Any updates on the portal or still says in review" for EA applicants (those who have not yet heard back? If any updates kindly post here
Agree @atxmomof2
Insane, right? We know 2 kids who were rejected who got into top 20 schools. We know another with a 1500+ SAT, 4.4 GPA, good EC and included Eagle Scout…capped. Know another who got into a top 20 and didn’t even get a BHP interview. One has to wonder what UT is doing. Ones who were auto are pretty much all who didn’t get capped and none of them are going to UT. The other few who got into top majors all had lower stats but were under represented minorities.
Sorry, I went there.
I think that’s too broad of a brush @xtexasmom. I understand the feelings are raw right now but using CC for those stats would not be accurate. There were URMs that got CAPped here too. I do find it interesting that so many people are for diversity, …until it affects them.
The reality is that UT only gets to shape 1/4 of their class. That’s just the way the law works, so I can understand that they are very holistically selective about those spots. Those top 20 schools are getting to hand pick whoever they want for each and every spot. It’s apples and oranges, really.
Admission rates for holistic review (non auto admit) are in the 13-15% range according to the Tex Admissions guy and recent data. That’s on par with some of those schools (not Ivies but some of the others, if you look at the overall acceptance rate. ED skews the equations a bit.)
Half of the admission algorithm for UT is the personal achievement index, ie not scores. I personally think people underestimate the power of essays, myself. And LORs and URM status could certainly make a big impact too.
My daughter was accepted through holistic review (homeschooler) and then into Plan II. Her stats were high (34 ACT) but we don’t expect her to get into a more selective school. It’s just the nature of the game that you never know what a school is looking for, right? It’s definitely frustrating (this whole process has been stressful!) but I’m a big believer that cream rises to the top and most of these impressive kids will land a good fit somewhere that will really want them.
@xtexasmom My dd is an underrepresented minority and she was capped also. So being a urm isn’t always a meal ticket. She has high stats ACT 35, 4.0uw/4.5w gpa. Homeschooled right here in Texas all of her life. Graduating a year early at 16 and have been taking dual credit classes all with A’s since 7th grade. She has awesome volunteering (that she’s been doing since the age of 12) and EC’s, leadership, great teacher recommendations and she is a great writer. She didn’t apply to Top 20 because she wanted to go to college right here in Texas. We plan to appeal. We are all still a little dumbfounded by UT’s last wave of decisions.
I agree with a lot that you guy are saying, but I do think the school has a very liberal bias at this point and is deliberately looking for certain types of kids. I was not using any stats from this website by the way, we actually know the people I was referring to. The underrepresented minorities we know who are really doing fantastic getting into great schools are typically as well educated and as well off (or better) financially than anyone else we know btw. They are great kids and nothing against them-thrilled when anyone is doing well- Just pretty rough to watch UT pass on other kids that are more qualified.
I also think turning away kids who test in the top 99% with good ECs, national merit, and good grades is very arrogant of a public college with a 40% acceptance rate and an average ACT of 29 no matter how few extra kids they can take. As to the essays…I would expect that most kids who actually wanted to go to UT and made a 35 or 36 and 1500+ on SAT know how to and wrote decent essays.
You are 100% correct-All those kids capped will find great schools and be successful. It honestly just makes me sad for UT that they are having to turn away so many very qualified kids. System is not working the way I would like to see it work as an alumnae.
@xtexasmom just curious: how would you like to see the system work? I understand that this topic is fraught, and the college application process can be frustrating and at times feel random, but I don’t understand what you feel should be done differently. And I have no idea what a “liberal bias” means re the “type of kids” they are looking for (and I don’t think any of us can draw any accurate conclusions at all from a thread on CC or people you know).
Just wondering, for those who have commented along these line, aren’t the admission guidelines pretty clear re: in state auto admit, in state non-auto admit, and OOS/international students and how they’re reviewed? Please don’t take this comment the wrong way - I’m just confused about why people are upset and trying to understand if I missed something.
I hesitate to weigh in on this, but UT is being harshly judged! They only have 15% of the spots for students they choose, and there are going to be some amazing students who do not get chosen (including National Merit finalists, perfect ACT scores, etc.). If you are applying to engineering (the most competitive program due to national recognition) or business, chances are low to receive admittance. Each year more people apply to UT-53,000 this year, and they also accepted less this year as well. I know it is hard to understand ‘why’ when so many kids have outstanding resumes, scores, start athletes, etc. but UT only has so many spots. They certainly are upfront about looking at kids holistically and considering the environment in which they have come from. If you attend a highly competitive high school (public or private) and your ranking is below 6%, even with excellent test scores, chances are slim. Rank is very important, and there is no way to tell why they pick some kids over others. Celebrate the college admittances you did receive because chances are there are students dreaming of the schools you considered 2nd/3rd choice.
