Transferring to McCombs (MIS) or COLA (Economics) from ACC

Hello everyone. I’m an ACC student interested in applying to UT Austin.

My target schools/majors are McCombs (MIS) and COLA (Economics), as the title suggests.

Now, from what I have heard from my college/transfer adviser, once I have completed 30+ credit hours at ACC, the only thing that will factor into my admission chances to UT Austin is my College GPA. Naturally, I am curious to hear what you folks have to say about what sort of GPA would be necessary or optimal to be admitted to each of these programs, feel free to give me an estimate.

By the end of this spring semester I will have completed ECON 304K and ECON 304L, as well as a handful of other classes that overlap both of the degree plans I specified earlier. I also plan to take MATH 408K (Calc I) this summer.

Another concern of mine regarding application and admission is what to select as my “preferred” major. Would I apply to each of these schools separately with the aforementioned majors as my preferred choices, or can you only have one preferred major for the entire university? I have a feeling that I wouldn’t have a shot at McCombs if I don’t put it at the top of my list.

Your first choice major will be your “preferred” major. The first choice major that you pick should be treated as your try or die major pick. So if you want to get into McCombs pick it for your first picked major.

The main problem that I am seeing is that you list that you’re going to be completing MATH 408K this summer. You can’t apply to the business school or to the economics program if you do not have Calc 1 AND Calc 2 done (unless you’re doing Applied/Business Calc). Make sure you have these done. See this page for pre-req’s
https://admissions.utexas.edu/explore/prerequisites

I see. I’ve taken a look at those required courses.

If I won’t have calc 2 completed until the end of the Fall 2017 semester, then I will only be able to apply to COLA for Spring 2018 and McCombs in Fall 2018 (Because they only admit fall applicants).

Would it be better to apply to UT under a different major for Fall 2017 and then just attempt to internally transfer to COLA/McCombs from there? I’m not sure if I want to do that though because if I stayed at ACC until Spring 2018 I could be taking classes that are still applicable to both Economics and MIS, I fear that if I go in under a different major my courses may not be relevant to the degree plans I am aiming for.

Well I would be very careful trying to hope on an internal transfer. You don’t want to bet your future career and academically on the chance of getting into a different school once in. I would recommend talking with one of the advisors at your school and seeing what they would recommend for someone in your circumstance as I wouldn’t want to give you an answer that’s well thought out.

I see what you mean and you’re probably right. I’m leaning towards staying at ACC for another (Fall 2017) semester, knocking out calc 2 and a few other things, then transferring to COLA as an Economics major for Spring 2018. Honestly, I’d be more than happy to be there and maybe if I really excel at my studies then McCombs might be on the table for later.

Looks like the min required GPA for an internal transfer to Mc Combs is 3.25 but the average GPA of admitted transfer students for Fall 2015 was 3.80. That is pretty high. https://my.mccombs.utexas.edu/My/BBA/Internal-Transfer

Indeed it is. Gotta aim high though!