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Ok please educate me-I do not understand the whole TX/USA auto admits into college-my daughter is a high achiever and wants to study biology and her dad wants her to do a double major math/science-she wants to attend UT Austin and someone has suggested Baylor as well-she is ranked in her grade (junior) currently in top 4% out of 583 kids-she has high psat scores and hopefully that will translate into high sat/act scores-she has taken AP courses in math sciences (3) english and is currently and A student (all high 90% scores in all courses) also is a well rounded student JV/V x/country runner (will be 4 yrs as a senior) ..NHS -loads of community service etc -does her grades and ranking at this point and provided she keeps this up does this mean she gets auto admission into UT Austin if she applies there-and also opinions on Baylor please...
Ok please educate me-I do not understand the whole TX/USA auto admits into college-my daughter is a high achiever and wants to study biology and her dad wants her to do a double major math/science-she wants to attend UT Austin and someone has suggested Baylor as well-she is ranked in her grade (junior) currently in top 4% out of 583 kids-she has high psat scores and hopefully that will translate into high sat/act scores-she has taken AP courses in math sciences (3) english and is currently and A student (all high 90% scores in all courses) also is a well rounded student JV/V x/country runner (will be 4 yrs as a senior) ..NHS -loads of community service etc -does her grades and ranking at this point and provided she keeps this up does this mean she gets auto admission into UT Austin if she applies there-and also opinions on Baylor please...
Take rankings with a grain of salt, but UT Austin has a higher reputation outside state as well. In Engineering, UT, Austin beats even some of the Ivy's. For In-state students, its a pretty good value for money and among students its also called as one of the public Ivy.
Personally I think A&M and UTD offers pretty good quality education as well. Our son had the choice to go to some of the Ivy's and other top schools, and he decided for UT, Austin. As parents we wanted him to go to schools offering full ride but he didn't listen to us . UT, Austin also gave him pretty good scholarship Vs $50-60K/ year for the Ivy's.
I wouldn't consider IVYs for engineering anyways except MIT which is way up there.... They are best known in other fields including economics and business programs. Keep in mind many people choose IVYs for engineering because in case they don't like it they can very easily switch fields and get a fantastic opportunity and experience out of campus... But if the kid is dead set on engineering then I would not consider IVYs in my list (again with the exception of MIT).
Ok please educate me-I do not understand the whole TX/USA auto admits into college-my daughter is a high achiever and wants to study biology and her dad wants her to do a double major math/science-she wants to attend UT Austin and someone has suggested Baylor as well-she is ranked in her grade (junior) currently in top 4% out of 583 kids-she has high psat scores and hopefully that will translate into high sat/act scores-she has taken AP courses in math sciences (3) english and is currently and A student (all high 90% scores in all courses) also is a well rounded student JV/V x/country runner (will be 4 yrs as a senior) ..NHS -loads of community service etc -does her grades and ranking at this point and provided she keeps this up does this mean she gets auto admission into UT Austin if she applies there-and also opinions on Baylor please...
Does your kiddo want to be a doc?
I have one in medical school, MS-1, who went to Baylor. Several of his MS-1 buddies are UT grads and my son was accepted to UT as well.
Regarding UT, if your daughter is in the top 7% (I'm pretty sure the percentage falls to 7 next year) of her graduating class she will qualify for an auto-admit into UT. HOWEVER, all bio, nursing, math, engineering, business etc, admissions are 100% competitive. As in if your kiddo's test scores + grades + extracurriculars are good enough she'll get a spot. An auto-admit into the university will do her no good so far as bio is concerned. And it's important to add that bio at UT is hyper difficult to get into.
My son would tell you, contrary to UT, BS-bio, the nominal pre-med track at Baylor, is fairly easy to get into but very hard to stay in. Every year about 1,500 freshmen start the BS-bio or BA-bio tracks and most of them will exit the major quickly.
In terms of UT vs. Baylor; UT's bio facilities are really nice but Baylor's bio-building complex is on an entirely different level. Both have excellent opportunities for undergrads to perform research - I might give the edge here to UT because it's at least possible for a UT bio-undergrad to participate in research at MD Anderson's cancer research facility in Austin (just outside?). Both crank out a lot of bio kids who get into medical school right after graduation and many get into the very best medical schools in the country. Both departments have large numbers of kids who do very well on the MCAT test. My son says the washout classes at UT bio are biochem at Baylor it's physics. He thinks the UT kids are a bit better prepared for MS-1 biochem but the Baylor kids are a bit better prepared for genetics and anatomy. UT has very little merit scholarship money Baylor has mountains of merit scholarship money.
