Class rank is the deciding factor for 75% of the admits to UT. That is not a UT decision but mandated by the Texas Legislature.
For the remaining 25% and for enrolling in high demand majors there is no perfect system to get an academic measure. Since there is no universal standard for GPA assignment it becomes a somewhat arbitrary number that only makes sense when measured against others that are using the exact same standard. One school may hand out a weighted GPAs on a 5pt scale while another might max at 4.6 or 4.5 and others might not weight at all. Class rank effectively is as good as comparing a 4.3 from one school to a 4.1 or a 3.8 from another…
Using class rank is stupid and unfair to people in highly competitive schools where a tiny difference in GPA might significantly change your rank. They should use a combination of class rigor, unweighted grades, and SAT scores. Also many colleges have their own weighting system which seems much more fair.
UT has waitlisted - They just did not make a waitlist for the fall 2017 class. I do know SEVERAL people from fall 2016 who were waitlisted including some who are currently enrolled. The way they calculate class rank is from your school’s profile if they send one( our school sends a profile that shows the bottom GPA for each quartile- which is why it makes no sense to be non ranking) Also- many non ranking schools send the in state schools the rank anyway- my kids’ school will actually send it anywhere you want them to, they just wont tell the kids their rank,
@Kd6410 Class rigor is part of the AI- you get an extra .1 for certain courses. ACT/SAT are considered. GPA is not considered at all and most schools who use GPA( a and m does not either- just rank) they change it to their own formula for GPA. I don’t think unweighted grades are a good way to make admissions decisions- do you really think an A in Algebra 3/college algebra is equal to an A in APcalc? No it’s probably not even as hard to obtain as a B in the APcalc. My own kids were not auto admit because they were in competitive schools and only took honors and AP in classes that were things they enjoyed and /or were good at. - They weren’t willing to play that rank game and because of that they didn’t get auto admit to UT. It is a TON of work to do honors in Social studies and all of the Sciences; mine were active in other things that ended up being appealing enough to get admitted as review candidates. Still, I don’t begrudge those kids who did everything that it entails to be top 7 percent. The state of Texas has decided that if you do that- you get to go to UT, so for the kids who pull it off, Good for them.
I guess I think that in a holistic review environment the GPA should have the same weight as rank. I also think it would be helpful if UT (and A&M) reported the 25% - 75% stats/scores/gpa/rank for the non-auto admit/holistic review students pool. Because if you go by the UT Common Data Set reported stats my 82/575 (14%) DD2018 definitely falls within the 25%-75% ranges, but we can all pretty much agree her 14% class rank pretty much means that she will be shut out of UT.
The difference is that GPA averages vary by school depending on the type of learning environment they employ. A school that hires tougher teachers will have a lower GPA at the same percentile as a school that’s easier where students have higher GPAs. Rank, however, compares you with all of the other students that face the same struggles with difficulty of classes. There’s obvious cons to both, since one may do worse than another student because the school’s style doesn’t suit them, but GPA is the more evil statistic to use to compare students all over the state and beyond.
Also— I’ve heard of some school districts in Texas that have stopped calculating ranks because they believe their students have a better chance of getting into UT.
@labegg my two were from separate " nonranking" schools. The first one was not even top Quarter.- LIterally he was probably 33-35%. He got into UT econ Major. Second one is easily top quarter and I think shes probably around 14 percent. she was accepted to Liberal Arts Honors and UT in December.
@lostfirstchild UT assigns a rank if you do not rank so there is no point in that- what schools did you hear do that? it literally makes no sense because you go from SOME guaranteed spots To NONE. there is no way any public districts will get away with that and private schools of any size and status would have a hard time selling that to a parent community.
All Texas HS are required to report rank for top 10% so that UT and A&M have the auto-admit. My kids go to a non-ranking school. If you are not in the top 10% it’s not reported. However, with >200 applications to UT they have a pretty good idea about rank based upon the GPAs numbers that are reported.
@tb2000 they only HAVE to report top 10%. And “assigning” a rank would be at best an estimate and would be reported to the reviewers. I think it’d go over pretty well with most parents. We need to remember that 93% of students aren’t automatic admission, so if rank is a turnoff for reviewers, an estimate could potentially give you a better chance, and I think the majority of parents would like that.
Granted this started 6 years ago, so the 38% more students being accepted at UT Austin may be lower as UT realized this loophole. I don’t know if the estimate they did then is the same as it is now or if it has more wiggle room.
