Same here. Sping of '88 went to Austin and stayed on the couch of a friend's sister at Orange Tree, they had a keg (s) in the courtyard all weekend and I thought i went to heaven. Tons of coeds talking up UT , spending time with us and passing on information about classes etc... of course I thought I had a chance with several of them, haha dumb me....overall that's what sealed it for me going to UT was Roundup, non-stop weekend so fun.
I had to go provisional to get in but that summer '88 at Dobie was the best experience. I started summer1 before i graduated HS. Placed out of 10 hours of Spanish and took 12 hours. Those 22 hours before fall '88 Helped me get out in 4 years and introduced me to life on my own. Wouldn't trade that time for anything. My oldest didnt even apply to UT and goes to Auburn and she loves it. Auburn is a small campus, very walkable and overall a really good situation for her.
Anecdotally, my bosses son was 4.0+ at Southlake, marching band and Varsity swim and UT wouldnt accept him, ended up at OU on a partial scholarship.