<p>My S is a rising senior. He vascillating between Engineering and Business as a major. We know for business auto admit is likely for the top 2% of the graduating HS class but beyond that it is a slippery slope. As of the end of junior year he is top 3.5% so he knows that automatic admission is unlikely. As for engineering based on what the school presents all admits are by decision. For those of you familiar with the school do you find this to be true or is it more numbers based with some combination of rank and SAT? At the moment M is 740 but Verbal is only 550. So since time is limited would the best investment in time be on doing serious review to retake the SAT and bring up the verbal or on writing the best essays possible? I know it would be great to do both but he needs to set priorities. (In case that was confusing for anyone, he knows he will auto admit into UT the question is about how to best improve his chances for admission into business or engineering.)</p>
<p>If he’s in state, no matter what his major is they will begin admitting by the top 1% then 2% then 3% etc until about 3/4 of the major is full, then the rest are admitted by decision, along with the out of state students (this is what I was told a year ago by a UT recruiter). Only exception I know of is Biomedical Engineering, they have space for about 100 in each class and they admit those with the highest rank and SAT scores (M+CR).</p>
<p>That saiiiid, I suppose if a lot of kids in the top couple percentiles from their high schools were to apply to UT business, then perhaps he would be weeded out, but I don’t believe that’s the case. My impression at UT is that engineering has the most qualified students, but even then I think he’s safe if hes in the top 5% at his school. </p>
<p>In short, if he’s an in-state kid and wants to go to UT, he’d really just be wise to make sure his rank doesn’t slip.</p>
<p>Thanks Michaelwiggins! Humm…I wonder if anyone else has information about this. At the information session they made it sound like the decision is more comprehensive but they didn’t elaborate on what they based the decision on. Perhaps a phone call to admissions is in order. As for the rank slipping, as I understand it, if he gets his ap in in August with his current rank then that will be the rank on record. As far as I know since the applications are due in by Dec 1, there really isn’t an opportunity for rank to drop or go up based on grades. The only change that might happen would be in accoradance with students moving into or out of the school changing the number of students in the class and possibly changing rank based on the HS record of the new and/or leaving students. Does that seem right or am I missing something. I hope you are right about the top 5% and engineering because he is in state and at the moment seems pretty safely in the top 5%.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yea, they told us that when they gave an info session at my High School too, and they sort of avoided talk of auto admission… which may be wise, because it’s rather discouraging to know how difficult it is to get into UT if you’re not in the top 8% (and IMO, if you have impressive enough SAT scores to be admitted otherwise, you’re typically the type of student who’s in the top 8 anyway, which is why top 15’ers who get in are usually from very competitive high schools). But I digress…</p>
<p>You’re correct about all the rank-slipping business; if he’s a rising senior, then his rank is pretty much set in stone. BME is the only engineering major that I think he’d have a tough time getting into at the 3.5th percentile, but for the rest he’s got a very very good chance. Of course applying early would be wise since it is rolling admissions.</p>
<p>My only recommendation is that he work on his Verbal SAT score. The Cockrell school gives out TONS of scholarship money, and they will take SATs into account for those.</p>
<p>Best of luck,
-Michael</p>
<p>S. is entering Cockrell CHE this fall. The rank at the beginning of senior year is the only one that matters for admission purposes. UT does require a final transcript before admission is finalized, however, I suppose to try and limit the effect of senioritis.</p>
<p>I can’t speak about McCombs admissions, but the difficulty of admission into Cockrell varies quite a bit between the different programs. This last year, biomedical was probably the toughest to get into, due in part to the small number (100 or so) of slots. CHE was next–by all accounts it was brutal this last year. Mech E and EE have quite a few more slots, and are somewhat less selective, class rank and SAT-wise, but still not easy to get into.</p>
<p>There was a lot of discussion on this forum about what exactly they were looking at in the selection process. My general sense is that a certain smallish number get in solely due to class rank and SAT (say, a person who is valdictorian and has a 2300 SAT). After that group, high school reputation, senior year curriculum, AP scores and possibly engineering ECs may play a part.</p>
<p>I’d say your son’s class rank looks great for any engineering dept, with the possible exception of BME. The overall SAT score is probably low. Some people think the ACT is easier, and UT does accept those scores.</p>
<p>Actually–this year McCombs is going to have a holistic review process, so if you are top 1-3%, that doesn’t guarantee your admission anymore.</p>
<p>Thank you for the replies Zinala, would you be able to point me to those threads from last year or perhaps some key words. I was expecting to find information about this but I didn’t see it online. </p>
<p>UTAustinR: I went back and checked with admissions, they concurred that there will be no auto admissions in McCombs or Engineering. I expect that this could bring average SAT scores up even higher.</p>
<p>Where does it state that there will be no auto admissions in McCombs or Engineering?</p>
<p>^^^I didn’t see it anywhere on the website. In fact what I saw on the McCombs website was to the contrary. I called the admissions office and that is what the rep told me. With regard to engineering this matched up with what was stated at the information session. You might also call and ask. Let us know if you hear anything different. BTW when we visited we did speak with someone who was working the undergraduate office at McCombs and she repeated the information about auto admit as was stated on the website. The person I spoke with in admissions however clearly stated that there would be not autoadmissions for either. I had more confidence in what admissions had to say since all of this is determined by the admissions office (or so I have been told)</p>
<p>Spectrum2, no, sorry, I don’t know the exact threads. I just used the CC search function to find info. Try searching Cockrell admission.</p>
<p>Cockrell never really admits that they do “auto admits,” but some extremely highly qualified applicants are offered admission way before everyone else. For example, the guy who was the number-one ranked student at my son’s HS at the end of their junior year was admitted (into BME) in October, while my son and 3 other classmates had to wait until the general decision day (Feb. 15) to find out they were admitted to Cockrell. I don’t know what SAT score that boy got, but he was a NMS finalist, so I’m sure it was very high. I learned from this website there there were a few others who were offered admission early on, and they also appeared to have very high class ranks and SAT scores. So, while Cockrell may not be calling these kids “auto admits,” that is in effect what they are.</p>
<p>Architectural engineering is one of the hardest departments to get into, because it’s a very small one.</p>