<p>Texas public schools that rank, always use weighted GPA, and advanced classes weight more than regular ones. So with Texas 10% rule situation that you described is almost impossible.</p>
<p>There are other issues though, like many top students in “most competitive schools” take Kumon classes, summer classes and pay for private tutoring during summer on the subjects that they are going to REPEAT during school year in advanced classes. They study the same thing twice to assure A in the class. If you don’t do it it’s hard to be “in the top”. Also, in these so called “most competitive schools” because of weighted GPA the race is among those who take most of advanced classes. You take band, dance, football, yearbook, whatever “regular” class, you are behind. For me it looks like a robot assembly line.
I personally always despised these so called “most competitive schools”. They seem to produce a lot of very unhappy students with a lot of personal issues. Kids should go to school and enjoy it. How they can enjoy cut- throat competition, I don’t know.</p>
<p>OOS go through holistic review, non ranking (usually private) schools go through holistic review. So 10% rule doesn’t concern you at all. </p>
<p>what kind of help? What is your goal?
If it’s to get to UT Austin, the life always has different options, and you can always take different path to reach the same destination.
You can get into UT as freshman,you can get in from CAP program, you can get in as transfer student. In the end it doesn’t matter how you got in.</p>
<p>My BIL says to put the kids in a lousy school where they have a great chance of making that top % needed, it that’s the be all to end all. For them it was not. </p>
<p>I don’t know what your definition of “lousy school” is. Inner-city school?
There are not so many “most competitive schools” in Texas. I hope you don’t consider everything that is not “most competitive” being “lousy”. </p>
<p>It is not uncommon for kids to move schools in order to be at the required rank for auto-admit. That is working within the rules the state has laid out.</p>
<p>And some students that end up transferring schools get a rude awakening on their ranking. A student moved to our public school from a neighboring public school where he was in the top 5%. He was not even in the top 15% at our school. His school was not lousy at all and a fairly decent school. But obviously not nearly as competitive as ours. I know this fact will go against collegeshopping’s view since he obviously worked to get in the top 5% at the former public school but is not even close to auto-admit status now. The ranking changed not by his lack of study but by where he attended.</p>
<p>Sorry about the “lousy” as I had no school type in mind. Lousy to my BIL would have been a school where his kids could have easily made the percentage. Where my nephews went to school, was considered a highly competitive school, and they do get more kids accepted in a holistic review, later than most school, is what I was told> Also a high percentage of kids do go to highly selective schools, including ivies. Both nephews were accepted to top 25 national unis, but one did not make the UTA cut.</p>
<p>My son transferred from a very rigorous school to one not so rigorous. His gpa really went up at his new school, and he did much better in terms of college choices than his peers who stayed behind. Getting an A at his old school was not easy and he didn’t get any. He got nearly a 4.0 at his transferred school. So, yes, it can make a difference where you stand in rank in different schools, a big difference. </p>
<p>But if you would read everything and not just what fits your agenda you would have read that I also wrote:</p>
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<p>I understand the flaws in the law. As a parent I had a responsibility to my kids to make sure they were in position to be in auto admit status. (It was up to them to do the work but up to me to understand the details of the process) That meant not relocating during their High School years. (Example: our neighbors relocated to Dallas last year and their daughter is in the top 3% here. They had no idea how her rank would convert so my girlfriend and her daughter live in a very small one bedroom apartment in our town and the Dad and two smaller children have relocated to Dallas. She will graduate from her “4 year school”. It has taken a huge sacrifice on their part, but again, some people are just willing to do what it takes) I realize that is not always possible and I do have sympathy for kids who parents either did not have a choice or who have parents that simply did not take the time to understand how the whole process works. Is it the ideal situation? No, but the fact remains we know the rules, we know what it takes and spending energy to simply complain the process can be funneled into other pursuits that will yield greater results. The truth remains that the biggest complainers of the system are the ones on the outside looking in. And yes, I had child that was not top 10% but he happily did not want to go to a Texas institution and pursued other “non-weighted” courses and got an equally strong education. He was happy at his college. UT is not for everyone and not everyone cares where they rank. </p>
