<p>I think its a good idea. What UT might forget is that the top 10% differs from school to school. Because of class size, competitiveness and other factors, someone in the top 50% of a very small, rigorous, magnet high school could be in the top 10% of a large public school.</p>
<p>Smiley, UT knows. That’s why they don’t like the 10% rule -it really ties their hands. I’ve received quite a few emails from UT related orgs (TexasParents, TexasExes, etc.) encouraging us to contact our state reps.</p>
<p>Forgive me for asking what’s probably an obvious question, but I’m not familiar with all of this, since we live in Maine (but three generations of my family are Longhorns). If this bill is passed, will it help my OOS son, who will be entering college in Fall 2010?</p>
<p>I know my dad will be thrilled if this passes, because he’s a UT prof who does not like the 10% rule at all.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>liu02bhs - The media isn’t listening carefully enough and can’t be bothered to verify the numbers so are throwing that 81% around like crazy. Of course UT doesn’t attempt to correct them. The numbers on UT’s site show that is only the percent of in-state freshmen who are Top 10%, not the total number of freshmen. </p>
<p>zlc - The orgs who are contacting you are for the changes or against the changes?</p>
<p>I like this 50% by rank idea. It won’t affect me now (this year it would have helped me…) but I think it will be one of the most fair things that could happen right now.</p>
<p>And it’s not got to guarantee a rejection for those top 10%ers outside of the top 50%… well maybe for those who never took AP/Honors classes and tried to play the system in the first place! UT really cares about rank so they’ll still have an advantage in the admissions process.</p>
<p>what is this top 4% rule for california schools? i am from california and this board is the first i have ever heard of it.</p>
<p>surely it’s not for the university of california, unless it just guarantees placement at one of the campuses? it seems unlikely that the top 4% would have any trouble getting into some of the less popular UC campuses, though.</p>
<p>Nunya, the emails don’t explicitly suggest a position, but the intent is pretty obvious.
Below is a recent letter from the UT President (Bill Powers) that follows his “2008 State of the University Address” [President</a> Powers Delivers 2008 State of the University Address | The University of Texas at Austin](<a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/news/2008/09/17/powers_address-2/]President”>http://www.utexas.edu/news/2008/09/17/powers_address-2/) that included this statement:
And we need to modify the Top 10 Percent Law. This year, 81 percent of the Texas residents in the freshman class were automatically admitted under the Top 10 Percent Law. That’s up 10 percentage points over last year. By this time next year, projections indicate that all Texas students enrolling in the fall will be admitted under this law, and some Top 10 Percent freshmen will be forced to enroll in the summer. By 2013, and that’s only five years away, we will be forced to reject all graduates of Texas high schools who are not in the Top 10 Percent.</p>
<p>We need to modify this law or we will have a very one-dimensional student body, without students who have exceptional skills not measured by class rank. The musician or the dancer. The student body president, the newspaper editor, or the gifted leader who is in the 11th percentile of his or her class. We must regain control of our admissions process, and we can’t do that without modifying the Top 10 Percent Law.</p>
<p>A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT | FEBRUARY 2009</p>
<p>Dear Friends,</p>
<p>The 81st Texas Legislative Session is under way, and its outcome is important to UT. A predicted budget shortfall, a weak economy, the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, and other issues will make it a challenging session for legislators and those of us who depend on state revenue.</p>
<p>State support for higher education is an important issue. From 1990 to 2008, general revenue from the state has grown at 1.9% per year, far below inflation during the same period. As a result, students and their families have absorbed more of the burden through tuition increases. At UT we are responding to the economic conditions with a salary freeze for top administrators, a hiring freeze in selected areas, and other austerity measures.</p>
<p>We are greatly concerned about affordability. But its important to realize that regental control of tuition, so called deregulation, has been critical to maintaining quality in an environment of declining state support. Tuition policy must be balanced with state appropriations and financial aid programs to ensure affordability and access.</p>
<p>Many of you have expressed an interest in the Top 10% Law. We have published a report on the law and its impact on our campus based on data collected since the law went into effect in 1998. The report is available at <a href=“Home - The University of Texas at Austin Office of the President”>Home - The University of Texas at Austin Office of the President. There are strong indications that the Legislature will revisit the Top 10% Law during the session.</p>
<p>We aspire to make UT the best public university in the nation. To that end, we have forged ahead with the capital campaign. We have now raised $790 million, more than a quarter of the way toward reaching our goal of $3 billion. Many of you have contributed, and I thank you. We appreciate every contribution, large or small. Your dollars make a difference in the lives of our students. I hope that everyone who values the University will participate. We have been asked to provide a simple way to give. The link below is just that. Please contribute if you are able.</p>
<p>Give Now</p>
<p>This marks the beginning of the second year of my periodic email messages to friends and alumni. I appreciate all the replies that I have received.</p>
<p>Best wishes from the 40 Acres,</p>
