Fellow Pig-bound dad as well… My twins are also headed there in the fall for supply chain. One of them (top 11% and 30 AP hours) turned down a full ride at Tulsa and partial at others because of the Walton school ranking and the other boy decided TT was a smellier version of College Station and decided to follow his brother and room together than going to Tech. (Full disclosure, I got my MS Geology there but hated every minute after a BS in Austin). If it wasn’t for the SC ranking at Ark, both would have gone elsewhere. With the near in-state tuition they offer for top Texas students, the cost if you pay for everything is about the same as UT or TT in-state (but I hear next year going forward is going to be much more restrictive on getting this in-state discount.)
My “scholar” didn’t even bother to apply to UT as he was told that if he wanted McCombs, he needed to be top 3 or 4% in his high school (big 6A school with a district STEM program) when we did our Austin campus visit. Had no desire to go the CAP route and risk a LA degree… He does hope to possibly get into UT for a Masters but Ark has a program where you can get you MS in 5 years and with AP credits, a MS in 4…
Old enough to remember the SWC rivalry but really liked the campus and “old town” next to it. Gonna enjoy the visits other than the trip from Houston… (House rental and tickets already in hand for the UT game there in November and I will be wearing burnt orange)
(Not sure a&m is getting more selective as my non-scholar - barely top half of his class - did get accepted to a&m but he only applied there because my wife’s side of the family is Maroon 3 generations back and only applied “for grandpa”…) I suspect he got accepted to Ark after being initially “wait-listed” there because they really wanted his brother but with a 3.7 gpa also gets the tuition discount…)