Hoping someone here might have gone through this process recently or have inside knowledge to help me out. My son is a graduating HS senior. He's a solid B student, nothing spectacularly good, nothing spectacularly bad. I raised him right so he bleeds burnt orange, but frankly he just hasn't done the academic work necessary to get into UT. So, he wants to start out elsewhere and then transfer into UT once he gets the needed GPA. Does anyone have recommendations on the best way to go about this? Is he better off just going to the local community college, getting a good GPA and trying to transfer? Would he be better off at a UT system school? With the requisite 30 hours, what GPA is likely necessary to get in? Will it vary widely depending on what school he is transferring from? Any good info you can provide would be helpful. The UT Admissions website is deliberately vague on this type of stuff. Since the Top 10% rule went into effect, I have no clue how this stuff works. I was a transfer student at UT myself, but that was pre-top 10% and I doubt my experiences are very relevant to today's admissions environment. Thanks.
Go to a sister UT school. Get above 3.0 for the first 30 hours. However, try to get as high as possible. Apply as a transfer student. With a very high probability, he'll be in (lots and lots of students drop out of UT after 1st year, so they take a lot of sophomore transfers). Two of my friends transferred to UT from UT-PA. One thing: UT has a course transfer web site. Try to take only classes that will transfer (so that he doesn't have to take extra courses at UT).
I work with this kind of stuff at my job so maybe I can shed some light. I work with students and try to get them in college and I work with these type of situations all the time. Personally the best situation for a kid that didn't make it to UT is going the CAP route. Its only offered thought to students that applied to UT and didnt make it. They have to complete 30 hours in one year at a UT system school with a 3.2 gpa and they get automatically accepted into Liberal Arts or Natural Sciences. If he goes to a community college he will need to take at least 30 hours but he would need at around a 3.5 to be even considered. Business and Communications school would probably need a 3.8 or above. So it will vary greatly to what school he wants to apply to. Let me know if this helps out and if you have any more questions.
I know two people with UT degrees in the last 3 years (one of which at UT law) who never even took the SAT because they had dropped out of high school and eventualy got GEDs. Both did community college and managed to get in. So its possible.
DoubleJ - Does everyone who applies to UT get offered the CAP deal? My son is pretty much smack dab in the middle of his class, so it's not like he's even close to qualifying for UT admission. Would someone like him likely get offered the CAP plan? CleverNickname - Any idea what those JC transfers' GPAs were?
UTSA for CAP -> 3.2 for one year, I think minimum of 15 credits each semester (NOT trivial) ->
Im pretty sure everybody that doesn't get into regular admissions gets offered CAP. I have notes about it from a workshop I went to, I can check my notes back at work if I can find them. As stated above, they need to take 15 hours in the fall and spring and just keep a 3.2. Let me know if that helps. Great opportunity but not many people take advantage of it.
Well crap. Now I'm feeling like a real crappy parent. Deadline for UT admissions is Feb. 1 which there's no way I'm gonna hit and I had no clue this was really something he might be able to do. Maybe if he just goes to a UT system school and breaks the 3.2 mark he'd still have a real good shot at UT anyway? I freaking should have looked into this earlier, but he has been talking about just going to community college and all of the sudden he's acting confused so I started looking at this, and now I'm too freakin late.
Overnight FedEx the transcript and fill out the application completely online. Did he already send his SATs to UT?
Thanks for the advice all. After reviewing the admissions application requirements again, I think we can get it all done by Feb. 1. He'd already had his SAT scores sent to UT, so if we do the online app, get his transcript overnighted, we should be good to go. We're gonna give it a shot. I'll let y'all know if it works.
I went to Austin Community College and pulled a decent (~3.3) GPA and got in with 26 credits. When talking to the admissions people at UT they said they prefer ACC transfers because in their studies they do better at UT than the CAP and other college transfers. I guess that's why I got in with my less than stellar GPA. Also my essays were kick ***.
