From what I have heard (see Kevin Martin blog) UT admission focus on the first choice of major. It is either first choice or none. In very few cases, second choice of major is considered. You may want check out texadmissions.com
More than 6,500 students attempted to gain admission into CS for about 570 spaces in Fall 2021. Engineering may not be far behind.
Thanks. There are couple of new majors this year in the Engineering school. DS22 wants to quote one of them as his first choice. It is a tough decision, since if he does not get his first choice, he loses his chance to get into his original choice of Mech Engg.
Have him apply to the one he wants most! Since there is so much out of his control once he hits submit, he should make sure the major he lists as his first choice really is it! Don’t pick a different one because it “may” be easier to get into.
BTW, I wish him the best of luck! Is he auto-admit? My S19 is an aerospace engineering major at UT and LOVES it. S22 is sending his application in today, but he’s aiming for business, not engineering.
Thank you for the wishes! Good luck to your S22 as well! And it is hard to convince a 17 year old to be realistic 
. We are OOS
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When does UT start announcing acceptances by Major? Hoping to get into CS.
@tatkins I read through ALL of last year’s admissions thread looking for that info. If this year holds true to last (which was similar to the year before), then waves of decisions about majors will come:
Nov 19
Dec 3
Dec 10
Jan 7-14
It looks like maybe a few after that, but odds seem to not be good if you haven’t gotten an affirmative decision about major by mid Jan.
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Do you know when non auto-admit students will begin to hear? In state
My S19 is at UT (aerospace engr) and was auto admit. He submitted his application in early Oct his senior year and was admitted within a couple weeks, but did not hear on his major until mid-January. It was the same for his auto-admit friends that year, too. Some were shocked when they did not get their major, so it does unfortunately happen. All his friends were trying for engineering or comp sci, so it’s not too surprising for more competitive majors to be slow on the decisions.
@Ff1042 Just was on the TAMU site and saw you over there :). Congrats on your admission there.
No idea about OOS at UT. Those dates were more for in-state auto-admit. I’m sure some OOS bled into them, but I don’t recall noticing it in last year’s thread. I would assume it may be a later notification.
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thank you!! I´m in state
@Ff1042 Oh my gosh, I really had a mental spasm when I read your post, didn’t I? Not sure where I got OOS from. That said, OOS and non-auto in-state all are chosen from the same holistic review pool, so I think it remains that it will probably be a little later in the admissions process.
Oh ok, that makes a lot of sense. thank you!!
Thanks DSWM. Have already circled Nov 19th on my calendar
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All-DS22 is struggling with Short Answer Question #4: Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance XXXX,
What are the cons of writing this essay, if there was no significant challenge? There is a semester where he recd B’s in two subjects, and so he could write about that. However, if the reasons he offers are not viewed as big challenges, he might rub the AO’s in the wrong way… Any suggestions?
To add one of his B’s was in PreCalc Honors, but in the following year he had a A in AP Calc and a 5 in the exam. The other was French. In the following year, he took the class at a virtual college and got a A…
@DecOctMom - My son struggled with that one as well. Our family was fortunate not be negatively impatcted by any events or covid setbacks during his high school years. He basically wrote his essay honestly and said he had none. He explained his challenges were caused by the social constraints due to covid and the transition to online learning for all subjects, but that it did not affect his academic performance.
He has been admitted to TAMU (they also had this question), so I don’t think there is a “con” to not having any extinuating circumstances that affected grades. It may be more of an opportunity for the student to explain why they have a lower grade than normal so that the university can consider that during review.
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Thanks @kwhdman. The essay was optional in TAMU and so he left it blank. Since it is mandatory in UT, he is wondering what to do. In any case, as you have alluded we are not fortunate to not have a reason to submit
My non auto-admit daughter who is class of 24 heard in mid-January.
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@robmom2 Just curious, what was her major?
She is a sophomore in Moody. Her major is Journalism.
General pandemic issues that affect most students are likely psychological - locked down isolation, schools clubs closed, little outside ECs, virtual class with less chance for teacher to interact with students personally, large class size with students from many schools joining zoom for a class, scarcity of good mask and no vaccine in 2020, and fear of unknown about pandemic. All these could affect students’ grades.