A hard blow to take from both my wife and me who are UT exes. She wasn't in the top 10%, but she did well enough to get accepted to Vanderbilt, USC, Notre Dame, UVA, & Emory, and maybe will hear from more next week. Even my older daughter got into UT last year, but would have had to do summer school at UTSA prior. I guess the top 10% rule is basically taking up the whole freshman class. Well, there is still my 12 yo son to hope for.
It isn't "basically" taking up the entire class. It is "entirely" taking up the entire class. A very well connected friend told me that there are 10k top 10% applicants this year for 7k spots. Usually somewhere around 60 - 70% of the applicants actually come to UT. That is the entirety of the class. If the automatic admits go beyond the class capacity, there is NO legal recourse. UT-Austin must still accept and find classrooms for these masses. UT-Austin may literally have to make up ******** classes for incoming top 10 percenters. Worst law ever. Cap it at something reasonable. Top 10% kids can go to SOME state school. Guaranteeing the flagship university is stupid in the extreme. Let some of these kids go to Tech or A&M or any of the other UT system schools. Let the cream rise to the top.
that sucks about your daughter? so if the top 10% takes up the entire incoming class, how do 99% of the athletes get in?
UVA all the way. I know y'all are Longhorns but she can go to a better academic school. Don't let her take a scholly to ou.
just my $0.02... your child will almost certainly get a better education at several of the schools you listed. this is probably a HUGE blessing in disguise. Having said that, the top 10% rule is outdated.
Not the best option, but I hear that it is easier to transfer in than entering as a freshman. My niece is attending a small college and will transfer in as a Jr. - from my understanding. She could go to tech or agriculture but she refuses. I don't know if your daughter is that hardcore about UT, but she can try that. Others on here can confirm if transfering in is actually easier, but she does have some excellent options with the universities that you mentioned.
Instead of forcing the 10% rule, the state govt should push for one or two more flagship universities.
I'm really sorry to hear that Bill. I hope that, as others have said, it will be a blessing in disguise. Good luck to you and your daughter. In regard to...
She has some great choices. UVA is great. The other schools have their own advantages. If Texas was the choice from her soul, UVA will satiate her respect for tradition. Notre Dame grads are well connected and it is a good school. She has some good deep south schools. USC is really the Harvard of the west (more of a diss on Harvard than an unrealistic hype of a very good USC school). The law sucks. There is more to Texas than being in the top 10%. Those kids work hard. But there needs to be that reality that comes from beyond that ethereal realm. They make us better. We make them wiser. But back to the point, she is there with the hard-working wise. That is a terrific group of schools who accepted her. Texas screwed the pooch. Congratulations to your daughter. And great job Dad.
The chickens will come home to roost when those alumni dollars that are now going elsewhere begin to have an effect on the bottom line of the University. Regardless of your personal loyalty, if your children are going to another college or university your dollars are heading that way. That disconnect is growing. Further, alums are becoming disenchanted with UT-Austin because they know their kids can't get in before they are sophomores in high school. They're closing the door at UT, and its' individual colleges, are already starting to feel it. That's a fact.
She could always start out at a JC and then transfer into liberal arts after a semester. When I was on campus a ton of people did that b/c all you had to do with have a good GPA. But as others mentioned there are other good schools on that list. Cool to see that UT has higher demand than those other scools.
If she wants to go to UT bad enough, then she can get in. You might have to do the JC route but hell you can get those classes out of the way also. I am not a fan of the top 10% rule at all and have called my state legislator to let her know that.
A problem with the thinking of being able to transfer is that it depends on the freshman class sizes and retention. There are a few years where they have not taken any transfers at all, period. None. It can be like that for one, two or even three years in a row. You can have a 4.0 GPA, do all the right things, work for charities and the whole nine yards and you won't get in because two classes before you were loaded to the gills and still are. I know many this happened to. When I worked in an Academic office at UT we had this happen to many people. They would apply and they were way more than qualified and very desired. But our hands were tied with there not being any spots available and a mandate to not accept anybody. Sure, a few people got in due to connections and politics but they are very few. So going this route can backfire to where a young adult now has their heart broken twice and 2 years in must now find a school to go to for the next 2 or 3 years. I wonder about the loyalty of many of the top 10 percent kids and parents too. How many of them are true Longhorns and will feel the need to want to fork out dollars as alumni or parents of alumni if they did not grow up Burnt Orange and only went because they could with the rule. This is another long term possible problem. But as LHG stated, this is not UT's policy. I doubt they like it very much at the top levels on down. It has to be a pain in the ***. It needs to be addressed with a conclusion of limiting it fairly. How? I have no idea.
Just curious... Was she flat out rejected or was she offered the CAP program? There is a BIG difference when transferring back to UT as part of the CAP program (for a year at one of the designated system schools) as opposed to going to a JC or another Univ. and trying to transfer in as a regular transfer student. Those on the CAP program will have a space saved for them, those trying to transfer on their own, get whatever spots are left in the transfer pool after CAPs have been taken care of. Not sure with the current applicant pool as to whether the CAP program is still being offered as freely. if it is, it's really not a bad deal.
Doesn't UT still offer those summer probation classes for incoming freshman that wanna try their luck right after their HS graduation?
Question for l00p or anyone else: How are out of state students factored into the mix? Are they competing against top 10%ers or is there a set amount for out of state? Athletes then take a spot that another 10%er could have had then, it seems, getting in with minimum requirements. I have mixed feelings about that - I know a certain athlete who would not have gotten in otherwise. She was 4 away from the top 10%. OTOH what is the grad rate of athletes compared to the rest of the class? And of course there is the argument of top 10% in a 5A school vs top 10% in a 1A school.
We received a letter from my daughter's high school college counselor that indicated that UT would be unable to admit anyone through the summer admission program because they were so overadmitted under the 10% rule. The rule was supposed to help on the racial balance issue, but all it has done is create heartaches for qualified students of all races.
Wild Bill - Out of curiousity did she apply as soon as applications were accepted? I have heard that those that apply the day applications are acceptable have a better chance. My daughter is determined to make the top 10 percent but at Westwood with the IB school that isn't goint to be easy. She already asked if she moved to Belton with my parents she would get in... sadly I told her it woudl be a lock with her likely GPA.
That can be the case, Hornin. They will allow the international students in Engineering and Computer/Math areas because they shred the U.S. students left and right and schools want to have higher rankings. International ones are the way to do it. Anytime there is a huge freshman class, not to mention two in a row, it really waters things down. Sad.
You need about a 5,0 to be in the top 10 percent at Westwood, because of the extremely high number of kids taking AP classes that are on a 6.0 scale. This sounds misleading, so let me explain a 5.0 scale is actually what most of us remember as a 4.0 scale. The lowest "A" grade is a 90 and recieves a 4.0, a 95 average is graded accordingly as a 4.5. With AP classes being more difficult they are graded a point higher. At Westwood many of the best and brightest districtwide transfer in to be part of the International Business program so Westwood is a Magnet school as well. So my kid is going to take all AP classes to get her GPA up. If she gets in I will be very proud, but my message is always the same, simply do your best, as that's all you can do. She could transfer in District to McNeal and probably easily make the top 10 percent. Either way she's going to be ready for college and probably walk on Campus as a Soph if she sticks to her current plan. It's not gonna be easy. AND HOPEFULLY the Law will be revised by then!!!!!!
