by Arianna Michaud | staff writer
The University of Texas at Austin has been the school many look to after graduation. Students may have dreamt of being a longhorn since they were young, and those in the top percent of their class were ecstatic to learn that they already had automatic admission. However, a change in policy places some of them a little behind the automatic admission mark.
“Every year, UT Austin will file for a waiver because, when the state law changed, they were able to estimate what their total incoming class will be and they’re required to reserve at least 75% of those seats for automatic admission. That’s why sometimes that percentage changes a little from year to year, because they may be recalculating the class size that they have coming,” lead counselor Courtney Tarbox said.
Starting the summer and fall of 2019, University of Texas at Austin’s automatic acceptance policy will change from the top 7% to the top 6%, affecting this year’s juniors and following classes.
“I feel like the chances will definitely be a lot harder if I wanted to get in. I’m gonna try hard to get into the college I want either way, but finding out that it’s gonna be hard to get into it, it really sucks,”sophomore Aidan Yourk said. “I think that if I really do want to go to UT Austin, I will try, because even though it’s harder, my future still matters. Just because it gets harder doesn’t mean that I can’t do it. I’m still able to do it, it’ll just be a bit of a longer path.”
The automatic acceptance drop is affecting some undecided students’ choice of college.
“I’m not sure if I’m going to UT yet, but if I were, maybe I’ll probably go ‘let me reconsider.’” sophomore Jeanie Yu said.
Those who are determined to attend University of Texas at Austin are working to stand out.
“I’m taking lots of AP classes, studying for SAT so I can get a good score, volunteering, trying to get into NHS, clubs, everything. Everything really,“ junior Sara Daredia said.
Tarbox suggests ways for students to increase their chances of acceptance by standing out to admissions. Regardless of if they are in the top 6 percent of their class.
“If students are working hard, taking advanced classes, [are] involved in a lot of extracurricular activities, are able to prove themselves in leadership roles, and develop and do other things in development and strong character, there may be other ways for them to be admitted into their prefered university,” Tarbox said.
