UT Austin McCombs/BHP Admission Chances and Advice? (11th Grade)

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
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Hello all. I’m currently a junior at an extremely competitive 6A Texas Public High School. Obviously I need to keep my options open, but my top choice for sure is UT Austin, specifically McCombs and the Business Honors Program. I have a friend who got in to the program and loves it, my sister and mom also attended/attend the school and it’s a great in-state value compared to other business schools. Below I’m going to put all my relevant information to admission to BHP, McCombs, and UT Austin in general.

Location: Texas
Gender: Male
Race: White
Income: ~200k? Not too sure, I live in a very rich city though
Major: BHP, not sure about second major (probably business related though)

Unweighted GPA (4.0 scale): 3.989 (will be 3.99 after this year)
Rank: top 2%
ACT: not taken yet

SAT: 1530 (800 math, 730 verbal) (18 on essay)
•This is the first SAT I have taken. I wasn’t able to do any “real” SAT prep due to cost issues, I just took the official CollegeBoard released tests to prep (as well as reading some articles) and then I took the test. My score range on the practice tests was 1530-1570, so I scored at the bottom of my range.
•0 missed questions on math, 1 missed question on writing, 10 missed questions on reading (ouch)
•790 on biology subject test (I’ll probably take math/physics, will they be helpful though?)
•I very likely will not make national merit based on PSAT/NMSQT

APs: Human Geography (5), Biology (5), World History (5)
•Currently taking (all AP): US History, English Language, Environmental Science, Physics 1, Calculus AB, Spanish IV, Statistics
•I will receive a 94 or above in all classes, 97 or above in around half. Likely not taking environmental science AP exam.
•Plan to take senior year (all AP): Chemistry, Government/Economics, Spanish V (?), Calculus BC, English Literature, Physics 2

Extracurriculars:
•VP of Key Club, Environmental Actions Club
•Treasurer of American Heart Association Club
•Joined DECA this year, hopefully will make it to state/ICDC
•NHS (member)
•No significant community service/volunteer hours

Other Achievements
Work Experience

  • •Courtesy Clerk at Kroger for 3 months when I was 15 (purpose: to buy a laptop for higher productivity during school)
    •Carhop/Shift Leader at Sonic for a little over a year (still employed)
    •Tutor for a competitive tutoring company the past 3 months (still employed)

App Development
•Not sure if this is significant at all or means nothing to UT, I’ll do it either way though as I am passionate about it
•Revenue from the game is and will be next to none, I don’t force ads and want to focus more on making it a quality game with positive feedback and a large amount of downloads/impressions.

Based on the information I’ve given above, I have a few questions:

  1. **What are my relative chances of admission (to just McCombs and then BHP in general?)** I’ll be auto accept to general UT (top 6%) so no worries about that.
  2. **What should I focus on most to improve my chances of admission?** E.g. improving class rank, improving SAT score, doing really well on ACT, getting my iOS game bigger, getting far in competition in DECA, getting more leadership positions, more business ECs/more ECs in general, all of the above?
  3. **Should I drop environmental science second semester? (OR: what are the cons in terms of admission of dropping the class?)** It’s my most difficult class, takes up a huge amount of time, I personally think the information is really irrelevant and scattered, I get less sleep due to it, and I probably won’t take the AP exam. I’m going to receive a 94+ for this first semester, possibly a 97+ (not super likely). I want to drop the class, but only if it’s not too damaging. I’m not asking for someone else to make the personal decision for me, I guess I just want an outside evaluation of the pros/cons in terms of college applications. Dropping the class will lower my GPA slightly, but not enough to where I think it’ll be significant to my admission odds (although I don’t know). However, does it look bad to colleges to have dropped a class after first semester? I’d need to invest the extra time into some other facet to improve admission odds. The extra time would benefit me in getting more sleep, less stress, and I could focus more on other things.
  4. **Is early application/admission a thing, and if so, how does it work? Does it improve chances of admission?**

I apologize for for the very long post as well as the poor formatting (the list BBCode was being really inconsistent for me for some reason), I appreciate any responses and advice.

[This post was edited for privacy.]

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You seem like a solid applicant, and your app development stuff seems like something that will help you stand out in the applicant pool. You have pretty great test scores and your rank is good, so not much to stress about there. In terms of AP tests, it would help you a ton if you do well on your Physics, Calc, and Stats AP exams. Besides improving on your test scores (which I believe that since you got a 1530 with no prep, you’ll be able to improve quite easily), an easy thing you can do to improve your application is more community service. Also, in some of the most successful BHP applicants I’ve seen, they’ve had “big” leadership positions (DECA State Officer for example) and oddly enough, some success in debate and public speaking, as well. That being said, I noticed that you said “getting more leadership positions.” Be careful of not trying to get a “scattered” set of leadership positions-- focus on a few. With your APES class, I would say don’t drop. I don’t really think it’s worth it, especially since it’ll show on your transcript.

I hope you have a fantastic rest of your junior year, and best of luck in applying next year!

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@freshmesh167 Thanks for the reply. It’s been a while, I ended up not dropping my APES class, and I think not dropping it was the right decision.

