@apple00 Everyone wants to know ASAP! But, only UT knows when decisions are coming. If you applied by the priority deadline, you’ll have a decision or a deferral by Feb 1st. If you applied after, you’ll hear by March 1st. All other decisions come when they come.
Today on my application status page it says they are reviewing my HS transcript. That wasn’t there earlier today and they have had my transcript since August. I wonder what it means
My husband called UT admissions and engineering departments today and yesterday after finding out on Tuesday that our son was admitted to Cockrell, but did not get his 1st (ME) or 2nd (EE) choice major but was instead put into Civil engineering. He was trying to ascertain information about chances of changing to ME by 1) appeal or 2) internal transfer within engineering school.
He talked with admissions and yes, you can appeal the decision about your major, but they said that all engineering spots are, as of now, taken. He says they have a good idea of how many people will accept/reject their spots in engineering, so they, of course, offer more spots than there are knowing that some will end up at other schools. So, appeal of major is not likely to be successful, but you can try.
He spoke with the engineering services department about transferring to a different engineering major withing Cockrell. The person he spoke to said that you can transfer after 1st semester or after 1st year and thought there were at least 3 chances to do so. When asked what grade point you would likely need in order to make such a transfer, he was told they do not have that information (or do not distribute it over the phone to random callers anyway) and she said, “make a 4.0.” My husband was able to find out information online that there was approximately a 66% successful transfer rate within engineering, but there was no breakdown of majors or any other factors. His guess is that transferring into ME might be a little worse than 66% because it is one of the most popular engineering majors, but that is pure speculation on his part.
So, we will try the appeal route knowing that it is not very likely to be successful. My son is probably willing to go to Cockrell even if it’s in civil engineering and then try to transfer to ME after 1st semester or 1st year. Sounds like this might be more promising especially since he is a very good student with a very sound work ethic and a lot of AP and STEM classes as a foundation for engineering curriculum. This might be his best bet. He is in for engineering at A&M, but at A&M there is also no guarantee of the particular engineering major that you want (although based on information we found online it says that the majority of students at A&M end up with one of their top 3 engineering choices). He is also in for engineering at Purdue. Purdue is similar to A&M in that you don’t apply to a particular engineering major until after your 1st year. So, at least, as of now, he doesn’t really have any other better options that ensure he will get mechanical engineering. He has been deferred for University of Michigan and University of Illinois and he will hear some kind of decision from Georgia Tech by Saturday.
I wanted to let everyone know what my husband found out since I know a lot of others are in a similar situation.
@TexasEx1998 Definitely helpful. Just curious, do many colleges admit directly into major? As you sad A&M and Purdue don’t, and I know Michigan doesn’t either (I got in there to just the College of Engineering, no major specified). Is UT Austin unique in admitting to a major and not a school, or is it pretty common?
@TexasEx1998 Definitely it doesn’t hurt to do the appeal - you never know. Just know though at A&M, you are guarantee into a specific major if you have a cumulative 3.5 GPA of the required courses. Per TAMU website:
“If you maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 after completing required courses for entry-to-a-major, you’re guaranteed a spot in your first choice major.”
“Students are strongly encouraged to apply during the semester they plan to successfully complete MATH 152, PHYS 206, and ENGR 216 with a C or better.”
Note the wordings of “plan” - so most kids applied during the April period of their freshmen year.
https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/undergraduate/entry-to-a-major/index.html
Good luck to your son …
For the UT-Austin McComb’s School of Business, you apply for “Unspecified Business”, then the student must declare their major after the first year. All other Universities my son applied to(Business), he applied directly to the major. There may be other Universities that do the same as UT-Austin, not sure. At UT-Austin, while business majors all fall within McCombs, each Engineering major is in separate schools. You must apply to one or the other. If you want to change after the first year, you must go through the “transfer protocol”.
Thank you for letting us know.
I wonder why they are not sending rejection letters if Engineering spots are full. We still have not heard anything from UT.
This is just speculation, but perhaps “all engineering spots are, as of now, taken” means that they have a certain number of spots allotted for auto-admits/in-state residents (which have been filled and notified) and the remaining number of spots allotted to OOS applicants (who may not have been notified yet). Based on this thread, it appears that the acceptances for Cockrell have been overwhelmingly (if not all) auto-admit/in-state. I would be shocked if Cockrell would fill all (or nearly all) of its spots with only Texas residents, rather than fill a portion of them with OOS engineering students (which I suspect still may not have been notified yet, but are included within the “all engineering spots are, as of now, taken” category). This could be totally off-base, and is just a theory that you are free to ignore.
Rumors are flying that there will be a wave tonight with rejections… so that may happen.
Oh…well the good is that the kids will have a definite answer…the bad is well they didn’t get in their school of choice…My poor DD is holding out to find out about UT-Austin. But, would be nice to know one way or another. You would think they can just send an automatic denial if all spots are already taken.
I did call Admissions and they said that they haven’t sent all the decisions though. But of course it wasn’t specifically for Engineering school as I just called the Regional office. They said decisions will be rolling until March.
Do rejections get posted on the MyStatus page or are those handled via email or USPS? So nervous…I guess I’ll be checking that page over and over today.
My daughter’s engineering rejection was updated on her my status portal between 6pm and 7 pm on whatever day that was (Tuesday I think). She didn’t receive and email until the afternoon of the next day.
Are these rejections coming for the AUTO ADMITS or for holistic review?
My son’s still says in review.
waiting on OOS!
@Boogie818 Yes, from what I can tell. They are rejections to first/second choice majors.
“He talked with admissions - they said that all engineering spots are, as of now, taken.”
Reddit UTaustinadmissions is reporting a chemical engineering acceptance within the last hour.
Now my application says complete and in review again. All day it was saying they were verifying my transcripts. Now it says it is complete. So weird
Can’t edit my post to update about the chem eng acceptance but looks like the reddit post was bogus!
I phoned UT admissions again today to get some feedback on the best way for an AA student to appeal that got denied from first and second choice majors, from two separate colleges.
I specifically wanted to know if the student should write an appeal for her first choice, her second choice, or both. Basically, I was told that they couldn’t give any guidance and that decision that would be up to the student. Also inquired about the possibility of physics or math majors, but again…told that those majors were full. Also was told second choice doesn’t mean much, and probably wasn’t even reviewed for it, since second choice majors are always someone else’s first choice majors. Really?? Are kids told this before applying with a second choice. So confusing for adults, parents and admissions team alike, not sure how 18 year olds are suppose to navigate this business. It’s like this situation is a bad joke on a kid that has made all the right choices, worked her rear off, and followed all the advice she was ever given by teachers and counselors. Now it’s like… hey, great job on being an over achiever and taking all those extra impressive courses, that we said were essential in you reaching you goal, but jokes on you! I’m really going to advocate for my niece, and I’ll post results of appeal, but sad that her possible UT experience is already making her feel like she’s an underachiever.