University of Texas at Austin - Computer Science Chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
1

Hi, I’m currently a Junior in High School. I was wondering if College Confidential could chance me for UT Austin Computer Science? UT Austin is my main target, so I’m really aiming to receive an acceptance letter.

I attend a nationally-known challenging High School, and I’m currently in the top 17% of my class. I’m also a Texas resident and citizen of the United States.

I’m currently studying for an International Baccalaureate Diploma. In 9th and 10th grade I had many Honors Classes and 1 or 2 AP classes (my school didn’t provide many AP classes then, but I still did the most challenging courses possible in my 9th and 10th grade year), but then in 11th and 12th grade I’m taking the hardest classes possible with all of my classes being AP and IB courses.

I have a 4.17 GPA Weighted, and my first SAT score was a 1360/1600 with a 18/24 essay. (I will be re-taking the SAT 3 more times). I haven’t taken any ACT exams, yet. My goal is a 1450/1600 with a 20/24 essay for my SAT.

I want to study Computer Science, but I won’t be applying for the Turing’s Scholars program (since I already know my chances are very low).

I’m a major computer fanatic; I’ve been programming since age 11.
I program/work with:
Java SE & EE
SQL
PHP
HTML
CSS
XML
C# and C++
Actionscript 2.0 & 3.0
GitHub/Git Bash
Object Oriented Programming and Algorithms

I have a Linkedin account that highlights my career as a teenage Software Engineer:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pravat-bhusal-b8788bb8

I have multiple mobile applications on the Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=5019886976634706065 (That’s my store page). [I sadly don’t code IOS applications since the cost to publish apps in the Apple Store is so high]

I have a GitHub with few public repositories, and I even founded a Software Developing Organization named “Virtue Development” The organization has made over 2000$ revenue from a project I worked on named “Synced Online.”:
My GitHub: https://github.com/Shadowsych
Virtue Development GitHub: https://github.com/VirtueDev

Here is a summary of my extracurricular activities:

  • Founder and CEO of Virtue Development (The organization has up to 10 people developing and moderating our games)
  • Founder and President of a school club named “UNHP App Development” that has over 40+ members
  • National Honors Society Member
  • Spanish Honors Society Member
  • Math Honors Society Member
  • Head Software Engineer of school Robotics Team (I will be the Vice-President in my senior year)
  • Chair for in school Mode United Nations
  • Chair for a 200+ (biggest in the Dallas Fort Worth Area) named Dallas Area Model United Nations
  • Co-founder and Vice-President of an in-school club named “Academic Athletes” that attends various competitions (let it be Hackathons, Chess tournaments, etc.)
  • Co-founder and Vice-President of my school’s Destination Imagination club
  • Reporter for my school’s Health Occupations of Students of America (HOSA) club
  • Junior World Affair Council Member

Awards or Certifications:

  • Google Play Developer Certification
  • State competitor for UIL CX Debate 2 years in a row
  • Baylor Model United Nations - Best Team Delegate as Belgium
  • Arab League Model United Nations - Outstanding Delegate as Libya
  • UIL Computer Science District Level Winner (1st place since 9th grade till now)
  • District-level winner for HOSA Clinical Specialty for 2 years in a row
  • NST (Nepali Society of Texas) Annual Essay Competition 1st Place
  • Qualified for JWAC World Quest
  • Robotics BEST Marketing Award (1st place)

Volunteer Activities:

  • Math Mentors (tutoring in-school students from 7th to 12th grade on mathematics)
  • NST Math Tutor (tutoring Nepali students math from 7th to 12th grade on mathematics)
  • Agua Unida Volunteer (we raised up to $3000 for impoverished places in Latin America)
  • Courtesy Corps for school HOSA competition
  • Peace Day Adviser (for a program called Connect Teach) for Junior Worlds Affair Council
  • Model United Nations event coordinator volunteer for Dallas competitions
  • Computer Science tutor for scholars interested in learning about software

I’m planning to go for a Summer Internship this summer for a software-related position to boost my chances.

Extra Information:

  • Asian (Nepali) Male
  • Low-income (lower than $40,000 annually)

Please chance me, UT is my dream school :).
I would love a percentage chance and possible explanations to what I need to improve/am doing good on.

Thank you for reading my post.

2

First of all you’ve excellent extracurriculars to show your dedication towards CS Major. If you present yourself with your essays, you are all set for Personal Achievement Index (PAI) part of the application. Work on your class rank and SAT/ACT( 1470/32 ) to improve your Academic Index(AI) score. Class rank and test scores are very very important!

3

Try to get a high SAT score. You will be fine although you are not in the top 7%

4

Thanks for all the feedback, but I still really want a percentage gauge for my acceptance.

Bump.

5

Honestly with that SAT score it’s fairly uncertain, but if you can get it to around 1450/1500 you’ll have an almost guaranteed chance. I got in with better stats but admittedly worse ECs. Hate putting a number on it, but 80%+ if you express yourself well in essays.

If you do get your SAT above 1500, definitely apply for Turing; it’s a great experience (so I’ve heard).

6

Will my ranking (17%) kill my chances for UT Computer Science with my current stats?
If I get my SAT score to a 1450/1600, would my ranking really matter?

7

@Shadowsych : not necessarily; and yes. My son was admitted to CS 2 years ago. He was top 17% but his test scores were higher (35 ACT). OTOH, he didn’t have nearly the CS ECs that you do. You have a chance, but any improvement in your ACT or SAT score will help. That’s what I would focus on – getting your test scores up.

