Hi! I am currently a High school junior in Houston. I am starting to look at different universities to see where I want to go and I have decided that I want to stay in the state. My class rank is currently in the top 50% (it should go up in senior year) and I haven’t taken the SAT yet but I will in march and I am trying really hard to get a high score on it. I know that my class rank won’t get me into UT Austin but would I still be eligible for CAP? Because I would much rather go through the UT system to go to UT Austin rather than go to UH, but don’t get me wrong, UH is a great school and I wouldn’t mind going there but ideally I really want to go to UT Austin. I also know that through CAP, UT Austin only guarantees admission in the college of liberal arts which i’m not interested in. Also what GPA would I need to keep? I would love any other advice anyone has as well! Thanks!
@awesomerunner. I have a daughter doing CAP at UTSA now.
To get CAP you have to apply to UT Austin. You will only be offered cap for the UT system schools where you meet the automatic admissions requirements. For example, to get automatic admission to UTSA you need to be top 50% and have either an 1170 SAT or a 24 ACT. Or you can have lower scores if your class rank is high enough. It spells it out on their website. Once you have been offered CAP, UT will tell you what date you have to login to your account and accept your cap offer. UTSA and UT Arlington limit the number of cap students on their campus. Last year, UTSA filled their cap quota in about 30 seconds from when it opened. So you have to set a timer and count down the seconds and be prepared to click on all the boxes to get your spot at UTSA. Some of the other campuses it is much easier to get cap. Once you are enrolled at the cap campus, you have to maintain a 3.2 gpa over 30 hours of college course work. This must include 1 math course from the cap approved course list. Once you fulfill your cap requirements you can transfer to UT for the fall of your sophomore year. Cap only guarantees you a spot in liberal arts. You can apply for a major outside of liberal arts but you may not get it since you have to compete with other transfers for those majors. If you don’t get the major you wanted, you are still guaranteed liberal arts. Good luck!
Note that a 3.2 is MUCH harder to get than in high school.
What math course will you take senior year?
If you want to leave Houston, there are lots of colleges. Run the NPC on Texas state and St. Edwards.
@awesomerunner UTSA classes offer a lot of extra credit and participation (iclicker) points. If you are prepared to put in the effort, a 3.2 is quite manageable. You have to use Ratemyprofessor to find the good professors, go to class EVERY day, and do ALL your work without exception. Also, attend all SI study sessions which often give you an extra point on tests if you attend. If you can do all those things, you can make your cap gpa at UTSA without a doubt. The only pitfalls I see are that students don’t take classes seriously enough because the school isn’t difficult, and / or, they load up on stem classes which are harder than liberal arts classes. I would not do cap if you want to major in computer science, engineering, nursing, or business because it is much more difficult to get those majors and you will need a 4.0, and those majors are not guaranteed. If you truly want to major in liberal arts, then cap is a good deal.
@ MYOS1634 I will be taking pre cal in senior year.
Thank you everyone for replying it helped me better understand!
This is sort of off topic but I was wondering if anyone here could help me. I will have 60 college credits when I graduate high school, could I still be offered CAP?
@laurarwrites You will still be offered cap if you meet the automatic admission standards for at least one of the UT system schools. However, since you have to take 30 hours from the cap approved course list, you will find it difficult or maybe impossible to find enough courses to take that you haven’t already taken in high school. Which means cap is probably not a good option for you even if you are offered it. But you can check with a cap advisor at the system school you wish to attend and ask that question. My daughter had 20 dual credit hours and still found enough cap classes to take that she had not already taken during high school.
If you’re going to be forced into liberal arts, having a degree at UT isn’t going to do you much good. You’re in college to gain marketable job skills. If you get “capped” at UT, you’ve pretty much lost the battle before it even began. You could try to get into the business school, for instance, but the chances are barely 30% and your GPA has to be about a 3.9. It’s better to just stay at UTSA and get something employable.