<p>While it is the holiday season, for high school seniors, it is also the frantic period of college admissions--I remember the feeling. So if anyone has any questions related to UT, BHP, Plan II, I'd be happy to answer them as best as I can!</p>
<p>NOTE: I am only slightly familiar with the BHP and Plan II admissions process in terms of deadlines this year. Also, no chance questions please! I know it's hard not to worry, but there's nothing you can do to change your involvement or stats at this point! </p>
<p>But again, happy to answer questions about the programs (life in the programs, opportunities within them, opportunities after them)--I know acceptances will begin rolling in soon.</p>
<p>@Cwillbounds, I really wanted a liberal arts education first and foremost, so I went in absolutely wanting to be a part of Plan II, BHP was actually incidental. In terms of BHP/Plan II, I don’t think there is a comparable education of both small, strong pure liberal arts and a strong business save for Wharton/UPenn–though many schools will offer a strong econ and business education. </p>
<p>And it’s been worth it in my opinion. There are people that end up dropping one or the other for some reason or another (some people just aren’t interested in liberal arts or business enough to stick with one of them), but for me, I enjoy getting an extremely well-rounded education and being able to learn just about anything. When I get tired of business, I like being able to switch to my Plan II homework. </p>
<p>Also, it’s great to be in two very small programs. I don’t know if I would enjoy UT as much if I didn’t get the small class experience. It actually makes a huge difference to see the same people in all your classes and have a pretty defined path for my four years. You form a special bond with your fellow Plan II/BHP-ers. If you get into both of them, I would highly recommend doing both and going from there.</p>
<p>I really like what you said about the homework switching thing. I think I might be the same way. I like learning a ton of different things, not just one. I’ve been admitted to Plan II and Computer Science and was wondering about the whole combination thing. I think that if I push myself, I can make it. Thank you so much for your descriptive answer! It really addressed what I was wondering.</p>
<p>What are the advantages for gaining credit for AP classes. I know there is a page on the website talking about the classes you can test out of but I wasn’t sure if those were required courses or what. If my school does not offer AP macro/micro should I try to study on my own and try to test out? Thank you so much in advance for your help!</p>
<p>@txlonghorns, I’d highly recommend AP-ing out of everything you can. While the intro classes can be great (there are some great professors for econ), they do also take time and sometimes a lot more effort than the time you would take to study for the AP exam. </p>
<p>So absolutely for econ, calc, and govt, AP. That way, you can start taking more classes you want to take, lighten your load (and future community college load) and get an overall better experience. Also, the more AP you take, the more hours you will come with and that will help a lot with course registration times–which can be brutal sometimes.</p>
<p>@txlonghorns, For AP Stats, if you can’t take the class, I wouldn’t recommend taking the AP exam for BHP since you will have to take that class no matter what.</p>
<p>I’d recommend taking US History and European History for Plan II reasons–you’d take out 4 semesters worth of credit easily.</p>
<p>@txlonghorns, I’d say no if you’re for sure going to be in BHP/UT Austin. However, if you’re willing to pay the price for the AP Exam, it wouldn’t hurt to take it anyways if you decide to go to another school. Moreover, studying for it may help reinforce some concepts and keep them in your mind, which will make the Stats class at UT even easier since a lot of it overlaps with the AP class.</p>
<p>Thanks for doing this! I am a current Plan II applicant (I’ve been accepted into UT and my major but not into Plan II as of yet…here’s hoping ) and I was wondering if you had to choose between an ivy education (much like Plan II) and Plan II at UT what would you choose? Is the small liberal arts education WITHIN the super large ultra university better or worse than the ivy equivalent? Thanks again!</p>
<p>My son just applied to UT today. So, I was wondering, is it possible for regularly admitted students at UT to transfer into McCombs, BHP, P2 etc? Or does one have to be admitted as a freshman into these programs? thanks.</p>
<p>@deregon1594, so I applied to “top-tier liberal arts-focused schools” like Duke and Northwestern and was accepted into all of them and so my decision came down to fit. It’s really a cliche, but so important to consider where you feel comfortable. There was something so great about UT Austin, Plan II, Austin itself that I could not accept it. And for better or worse, I never had to consider money for any of my choices, so I really chose where I wanted to go.</p>
<p>And so with Plan II and Ivy League/top tier, you’re going to have a lot of questions to think about. Culture again is vastly different between the two. My friends from, say, Princeton have said that it’s more socially confined since it’s so small and the workload is truthfully ridiculously intense whereas UT everyone is Plan II is weird in a good way and the workload can be intense but more allows for you to take advantage of other majors, activities and learning for the sake of learning and explore outside of UT. And there are a lot of brilliant people in Plan II, but truth be told, the brilliance concentration is probably higher at a top tier school. But that can be good or bad to be sitting next a genius know it all–again, a preference thing. </p>
<p>Also, on a more academic level, Plan II classes are great, but as have noticed, the actual curriculum is pretty lean, so you’ll be taking a good deal of classes outside of Plan II, so know that if you were wanting to pursue another liberal arts major, it would be outside the “small environment” of Plan II and in the general UT environment. Moreover, I can’t speak to Ivy League classes because I’ve never been in one, but I do sometimes wish some Plan II classes had more rigor and refinement. Like I said, some of my favorite classes have been my Plan II ones, but some I have walked out feeling like it was a truly waste of time. Of course, that’s bound to happen at any school, but again when you consider how few Plan II classes there are, it’s always disappointment not to have all your classes be top-notch great. </p>
<p>If you have any more specific questions, just let me know!</p>
<p>@perazziman, Plan II does not offer a transfer program unfortunately.</p>
<p>However, BHP has a sophomore transfer process that accepts about 18-25% of applicants a year. Many have high college GPAs and a great leadership or work experience. And it’s great that BHP will only consider your college record, so you get to start on a blank slate.</p>
<p>That is great. How did you find out about BHP? I did not see it as an option on the application? My son’s first choice was engineering. His second choice was Business unclassified.</p>
<p>@perazziman, I found about BHP through the Honors Colloquium and my high school sends a few kids to the program every year. To apply, there’s an Honors Application.</p>
<p>From the BHP Website:
The Honors Application is a supplement to the ApplyTexas Application and will be made available to you online after you complete the ApplyTexas Application with Unspecified Business listed as your first choice major. </p>
<p>I can’t speak to how he would be able to apply as a freshmen since I assume his main interest is in engineering and he wants to leave that as his first choice, but you can always call the BHP office to talk to an advisor. There’s still one day left to apply, so I recommend it :)</p>
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