@lostfirstchild That article is really old- I get what you are saying though. However Reviewers- at least at UT- cantget “turned off” by rank because Rank goes into a formula that ends up calculating your AI- which is graphed on a chart with your PAI ( reviewers review this info but they are not the people who calculated your AI) I do find it slightly odd that UT uses Rank in their AI formula since they seem to be fairly opposed to the auto admit admissions the state requires. Also- A and M needs top 25 percent and so do many other public schools in texas because they use a combination of rank and scores for academic or auto admit. - the most popular of this example is the academic admit at A and M. but all the public schools have criteria for each quarter of the class . I do not think parents who aren’t going to UT would want to give up those possibilities for other schools- there is a drastic difference in test scores required to get in places if you are third quarter versus second quarter versus first quarter.
Some places- it is a huge benefit to not have your rank- my youngest was offered SEVERAL scholarships that typically go to only the top 10 percent of a class even though she is not top 10. These were at schools who were not public Texas schools- some out of state publics who are known to not scholarship anyone outside top 10, and some privates.
But because of the way all texas public schools work, not sending rank would not be beneficial to kids in the top half of the classes
I like the way A&M does it more than the way UT does. Rank is a factor, but so is the SAT/ACT score. Of course neither is ideal. UT’s admissions system is a perfect example of good intentions but poor execution by the Texas legislature. Many former graduates from my school have said UT is like a giant high school due to the gap in abilities between students because of auto admits. The top 7% from a low performing school district might be comparable to the top half of a high performing one. UT is a good school but will never be a great school like UVA or UMich until they get rid of the automatic admissions.
I appreciate the State of Texas trying to ensure access to higher education for all it’s residents, it is a commendable ideal, poorly executed, but commendable. However, what I see happening… high performing kids, in the top 11% - 25% of their class, frustrated that their chances of being admitted to a Texas flagship are nearly impossible, or at the least vastly reduced, look outside of the State of Texas. They are being offered spots at Flagships in other states, sometimes with money that often makes it equal to attending an in-state option. So they leave. That is where Texas is losing. Once a kid leaves to attend an out of state school they rarely return and that is a loss for Texas.
@tb2000 I see where you’re coming from. And yeah the article is pretty old, but I wasn’t hearing this stuff in 6th and 7th grade. It has been spreading across Texas after that too, and still is.
You can’t deny that 38% increase though. It said that admission to A&M increased significantly too (49%). But again, I know that this doesn’t represent what admission would be like today. I think that these school districts are showing the parents that it’s not just UT that is accepting more students, but other top schools in Texas like A&M, so that’s why they are accepting.
Also, where have you seen that reviewers stick pretty strictly to this AI and PAI process? Do they do this for major acceptance too? Where can I find the formula UT uses for AI? Honestly curious about it.
@lostfirstchild The Academic Index (AI) is determined by a multiple regression equation utilizing a high school
percentile derived from an explicit class rank and class size [1-(class rank/class size)]*100, and
verbal, math, and writing test scores from the ACT Assessment or the SAT Reasoning Test. The
equation produces a predicted freshman year grade point average.
The equations are as follows:
Business – ACT Model
-.630 + (HSR * .015) + (ACT M * .062) + (ACT EngComp * .031)
Business – SAT Model
-2.668 + (SAT M * .002) + (SAT W * .001) + (HSR * .032) + (SAT CR * .001)
Engineering – ACT Model
-1.661 + (ACT EngComp * .045) + (HSR * .020) + (ACT M * .060)
Engineering – SAT Model
-2.254 + (SAT W * .002) + (HSR * .023) + (SAT M * .003)
The Liberal Arts Group – ACT Model
.125 + (ACT EngComp * .046) + (ACT M * .046) + ( HSR * .007)
The Liberal Arts Group – SAT Model
-.285 + (SAT W * .002) + (SAT M * .001) + (HSR * .009) + (SAT CR * .001)
The Natural Science Group – ACT Model
-1.179 + (ACT EngComp * .052) + (ACT M * .051) + (HSR * .017)
The Natural Science Group – SAT Model
-1.617 + (SAT Math * .003) + (HSR * .020) + (SAT CR * .001) + (SAT W * .001)
How much does going to a public feeder school help in terms of admission to a competitive major (CS, Business) if you aren’t auto admit? (e.g schools like Plano West, Westlake, etc.). These schools admit like 130+ students usually