Rejected from Cockrell Engineering School at UT BME?

Hi, I am a current senior that got into the automatic admit for UT but did not get into the biomedical engineering major at the Cockrell School of Engineering. Right now, I am questioning why I did not get in. I thought I had a good chance of getting in but apparently that was not the case. I did however turn my application pretty late, but it was in time for all the deadlines. Here are my stats:

Ethnicity: Asian American (Vietnamese)
Gender: Male
Income: $39,000
Hook: First generation

GPA: 4.0 unweighted; 5.27 unweighted
Class rank: 1/1009
SAT: (new) 1470 (760 math, 710 english)
AP Classes: took 7 APs (4 of em I got 5s, 3 of em I got 4s) currently taking 6 AP

ECs:
Academic Decathlon 3 yrs (captain for a year)
Swimming 3 yrs (varsity 2 yrs)
National Honor Society 3 yrs (president)
Mu Alpha Theta 2 yrs (secretary)
MITE summer camp (an engineering camp at UT)
UIL Math/Science/Calc App

Awards:
National Merit Commended
AP scholar awards
Couple of Academic Decathlon medals in regional competitions (in math, science, and econ)
Placed in various UIL events

Volunteer: (over 200 hrs):
Every wknd, I am a teacher aide at my Vietnamese Catholic Church helping teach Vietnamese to elementary school kids
Went on a mission trip for a wk and a half to Michigan
and other various volunteer events

Work:
I am a certified lifeguard with a First aid/CPR/AED/Lifeguard certificate

Essay:
A (write about environment you grew up in): wrote about how my parents first came here with no money and our start from the bottom. Wrote about how it felt to be a first generation.
B:(write about interest): Wrote about swimming. Wrote about how I went outside of my comfort level (had severe asthma) and eventually made it into varsity.
C: (write about ticket): Wrote about traveling back to Pythagoras and the time of the Greeks to see the Pythagoreans and their ideas. (sent this one through the myDocument system)

So basically what I am asking is what was wrong with my application, and what do I do now. I really thought I had a chance. I can apply to another major, and what I am thinking is chemical engineering at Cockrell. Is that a good idea?

Somewhat insane that they rejected a valedictorian (1/1000… awesome job btw) with a 1470. There’s really no glaring error here (maybe scores could be a tad higher), but I think chemical engineering is a good fit for you since BME isn’t possible.

I hope you applied for some private colleges for BME like Rice, BU, and Northwestern, because your 1st generation status and low-income qualify you for substantial financial aid (basically they’ll pay for everything).

I did apply and waiting for Stanford and Rice. But I have no hopes for Stanford tho lol

What are my chances for getting into chemical engineering at cockrell do you think if I reapplied that as my new major?

I also did not send any recommendation letters (it says it was not needed so I did not do them which was a bad idea I think). Do you think it is too late to get and send in recommendation letters in time for the reapplication?

@natoplato First rule of college - if it says optional, you need to do it. I am confused as to how you can reapply. The application process is closed. When you did apply, you needed to put two engineering majors. If you were not admitted to the first, they would consider the second. They want to see demonstrated interest in attending UT and Cockrell. If you did not do all essays, rec letters, etc., then that might have affected the decision. There can also be a downside to having too many AP credits going into college. If you are in-state Texas and your school’s valedictorian, then I would suggest you contact the UT Admissions department to see if you can appeal. However, you may or may not be successful. Did you get CAP or PACE? One allows you to attend elsewhere for a year and try again for admission, and the other allows you to choose a major in the College of Liberal Arts.

Are you instate? If so, Call and ask to speak to an Admission officer (not just the basic person who answers phones) indicating you’re valedictorian and wondering if there was a mistake in your file - it’s happened. Insist on talking to someone ‘in charge’.
Did you not get EITHER of your engineering majors?
BTW, indicate you’re interested in most engineering majors and wouldn’t e interested in any spot in engineering.

With those stats, can’t hurt to appeal. There were valedictorians who did not get in last year so you are not alone. I would get recs, send in any new information from this last semester and plead your case. Some of the top BME programs have not released yet ie Duke, Johns Hopkins,Stanford. There will be spots available at UT Austin. Appeal! Chem E is as hard these days so appeal to one you want. Bet you get into Rice. Good luck!

With those stats, I’ll bet admissions thought you were just using UT as a safety. Given you didn’t submit any letters of recommendation, that may have indicated low interest in the school by the Ad Coms. I’ll bet that is why you were denied admission. No idea where you go from here.

If others are reading this in the future, this is a perfect example of why you need to submit ALL the forms, optional or not.

In college admissions, I think optional means you’d better do it. It says right on the UT website that a resume is not required, but “strongly recommended.” Letters of recommendation are “appreciated” but not required.