My son's study group has kids from Harvard, MIT, BYU, Duke, Rice, UT, A&M, Baylor and a couple of other schools. He says everyone is on equal footing.
I guess that's a very longwinded way of saying the bio kids from UT or Baylor who excel are very well prepared.
Congratulations and good luck to your daughter.
One last thing both UT and Baylor told my son the same thing about what they value most in the evaluation process for admission.
1. Test scores (ACT/SAT)
2. Grades
3. Volunteer work and school extra-carriculars (band, sports)
I wouldn't consider IVYs for engineering anyways except MIT which is way up there.... They are best known in other fields including economics and business programs. Keep in mind many people choose IVYs for engineering because in case they don't like it they can very easily switch fields and get a fantastic opportunity and experience out of campus... But if the kid is dead set on engineering then I would not consider IVYs in my list (again with the exception of MIT).
Come on now, Cornell and Princeton both have phenomenal engineering schools. That said I get your point.
I have one in medical school, MS-1, who went to Baylor. Several of his MS-1 buddies are UT grads and my son was accepted to UT as well.
Regarding UT, if your daughter is in the top 7% (I'm pretty sure the percentage falls to 7 next year) of her graduating class she will qualify for an auto-admit into UT. HOWEVER, all bio, nursing, math, engineering, business etc, admissions are 100% competitive. As in if your kiddo's test scores + grades + extracurriculars are good enough she'll get a spot. An auto-admit into the university will do her no good so far as bio is concerned. And it's important to add that bio at UT is hyper difficult to get into.
My son would tell you, contrary to UT, BS-bio, the nominal pre-med track at Baylor, is fairly easy to get into but very hard to stay in. Every year about 1,500 freshmen start the BS-bio or BA-bio tracks and most of them will exit the major quickly.
In terms of UT vs. Baylor; UT's bio facilities are really nice but Baylor's bio-building complex is on an entirely different level. Both have excellent opportunities for undergrads to perform research - I might give the edge here to UT because it's at least possible for a UT bio-undergrad to participate in research at MD Anderson's cancer research facility in Austin (just outside?). Both crank out a lot of bio kids who get into medical school right after graduation and many get into the very best medical schools in the country. Both departments have large numbers of kids who do very well on the MCAT test. My son says the washout classes at UT bio are biochem at Baylor it's physics. He thinks the UT kids are a bit better prepared for MS-1 biochem but the Baylor kids are a bit better prepared for genetics and anatomy. UT has very little merit scholarship money Baylor has mountains of merit scholarship money.
My son's study group has kids from Harvard, MIT, BYU, Duke, Rice, UT, A&M, Baylor and a couple of other schools. He says everyone is on equal footing.
I guess that's a very longwinded way of saying the bio kids from UT or Baylor who excel are very well prepared.
Congratulations and good luck to your daughter.
One last thing both UT and Baylor told my son the same thing about what they value most in the evaluation process for admission.
1. Test scores (ACT/SAT)
2. Grades
3. Volunteer work and school extra-carriculars (band, sports)
Thanks for all this-yes she is going (hopes too) the medical route -dr-research not exactly worked that out yet-I think she has the test scores if she keeps on track-grades are great and she will have over 200hrs community service by the time junior year ends- she has the sports already..and is also training to be a community ERT atm as well-huge work load for her but nothing compared to what the medical school track will be like..
I know UNC and Michigan are considered "easy" to get into by in-state residents. The in-state admissions rate at UNC is roughly 50%, out of state students are capped at 18% of the student body, which is why the school has such a low admission rate.
UVA has a formula that heavily weights geography. It's much harder for a kid from TJ in Fairfax to get into UVA than for a kid from the southwestern part of the state.
Berkeley is the only school that is appreciably harder to get into in-state than UT. At which point it's convenient to point out that it's a smaller undergraduate population (25k v 38k) in a more populous state.
