Texas Public University - how easy to get in ?

[Ummto4]

Do you know how easy to get into a Texas public univ if you're a homeschooler ?

 

I heard that they'll admit the top 10% automatically regardless of the SATs and for the top univ (think UT Austin and possibly Texas A&M), the majority of students (75%) comes from that top 10% quota. This means that homeschoolers - because they're first out of 1 :001_smile: - have to compete with non-top 10% students for another 25% of the total seat.

 

The regulation sounds crazy to me (and that's why in places like UT Austin, the drop out and transfer rate of STEM students are high) .... but it is what it is.

 

So ... does this mean that for a good student it's better to get into a high school ?

 

My son is going to be a fifth grader next year, and I'm already thinking whether he's better off going to high school to get a better shot at our state univ.

 

Any BTDT ?

 

Thanks

[LinRTX]

Well, what school are you think of? Both of my older two went to UT Arlington and got in without a problem. I know several homeschoolers who have gone to Texas A&M. I can't think of any that have applied to UT Austin however, so I don't know about that one.

 

Linda

[Ummto4]

UT Austin mostly.

 

If not Texas A&M.

[readwithem]

Well, homeschoolers don't fall under this rule because they don't (can't?) "rank" their students. SO they would fall under the "holistic" review process - and are considered along with OOS and international students.

 

BTW the competition is currently top 8% for automatic admits.

[Halftime Hope]

I know two homeschoolers that have gone to A & M, one went without even having grades on her transcript, as her mom never assigned grades. She had forty dual credit hours from the local CC and good (not stellar) SATs. Her parents were both A & M grads, although not donors, so there was a legacy student factor.

 

Another friend, an A & M sophomore, undoubtedly had great stats, and she had the better part of two years of CC under her belt. She's interested in areospace engineering and had several high school competitions under her belt. She's in her second year of being an RA in a relatively studious dorm--a pretty well-rounded kid.

 

Forgot to add that I "know of" a kid who went to UTAustin and was on the swim team there, but I think he graduated between 5 - 10 years ago. He's an older sibling in a local Hsing family.

[Quiver0f10]

My son was accepted to A&M. He had good but not super high ACT scores, a high GPA, and a few CC courses(A's).

[Ummto4]

Do you know if the majority of students in TAMU is from the automatic admission process or from the holistic review one ?

[Ummto4]

Do you know if the majority of students in TAMU (college station) is from the automatic admission process or from the holistic review one ?

[AngieW in Texas]

The only state school that is actually more difficult for hsers to get into is UT Austin. UT Austin actually follows an 8% rule rather than 10% because an 8% rule would mean that their entire class would be forced admissions.

 

Hsers are not at a disadvantage for any of the other state schools.

 

There is actually a mom in my hs group who had her ds admitted as a freshman to UT Austin for the 2011-2012 schoolyear. I'm pretty sure I saw that somebody on the hs2coll email loop said that they had an admittance for UT Austin for this year.

 

I know that scholarship are really hard to come by at UT Austin. It is such a popular school that they don't need to entice students to come with scholarships. Even though we live in commuting distance, I can't see any of my kids even applying there. They have no interest in having class with 200 of their closest friends. They'd rather go to a school with smaller class sizes.

[Laura Corin]

They have no interest in having class with 200 of their closest friends. They'd rather go to a school with smaller class sizes.

 

Husband followed this programme. I don't know if the class sizes are smaller these days than in the main university, but it had a smaller-college feel when he was there.

 

Laura

Edited June 8, 2012 by Laura Corin

[Nan in Mass]

Wow! This sounds like a continuation of TWTM!

Nan

[Ummto4]

The only state school that is actually more difficult for hsers to get into is UT Austin. UT Austin actually follows an 8% rule rather than 10% because an 8% rule would mean that their entire class would be forced admissions.

 

Hsers are not at a disadvantage for any of the other state schools.

 

There is actually a mom in my hs group who had her ds admitted as a freshman to UT Austin for the 2011-2012 schoolyear. I'm pretty sure I saw that somebody on the hs2coll email loop said that they had an admittance for UT Austin for this year.

 

I know that scholarship are really hard to come by at UT Austin. It is such a popular school that they don't need to entice students to come with scholarships. Even though we live in commuting distance, I can't see any of my kids even applying there. They have no interest in having class with 200 of their closest friends. They'd rather go to a school with smaller class sizes.

 

Do you mean that UT Austin will only admit the top 8% for automatic admission because if they use the top 10% rule, all of the students would be from automatic submission ?

 

So essentially, forget about UT Austin if you're not the nation's brightest unless you go to a not-so-good high school and manage to be the top 8% ?

[AngieW in Texas]

That's correct. With the 8% rule, they can still have some choice. If I remember right, the 8% rule fills up about 80% of their freshman class and then they get to choose the others.

 

I know that UT Austin is extremely stingy with merit scholarships too.

[chiguirre]

Does anyone know how easy it is to transfer to UT Austin after doing the first 2 years at CC? What GPA is needed?

[AngieW in Texas]

I seem to remember reading that they don't like to take transfers at UT Austin.

 

The exception is if you apply to UT Austin and are given a CAP admission, but you have to go to one of several specific schools for that program.

http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/cap

http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/cap/admission

[Guest AuntieMame]

My HS'ed kiddo was just accepted to A&M and UT-Austin (so far; we hope there's more).  I think her CC hours helped a lot. She has a 3.8 GPA with 32 hours, and 10 more expected before high-school graduation.  Then 6 more CLEP and AP hours in the next few months.

 

IMHO, if you have on-campus experience, you've proven you can handle at least a mild version of the college experience.  (I exclude come-to-your-school dual credit because it's watered down over 5 days, and I exclude correspondence courses because you never had to, say, show up for an 8 am class in the snow, or extract information from a lecture given by someone with a thick accent.) 

 

I have heard of TAMS kids (a non-ranking EEP, graduate with 60+ hours) with awesome grades and scores being turned down as Freshman admits; they turned around and applied as transfer students and were accepted.  The 'transfer' slice of the pie is small, too, but that year they have more slots for transfers than for Freshmen.

 

You can get the official stats, but it's something like the top 7% (autoadmits are higher now) get 80% of their spaces, then 15% are for OOS who provide a lot of revenue for the school, then the remaining 5% are for non-ranked schools and HSers.

 

Pretty much, it's a lottery system.  If you have good creds you can get a ticket, and your odds of winning the lottery have a lot to do with their percentages - how much room they have left over for HSers.  I suspect how hard it is for a HSer to get in varies from year to year.

[gingersmom]

This is from 2012 people.

[Twigs]

… My son is going to be a fifth grader next year, and I'm already thinking whether he's better off going to high school to get a better shot at our state univ. …

 

This is from 2012 people.

 

Now I want to know how Ummto4 decided to handle this situation!  :bigear: