What blog are you referring to?
So many AA students from my D’s school are still waiting to hear about CS and engineering. Top 1% kids. My D is AA and got into Moody speech pathology undergrad program a month ago.
@Jennibc I like reading your insights, thoughts and experience. Thanks for sharing your experiences and perspective. Glad to report that my S20 got admitted to McCombs today. He saw it around 6PM… We’re very relieved. We’re in state and submitted application on Nov 1st. He applied to BHP we have not received any interview so most likely it’s a no… My advise to him is work hard in freshman year (his freshman high school GPA dragged him lower) and try for internal transfer. Not sure how many spots they have for transfers.
I read this interesting quote earlier today… "The reality for all students is that in the next year, you will end up somewhere that will both challenge and value your ideas, your talents, and your perspectives. And when you get there, that is when your journey of exploration, discovery, and growth will truly begin…”. Good luck Y’all
@franknd On average, UT Austin gives more financial aid than is typical at TAMU, and TAMU’s tuition is marginally higher than UT. So, for students and their families it’s not exceptional that it makes a difference. Further, TAMU and UT are very different schools, with very different vibes. And, different standards for admission. Fit really does matter, and it works both ways. First, the student is supposed to evaluate the university, then the university evaluates (by their standards, not the arbitrary and slanted-in-my-favor standards made up by applicants and their loved ones who want be in the advantaged position) the prospective student when an application is submitted.
I think that your opinion on UT ‘dithering’ is what UT would call holistic review. UT and TAMU don’t have the same yardsticks. They don’t have the same criteria. They don’t have the same reviewers either. They both have proprietary methodologies that work for their very different institutions. So, it doesn’t surprise me, in the least, that UT/TAMU have different decision timelines and quite often even different outcomes for the same applicant. Pretty much like every university that isn’t open admissions.
UT absolutely has a ‘matrix’, two of them in fact. AI and PAI are what UT use to measure their applicants. With each transcript, UT receives a school profile so that they can contextualize the applicants’ AI and PAI. Prospective students are reviewed in the context of their school/environment, not in the context of some other random school/place that they didn’t attend and that is irrelevant to that applicant.
The public universities don’t set the requirements for automatic admission, the State does. Other assured admission paths are set by the universities themselves, such as “Academic Admit” at TAMU (going away after this year) and many other state publics.
For the top 6% who meet the State’s uniformed admission requirements, they can gain auto admission to both TAMU and UT. TAMU (for all but engineering majors) admits on a first come/first serve basis. UT admits to all majors holistically, equal weight given to academics and demonstrated personal achievement. Both universities give a hard date for when applicants can expect to have a decision by, and both universities release some percentage of the decisions in a rolling manner, earlier than the decision date. Neither university tells us exactly why, but we know that we have an extraordinary amount of applications for both universities. Naturally, we have those that are thrilled, because they lucked out, and found out earlier than the communicated decision date. And, we have the ratcheting anxiety of those who start to wonder if they’re going to be CAP’d or given PSA or maybe even outright rejected, because they didn’t get a decision as early as Jamie and Jordan. Or, perhaps, they won’t get their first choice majors.
In the end, on a couple of dates in February and March, everyone will have received a decision, as promised. Both universities, for all of their differences, will have both achieved another successful admission cycle, admitting the students who, based on their mandates and models, are a “best fit”.
…and, every student, no matter what the final decisions are, will thrive, grow, and bloom wherever they are planted. 
Congratulations, @Buddha2024 !
@Buddha2024 Congratulations and now you are going to have a nice, relaxing holiday! BHP will continue to extend interviews through the end of January according to their office so it’s not over until then. My understanding is that they let in 11 sophomores last year. My son had an interview (which went really well) but has heard nothing yet and they have started sending out acceptances so it might not be in the cards for him, but that’s okay. As I tell him, we don’t always get 100% of what we want and that’s how life goes, you just have to roll with it and make the best of what you do have. He’s a nontraditional student so he doesn’t have the typical high school leadership positions or competitions on his resume. He does run his own business and has a leadership position in his community service job but that may not be enough for BHP. We will see.
@jennibc your son sounds like a wonderful applicant as well, and I truly hope that all of his dreams come true!
And, I love your perspective, and that you pass that on to your children. I truly believe that one of the best gifts that we can give our children is to help them develop healthy outlooks, and normal coping mechanisms.
@nomatter Thank you for the kind words! I feel as if this college mania is harming our kids in a big way. So many more teens are dealing with anxiety than in the past – the reason I am on here and my son isn’t is because he was initially looking at all of these sites last year and it was causing him to become anxious about the process. I cannot believe there are videos on YouTube where kids are opening their acceptances/rejections from Ivy League/prestige universities. I feel like that ratchets up the pressure because these kids have their entire identities wrapped up in where they get in. As if they get into an ultra competitive university that makes them ‘worthy’ as a human being. I decided I was going to come on these forums and be the voice of reason - LOL.
I don’t know if this pressure comes from parents or schools. In my son’s case, he ended up scoring very high on the PSAT last year and the onslaught of marketing began. I think he probably received several hundred brochures and letters over the course of last year. I had to tell him just because they are calling doesn’t mean they will actually accept you. They want as many people to apply so that they increase their rejections so their ‘selectivity’ increases and they rise in those dang ‘best of lists.’ I don’t remember there being this kind of pressure when I was a teen (back in the dark ages).
I started at a community college and transferred to our four year flagship university in the middle of my sophomore year. I was still able to attend a top tier law school and graduate with honors. I had three Harvard undergrads in my law school class. We started at very different places but ended up in the same place. I wish our young people realized where they attend this fall is not going to make or break their lives, their identities, etc.
@calmom20 Congrats to your DD! I haven’t seen very many COLA acceptances on the boards yet.
Does anyone know when the next wave of admissions is? Specifically for civil/environmental engineering. Is there one today or are the odds not until after break?
@"Collegeperson010204! Probably next year
has anyone heard of any acceptances to the College of Education??
Both of you who have mentioned the AI/PAI and/or “the blog,” I assume you are referring to this: https://texadmissions.com/blog/ut-austin-academic-index-formulas-act-sat. He expressly states, however, that the information is out of date, and for reasons that even he can’t understand, UT won’t disclose their formulas. That’s what I’m referring to when I mention lack of transparency.
Given that these are public institutions, it ought not to be such a mystery in the vast majority of cases.
when is the next probable college of liberal arts wave? from out of state
@franknd I mentioned AI & PAI, but I wasn’t referring to any blogs. I think that may have been someone else. I was referencing, specifically, UTs internal admissions methodologies.
A frustrating as it can be for those who just want to know, ‘competitive’ colleges/universities (meaning, they don’t have wide open admissions) don’t want (and for good reason) their methodologies to be totally transparent. They want to keep their competitive edge in cultivating and recruiting admission classes against their competitors. In addition to that, institutions have a vested interest in prospective applicants not gaining access to a ‘magic formula’ for admissions. Most universities (though, I can think of a few that are an exceptions) don’t want a homogeneous field of applicants. And, they want the ability and flexibility to adjust to ensure a diverse campus. And, I don’t just mean socioeconomic diversity, but the type of critical diversity that makes university campuses intellectual microcosms.
My Daughter got accepted OOS from VA into LAS (Math) on 12/13. None of her other friends who also EA were accepted yet. Good luck to those that are still waiting.
It will not only if they have a plan and a solid mind set, transferring like you for instance. I went through the same route like you (for a different reason) and certainly can agree with you to a point. At some points in my life I was involved in education/(work/school) recruiting for many years. In my opinion, where you go matters. Some matter more than others. But they all matter. Some schools will open more doors than others. They all will open doors for sure.
I had always wondered about the following:
- Relevance of the degree granting institution after 5 years of graduating
- Relevance of major
For professional vs non-professional majors.
@EraseEgo are you talking about non traditional students, career changers? If yes, imo those two you mentioned do not matter much. Maybe some from number 1. What’s more important is your commitment/tracks/admission tests and what you did in those 5 years and why you are changing. My previous post was more for those who plan to work or continue to higher education right after 4 year college.
Thanks both @nomatter and @Jennibc
@Jennibc I believe your S is best fit for BHP and hoping he gets the call.
I guess the pressure is coming from social prestige. 20 years back we went to top colleges to help us learn how to cure cancer. These days we need to cure cancer to get into a top college. The amount of ECs, leadership, SAT and class work is practically impossible for a teenager to time manage and be a teenage at the same time. Unfortunately, there is no solution to admit right student. Any degree of holistic review process is being manipulated by ultra competitive parents/students by breaking things down into checklist and executed with outside help counsellors/coaches etc.
Happy Holidays to all and best wishes for a fabulous new year!!