Is there big legal action every year? I cannot see how this isn’t all going to blow up nightly. How often is AA challenged? And with class action lawsuits or mostly individual challenges? I think UT seems to do a good job of fielding OOS applicants and making the yield really low, so it is only the instate process that causes this angst. I personally never buy that big state schools really do holistic anything, Texas obviously needs another desirable public. As it seems that isn’t TAMU (yet), there needs to be some kind of future that involves a UC type approach where there are multiple highly regarded state publics. It is more than obvious that Texas has the students. How has there been no school that has really started working it’s way up in popularity? The privates are irrelevant to the issue IMO. Is CAP the way the future schools might grow?
If my child didn’t get in, I would definitely be having a pity party right now-I feel for all of you! I agree, there are not enough spots for all the qualified students, and automatic acceptance takes up most of the spots. I do think the admission process for UT is crazy and seriously stressed filled and flawed! Why the waves? I do think Texas A&M is a great school (on par with UT), but has a completely different vibe to it. There are also other great schools in Texas, but UT has always portrayed itself as the best and doesn’t care what anyone thinks about how they handle admissions. This is my last comment, promise! Good luck to all those still waiting to hear!!
Just wanted to add my CAP stats. I applied to RTF, and there isn’t a good amount of info about RTF on CC, so here’s some information for the 2024 kiddos.
SAT: 1400 (690 on math, 710 on reading)
GPA: 4.27/4.5 weighted, 3.8 uw, I go to an arts magnet school
RANK: I got to an unranking school of <200 kids, but I’m pretty sure it’s around 13%
ECs: editor of school magazine, contributor to school newspaper, summer program at a top film school where I worked on upwards of 10 short films, key crew on a professional film set in NJ this summer, volunteer abroad program, peer mentorship program at the school, and taught workshops for writing to middle schoolers.
Congrats to everyone who got in! I’m going to be appealing my decision because this is pretty frustrating for me.
We know students in my child’s school who were well within the top 6 percent with outstanding resumes, very involved in school and community, and yet were rejected from their major. In the top 1 to 3 percent. They are auto admit and can attend UT but were not accepted to their major, so what is the point? Yet others in the SAME high school ranked significantly lower were accepted to that SAME major. Not saying that these other kids weren’t deserving. But what is the point of the 6 percent rule then? The fact is that the majority of the kids trying to get into UT these days have very impressive resumes. Who is qualified to judge what is more impressive or more important, than another? Very subjective. To hear of students getting in who are not in the top 6 percent and yet students well within the top 6 percent with outstanding ACT / SAT’s as well as outstanding activities/resumes being rejected does not seem right. I don’t know - maybe these were errors? It is puzzling.
Refresh your status! Admissions confirmed that my daughter’s CAP decision was a glitch and it was updated (automatically) this morning. YMMV, but it’s worth checking. My AA kid’s status now says “You’ve been automatically admitted to the Class of 2023 at The University of Texas at Austin. Your application is still being considered for admission to your requested major.”
@atxmomof2 Great news. Congratulations to you and your daughter. Did you or someone else have to point out their mistake, or did they figure it out on their own?
All CAPped applicants and their parents rushing to refresh their EID screens…
Hard to know what prompted the change. Here is the email from her high school counselor:
"I spoke with ---- in Admissions and he said that there may have been a glitch because, as we were speaking, the status changed.
He asked that she go into ‘My Status’ and see what shows now.
Please keep me posted!"
I think @Meadow530 has hit it on the head with “I personally think people underestimate the power of essays, myself.”
We were told during visits to UT, that with holistic review, the essays are very important as it is the only chance for admissions to get to know the student beyond the stats. I think essays can definitely tip an application in one direction or another.
@NorTexApps I think my DD is one of the few that was actually “not sad/mad” to get CAPped. I knew her chances were less than 1 in 10. I agree with you. I think it was her essays/back story that at least got her the option for CAP. Essays over grades/test stats,…wait for it.
Congrats @atxmomof2 to you and your daughter. So glad that it was just a glitch!
Ah so there IS a possibility of a (systemic) technical glitch! Very interesting. I wonder how common it was, if at all…
To expand upon the essays thing, this was something we devoted a lot of thought to. Plan II has a huge emphasis on writing and 40% of the evaluation was based on the essays. In doing a lot of talking to others and reading online, it seems like a consistent complaint from Comp teachers at 4 year schools is that kids graduate (even AP English) with lackluster writing skills. I’m sure it’s highly variable but I definitely wouldn’t assume that just because kids have 1500s and high ranks and even AP 5’s means that they are writing breathtaking college admission essays. I also read a lot about kids using trite overdone ideas in their personal narratives etc. I wonder if some kids are missing an opportunity with these essays…they don’t realize how important they are in the PAI even with strong academic indexes.
My only point in this is that there are factors that are knowable to us as outsiders (rank and scores and ECs) and factors that are unknowable. And perhaps the unknowable-from-a-distance factors about some of the accepted and unaccepted kids are a broader range than we assume. If one kid’s essay is scored a 4 and another a 6, with everything else nearly the same…that could be the difference between in and CAPped or in-your-major or not.
@atxmomof2 Glad to hear about your daughter. I hope she gets in and gets notified quickly that she’s in. With her being auto-admit, it was distressing to hear that she originally got capped. What a rollercoaster!