<p>I read the title, “Stupid Percent Rule” interpreted it, correctly in my opinion, as if the OP thought the world screwed him. I then posted, that “thousands of kids didn’t screw around and the will, and should, get in before you”. No matter how you interpret what I said, I do not see how you can disagree with my statement. If there is a student who focused on school for all four years vs someone who only tried hard for three years - and the rank of the latter isn’t what they want - the first student should be admitted before the second student simply because they are a better candidate for the University to admit. </p>
<p>No matter how you look at it, it is the truth. Too many people try to blame the world for their own mistakes and fail to take action. Even if the 7% rule is stupid, which it is, the OP shouldn’t be upset at UT for - most likely - not accepting him/her. </p>
<p>All your actions have consequences, and the consequence for “screwing around my freshman year” is that you probably won’t be accepted to UT. </p>
<p>Welcome to the world of competition. You cannot let up, or you will be beat. </p>
<p>Alright everyone, first off I never once blamed the school in anyway, rather mad at myself for the year of slacking. Second, this thread has gotten out of hand. I say thank you to those who offered actually advice and experience and am disappointed in those on the forum who were very quick to begin critiquing me, only from a misinterpretation, instead of trying to help. Isn’t that what this forum is supposed to be? There is far too much animosity over this topic</p>
<p>Ok I want to amend my last post. You did ask for help. I apologize for not offering any help, but my help would be to try and transfer into UT. </p>
<p>Let me add one word of advice to my post. Still apply to UT and build the strongest portfolio you can. Don’t let what people, like me, tell you on the internet get to you. If you think you can get into UT, go for it - and I hope u rlly do get in. </p>
<p>@dfwstudent are you a strong writer? The Plan II program is one of those programs that is looking for an interesting mix of individual. Yes, students TYPICALLY come from the top 3-4% but I do know of a few 20-30% that are in the program. It may be way outside your wheelhouse if you want to do engineering or architecture, but if you are pre-med, pre-law, business, etc, it might be a way to get additional exposure.</p>
<p>It’s not UT per se that puts so much weight on high school rank, it’s the data. UT regresses realized end-of-freshman-year GPAs against several variables in order to obtain a predictive formula. High school rank is one variable. The ACT/SAT section scores are the others. The data for each college ‘speaks’ as to which variables matter and with what weights. </p>
<p>UT is not alone in taking this approach. If any college of material size is not doing something similar, then they are being negligent. Where the X% rule falls down is that automatic admission does NOT include any other factor than class rank. Yet, UT explicitly uses these other variables in the holistic process. We have a major contradiction, but that often happens when politicians (from the shallow end of the gene pool) get involved …</p>
<p>Many of the problems of the X% rule can be addressed via UT applying a variation of their expected GPA formulas: formulas that allow high test scores to offset lower ranks and vice-versa. Our Aggie friends use a very simplistic version of this concept for their auto admit process. </p>
<p>Regarding the OP, high enough standardized test scores (section scores, not the composite) and a strong set of AP classes can still result in an applicant barely in the top 30% to project to, say, a 3.7 expected GPA in CNS or Engineering. Given that the average freshman GPA is about 3.0, such a student would have an excellent chance at getting admitted via the holistic process. </p>
<p>I think the rule is dumb as well. I ended up in the top 12% at my school, and I know if I wouldve gone to the high school 10 miles from my house I would’ve been at least top 6%. It’s really unfair to be honest.</p>
<p>Even though someone mentioned as an out of state student it doesn’t matter that much, I drive 22 miles to get to my [private] school, and don’t rank in the top 10%. If I went to my local school (less than a mile) I would be in the top 3% (I have seen statistics). I get an education unparalleled at my current school than at my local high school. Someone in a similar situation elsewhere (TX?) might feel screwed over too.</p>
<p>KosherBacon: Yeah, I felt screwed over too by the percent rule. The public school I attend is consistently in the top 100 of schools in America. Quite a few kids move just to attend another school nearby, where they change from top 10% to top 10. </p>
<p>At least the admissions people understand and know our school’s prestige and admit more of us than normal. Perhaps/ hopefully the know your school too and will admit more of the people in your class. </p>
<p>Even if you don’t get into UT, you will shine at some other school due to your superior high school education. And that’s a good thing too.</p>
<p>Why is that no one on this thread has discussed how the autoadmit class rank percents are dropping yearly as a means to make room for more qualified students?</p>
<p>UT made a deal with the state that they would only be required to fill 75% of their incoming freshman class with auto admits. Therefore the top % allowed in through auto admit will fluctuate yearly. </p>