austin, I stayed at UT and loved the campus + city. UTA also has a wonderful debate program; im interested in schools that offer competitive policy debate in case i decide to participate in college. But yeah, I'll be applying to a lot of little liberal arts schools too (which seems sort of counter intuitive...applying to schools with 2000 kids, and a school with 50,000). They both appeal to me though, so i guess i'll just see where i get in.</p>