<p>In-state
Weighted GPA: 4.1
Unweighted gpa: 3.6
SAT: 2070 (660 cr, 720 math, 690 wr)
ACT: 31 (none are below a 30)
Class Rank: top 25%
Very competitive hs, top 10% has 1 B during HS. Many go to stanford, rice etc. 30+ valedictorians
E.C: Football, Track, NHS, random community service
AP classes: World History, English III, US HIstory, Physics II, Calculus, European History, Economics, Government, English IV
AP scores: world history 3, us history 3, english III 5
Schedule: As hard as possible
Im applying to mechanical engineering and sports management </p>
<p>Ive wanted to go to Texas my whole life and now ive applied and just have to hope for the best.</p>
<p>spartan, since I know where you go, I can tell you that alot of kids outside of the top 10% get in from your highschool. If you look at the last few years’ Spectrums that come out in May, you’ll see many in the top 25% of the class get accepted. Engineering might be tough, but with your high math score you might have a shot.</p>
<p>What school is sports management under? I know it’s not McCombs. If it’s COLA or natural sciences, you probably have a better shot at that.</p>
<p>If so, then yeah, that might be the back door in.</p>
<p>Spartan, there’s a girl in the class of 09 who got in with sports management, I know she was just at the 25% cutoff, but I’m not sure what her test scores were (there’s only so much another mom will say ;)), but that bodes well for you!!</p>
<p>I go to Stratford High School in Houston. We have over 30 valedictorians in our class. The entire top 10 % is valedictorians and saludatorians. Thats why I hate the top 10 rule because it screws over people who go to an hs like mine.</p>
<p>Sure, I should have figured it out from your name! Stratford is a great school, but you are right, it gets hit hard by the top 10% rule. Unfortunately, they did not change the rule fast enough for you. The change they are making for the class of 2011 would make thing much easier for you. Great students from top notch schools are the ones that get left in the dust. The good news is that the admissions office knows the good schools and they recognize a good student when they see one. Make sure you have excellent essays, make them really stand out. Really brag about yourself on your application. This is not the time to be humble! Good luck!</p>
<p>Dattu it’s not uncommon to have multiple valedictorians, especially at large schools. I went to HS in CA and we had 11 when I graduated - essentially it was everyone that had above a 4.0 (basically they were weighted for AP, but it was before it was essentially the norm to weight/unweight GPAs and modify to a 5 or even 6 point scale). I had actually never even heard the term salutatorian used until I moved to TX because, in my part of CA at least, they stopped having them well before I was born (my HS specifically stopped having them in the 60’s). </p>
<p>The 10% rule is really such a mixed bag. On one hand, I think it’s done very well in getting smart hardworking kids from schools in bad areas or with less money into the flagship universities in the state (although they might have been accepted before hand if they had applied, a lot just never tried). But on the other hand, it’s allowed less than stellar kids from unchallenging schools get in while smart and hardworking kids from huge schools with great academics can barely crack the top 25% in many cases and get left in the lurch. At the same time, the spaces taken up by the underwhelming applicants keep strong OOS and transfer students out. I really hope this change to the top 8% makes some headway in getting a more well-rounded, diverse student body at all of the public universities in TX, not just UT. /rant ;)</p>
<p>My son is a senior at Stratford, with one B from freshman pre-AP Biology (technically a Co-Salutatorian), and he is #33 and at 7%. So, yeah, it’s tough… But, you get a great education, and are very well prepared for college. So, while it can hurt you in the top 10% category by attending a school like that, it is well worth it in the long run.</p>
<p>AND, over the years, it proves out that kids that are in the top 25% can get in - maybe not in their first choice major, but into UT. Two of my older son’s friends got in by the skin of their teeth (barely in the 25%), but they are both in the business school now by internal transfer.</p>
<p>Yeah, Plan II seems to be less purely numbers driven, and more focused on the total applicant. I’ve heard that essays and ec’s are critical for that vrs just rank and scores. (like all majors should be, but it is what it is in Texas :rolleyes:)</p>
<p>I think, even at UT, the admissions people take into account the highschool you went to, and if they know that it is a tough environment where you get a really good college prep, they make what allowances they can. That’s why you hear about so many HP, Memorial, Stratford, etc. kids getting in out of the top 10%. </p>
<p>Even though they are public schools, HP, MHS, SHS are smaller high schools - SHS senior class this year is only 470ish, so there’s only 47 spots in the top 10% vrs. like Cy Woods which has around 1500 kids in the senior class - it’s alot easier to be in the top 150 than 47. </p>
<p>A friend of mine’s son is a senior at Kinkaid, and she said their graduating class is like 150, so try being top 10% there - 15 kids! Yikes!!</p>