<p>Hi, I posted before and got some helpful advice but I need to know what to do next. Let me recap my situation. By the way I talked to admission department few times and they aren't that helpful. All I heard was "apply and try your best.."</p>
<p>I guess you can consider me a 'non traditional' student as i had almost 4-5 year break in college. My first semester as a college student was really bad (various factors but I take full responsibilities) and I failed most classes. I dropped out of school until enrolling in another school a year later. In that school I got mostly As then I dropped out again until I moved to Austin.
I enrolled in ACC last fall and in the two semesters I have kept up a 4.0. After applying to UT for Fall admissions, i was denied. My cumulative GPA came out to a 3.19. I know that UT ranks everyone by GPA and then adjusts based on different things but I guess I wasn't good enough. I have work experience, good essays, excellent trend in grades, extracurricular activities, etc. </p>
<p>I was obviously disappointed, but now I want to appeal or figure out a way to get into UT.</p>
<p>I have 61 credits and I really do not want to take any more credits because that will look bad and lessen my chances of admission for next Spring.</p>
<p>I was thinking of retaking those classes I failed (i retook couple of them and got As) and the classes I got B/C in (those were like 2-3 classes). I also applied to ACC honors program (i didnt know it existed until today). What I found out was that for classes that I took twice they will average the grades (this way I won't have too many credits and my GPA can increase). </p>
<p>Any advice, tips as to what should I do? Sorry for the long read.</p>
<p>By the way, I can't apply to any other school or move out of Austin because I do not have anyone to support me and I built up my life and work here the past couple of years all by myself. I just want to finish up my degree for now.</p>
<p>Texas State has a satellite campus in Round Rock (near Ikea) too.</p>
<p>You might want to check with Concordia or St Ed.'s also. As an independent student, you may qualify for financial aid that brings the tuition into the same range as a state school.</p>
<p>no, i meant about getting into UT, not trying to find another school. i know about texas state but it is nowhere competitive as UT or maybe A&M or something else… that’s why i mentioned i cant apply to any other school or move out of austin.</p>
<p>what should i do to increase my chances at UT because this is ridiculously stupid (they said if i can get my old school to drop those grades from my transcript then UT would reconsider me, that makes no sense because it doesn’t change the student I was or will be).</p>
<p>The amount of credits will likely not affect your chances - I was accepted as a transfer with 72 hours - all it will do is add to the hours you have to take in residence which might suck, but if you want in to UT, you might just have to suck that part up. Keep taking classes at ACC, keep your GPA as high as possible, be involved on campus, etc. Keep showing them the positive trend in your academic performance - that’s really all you can do at this point. But it might help to be a bit more realistic and have some back up options, i.e. St. Ed’s, Southwestern, Texas State, etc.</p>
<p>@sts-As you mentioned, UT admissions is very stats driven, and VERY competitive. The 3.19 GPA is the issue. What is your major? Different departments have different requirements. If you are applying to McCombs or Cockrell, you GPA should be in the 3.7 range. Other departments are not as competitive, or weigh other factors more heavily.</p>
<p>However,as Sundoll suggested, you really should seriously consider other options so you can finish your degree. Since you are an older student, completing a degree (soon) is more important than where the degree was earned. If you really want a UT diploma on your wall, you can always go there for grad school. Most grad programs only consider the GPA from your last 60 hrs for admissions.</p>
<p>Why, exactly, do you want to transfer to UT? I mean, you might have a better chance getting into UT if you are transferring into education (I’m not sure how this works), but if you are not interested in getting teacher certification, that wouldn’t be a good idea. </p>
<p>If your goal is to have a UT diploma on your wall and be in the UT alumni network, finish your BA somewhere and go to UT in grad school in your field. Grad school admission is NOTHING like undergrad admission. The people who evaluate you for admission are in your actual field of study; if you want a master’s degree in chemistry, you only have to impress the chemistry department.</p>
<p>If your goal is to be part of the UT community, you could finish your degree somewhere else and get a job at UT.</p>
<p>There used to be a back door. This was UT’s night school extension program. You could take courses at UT at night without having to be officially admitted. I’m not talking about the “hobby courses” offered by UT either. They are real classes, taught by UT professors. The only thing is that I think the amount of courses are limited and you can’t earn a degree that way. However the good thing is that your GPA transfers with you when enter the full time program (unlike transfer credit from outside the University). If the program is still around (have not seen many advertisements in at least 5 years), you might be able to continue taking courses internally at UT. I would say that you could make a very strong case for yourself with a semester or two of straight A’s in the night program. That is, ofcourse if its still around.</p>
<p>yeah, i spoke to UT and asked if I could take classes at UT, they said I could take their night classes but it wouldn’t count towards my 60 credit I need to take at UT. </p>
<p>I don’t mind taking more classes at ACC but I am just afraid that they might reject me for having too many credits. That is why I was asking if I should retake the few classes that I did bad in because I think they will average out the GPA then. </p>
<p>The reason I want to get into UT is because I moved to Austin from the north east mainly because of UT. It would be useless to move all the way over to TX and just not end up at UT. I knew I wanted to go to a big school with a good reputation. I know the kind of student I am and kind of resources UT provides. However, since I have my own business, I established myself in Austin, it would be hard for me to move anywhere else now. I also can’t afford any private universities. If I could, I wouldve stayed at the school I am accepted at (NYU). </p>
<p>I just don’t want to get a degree for the sake of getting a degree. I know I want to get it over with but I want to also learn. I do not plan on using my degree to earn money but i want to be properly educated and be able to utilize the resources at UT. </p>
<p>By the way, I want to study International Relations and possibly minor in math but I would be happy at the College of Liberal Arts. Not to sound arrogant or anything but I am not a 3.19 student, even though that is my cumulative GPA. I don’t think one semester should make or break a student. </p>
<p>Sorry for the long reply, but I hope that it makes sense. Thanks and I appreciate all the inputs :)</p>
<p>Sorry to beat a dead horse with you on the extension program, but there is an academic advisor listed on that website who you can email to get further clarification on transfering your credits. As far as I remember, they were pushing the night program hard to transfer students a while back and the courses are fully transferable to UT. I’m saying that if you are going to continue taking courses (or perhaps retake courses) doing them at UT and getting A’s would probably help your case a little better than taking the same courses at ACC. If you were rejected again, and you appealed, they would have a tough time saying that you aren’t UT material when you’re getting straight A’s at UT. A lot of students (myself included) took business foundations classes while in undergrad at UT. These courses gave us upper division credit and were marked 320F in the business school (for non business school students). I am almost positive you can take those classes, get upper division credit and transfer them to UT’s regular program. I know they offer them at the night school. Now I’m not saying you’ll get a business degree, but it will count towards a minor in business for sure when you transfer them to the day program.</p>
<p>I was accepted to the engineering program with a 3.56 gpa and 84 hours. Don’t worry to much about the amount of hours you have. Just get the gpa up.</p>