UT Engineering?

Looking at the ASEE profiles UT in 2015 had 13K engineering applications and about 10% of those applications were offered admission. I have had several discussions with former longhorns and our college admissions counselor about who actually makes the decisions and no one seems to know. Are the business school/engineering decisions made by a panel at the respective schools or are the decisions completely at the discretion of the admissions office? Rank, GPA and test scores seem to drive many decisions but does the PAI score really matter all that much? I ask because this year the high school class my senior is in is the most competitive ever. In years past her GPA would have put her in the top 5% but this year it barely brushes the top 10.5%. Great that the class is strong including my kid but not so much when in comes to the state flagship chances. BTW her high school only ranks the top 10 so I am not sure how that will play out. Maybe they will use the class of 2016 stats?

From what I’ve seen, the engineering acceptance rate is 26%~. The biggest factor for admission is being in the top 7% and the specific engineering major, as they all have different acceptance rates.

If her school ranks the top 10%, UT admissions will have record of that and know your child did not make it in the top 10.

Admissions decisions are made by admissions. Engineering does not manage acceptances.

If you had some more of your child’s stats, we may be able to chance her.

I don’t have access to admissions data - that info isn’t public - but from what I recall, around one-quarter of engineering students gain admission. This checks out. They do indeed all have different admissions rates and those vary, unpredictably, from year to year.

Being in the top 7% matters only insofar as they will have a stronger “academic index.” The academic index is a score based on an algorithm composed solely of the student’s rank and their best test on a single date.

There are no bonus points or anything assigned to crossing that magic threshold. All that 7% for Texas residents does is guarantee that they will be offered some major, just maybe not their first choice.

The academic and personal indices are the only things that matter. Both are 50% of the admissions criteria. Students are literally placed in cells on an X/Y axis.

@Kevin - what is the order 50% of the admission criteria?

Thanks @KevinRMartin Here is the profile link where it shows applied vs. accepted. Perhaps not all of the engineering degrees at UT are represented?
http://profiles.asee.org/profiles/6848/screen/19?school_name=The+University+of+Texas+at+Austin

Also, if a student is not ranked… and all of the current class does not apply to UT… how does UT “soft rank”? Is it based on past classes or something else?

nvm. I was looking at the wrong number. 26% is correct much better than 10% lol.