<p>moochi, I was with one of the advisor and he was not really pleased that I want to enroll in TIP for the classes.</p>
<p>xtra - but then what do they want you to join tip for?</p>
<p>As a parent of a student who will enter TIP this fall and an administrator from another university, I wanted to share my thoughts on TIP. We have a similar program where I am and many schools, like UT, have a variety of tiered honors programs. First, a brief bio on the daughter top 10% admit, small HS, accepted to 2 reach schools with higher admit standards than UT, accepted to honors programs at other schools, writes extremely well (good application essays) but just 90th percentile on SAT/ACT so not in LA honors or Plan II so overall good student who will succeed with or without TIP.<br>
As a parent, what I like about TIP additional advising, peer mentor, social network, some smaller classes. As an admin, I like program distinguishes the student from their peers, offers assistance that will assure success, inspires academic excellence.<br>
All the students at UT are good. The students asked to apply to TIP have to be considered good enough to invest additional resources in. The perceived randomness in selection is likely because the decision on who to accept is primarily based on essays (indicating desire, motivation). I am assuming that my daughters acceptance is based on her essays and small HS attendance. I am glad she will be in TIP because it offers advantages and allows her to develop certain skills more readily. The biggest disadvantage of UT is its size. TIP helps with this drawback.</p>
<p>Really? o.0 I applied to Gateway which is the exact same thing and I put that as a reason for wanting to join and I got in. I don’t see why they would be angry about that.</p>
<p>I’m a TIP mentor for the 2010-2011 academic year, and I can assure you all that being in this program is in NO way meaning that you will be “dumbed” down. Being selected to be a TIP scholar is a really great honor, and you all should be so proud that you have been considered/selected! There are over 1,000 incoming freshmen who apply to be accepted into the program, and only 300 students in total (150 Natural Sciences and 150 Liberal Arts freshmen) are selected to be TIP scholars. Basically you are assigned to a mentor who is a current student at Texas and they help you throughout your first year in college get adjusted to the high school-to-college transition. There are SO many advantages to being in this program from having a mentor there for you to help you through your experience to meeting new people to being tutored in classes you are having difficulty with. (Not to mention registration as well!) You will also be in the same classes as some of your fellow TIP scholars, which will be a great way to meet new friends. I just finished my freshman year here at Texas, and I can tell you that I would have LOVED to have been in a program like this. I had a difficult first semester meeting new friends, and I feel like this type of program would have allowed me to have had such a smoother, more comfortable transition. UT is a HUGE HUGE school with over 7,500 students in your freshmen class, and it is so easy to feel lost and uncomfortable. Being in the TIP program will provide you so many resources to excel academically and opportunities to meet people who are experiencing the same things as you are, why would you pass that up!? Also, as to being accepted, they select people who are in the top of their class academically (not necessarily the valedictorian or anything, but students who were successful academically in high school). They also give preference to those students who have had some hard experiences throughout their high school years, such as a death in the family, having to work a lot to support themselves and their family, being a first-generation student, coming from a underrepresented/rural area, etc. It is not a “must” criteria to be selected, but they look at these students more, because they feel that the resources and opportunities of the TIP program will be extremely beneficial to these students who have had tough experiences or backgrounds. So many people put a lot of time and effort into this program, so you should feel so honored to be selected!</p>
<p>Sounds like a great program - thanks for writing about it!</p>
<p>Can sophomores still apply to TIP?</p>
<p>Yes, sophomores can apply for the Texas Interdisciplinary Program. But only freshman are admitted to the TIP Scholars program.</p>
<p>texas2013, I get the impression that TIP Scholars is more distinguished than the Texas IP program I apply for transfers and/or current students, it that correct?</p>
<p>Im in TIP and Texas IP fellows is the next level up,</p>
<p>it is basically a way to write a senior thesis, they allow you to choose up to three classes that pertain to the topic youre going to write about. Make a case as to why you wanna write about this, and then write a research paper your senior year in the capstone class which you will send off to national scholarly journals and present to a group of people. Its good if you want to be published as an undergrad, for grad school.</p>
<p>Darkfusion raver, That is what I thought.</p>
<p>The stuff you do as a Texas IP fellows sounds like it would be great to put on your med school application. Unfortunately, a lot of people apply before their senior year so you wouldn’t have written the senior thesis yet. However, it does sound like an awesome program to be in if you genuinely enjoyed doing those things.</p>