Author Topic: College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?  (Read 9552 times)

natedog

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« on: April 05, 2006, 04:34:41 PM »
In the coming fall, I'll start applying to colleges, and I'm interested in going to UT Austin. I have a 3.7 GPA for my first 2 years, and this year I have a 4.2, in all AP and Honors classes. So far, I've passed the European and World AP History tests, with Statistics, English, and US History AP tests coming in a month  I scored 1850 on the SAT (I'm going to take the ACT soon, and I'll probably do better- it sucks having your calculator die for the math section!), and I am involved in several clubs, the National Honor Society and pending approval from the national office, an Eagle Scout. What would you say are my chances of being accepted? I am coming from out of state, if that is a factor.

Fly320s

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2006, 04:40:56 PM »
Piece of cake.  UT is a public school; their standards aren't very high.

BTW, have the SAT scores changed recently?  I thought that 1400 (or somewhere around there) was a perfect score.

Also, UT is a huge school.  I think they have close to 30,000 students now.
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cosine

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2006, 04:46:51 PM »
Perfect score on the SAT is now 2400.

Natedog, you should get into UT no sweat with what you've got. In fact, with what you have, any state university would be more than happy to take you, and the same probably applies to a goodly number of private "elite" universities too.
Andy

JAlexander

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2006, 04:58:58 PM »
Cosine's right, you should be able to skate right in.  However, UT is well known for trying their hardest to wash people out in freshman gen. ed. classes, so that's something to think about.  And they're pushing 40000 students at this point, although I think it was more a few years ago.

James

natedog

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2006, 05:49:54 PM »
That's reassuring. I heard from someone that the UT schools reserve a majority of their spots for students in the top 10% of their class, which I am not- I'm 117 out of 670 at my school.

cosine

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2006, 05:54:14 PM »
Quote from: natedog
That's reassuring. I heard from someone that the UT schools reserve a majority of their spots for students in the top 10% of their class, which I am not- I'm 117 out of 670 at my school.
Well, if UT stands for what I think it means, University of Tennessee, then it should be a public state college. They'll take a lot more then just the students in the top ten percent of their class. Heck, that's getting to be like a prestigious private university, and most state universities take a lot of college students who couldn't get into a private university.
Andy

cosine

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #6 on: April 05, 2006, 06:18:02 PM »
Quote from: natedog
and this year I have a 4.2, in all AP and Honors classes.
Just wondering: How did you end up with a GPA over 4.0? I thought that that was the top.
Andy

Dannyboy

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #7 on: April 05, 2006, 06:45:13 PM »
Texas has/had a law that says that if you are in the top 10% in your school and you apply to a state school, you are guaranteed to get in.  If you're not up there then you might be SOL.    This law may have changed since last year but I'm not sure.  There was a big stink about it some time last year or so.  

However, since you're coming from out of state, you may have a pretty good shot at getting in.  I'd try to get your GPA up to 4.0 though.  It's only gonna help.
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cosine

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #8 on: April 05, 2006, 06:48:58 PM »
Quote from: Dannyboy
Texas has/had a law
*brain fart passes* *moans* Aw, man, do I feel dumb.

UT = University of Texas

Don't ask me why I thought that UT meant University of Tennesse. Natedog even named the city of Austin, and I passed right over it. I just moved the city of Austin from Texas to Tennessee. Doh.



*donning asbestos for those who are sure to have a little fun at my expense over my brain fart in post #6*
Andy

natedog

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #9 on: April 05, 2006, 07:05:36 PM »
Most, if not all schools assign an extra GPA bonus for taking AP and Honors courses; an A in an AP class is worth 5 points on the GPA scale, a B is worth 4 points, a C is worth 3 points, etc. Normally an A is worth 4, B is a 3, etc. I come from a fairly competitive high school; basically all the students ranked higher than me have GPAs well over 4.0, some in the 4.5 range.

cosine

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #10 on: April 05, 2006, 08:02:31 PM »
Thanks for the explanation natedog. I never have heard of bonus GPAs before.
Andy

TarpleyG

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #11 on: April 06, 2006, 02:38:48 AM »
Can you drink beer?  Check
Can you party all night long and still make it to class the next morning?  Check
Can you fraternize with the co-eds?  Check

If all the above apply, you can get into UT.

CatsDieNow

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #12 on: April 06, 2006, 03:57:26 AM »
You should be able to get in without much trouble, but you are aware that Austin is the San Franciso of Texas, right?  Just a little bit liberal there...

(...but at least you won't be an Aggie).

Smith

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #13 on: April 06, 2006, 04:13:24 AM »
Can you shoot a rife from the top of a clocktower? Check.

Welcome to UT.

SpookyPistolero

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #14 on: April 06, 2006, 05:43:10 AM »
Much ado (how the hell do you spell that?) about nothing. I knew some folks that got in there, you'll certainly have no trouble. The fact that you're concerned and motivated about the subject puts you a cut above most, many folks just drift through the process.
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chaim

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #15 on: April 06, 2006, 07:54:15 AM »
Good GPA, good SAT, good extracurriculars...I'd say you have a decent chance.

