yep I did too. I am also an International student.
Yep me too, @mayank166 @xiao23
What is the process for housing? I’m looking to secure a specific room. What exactly are housing contracts? I completed my housing app in early Jan, will I get one if I pay the deposit now to secure a contract? Assuming I don’t decide to go to UT (though I probably will), can I withdraw the deposit?
A question for those experienced with UT summer class registration - OOS daughter has been accepted into engineering honors - VERY happy about that! She’s still trying to decide between UT and one state school, plus waiting to see if Caltech or MIT might accept her, but UT looks to be at the top of her list. So, she wants to wait for all of the colleges to come in before she accepts anywhere (it’ll be at least another two weeks). Meanwhile sign-ups for the UT summer registration sessions start on March 4th. She’ll be coming in with quite a few AP/concurrent credits so will need some sophomore or higher level classes. Can anyone tell us how critical it is to get an earlier registration session in the summer? Can she wait until the end of March to accept admission and still get registration sometime this summer that will result in ok higher level classes? We’re not sure what to do here. And then there’s the housing part …
@ParentInColorado From what I was told during an online webinar, UT holds spaces in freshman introductory courses for all orientation dates; however, for non-freshman classes, an earlier date is better. That’s as much as I know.
I think the enrollment deposit is refundable till May 1st, if she wants to go ahead and accept and pay that, then withdraw later if needed. I would do the same thing for housing, too.
@ParentInColorado I would encourage you to accept UT’s offer of admission and pay the enrollment deposit now. It is refundable until May 1 if your daughter decides not to attend UT. Summer orientation fills up fast and many sessions will be full within a few days. Choose the session best for your schedule and be ready to register for orientation when it opens on March 4, 2020.
On-campus housing: you’ll be eligible to receive a contract after you satisfy the admissions enrollment deposit. Accept the contract and pay the $300 advance payment. Again, this is refundable until May 1 if your daughter chooses not to attend UT. Note: if she attends UT and chooses to live elsewhere after accepting the housing contract, you will forfeit the advance payment.
If you have other questions, feel free to message me. I have two Longhorns and I’m familiar with many of the policies and procedures at UT. Congrats to your daughter for getting into UT Engineering. Hook 'em!
@FloMoMom Thanks for the info. Very helpful. I am in same boat, my son most likely will go to UT, but still waiting to hear from a few more schools. However, in order to sign up for orientation, he will accept offer. My son is CoE and he will have taken 14 AP classes by the time he graduates.
If he signs up for 2nd session, do you think he will still be able to get the upper level classes he needs? Also, he was accepted into Civil Engineering, which was not his 1st choice. He has appealed that decision, but we will not know until April if that is successful. From what we’ve found online, it is not very likely to be successful, so his next option is to try to internally transfer after 1st semester. He understands that this is entirely based on grades, so we are wondering if it is better to not claim some credit in order to make sure he has easier classes 1st semester to maximize his shot at high GPA, which, in turn, might allow him to transfer to his preferred engineering major. Idek if either of your kids are engineering, but since you said you have 2 already there, I thought you might know something or have some insight on classes or know where he can figure that out.
@FloMoMom If you pay the deposit now, it’s no longer refundable. They just changed the policy. Additionally, we got confirmation from business honors rep at a new admit event that they only release 1/7 of the class spaces for each orientation so that people at the end of the orientation process could get classes.
Does the housing contract allow you to select which dorm within the honors quad or does that come later with room selection? If you can pick, is there any big difference between Andrews, Carothers and Blanton?
@cardiqueen - my DS was in Carothers several years ago. At the time you could only select the honors quad but, I do believe that has changed and you can specify/rank the individual dorms in the quad.
Carothers & Andrews (almost all rooms) have a sink in the room- Blanton does not.
I do know that the closet in Carothers is very small. A positive for Carothers was they could control the air in heat in there own room- not sure they are all that way.
All have community bathrooms but, honestly, that was nice not to worry about buying supplies & hoping the bathroom would be cleaned!
The Quad is not the newest of dorms on campus but, great atmosphere & my son made life long friends hanging out in the lobby!
Question for those in the know. Do orientation sign-ups open at 12:01am or at 8:00am on March 4?
We have some specific session dates we need due to other summer commitments and I want to get our sign up done ASAP on March 4.
Thank you @bookmom62 .
@TexasEx1998 They must have JUST changed the policy to make the enrollment deposit non refundable. I verified that info before posting my comment on March 1. Wow! Still, in the overall scheme of college admissions, I would pay the enrollment deposit and consider it a cost of doing business if your student chooses not to enroll at UT.
My Longhorns majored in Mechanical Engineering and History and they were both in Honors programs. UT used to allow students to claim credit for AP classes at any time while attending UT so there is no rush to claim credit immediately. I do not know if this policy has changed. I would talk to advisors at orientation and see what they recommend. You may be correct that it’s better to re-take a class for an A and pad the GPA if your student hopes to transfer into another major. Calculus and Physics are notorious for being very difficult at UT, even for the smartest students. Keep that in mind when selecting fall classes.
My LHS lived at Carothers. It’s really nice to have a sink in your room and he rarely saw other residents in the community bathroom (which are cleaned twice/day by the university). He didn’t love it there but did make great friendships with the two students who lived next door (random roommate assignment). They are still very close and just traveled for a ski weekend together last week!
@dorjwill I thought I read somewhere that orientation registration opens at 10 am on March 4, but not sure where I saw that and I can’t find it now.
Good luck to everyone registering for orientation tomorrow. May the odds be ever in your favor. Hook 'em!
My older son (graduating in Electrical and Computer Engineering) in the Spring took his Physics classes at ACC (Austin Community College) and online through WTC (Western Texas College) since Physics there is known to be hard on the GPA . My older sister (a Pharmacist) said the Physics department at UT had a bad rep in her day so she took the class at a community college.
Thanks to @FloMoMom and @hurricane314! Daughter is registered for orientation, and even added the early move-in night the night before. For booking plane tickets, does anyone have any idea what time orientation typically ends the last day?
Hope everyone is getting registered ok!
Registration for Freshman orientation was quick and painless!
Daughter registered for first session! Have your kids decided on dorms yet? Does anyone have any experience with Kingsolving or LLC?
@TexasEx1998 My daughter is also Civil but wanted Aerospace. I think she has decided to start out and see how she feels after the 1st semester. She was extremely disappointed at first, but Civil is growing on her after researching it a bit. 
Any idea if there is a UT Parents page on FB? I cannot find one. 
TAMU has two very active groups, one for All Parents and another for Engineering Parents. Since my daughter decided on UT I guess I have to leave the TAMU groups, haha, and I would love to be able to replace it with a UT parent group.
@Flea68 Right there with ya!
Also we were offered the housing contract, but my son opted to live in Dobie (private dorm) instead. Much cheaper with just as nice or nicer arrangement. Private bath WITH weekly housekeeping services! And the meal plan included.
We just looked at the Dobie private dorm website and liked it a lot. Do many UT freshmen live there? It looks like a great fit for D if she attends UT, but I don’t want to isolate her from her classmates.