He's talked about doing ACC. If this CAP thing doesn't work out, we might go that route. I'm just afraid that if he heads to Austin next year, it's gonna be tough to pull a 3.3 or better his first year with all of the distractions Austin has to offer.
i'm about to graduate from high school and just got denied by UT, but i'm really set on getting my bachelors there. i'm going to try to go to ACC for a year, then transfer, but does anybody know the best way to do this? i.e. what classes to take? who to talk to? yada yada?
take your basic classes and do your best. get the highest possible GPA and work hard. i know plenty of people who went that route and got accepted by their junior year. best of luck.
For sure go talk to the ACC counsellors. They have the exact courses that transfer directly to UT and what you need to do in them. Schedule an appointment and listen to everything they say and follow it the way they tell you. Don't do the min., do better than that just in case. But they have it spelled out and can even give you a piece of paper with the direct transfer info on it.
The CAP (Conditional Acceptance Program) is the best way to go. However, if this isn't an option and JC is your next choice, then ACC is the right move. There is no question ACC will have more insight, and probably more success, in how to get students into Texas.
A list of courses which will transfer from ACC as well as recommended classes for transfer students are here.
whatever you do, work you *** off that first year. it is so easy to get sucked into the austin nightlife. go to class, take your classes seriously.
CAP is definantly the best route if your son is offered it. It used be a little easier, had to get a 3.0 in 30 hours and didn't even have to take a math, science, or language. Now they require a 3.2 and a math, I think. Nevertheless, it's still pretty easy. Whereas UT makes their introductory courses pretty difficult to weed out people that don't belong, the other UT system schools are dealing with a student body at risk of dropping out, so they make the introductory courses fairly easy. That's my theory anyways. Also, tell your son to go visit the professors!! He can talk about anthing. They really appreciate it, it shows he's paying attention and dedicated to class, and matters come grade time.
I transfered in my 2nd year from CU (Colorado) with a 3.6 or so. I would think no matter where your son goes he can get in with that GPA to Liberal Arts. Good luck. Don't blame yourself, your son should've been more pro-active in figuring all this out.
well atxborn and i are both at utsa, we both had 3.5's and higher during the first semester and we probably going to repeat that this semester. if your son is serious about going to ut and not letting things distract him, i'd advise taking this road. being away from austin has help me appreciate it.
Same type situation as above. I'm currently at Texas State (along with all the other slacker retards) and I'm hoping to transfer in. I have a 3.77 right now, but it will probably go down to about 3.4 or 3.5 after this semester. The academic advisor at UT told me to get into Liberal Arts, which thankfully is my major, I had to pull around a 3.3-3.2. That is not hard at all. I wish I would have tried harder in HS, but I have learned what it takes to work hard and have gotten alot of classes that would have been much harder at UT out of the way. Best of luck to your son MidTexHorn.
Just curious, once you get into UT in Liberal Arts with the methods described in the thread, can you then transfer to another program later?
yes, but it is much harder. The academic advisor I spoke to said that people with 4.0 GPAs were getting turned down when applying to Computer Science or Business. If you make it into those, you have to really wow them, or come from a school on par with UT. As far as transferring intra-university, I'm pretty sure it is the same. You really have to bust your butt.
I just transfered into UT last fall from ACC so I'll tell you what I did. ACC for a year (26 hours - you need 30 hours now but only needed 24 then) Make sure all the classes are transferable and don't take a class that looks too easy (PE, etc...). There are guides online that tell you exactly what to take and what is transferable and all that stuff. Definitely meet with one of the advisors at ACC as they can help you a lot. I had an OK GPA. I think it was ~3.4 and I applied to Communications (Advertising) and Liberal Arts as my backup. I was admitted into Liberal Arts and am now trying to transfer to Advertising. UT is kicking my *** though. It's so much harder than ACC so don't let him get used to the difficulty there. Hope that helps. BTW I was told by the UT admissions person that they give preference to ACC transfers (even over 4 year colleges) because according to their studies they do the best at UT (although I might throw that stat off a bit )
hmm, that doesnt sound good. Hopefully it wont matter, but it would suck to do better than someone at an easier school and still not make it in, based off some stat.
