UT Austin class of c/o 2022 admissions

However, this year could be different because of the priority deadline of Nov. 1-hopefully, we will all find out before Feb. 1!

This class seems competitive this year, but using AI and PAI to predict anything for your child will be difficult because you don’t know the scores of the other students applying to that same major.

The waiting is terrible!

I tried asking for specifics about early november acceptances from my admissions counselor and i got this response:

We review each application individually and consider each in relation to the admission factors for the university and for the major(s) to which students apply. As a result, some decisions will be released earlier than others. However, generally students who apply by the priority deadline will receive a decision no later than February 1, while regular decision applicants will receive a decision no later than March 1.

I can’t say when all students will find out about a decision. It is based on far too many factors such as major selected and the applicant pool. All you need to focus on is submitting the best application you can and let us do the work from there. Continue checking your MyStatus page, since that will be the place with the most up to date information regarding your application status.

@Mills6 The AI/PAI is described in a bunch of places. The one I refer to is in a document called Best Practices in Admission Practices or something close. You can find the link searching this forum. I also have seen several articles on it and the Fisher case documents submitted to the Supreme Court make for some fun bed time reading. There is a lot of info in there. Having read ALL of that, I could not tell you my kids AI scores and if I could I have no idea how they compared in their admit year. Next to impossible to guess their PAI. It is nice the know what they look at so you can accentuate that in the app. The Supreme Court documents showed how a line is drawn on the grid. Those above the line get their major and those below don’t.

From posts here over the last few years, kids from non-ranking schools find out acceptance and major all at once. A small percentage of people post on CC so who knows? But I would say they f8nd out both at once.

@Mills6-I don’t think any part of the admission process is random for UT. When applications are submitted, according to what I have read, the applicants are put in 3 separate piles: A-auto, R-review, C-little chance of getting in. After that, the applicants are separated by 1st choice major. I think then the PAI and AI are charted on the graphs by major, and those above the line get in (as @gettingschooled commented). I am thinking the auto-admit students probably get a point (or more) added to their AI score, therefore, the non-ranking/review applicants need to stand out to get in. This is just a guess, though. The average ACT/SAT score for non-auto admits is higher than the auto-admit, so it makes sense the the non auto-admit must be amazing. This is why it takes so long to get the decisions from UT. I think they send out the decisions with majors early to the students they really want, and only a very small portion hear back.

How would non autos have higher SAT/ACT scores than autos? Seems counterintuitive to me.

@sorashiro could be grade inflation, or some students may just do better in class settings than on standardized tests. I prefer the later because it gives me more faith in the educational system (:

@sorashiro My kids who are probably not in the top 7% of their very competitive private high schools have MUCH higher test scores than any of the kids who are auto admits from our local high school…including Valedictorian and Salutatorian. It is 5A and not a terrible school but not a great one either.

@sorashiro - one really has nothing to do with the other. some schools are more competitive in general and will have the entire top quarter or higher hitting the top 1 percent on ACT/SAT. Other schools are not as good and their entire auto admit population will not get the majors they want mostly because of test scores. I have two children- one tests insanely well , the other makes All A’s- same house, same genes, completely different people. Also- the top 7 percent at most schools is based on GPA above 4.0. that means yo have to take all honors and AP classes to be top of class. Many kids dont want to take honors or AP in every single subject- many want to have a sport, art, band etc worked into their schedule. Some can’t do the amount of reading for say AP history but ace the AP math and science. you will have the kids who are top seven AND have high test scores but it’s not a for sure thing that one brings the other.

@lifewithlia auto admits are not considered first- they just dont go though the first step of the process. The process for review candidates is:1- do they meet university requirements( obviously the auto admit doesnt have to pass this because they are auto) second step is review at the College level( for whatever college you applied for) then it goes to major if your college breaks down by major- for example in CNS all the sciences are a general admittance into the school but CS is a separate admission process, COLA is all one process then econ, psychology and the honors programs have extra steps. Last year in November- several review candidates got in with their majors even though all auto admits had not heard yet.

Anyone has idea how AI (Academic Index) calculation takes into account class rigors and exceeding in the credit requirement for a group, such as Language Arts which requires minimum four credits. The UT document shows the formula for AI that takes in SAT, ACT, HSR, but not class rigors although it talks about it.

@Bader316 AI does not take into account rigor or the competitiveness of classes/schools. If a student takes more than required (3yrs of foreign language or a 5th English/Science/Math class, they receive .1 added to the AI-and most students will have this added to their index (per school counselor). However, rigor of classes is important and I imagine it will be considered when applying to majors (especially competitive ones like Business or Engineering).

@Bader316 @Jnyfrtx the formulas for AI included writing- UT is no longer requiring writing. I wonder if that means they are not using those formulas any more. other things have changed this year so that could have as well- especially since winning that admissions lawsuit finally. Also- when you call the school and mention the AI index they pretend they have no idea what you are talking about,

@tb2000, lot of new variables this year - three short answers, priority date. The new priority date is in-line with other top schools, e.g., Ivies. Does this mean there will be higher %age of acceptance of applications submitted by priority date?

@Bader316 from what I understand there is no extra consideration given to people who apply by the first deadline. I I I think the 3 questions were an attempt to do two things1- move to even more holistic review than they had been already and maybe improve their yield. I think a lot of kids apply to texas with no real intention of going there- those three questions were unique really and could not be reused anywhere that I saw- so to spend the time on them probably means that you are at least considering texas as top 3 or 4 choices. I am excited to see the common data set this year compared to past years to see what changes have been made

I agree about adding those three questions. We know kids who would have definitely gotten in but had no intention of going there who did not apply because it was too much trouble. They found “safeties” that weren’t as much trouble…which is excellent s far as I am concerned!

When they added the 3 questions they eliminated an essay question. Used to be two essays were required in Apply Texas.

Plugging in all max scores into the formula used in the past,

Business – SAT Model
-2.668 + (SAT M * .002) + (SAT W * .001) + (HSR * .032) + (SAT CR * .001)

-2.668 + 800 *0.002 + 800 * 0.001 + 99 * 0.032 + 800 * 0.001 = 3.7 (AI)

But the AI in the grid chart has a max value of 4.10, which would mean a total of 0.4 (4.1 - 3.7) could be reserved for other academic strengths, such as 0.1 for exceeding in required course category (per @jnyfrtx). From the Application entries, other academic strengths, such as additional distinctions, STEM, Business endorsement on the top of Dist. Lvl. of Achievement, could add some fraction value to the AI. Just my speculation but there are multiple check boxes for this field.

Yes, but filling it out it was four essays verses two…even though 4 were short answers they took a lot of work. I think she spent as much time on the shorter ones as the long ones because they were so hard to make good in fewer words. My daughter said they also weren’t really ones she could use elsewhere. I don’t know…she definitely had two friends not apply bc too much trouble for a safety.