Please chance me for the college of natural sciences.

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

Hi guys, I’m currently going to be a senior at Westwood high school in Austin TX. I was wondering if you guys could spend some time and consider my chances at UT (dream school) and possibly give me some advice. Thank you so very much in advance.
I’m also considering a&m and rice so any advice on those two would also be helpful
Here are my credentials:

-31 ACT (plan on retaking it senior year)
-3.8 GPA weighted, 4.1 GPA weighted (calculated using standard TX rules)

  • 1410 SAT

1420 PSAT (1% possible national merit)

class rank- top 20%
(high school is extremely competitive)

The problem is my grades dropped after sophomore year, I did not do very well my junior year, I was very busy with my extracurriculars, and some other personal issues.

Extracurriculars:
Freshmen year:

  • part of IB program
  • member of westwood aerospace engineering club
    -volunteer for AKS (local religious group) 100+ hours
  • started math tutoring business-had around 8 kids
  • volunteered at cedar park library 50+ hours
  • worked at Kumon for 3 months

Sophomore year:
-part of IB program (dropped junior year and went to AP)

  • member of DECA
  • volunteered at local temple (50+ hours)
  • member of Westwood aerospace engineering club
  • had up to 12 kids for tutoring business at this point, making more money bought my own car with money saved
  • volunteer at CAMP CAMP for 300 hours helping out kids with mental and physical disabilities
  • attended BEATS academy (health program) at UTHCSA

Junior year:
-member of National Honor Society
-continued own tutoring business, built website and got 15 kids at this point, $15000 saved up so far.

  • member of DECA
  • member of HOSA
  • Member of SKILLSUSA, got 3rd place at Regional for medical terminology and went to state competition
  • volunteer at CAMP CAMP for 200 hours helping out kids with mental and physical disabilities
  • attended medical camp at Harvard Med School
  • volunteered at local hospital for 100+ hours

Also I’ve done the following AP classes

APUSH (5)
AP Comp sci
AP Biology (4)
AP STAT (4)
AP ENG LANG (4)

And I plan on taking the following AP classes

AP ENG LIT
AP Physics
AP Psychology
AP CALCULUS AB
AP Env, Sci

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

2

What are you intending to major in? With a 31 ACT something in the College of Liberal Arts is definitely possible. If you’re trying to major in something like Business, Engineering, or a more common Pre-med major (ex. Biology), which seems more likely given your EC’s, it will be more difficult because of your rank. Not being an auto-admit definitely hurts you more in more competitive majors.

3

I’m trying to possibly major in neuroscience or biomedical engineering

4

Biomedical engineering is probably the toughest major to get into. I’ve seen valedictorians with 2300 SAT scores turned down from that major. Neuroscience would have to be easier than bioengineering to get accepted. Again, treat UT Austin as a reach and have some good safety schools.