My daughter got rejected at UT

This law needs to change. I would be devastated, although you list several great universities as alternative choices. I don't know if any are particularly noted for undergraduate education, which can be a totally different animal than what most universities are rated on, which is mainly strength of grad programs. But Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, and Virginia-all have great academic reputations. Maybe you should pick USC, better road trips for visits. Your daughter might want to learn surfing.
 
The current legislature is currently reviewing this policy. If I understand SB175 correctly it would give state school the ability to limit top ten percent admission to 50% of the class. The top 10% would be ranked amongst each other, the top half accepted and then the other half would go back to the pool of normal pool of applicants.
Text of SB175
Track History
 
That would be a good change. UT has been slipping in the ratings (if that means anything to you all) because some of the top 10%ers are making below 1000 on the SAT (math + verbal). There should at least be a minimum of something (maybe 1050 or so???) so that students bring up the SAT avg and make our school look more competitive. Based on the most recent US News Undergrad rankings to give you an example of where my daughter so far has been accepted are:

Emory--18
ND-----18 (tie)
Vandy-----18 (tie)
UVA -------23
USC --------27
UT ----------47
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Link

Note also the costs. Adding in room & board, UT costs about $25,000/yr, whereas the private schools will cost close to $50K.
 
I take it a minimum score on the SAT doesn't get accepted anymore? I wasn't in the top 10% of my HS class, but I'm pretty sure it was my SATs that got me in

IIRC You needed to score above 1300 or 1350. I had my SAT scores sent to UT and they sent back a pre-filled application. I had to sign it and have my HS send my transcript and that was it.
 
As a Vandy grad student, let me be a shill for here. Nashville offers very similar things to Austin, the school's rep just keeps getting better (already top 20 according to those bs rankings, but that's another argument), they are generous w/ the financial aid, and there are a lot of kids from Texas here.
 
On Vandy - the girls are pretty unbelievably hot also. Hands down, best looking "smart" girls in the country. Rice could learn a thing or two from Vandy about this.
 
I'm sorry, maybe I'm alone here, but I have a really hard time working up sympathy for most of the people who are upset about the top 10% rule. If they are not top 10%, they are either not smart, or they go to a very good school - which therefore either a school in a high-income area, or is a private school. Which means their parents most likely can pay for them to go to another very good school somewhere else (see OP - whose daughter apparently didn't even really want to go to UT).

And I have to say, attitudes like this really piss me off:

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.

I am one of many in my family to go to UT. But many of the people I know who were first-generation UT grads are the most passionate I know. The idea that someone should be given preference in being admitted to UT simply because their parents had the good fortune to be able to go to college 20-30 years ago is absolutely disgusting to me.
 
Does she know her final destination as to what she wants to do? If it's something specialized, for example if she wanted to go into polymer chemistry for coatings, then there are a couple of schools that specifically have that. Then I would recommend she go to the school that best suits what she wants to do with her life. As for undergrad is the school choice as important today as it was 30 years ago? I went to UT-Arlington for undergrad and although it is lower ranked versus other schools, the class sizes were small for upper level classes and for the sciences/engineering the course work was quite challenging. (I was one of only 3 BS graduates in Chem in the spring of 1996)

I know in Chemistry at UTA, the acceptance rate into top level Chemistry grad and Med schools was quite good. A good friend of mine who is a professor now at Auburn was pretty surprised at how far ahead he was in his first year of grad school at UT-Austin of not only new graduates from UT-Austin but some 1st and 2nd year grad students.

If however, she is only after a 4-year degree then I would analyze exactly what type of work she wants to do after school and lend considerable weight to that when she makes her decision.
 
Just a question: Is the daughter considered a minority? It could explain why private schools admitted her, and a public school bogged down by quotas didn't. Also depending on what major/department she applied too, just being female could help (engineering is the best example).
 
Join the crowd. Five years ago, my daughter was accepted under the CAP program (attend another school first) although she had a very good GPA, several AP classes, 20+ hours of college credit, etc. But, she was not in the Top 10% because she went to a very good high school.

She went out of state, with scholarship dollars, and graduated Cum Laude. Now she plans on living and working in the Southeast US because that's where her friends and connections are. She was born in Texas, grew up a Longhorn, and now will probably never live here again. Another productive citizen leaving the state. My wife is a UT alum and she will never give the university another dime because of their decision.

Also, for those who think killing the Top 10% rule will create more opportunities for smart, suburban kids with an academic profile like their parents had 10 to 20 years ago that easily got into UT, forget it! The UT administration does not want those kids! They want the Top 10% rule killed so they can admit more "disadvantaged", out-of-state, "alternative", and international applicants. To them, the god of Diversity is the most important things. Right now, there are too many suburban kids.
 
The University's hands are tied, and that in a nutshell is the entire point

I hope my daughter remains as focused as she is today. We just signed her up for her high school classes. All AP with the exception of advanced Spanish and Soccer. She did the math on her current 8th grade classes based on the current GPA scales and she came up with just over a 5.5, and currently an admission to UT if the pace continues.

I am however worried about my youngest, in that she thinks she also HAS to get into UT or somehow she is "lesser" than her sister. For me it's as much about staying close to home so I can still see them as anything else.

I know that I personally will always be proud I got into and survived UT. Though going to class might have been a good idea....
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Go get your wife and have her read this post....i will wait.....still waiting....tell her to hurry up...okay...


Ma'am, it is not the University of Texas you should be mad at or blame. They had nothing to do with this. They are victims of this too. They are following the law that the Texas Legislature created. If you want it changed, make your representative accountable. If you did not vote, change that process and do so. If you did, make sure you vote for somebody who will change it or try to.

There is currently legislation being mulled over to change this rule. Go read up on it, contact your representative and make your voice heard.

But all need to remember that everybody won't be able to have their kids get in all the time. Just too many people that graduate, procreate and then educate. So don't punish your beloved UT for following the law they did not create.

Fight for what is right and be proactive to help your school. It needs you now.

Your husband wants you to make him a sandwich now.

Good bye.
 
if they are going to institute and keep the 10% rule, then they should put in a minimum SAT or ACT score to weed them out. That would eliminate a lot of them and get in a lot of the private school kids. basically, i higher SAT score from a top 25% kid would trump some of those that are in the top 10%. basically, have some type of formula.

yes, uva would be my choice for your kid but its also about a 30k hit a year in additional costs. that is what is so unfortunate about the rule, these out of state schools are expensive.
 
The idea that someone should be given preference in being admitted to UT simply because their parents had the good fortune to be able to go to college 20-30 years ago is absolutely disgusting to me.
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im sorry, i give about 1500 a year to the school (extra to athletics) and if or when i have kids and if they want to go to ut, i would hope that my kids, if pitted up against kids of equal grades, etc., that my kid would be given preference and let in. im a 3rd generation ut grad as well, i wasnt given any preference, but there has got to be some loyalty from the school given to its alumni.
 
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