@TexasMom2017 hmm, that’s what I thought too, but an admissions lady spoke to me about this. She may have been wrong, but this is what she told me.
She basically said that there were seperate categories for students in each major. The auto admits were compared against other auto admits. They still make auto admits >60% of the class. She didn’t get into detail about OOS, international, and non-top 7 students because I was in the top 7.
My understanding is that all top 7 students will be admitted to either liberal arts or UGS if they’re denied from their major. Qualified non top-7 and OOS students I’m not sure about because I didn’t ask the lady.
@Jpgranier@ACT2017 if top 7% are filling up most of the major it’s because many of them are qualified otherwise both top 7 and non top 7 are still competing for the same place. Top 7 only guarantees you a spot in liberal arts or UGS. Otherwise you’re competing for your spot with everyone else using an academic index and a personal achievement index which are both plotted on a grid. It’s a really mechanical process which I don’t agree with but that’s how it is. The PDF earlier just says that the auto admits filled 65-75% of the class it didn’t specify if they were accepted largely due to their auto admit status or their whole application.
@KohliTheBeast I’m just saying what admissions told me. They said they’re required to have XX% of auto admits in each major. If not, there would be SO many OOS and international students accepted. There are plenty of OOS students in the top few of their class that would essentially knock auto admits out of spots. They probably do this to 1. Keep yield high because students who are paying in state tuition are much more likely to accept a spot at the school, and 2. Because they have an obligation to the tax payers of Texas, mostly due to the 75% top 7, 15% non top 7, and 10% OOS/international rule.
If they didn’t give preference to the top 7% in state students in all of their competitive majors, it would throw off their 75% rule they’re required by law to uphold.
Just engineering, business, and computer science make up 27% of their degrees. If they only accepted say 50% as top 7%, they would need around an average of 90% top 7% in ALL of their other majors.
I would like to add that the male student that did not get accepted to CS even with a high ACT score, high rank, good CS ECs was wondering what he had done wrong or what he could have done better. He was a better candidate for CS than my DD. He would have excelled in the program but there were too few seats for too many great candidates. Moral of the story is treat UT like a reach even if you have the stats because after a point, acceptance is not all about stats. Have a good backup plan. BTW, my DD is not at UT but UTD, a better program for her.
@Jpgranier I see what you mean. Doesn’t add up with other information with the AI and PAI I’ve been told but I see what you mean. I guess the admission process will always be a mystery. @GTAustin UTD has a great comp sci program and gives lots of merit money for qualified students. Definitely a great school.
@Shadowsych how can you choose not to send it? It should be on your transcript if your school reports rank.
If your school does not report rank, UT will create a pseudo-rank using your school’s profile and other students who submitted their rank from your school.
Percent of total first-time, first-year (freshmen) students who submitted high school class rank:
97.8%. The common data set says almost 98% of students accepted submitted a class rank… I have no proof, but my hunch is not submitting your rank will hurt you more than help.
You compare that to say Georgia Tech where they don’t class rank is in the “not considered category”, Percent of total first-time, first-year (freshmen) students who submitted high school class rank: 41.95%
@GTAustin, did your D apply earlier than the boy who was denied? I was told by my S’s STEM program headmaster that application timing can make a difference for impacted majors. She’s known of some top students who applied closer to the deadline and got waitlisted for CS (though they did ultimately get into the major), while slightly weaker students (both male and female) who applied very very early were accepted immediately into CS.
@Shadowsych, first of all best of luck to you. Your resume is very good. You can’t hide your rank from UT; even if you don’t include it your school will. Rank is critical to UT, but you do have a chance to get in. Is it 40%, 30%, 60%? Nobody can tell you and it doesn’t really matter, does it? You have a non-zero chance to get in and if the school appeals to you, then you should definitely apply. The competition for CS is pretty stiff though, and especially in your case it’s very important to have a safety in case you don’t get into UT CS.
@Shadowsych that would be dependant on your school. Some schools will allow that, but I remember reading that in state Texas high schools are required to mark whether a student is in the top 10%.
@Shadowsych I thought that I’d chime in, even though I don’t know much about admissions.
I got into Turing this year. I’m in the top 1% of my class and have a pretty good SAT/SAT Subject score. I also focused on CS EC’s but you definitely did way more than me.
Unfortunately, I think that the Turing program doesn’t take programming EC’s into account as heavily as it does grades/rank and test scores. To give you an example, one of my peers who was also in the top 1% of my High School did almost no programming, but she got accepted into the Turing/BHP joint program.
Looking at your EC’s though, I feel like you should try and see how it goes. You should also try for some different schools (MIT, Stanford) that seem to place less of an emphasis on grades (which mean nothing tbh) and more on your EC’s, leadership, etc.
@Shadowsych Non-auto admit for Texas residents is a 30 ACT, for computer science it’s definitely higher. I wouldn’t say it gives you a “high” chance, but it certainly makes you competitive.
Again, below-average numerical stats for UT CS (especially considering rank). That being said, some private (and public for that matter) colleges will place less weight on stats and more weight on your great ECs; I honestly think you have a better shot at schools like Cornell because of this. You’ll be given a full ride to most privates considering your income, so that should be where your focus is during application period.
Not to say you won’t get in, I was personally only top 9% (not auto-admit) with a 1570/1600 SAT and got into comp sci, so no one can say for certain. Apply to what you consider reaches, and obviously some safeties, but UT CS is a fickle admission process for those not in the top 7%. Good luck!
If you can get >= 34 on ACT or >=1500 on SAT, that will improve your chance to get into CS program.
My son has >= 35 in each section in ACT, and top 1% scores in SAT as well.
He will be attending UT Austin engineering this Fall.
P.S. I myself was a UT CS graduate many years ago.
@CertifiedCC
I’m not so sure, there was another person yesterday with a 1520 SAT score (800 Math) and top 5% who was rejected by computer science. I believe UT looks into both your extracurricular activities and academic records as equals, so you need to take care of both or at least make one extremely strong to the other for admission.