Another thing that I forgot to mention is that I am also the Business Manager of a student arts magazine, it’s very professional and well-organized, and although the first issue hasn’t been released yet (it’ll be in a couple of months), I believe that it will be relatively successful. It’s not like a school-run magazine (it doesn’t have a specific class dedicated to it like my school newspaper or school media program), and will hopefully be distributed not only within the school but throughout the community. I’m not sure if this would also help me stand out or have an impact on my application.

It seems that in recent years, as grades and test scores are getting better and better, demonstration of leadership is becoming more and more important for admission to BHP. For example, I know someone who was accepted into BHP last year despite not having as elite test scores or grades, likely due to the fact that they were the captain of the Lariettes Dance Team at my school.

What worries me is the fact that I don’t really have any of these high-class or “big” leadership positions, which might hinder my acceptance to BHP despite my academic success. I don’t think that my position as Vice President of Key Club/Environmental Actions Club and Treasurer of American Heart Association are really going to matter, since these clubs don’t do very much and I know the creators personally and all three of the clubs were basically created as resume booster clubs. I might just not put these leadership positions on my application at all since I’m not very passionate about the clubs and I think that UT will be able to see that. Additionally, my school doesn’t keep track of leadership positions, and so I’ve heard that colleges know not to consider leadership positions in the smaller clubs (things other than DECA, BPA, NHS, etc) as much.

The main extracurriculars/leadership I have at the moment that I think will actually impact my application are: app development, business manager of the magazine I mentioned previously, and DECA if I go far in competition. I’m not sure what extracurriculars I can get involved in this late in high school that would actually be important and allow me to go far and possibly obtain a “big” leadership position that is important for BHP acceptance. I definitely understand the depth vs. breadth in terms of activities, and if I can involved in 1 more activity that allows me to go far and demonstrate my work ethic and obtain a possible “big” leadership position (and be something that BHP will actually consider) I feel like I’ll be able to really strengthen my application. Any ideas? Thanks. Sorry again for the long post.

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So one of the parts of your BHP application will be to provide an expanded resume. In this resume, they pretty much expect that you aren’t just writing three word descriptions of the different activities you’re in, so it’s much more impressive if your resume reflects quality over quantity. Regarding “smaller” clubs, I wouldn’t leave them out, especially if you end up having to say a lot about them. Concerning the question about adding another activity, it depends. Is it business-oriented or something unique that would help you stand out from the applicant pool? Would you have much to say about it on your expanded resume?

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You don’t need to worry about all that other extra stuff. You’re in the top 7% of your class. With UT Austin, if you live in Texas, that’s an auto-guaranteed admission. Just do the application and you’re in.

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@coolguy40 But not specifically into Mccombs and BHP where it isn’t auto

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As far as I know, the most competitive candidates get the first pick of majors, so your chances are high of getting into the business school. The rest get to compete in the academic Hunger Games. I don’t see that happening in your case.

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@APLearner you seem very informed about the admission process. Many auto admits are denied to BHP and McCombs and BHP even has admits not in the auto-admit pool. Express what makes you tick and why your extracurricular activities are important to YOU rather than what you do in those activities. Look for leadership experiences in unexpected places – did you influence others within an organization, did you change the opinions of others by your actions or your example? Make your application personal rather than trying to “guess” what admissions may be looking for and you will do great! This approach proved successful for my children when they applied to BHP.

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@freshmesh167 Oh I see, I didn’t realize that was the function of the resume.

@CollegeParent123 Thank you for the advice, I’ll take that into consideration.

I just finished competing at State DECA, unfortunately due to a mishap with printing and penalty points I didn’t move on to internationals- I’m not sure if anyone knows how important DECA is (State vs. International) but will not making ICDC for DECA be a big hindrance to my chances of acceptance to BHP? I’m slightly worried about it, since I don’t have a national/international level talent or accomplishment in any other way, and I feel like that sort of thing would be important to BHP.

Also, I’ve heard different things from different people- is rank/GPA/SAT/AP exam more important for acceptance to BHP now, or is having big leadership positions (such as DECA State Officer) and business experience more important? Or is it a mix of both? I feel like I’m a moderately competitive candidate on the academic side of things, but I fear that my extracurriculars may be lacking. Thanks everyone for the advice.

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@APLearner I have had a lot of success with UT Austin admissions although I was not a McCombs student. Austin is very holistic in their application review. I would focus as much or more on your essays. Learn how all the things you have done throughout your high school career have built up lasting interests and experiences for you. Write about how you hope to build a community around your app or how that specific project has benefited from your highschool experiences. The fact is that you’re at a disadvantage with your family income and your city. UT gets thousands of applicants that come from preppy neighborhoods with rich parents. You have to defeat that stereotype and paint a different one of an impassioned individual willing to not just study hard to achieve a goal, but to have fun while doing it. I’m not an expert on college admissions but I do think that from the people I have talked to, everyone is going to have 16 clubs on their resume, especially applicants to McCombs or BHP. Our high school salutatorian made the mistake of thinking that her resume would get her into school but she found out the hard way. Just be passionate and genuine and everything will be alright.