@SATXMom2 & @nomatter
Thank you for the kind responses. I haven’t really been worried until he got deferred at Illinois on Friday. I would love info about transferring into engineering at UT if anyone knows.
For the record, my senior son does not seem worried in the least, it’s worry wart mama who’s the problem ?. His tests aren’t the best. He says a lot “dumber” kids have a lot better scores than him, so that’s the only thing that makes me wonder. His work ethic is amazing. He worked his butt off to be in the top 6% (he’s 32 out of 700+, but with his senior 1st semester grades I would not be surprised if he’s now higher) in a VERY, VERY competitive high school. I have no doubt of his ability to handle engineering anywhere, but man, the stats of some of the kids who were outright denied at Illinois is staggering. It makes me thankful that he was, at least, deferred, but it’s a stressful process (for me). Like I said, for him, he’s very chill and he’ll be fine no matter what, I have no doubt. If this is my biggest worry, I’m very fortunate!
@nomatter
We are we are in state. He’s in a private, Catholic School.
He has also applied to University of Washington but isn’t counting on it as it will be expensive and they don’t give much aid for OOS.
He’s applied for a couple of private schools in the North East as well but unless he gets serious scholarship money it won’t happen up there.
He would LOVE to be able to minor in Theater but we haven’t really found a place where that would be a realistic option while studying Engineering.
He may look at doing some community theater in the summers though. We shall see.
My son also has the same theater itch. Hard to combine Biology and theater.
University of Arkansas allows non theater majors to participate in University productions. Also, large scholarships available for OOS.
“The Cockrell School does not have a standard GPA requirement for internal transfer admission. The cumulative and required technical GPAs of admitted students vary by semester and requested major, as does the number of seats offered. During the 2017-18 academic year, 67.3 percent of qualified applicants were given an internal transfer offer.”
@Texex1998 First, getting in out of state at a state school anywhere is hard because state schools are typically required by their respective legislatures to admit students who come from tax paying residents, as it should be. So a deferral rather than an outright rejection isn’t something to sneeze at.
This is an aside but “He says a lot “dumber” kids have a lot better scores than him” is not a healthy way of viewing oneself or other people. People are not ‘fixed’ in their intellect. They are not ‘dumb’ nor are they ‘smart.’ If he means that there are kids who aren’t doing as well in school as him that have scored higher, that’s fine, but that does not make them ‘dumb.’ It might make them better test takers - some people do very well and others choke under the pressure. That would make people with very high grades, who don’t do well ‘under testers.’ With regard to classroom performance, some kids don’t find their stride until later and it could have to do with maturity or they may have problems at home interfering with their ability to study so they don’t do well in a classroom at this point in their lives.
This isn’t meant to be a finger wagging, just a heads up that what our kids tell themselves matters and comparing themselves with others - thinking of being ‘smarter’ or ‘dumber’ can undermine their efforts and their confidence. Again, this isn’t meant as a criticism, (I know tone is lost over the internet), this is just one of those things I think is important to share with our kids.
As parents the best thing we can do for our kids is explain the college application process is imperfect at best. It is not any kind of reflection of someone’s worthiness, or smartness, or value as a person. Sometimes our kids luck out and get in to their top choice and sometimes it doesn’t happen for whatever reason. Our neighbor always thought he’d go to McCombs but didn’t end up getting in. He went to A&M and made incredible contacts and completed a special program there. He is now working as an energy trader making big money as a 23 year old. His parent say they can’t imagine him having gone anywhere else, he was so happy there.
I hope the best for your son. That he has got A&M in his back pocket for engineering isn’t a bad thing. If he doesn’t get in to ME, the best thing to do is call the department and ask them how many internal transfers they let in this past year and what the average UT GPA is for those transfers. Get the numbers and make a decision with that information. That would make more sense than relying on your husband’s experience at Michigan from decades ago(my husband also has his engineering degree from Michigan - go blue!)
Honestly, I don’t think that many students have been admitted into their majors yet so that he doesn’t have answer means little.
@Jennibc Thanks for the insight, and yes, he was joking/kidding when he said that–his point was that he has a lot of friends who do not do anywhere near as well as he does in school/grades who scored higher on the SAT/ACT. He does not really believe that any of his friends/classmates are “dumb”–even the bottom of the class at his competitive school are college ready and 99% go to college and do very well. Many of my friends’ kids who have graduated and were not even close to the top of the class have found that they are star students in college. His high school prepares all students very well for the rigors of college, and neither he, nor I, think any of them are “dumb.” He is the last kid in the world who looks down on anyone, so I’m sorry that I put it that way because I know he was saying it exasperatedly and facetiously, but no one just reading that could know that, so your point is well taken. I know you were not angling for an apology, but I meant no offense, and more importantly, I know that he did not mean it that way.
@TexasEx1998 - good to know. The internet can be tricky sometimes and it’s hard to know when someone is joking. Thanks for taking my comment in the spirit it was intended.
@EraseEgo, not sure about a lot of students, but my daughter got it on the 12/13 wave. ECE. Applied in early September. She was an instate AA student (top 2%) with good ECs and 1580 on her SAT.
No reaponse for us yet. Auto-Admit,.but 1st choice was a dual major: Architecture/Architectural Eng…
One of my daughter’s friend did get an acceptance for CS major.
Assuming a “wave” by definition is something that impacts a large number of applicants none of the ones we have seen so far would classify as a wave, in my opinion. I would assume there would be a lot of chatter in this group after a wave. I have checked prior year’s postings and have seen that there are pages of posts from those impacted after a “wave”. Haven’t see yet unless I have missed it.
The Reddit UTAustinAdmissions lists all of the confirmed wave. It seems from their reporting that most of the “waves” were more like wavelets or ripples
My DD was accepted last night (Monday, December 16) into COLA. No email notification, she just randomly checked the portal. Having followed this thread for a few weeks now, it appears there are both larger releases as well as random/smaller releases that do not follow any pattern - the latter observation confirmed by our own experience. We are OOS which perhaps had something to do with timing.
Thank you! She is over-the-moon excited. UT is one of her top choices! She applied mid-October and is still waiting to hear back from Liberal Arts Honors.
@nomatter in 2018 my son got into Engineering at A&M but not Engineering at UT Austin, so not sure what UT Austin looks for so needless to say my son is at A&M now. I have a senior daughter now accepted into Biomedical at A&M and awaiting decision for her major at UT Austin in Biochemistry has already been admitted to UT Austin in Oct.
My son is auto admitted to UT Austin in November. Applied couple of days before Nov 1st. Waiting decision for his major (Computer Science). His rank is 35/834.