How difficult to do a major switch once you attend UT? You are in-state with amazing stats, something is not adding up here. Maybe the essays that not strong enough? or other pieces not fitting in. I know BME admission is hyper-competitive, but given you are in-state and the class rank, you should have a shot. JMHO

I am a Texas resident. And they are giving a chance to change majors and colleges if you did not get in but it is first come first serve apparently.

My second major was biochemistry from the college of natural science and they have not told me anything about my second major, but I’d rather do chemical engineering so I’ll try to appeal to chemical engineering.

I will definitely do rec letters now. Do you think I can just upload it via the myDocument and it will be fine and reviewed? I’m really hoping I don’t get rejected again lol. I would love to be able to
go to UT.

natoplato:

I would make sure to actually talk to admissions and find out how to formally appeal and then upload recs through the appeals process so they don’t get lost in the shuffle. You have nothing to lose but really need to make your case and interest known. Did your school counselor give you any input? Sounds like not. Recs are really important and if you can get 2-3 from teachers asap then do it. As for picking a major from the list available, its like buying concert tickets - they go fast the day the list opens.

From what I have heard, the available slots are in the College of Liberal Arts. I highly doubt you will find a spot open in Cockrell or CNS even. There appears to have been a huge number of well qualified students given CAP or PACE this year. Good luck!

Ok so I called my local admissions counselor and asked if I could see why I did not get admitted and they said that they could not tell me why. And then I asked about the appeal and what are the chances of me getting into Chemical Engineering and she said that I had most appeals get rejected which really bummed me out. And apparently she said that recommendations do not hold a lot of weight in the application but I will still be sending rec letters anyways.

I will probable call again (probably a different person) and ask if they could double check my application to see if my rank and everything there was correct.

If anyone that got rejected from their first engineering but then got into their second engineering choice after appealing, please tell me your story and how it worked out. It would help me a lot lol

Also, tomorrow go to your GC’s office and ask him/her to check your office in case there’s a red flag.
It doesn’t make sense, so there may have been a mistake (those happen - like confusing your SAT 1600 score with a SAT 2400, for instance.)

I’m a little confused of the question. You applied BME 1st and 2nd as biochemistry. A successful appeal will require outstanding circumstances such as the wrong transcript being submitted or something outstanding of that nature.

I’m sorry you didn’t get in, and you sound like a SUPER qualified applicant. I don’t think that they would’ve rejected you because they thought UT was a safety. UT BME is the most difficult engineering major at UT to get into, so you competition must’ve been steep this year.

What exactly did your admissions portal say? Did is say you’ve been accepted but not to your major? If so, you were not accepted to your second choice major either, just the college of liberal arts.

I went to one of the UT admissions seminars and they said that anything with the words recommended by it is required in theory. That was probably the reason behind your rejection. That, or essays that came off poorly to the AO.

Did you apply to other schools?

An appeal will work if they made some major mistake in looking at your applicant. I would go ahead with it but the chances are slim they screwed anything up.

I’m very confused about this reapplication process. Where were you informed of this?

Side note: If your goal is to become a BME major, I would not recommend going into UT Austin in hopes of successful transfer into Cockrell.

Question: Why did you send in three essays? My understanding is that the max they look at is two. That might have come off as bad because you didn’t follow the pretty simple application instructions.

Ok so when I first applied I put Biomedical Engineering as my first choice, and then biochemistry as my second choice. They did not say anything about my second choice so I’m not sure if I got rejected from that too?? And I looked at my application again and I was mistaken. The majors that are available to me now are more liberal arts majors and not the majors that I want.

I honestly just want to get into the Cockrell School of Engineering somehow. I am going to definitely appeal because I honestly do not understand why I was rejected from Cockrell and probably the College of Natural Science too. Other people in my school with lower stats got into cockrell (through mechanical though). My essays could not have been that bad, and I thought I had a chance with my stats.

I have applied and got accepted into TAMU Engineering. I am waiting on Rice and Stanford (I will probably be rejected from Stanford lol)

And I sent in three essays because I thought it would help. I originally wrote A and B. And because I had to write essay C for TAMU I decided to go ahead and submit it to UT as well.

You can appeal, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.

If you weren’t offered a spot in biochemistry, you were rejected from both schools.

Could you elaborate on the part about first come first serve major changes?

Heres what it says on my app:

“Information on open majors will be available for a week before you will be able to choose your major. This ensures you have plenty of time to explore the many majors available to you—and carefully consider which ones may be right for you—before making a final selection. (Keep in mind that space in some open majors is limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.)”

But none of the majors they listed are the ones that I want.