<p>Powers signature</p>
<p>Bill Powers
President
The University of Texas at Austin</p>
<p>About this email: Message from the President is a periodic electronic letter for alumni and friends of The University of Texas at Austin. If you do not wish to receive future email messages on this subject, you may unsubscribe or email your request to UT News.</p>
<p>The University of Texas at Austin
No. 1 University Station
Austin, Texas 78713</p>
<p>Just make it Top 7.5% get automatically in.</p>
<p>MaineLonghorn - A change in the top 10% law will definitely help your son. At the rate things are going, it won’t be long before UT will not be able to admit any out of state students. They will have more in-state top 10% students wanting to attend than they have spaces for.</p>
<p>I should think having a UT professor for a grandfather should get you admitted easily!! ;-)</p>
<p>Queen, I wish!! The one way Granddad HAS helped was to hook up my son with the assistant track coach! They’re e-mailing each other back and forth. DS would be one of the slowest on the team, but the coach is still interested in him (they cut kids from the northeast some slack because they’re underdeveloped due to short running seasons). DS just came in 9th place in a national 2-mile meet (as a junior), so that might help his chances, too.</p>
<p>My friends are always surprised that I had to pay regular tuition (except for scholarships I earned) since my dad was a prof. Oh, well! Getting to use an F parking sticker every once in awhile was a nice perk.</p>
<p>The Senate will pass the bill, but they don’t have the votes in the House to pass the bill.</p>
<p>The main reason I don’t think the law needs to change is the fact that after this year’s entering class, the number of grads will decrease, so changing the law will defeat the very person. UT also probably shouldn’t have REDUCED the size of the entering class as they have since the law was passed, rather than increasing it. Since 2002 or so, the university has dropped by 5000 students to 47,000, which is outrageous considering more and more students have been graduating from Texas schools, peaking with the class of 2009.</p>
<p>UT is huge. I’m for reducing it more. Not everyone needs to attend UT. Texas should establish another flagship university. It and Texas A&M could absorb the students who couldn’t attend UT.</p>
<p>Although nationally the peak graduating years are 2009 and 2010, we are no where near the peak in Texas. Dallas and Houston are the 2 fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country. Texas is not only a “sticky” state, but it continues to attract due to its relatively stable job market. This problem will not be resolved by waiting.</p>
<p>UT reduced its enrollment at a bad time, true, but they are still one of the largest universities in the country. 40 acres is just 40 acres. Housing, class size, etc are all issues.</p>
<p>My proposal - install a match system.
All top 10% students apply by Nov 1.
They list their top 5 choices in order of preference.
The state places the top 1%, then the top 2%, etc. until each school fills 75% of their freshmen enrollment. (They won’t yield 100% of these students)
The top 10% also check a box indicating their desire to be considered at certain schools if they are not accepted to their first choice university.
Then they are placed into the general pool with all other applicant for their designated university or universities.</p>
<p>which will be discussed first, Senate Bill 175 or House Bill 52?</p>
<p>I’m not sure. My husband got a letter yesterday from Beverly Woolsey (our rep), who is one of the sponsors of the bills, laying out her reasons for supporting a change. She didn’t mention when it would be debated, but the Austin American Statesman article yesterday made it sound like it would be today.</p>
<p>I hope we hear the results soon.</p>
<p>Here’s the latest:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/03/24/senate_expected_to_debate_univ.html[/url]”>http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2009/03/24/senate_expected_to_debate_univ.html</a></p>
<p>But, then this from the House 
so maybe nothing will ever get done!</p>
<p>[At</a> session’s midpoint, House passes no legislation](<a href=“http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/03/24/0324halfway.html]At”>http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/03/24/0324halfway.html)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>AND:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic! Gotta love our state legislators!!</p>
<p>Here’s another little gem from the House:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is the level of competence we’re dealing with ;)</p>
<p>If the law doesn’t change then write to Obama/Biden and they will make sure it changes because Americans voted for change last November and President Obama is a president who will listen to the people, not the lobbyists.</p>
<p>I think President Obama has a lot more on his platter to worry about than some silly state law…</p>
<p>I received this from the ex-Students Association today. Looks like it passed the Senate. The house bill should come out of committee later this week:</p>
<p>Today, the Texas Senate approved on third and final reading SB 175 by Senator Florence Shapiro, relating to a cap on the Top Ten Percent Law, by a vote of 24-7. This bill is now on its way to the House for consideration. Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst and Senator Shapiro deserve our greatest appreciation for passing this legislation out of the Senate. While the bill came out of the Senate with several amendments, they are all acceptable and give UT flexibility in the admissions process.</p>
<p>We ask that you please send a handwritten thank you note (no email or phone calls please) to Lt. Governor Dewhurst and Sen. Shapiro, in addition to any of the other Senators who voted for SB 175.</p>
<p>Here are the YES votes:</p>
<p>District 1 </p>
<p>Anyonr know what happened with this today in the House? It was supposed to be up for discussion.</p>