What kind of hissy fit would you guys be having if kids form the Valley were given points and kids from 75225 were not? I personally, love the UT way of doing things. It's simple and easy to understand. You always know where you stand. It also ensured that I had a stellar fall back option
I can assure, i lived in NC for several yrs, UNC-Chapel Hill is NOT considered "easy" admission by people from NC. Definitely not. It's very "competitive" at the least but you better definitely be in the top 10% of your class. Most kids or families I know consider getting in Chapel Hill a longshot & often make their kids apply to NC State, ECU or a UNC Charlotte, UNCGreensboro or UNC-Wilmington as backup choices. Now I admit I'm a UNC grad/alumnus undergrad & I didn't grow up in NC but I do know after living in the Triangle, UNC [Chapel Hill] is definitely not easy for in-staters! Now compared to the strigent admissions of out-of-staters, it's a little easier. But schools like UNC & UVa get way more applications from those kids compared to kids inside their respective states, probably the exact opposite for UT-Austin or the Texas schools
But the NC General Assembly & state laws have a rule that says public universities in the UNC Education System [which is the umbrella all public universities are governed by in NC] are not allowed to go above 18% out of state enrollment. And if they do, they must financially pay a fine, I believe. There was much debate by UNC Chapel Hill challenging the law several yrs ago, btw, to no avail. In addition, UNC-Chapel Hill has an admissions policy which requires it to accept atleast "1" student from every county in NC, which has 100. So kids from rural areas in NC, which likely have schools weaker academically than Wake [Raleigh], Mecklenburg [Charlotte], Guilford [Greensboro] Counties, get a guaranteed spot. So i guess there is & isn't a geographic preference. But definitely kids coming from certain schools in NC, esp Raleigh & Charlotte, must have the grades, application & gpa to get into a Chapel Hill. Also you have larger populations in those areas. But you better definitely be in the top 10% to get into a UNC or UVa. Typically, it's def more competitive for the kids coming from more urban areas & top HS schools in NC per se vs rural NC.
In addition, children of alumni, no matter where they live in the world, are given 'in-state' application status and can apply as a NC resident. Furthermore, UNC has in recent yrs made it a priority to recruit underpriviledge kids to Chapel Hill. They have this "Carolina Covenant" which guarantees low income kids, who get acceptance, who come from low income families the opportunity to graduate debt free.
Nevertheless, I think you have to consider the demographics of the states, universities, regions, etc. Texas is nearly 3 times the size of NC & UT-Austin is nearly 2 twice the size of UNC-Chapel Hill or UVa. I know at both schools, the applicant pool for out-of-state applications is 2-3x times the # vs the in-state application pool.
Both schools typically get 20,000+ out-of-state application vs ~8-9 in state applications in which 4-6,000 of those instate kids get in. UVa i know traditionally have a 70-30% ratio b/c of the Northern Virginia/DC/Maryland area, etc, which is technically out-of-state. Most folks from N Virginia consider it another state from Virginia and will tell you they are from "NORTHERN VIRIGINIA" & not "VIRGINIA"...lol.. Also I do know Virginians have barked for yrs to change UVa's admissions rates, as tax payers & residents, to mirror something similar to UNC. UNC accepts roughly 5 of 10 & UVa 4 of 10 kids from their respective states. But again, geography has a lot to do with that, in terms of where you live [city] and where you go to HS, as does $$$.
One of the things I leaned studying economics in college is to never go with your gut - your gut, and mine, is wrong far too often.
Regarding Alabama I'll grant you that the state has a seriously awful history with bigotry.
Regarding economic standing not so much and back to the gut being wrong often. Alabama's adjusted average income is 23rd in the US - above New York, New Jersey and far above California.
For Alabama and frankly many other non-east and west coast schools they just don't have enough qualified kids. Texas has sort-of an in-context trifecta going:
1. We have a super-abundance of very bright kids relative to our state's ability to educated them in college.
2. We are a very rich state, regardless of all of the silly emotional arguments to the contrary Texas is 3rd in adjusted average income by far the best performing very large state for context California is 45th.
3. We have the hard percentage rules at UT and TAMU that make the pool of wayward very bright students looking elsewhere unnaturally large.
To me it's simple economics Alabama has an issue and it is investing in its future by offering all of these scholarships. In the long run this is a win for Alabama and a loss for Texas - just too many bright kids leave and don't come back.
You may be right on this, maybe Texas kids are heading to Alabama and not returning to Texas upon graduation, but judging from the number of people I know from Alabama, Mississippi and Lousiana who all moved to DFW as soon as they could, I find it hard to believe that Texas has much to worry about in this regard. Now granted it's just my admittedly small sample of people that I'm going on, but the theme they all bring up remains the same. Alabama has nothing even remotely close to compare with Texas in terms of jobs and just overall standard of living. And these are people who will tell you in a heartbeat that they would rather be back there than over here, but economics rules the day. So if native born, college graduated Alabamans are getting over here as fast as they can, I'm not seeing Texans running to take their places in the state, NMSF scholarship or not.
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. UT, Austin also gave him pretty good scholarship Vs $50-60K/ year for the Ivy's.
. Also I do know Virginians have barked for yrs to change UVa's admissions rates, as tax payers & residents, to mirror something similar to UNC. UNC accepts roughly 5 of 10 & UVa 4 of 10 kids from their respective states. But again, geography has a lot to do with that, in terms of where you live [city] and where you go to HS, as does $$$.