However, many of the posts here show a lot of people who have little familiarity with the college admissions scene today.  A state school means easy acceptance my rear!  The major state universities, especially the flagship universities, have been raising standards for over 10 years now.  The flagship universities of any state are no longer easy to get into.  Decent national universities like Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, University of Maryland, etc are pretty hard (UM had over a 3.5 average GPA of incoming freshmen last I looked, when I was college age in the late 80s and early 90s that would get you into a Stanford).  Top national universities like UNC-Chapel Hill, several UT campuses (including Austin I think), University of Virginia, UCLA and others can be as hard for some applicants (especially out of state applicants) as the top private schools including sometimes the Ivy League.  Specialty schools can be even harder- St. Mary's College of Maryland, a public liberal arts school, sometimes turns away students who can (and do) get into Harvard and Yale.

I'm not saying this to discourage anyone.  Simply, you need to know that the days of near guaranteed acceptance into a state school are long gone.  Competition for the best students (who like to see "exclusivity"), competition for general reputation which is aided by a more "competitive" admissions policy (and helps with gaining research grants, business contributions and alumni contributions), and the ability to lure the good students away from top private schools due to tuition considerations have been just a few factors in the somewhat recent change.  Don't get your mind too set on any one school because you may or may not be accepted.  Certainly, you need to have a "plan-B".

As for specific admissions numbers you may want to consult some of the college guides out there as they usually will have information on how competitive things are.  They will have acceptance rates, average GPAs and test scores and a lot of other good information.  Do a search on Amazon.com, go to your local bookstore, or check out the offerings at the library, and spend some time with these books and you'll know where you stand in reality.
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crt360

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #16 on: April 06, 2006, 12:46:07 PM »
While UT does have high entry standards for a state school, getting in is probably the easy part.  What JAlexander said about UT weeding people out their freshman year is absolutely true.  I had a lot of good friends my first year at UT who finished their undergrad education at Texas Tech, A&M, SWT, TCU, SMU, U. of Houston, U. of Colorado and various other schools because they couldn't pass.  I also had friends who transferred to UT from other good schools with 3.7-4.0 grades and had a very hard time.  Unless it has changed, there is no grade inflation at UT.  Nobody cares if you're a merit scholar and were also accepted by Yale and Stanford.  You don't get a C (or D) for showing up every day.  There is a lot of competition for grades and not many people graduate from Texas with super high GPAs.

The school is large.  I'd be surprised if they got it below 40,000.  When I was there they had the largest single campus enrollment in the country at 50,000+.  Aside from a few freshman business classes that were so big you needed binoculars to see the professor, I didn't have any problem with the number of students.

While Austin might not be as cool as it once was, it's still an awesome place to live and go to school.  Living costs are pretty high around campus.  You'd have to check on out-of-state tuition.  I actually came across one of my receipts for a semester of classes and I think I paid $220 for 16 or 17 hrs resident tuition. Shocked  That was a long time ago, though.

Good luck.  I hope you give it a try.  I'd go to UT all over again if I could.
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roo_ster

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #17 on: April 06, 2006, 07:00:57 PM »
If you go to UT Austin, you will become the blood enemy of my wife, a Texas A&M grad.

What do you expect to major in?  If it is any of the sciences or engineering, A&M is the place to go in Texas.
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Art Eatman

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #18 on: April 07, 2006, 05:23:53 AM »
Aw, nuthin' wrong with Aggies. Once you teach'em to read and write, they're okay.  A little hard to potty-break, is all.

I heard about this Aggie coyote:  He chewed off three paws, and was still caught in the trap...

If God's not a Longhorn, how come sunsets are burnt orange?

Just teasing...

Art
The American Indians learned what happens when you don't control immigration.

JAlexander

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #19 on: April 07, 2006, 06:57:43 AM »
Quote from: Art Eatman
Aw, nuthin' wrong with Aggies. Once you teach'em to read and write, they're okay.  A little hard to potty-break, is all.

I heard about this Aggie coyote:  He chewed off three paws, and was still caught in the trap...

If God's not a Longhorn, how come sunsets are burnt orange?

Just teasing...

Art
I take no sides in the Aggie/Longhorn fracas, but Art's given me an in to tell one of my favorite jokes, so here goes:

How many Aggies does it take to eat an armadillo?



Three.  One to eat it and two to watch for cars.

*ducks*

James

Azrael256

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #20 on: April 07, 2006, 09:43:57 AM »
I have a friend who's an Aggie.  He won't allow anyone but a fellow aggie to call him such.  To everyone else, he's an Agro-American.  *rimshot*

But seriously, I hear they have a fantastic medical program down there in College Station.  Their hospital is rated #1 in the world for appendix transplants.  *rimshot*

And Art, G-d is a North Carolina fan.  Why else would he paint the sky North Carolina Blue?

I like telling that last one to my favorite history prof, a graduate of Duke.

Natedog, do they still do the top 10 rule with Texas state schools?  From your grades, I think you might actually be guaranteed admission if they do.

Art Eatman

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College talk: What are my chances of getting into UT Austin?
« Reply #21 on: April 07, 2006, 04:54:13 PM »
All joking aside, A&M is a hellluva great school...

Not that my family hasn't been involved with UT:  My grandfather went there in 1903.  My father got his BS in Civil Engineering in 1933, and my mother got first a degree in History and then her doctorate in Psych in 1942.  I sorta grew up on campus.  I went one year, but was "just not sure" and dropped out to the Army before getting it together.

My ex-wife has been den-mother to computer science grad students, as the Boss' secretary...

Been a few changes, there...

Smiley, Art
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