Fairly shocking admissions news from UT

[srmom]

You cannot compare the Florida method with the Texas method. In Florida, you do not get automatic admission to the flagship (UF), in Texas you do.

The problem with the top 10% rule is that it is squeezing out people who should be able to hack getting into their state school.

I know a kid who got summer admit last year from our highschool who had 3 B's in his entire highschool career - in all AP and honors classes, with a 1480 SAT (math and eng,2180 total), he was in the top 15%.

My junior son (baby) has 1 B from a freshman pre-AP honors class, he got a 33 on the ACT (perfect 36 math) and we are sweating him getting another B because it could bump him out of the top 10%. By taking away even the chance of summer admits, it will pretty much rule out anyone who has great test scores, but goes to a ridiculously competitive highschool from having a shot at Texas. CRAP!!!!

Read this article and it will elucidate the issues - UT could lose its football program if it gets out of hand

Maybe that will get the legislators to change the rule.

http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...305topten.html

"It has become a crisis for us," Powers said. "We're simply out of space."

Asked about athletics, he said such programs, including football, might also have to be eliminated eventually. Most football players do not rank in the top 10 percent.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by srmom

You cannot compare the Florida method with the Texas method. In Florida, you do not get automatic admission to the flagship (UF), in Texas you do.

Yes, I can compare the Florida method with the Texas methods, so I will continue to do so. Florida also guarantees admission to those who are in the top of their classes. The difference between Florida and Texas is that the demand is spread out among the 11 campuses of the State University System; it looks like most students in Texas pick UT as their first choice.

It might simply come down to the fact that UF and UT-Austin may end up like UVa and Berkeley in that admission isn't guaranteed to everyone from that state who applies.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Yes, I can compare the Florida method with the Texas methods, so I will continue to do so. Florida also guarantees admission to those who are in the top of their classes. The difference between Florida and Texas is that the demand is spread out among the 11 campuses of the State University System; it looks like most students in Texas pick UT as their first choice.

It might simply come down to the fact that UF and UT-Austin may end up like UVa and Berkeley in that admission isn't guaranteed to everyone from that state who applies.

I guess it's because we don't have anything like this in CT, and I didn't apply to any state schools for undergrad, but I don't see this being a big deal (beyond changed expectations for those students who want to go to UT). Doesn't this just turn into the same issue that every high school student will have in assessing their college choices?

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

I guess it's because we don't have anything like this in CT, and I didn't apply to any state schools for undergrad, but I don't see this being a big deal (beyond changed expectations for those students who want to go to UT). Doesn't this just turn into the same issue that every high school student will have in assessing their college choices?

The Northeast as a whole is not as committed to keeping their students in-state than the South, Southwest, and West. I don't understand it. Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana offer full-tuition scholarships for in-state students who do well. New Jersey and New York lose more 18-year olds to out-of-state colleges than any other states in the country. I guess when you think of a top state school, nothing in the northeast comes to mind other than say, Penn State and Pitt.

Not every kid from Michigan feels like Ann Arbor is "owed" to them; the same is true for California, Virginia, and now Florida and Texas. Georgia's headed that way. I think the best thing to do is just realize that other schools have to be an option for the kids who can't stay within the top 10%.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

I guess when you think of a top state school, nothing in the northeast comes to mind other than say, Penn State and Pitt.

That's true; UConn has gotten much better over the years for undergrad, but when it comes to Northeast state schools, in general their graduate programs (like UConn law and UConn and University of Vermont medicine) have better reputations than their undergrad programs. People I talk to who have high-achieving kids (high in their class and good SAT scores) tell me that more and more of those students are considering UConn, so perhaps things are starting to change, at least in CT. For the top 5% or so in my high school class, I think only one person considered UConn. The rest of us applied only to out-of-state schools and the private colleges within the state (Yale, Wesleyan, Trinity, etc.).

As to the rest of your post; it's just an interesting mindset for me, for someone to feel that a school is "owed" to them. Again though, as you said, it's just a far different mindset up here when it comes to state schools for undergrad.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

As to the rest of your post; it's just an interesting mindset for me, for someone to feel that a school is "owed" to them. Again though, as you said, it's just a far different mindset up here when it comes to state schools for undergrad.

I think it's a legacy thing, and how much the identity of some state residents is tied up in one or a handful of universities. Even though I grew up in Florida, where I grew up is close enough to Alabama that a lot of people have parents and grandparents who went to Alabama and Auburn; it's pretty much a given that they're going to get in, so if they don't, it's a big deal. I have a HS classmate who didn't go to Auburn, although her whole family did...she's pretty much the biggest Auburn booster I know!

I suspect it's even stronger in Texas, given that Texans seem to have a very strong identity related to the state.

[epchick]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Yes, I can compare the Florida method with the Texas methods, so I will continue to do so. Florida also guarantees admission to those who are in the top of their classes. The difference between Florida and Texas is that the demand is spread out among the 11 campuses of the State University System; it looks like most students in Texas pick UT as their first choice.

It might simply come down to the fact that UF and UT-Austin may end up like UVa and Berkeley in that admission isn't guaranteed to everyone from that state who applies.

Exactly.

I'm sorry, but I don't see any problem with the Top 10% rule. So some kids gets good grades and get left off their school's top 10%, so what? Not everyone can be in the Top 10%.

The people that should be blamed for how UT enrollment is today are the people in charge of budgeting the money to the schools. If the other UT schools could get enough funding, then maybe they might be a little bit more desirable to students. But until that happens, UT is going to be overcrowded.

Now lawmakers wanna lower the number of top 10% students---instead of it making up about 85% of UT's enrollemnt, then wanna make it something like 50% (or 15% can't really recall the number). Once they do that, there are gonna be people complaining that their kid can't get in.

[UHDEEGEE]

Originally Posted by epchick

I'm sorry, but I don't see any problem with the Top 10% rule. So some kids gets good grades and get left off their school's top 10%, so what? Not everyone can be in the Top 10%.

You're correct, not everyone CAN be in the Top 10%....but just because they are does not mean that they should be guaranteed admission. When a student in Texas attends a high school so competitive that a 4.0 isn't even in the top 25% and is denied admission over a student with a 3.0 from a less competitive school and is in the top 10% who is admitted, there is a problem.

The President of UT recently released this report on the impact of the Top 10% Law on the university. Legislators voted to keep this law to assist high school students living in rural areas attending less competitive schools gain admission to Texas's flagship universities. According to this report, UT has seen no significant change in admissions of these "rural" students. If that's the case, then Texas legislators have no valid reason to retain this law.
http://www.utexas.edu/president/spee...dInterest=1292