8

@TexasMom2017

Can you tell me more about your son?
How did he study for the ACT?
Would a 32 on the ACT with my current stats be good enough to get into UT Computer Science?

Thank you.

9

@Shadowsych My son took a private test prep class and studied/practiced for months. He was doing pretty well anyway, but he raised his ACT score several points by studying and practicing. If you have access to such a course and can afford it, it’s well worth the time and money. If not, check out the Kahn Academy prep classes and other free resources online, and do the work on your own. A 32 is a very good score and might be enough - there’s no way to say for sure because the competition seems to increase every year. All I know is, every point you gain on your test score will help offset your relatively (for CS) low class rank. Of course you should also have a safety school. My son’s was UT Dallas - he was auto admit there and got a great scholarship offer - and they also have a very good CS program. In fact I have read several comments by people who chose it over UT.

10

So, a percentage chance is pretty hard to give without knowing what your final stats will be when you’re applying. I’ll say that right now, your chances are decent, maybe around 40-50%? That’s a pretty arbitrary number though. Getting your sat up will help, your computer science ecs are strong. If you can get your sat up that high, a Turing scholarship would be great… just do a lot of test prep, that’s what a lot of it comes down to. Your chances could easily go up with a better score, how high depends on the score

11

I increased my SAT from 1420 (Without prep) to 1560 using Kaplan, Barron’s, and Princeton Review

12

I disagree that a 32/1450 would give you a 100% chance of getting in.

Class rank is the #1 factor at UT. I spoke with admissions and I told them I was applying to CS, and there was a look of concern. They told me that it was the most competitive major at UT. When I said I was in the top 7 percent, they congratulated me and told me that would help my chances SO much.

I’m not saying this in a rude way, but I’m trying to make sure you don’t set all your eggs in one basket. You have quite an impressive resume. Being an ORM won’t help either.

I’d say it’s a reach. UT is always a reach for non top 7% students in competitive majors.

Be sure to apply to to some safety schools in the chance you don’t get accepted.

What you can do to improve your chances is keep fighting your way up the class rank ladder and study HARD for the SAT.

13

@Jpgranier It’s a misconception that top 7% is the magic # for admission into competitive majors. Top 7% only guarantees you admission into the University, not necessarily the major of your choice. An applicant that is top 7% has a minimal advantage over one that is for example top 8% in competitive majors. Just crossing 7% does not give an automatic boost in the admissions process-- this seems to be a misconception among a lot of people not just you.

14

I believe, as per the state law, UT has to admit 75% of the class/major from top 7%, so there is lot of advantage. In-state non-auto admits will compete for 15% and out of state for 10% of the major.

15

@ACT2017 you are correct however that is just for getting admitted to UT not the specific major which is CS in this case. If OP stats are not enough to get accepted to UT at all then that would be the end of the story right then and right there. Now say he is being considered for engineering among the over 10,000 other applicants. A rank of 8% vs 7% would not be any different from 11% to 10% for example or any other rank x% vs (x-1)%. There’s no magic 7% threshold that will help you for the competitive majors (business and engineering). Top 7% only guarantees you admission to the COLA.

16

I believe top 7% rule applicable to all schools/majors including Engineering, Business and CNS.

17

Here is very informative information from the horses mouth itself @KohliTheBeast https://www.utsystem.edu/sites/utsfiles/documents/institutions/best-practice-admissions-processes/ut-system-admissions-best-practices-2014-07.pdf

Start on page 32-36 for pertinent information.

“In those cases automatic admission is limited to 65-75% of the admitted class for the impacted programs”

While it may not be AS important for impacted majors, they are still required to accept 65-75% as auto admits. This is a HUGE advantage the top 7 kid has over the top 8.

18

Based on the acceptance results from last year, there is no guarantee number that will get you into CS. The results were all over the place. MY DD was a 32 ACT, 1510 SAT (only 720 math), NMF, top 1%, HS swimmer and she did get accepted. There was another boy, higher ACT, top 1%, better CS ECs that did not get accepted. I saw another male, SAT at 1990, HS basketball player that did get accepted. For Turing, you pretty much had to have a perfect score in math, good CS ECs and high rank. Based on what I saw, there is no guarantee score or rank because they are taking diversity into consideration. Do the best you can but definitely apply to other schools for backup.

19

@Jpgranier I do believe that @KohliTheBeast is correct about this: that admission into a specific major (other than liberal arts or UGS) is separate from the automatic admission process. If you look at the end of that document you posted, you will see formulas for calculation of the Academic Index for several colleges, including CNS. All that matters are test scores and class rank, period. There is no special bump for being auto-admit. As has been thoroughly discussed elsewhere on this site, the AI is then plotted against the Personal Index (essays, ECs, recs, etc.), and that determines who is admitted into a particular major. Auto admit status comes into play only if you are not admitted into your chosen major - in that case, as I understand it, you will be admitted to UGS or maybe undeclared liberal arts, rather that being denied or offered PACE or CAP. The only caveat is that this info is now several years and it is always possible that UT might change its process … but if they have, I have never heard any hint of it on this site or elsewhere. Good luck to all, decisions will be out by late Feb.!

20

I still believe that every major is filled with 75% (or close to that number) of auto admits using AI and PAI index . There will be few exceptions including diversity and other factors as GTAustin mentioned above. BTW my son (top 8% with 32 ACT) is eagarly awaiting CS decision. He would be very happy if he is eligible to compete with auto admits for 100% of CS seats!!!