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Surly kids applying / attending UT


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Just now, jimmyjazz said:

Oh, and then there are the football players driving Lambos.

The suspension on a Lamborghini driving on West Campus would be shot after a week.  Those roads are brutal.  I remember having to get an alignment on my car at least once per semester when I lived there.  If anything, they seem worse now.

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2 minutes ago, dcbc said:

The suspension on a Lamborghini driving on West Campus would be shot after a week.  Those roads are brutal.  I remember having to get an alignment on my car at least once per semester when I lived there.  If anything, they seem worse now.

You are correct.  I hit a pothole on 25th (?) headed down towards Lamar that took out the remaining vestiges of a once good tire.  Yeah, I should have replaced it prior, sue me.

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14 hours ago, dcbc said:

@jimmyjazz You mentioned your daughter was having a less-than-stellar social circle at this point of her college experience.  Did she start in Austin.  I know you've mentioned your son did the CAP program in Tyler. 

No, she did CAP as well, via UTSA.  But, that was the covid year so it was all online.

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32 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Rage rep emoticon insufficient.  This is fucking nuts.

Transfer your kids to some small town where academics take a huge back seat to sports and small town politics. They won’t be prepared for UT but there’s a good chance to get into the top 5%.

That’s one percent more kids that get punished for going to Colleyville, Westlake, Alamo Heights, etc.

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1 hour ago, Newdoc said:

Transfer your kids to some small town where academics take a huge back seat to sports and small town politics. They won’t be prepared for UT but there’s a good chance to get into the top 5%.

That’s one percent more kids that get punished for going to Colleyville, Westlake, Alamo Heights, etc.

I have two at UT right now.  Both through CAP.  The older one just missed top 6%, and she's crushing it.  The younger one was NOWHERE NEAR top 6% but somehow still got CAPed.  He's doing fine.  There won't be a "Summa" on his diploma, but he'll graduate.  It's insane how hard it is to get into UT from higher-performing Austin (and other) high schools.  I'm sorry, but it sells the university short.

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39 minutes ago, swraith said:

Is top 5% at Anderson, Austin, Bowie, and McCallum about the same?  I assume top 5% at LASA is a whole different discussion.

I know McCallum gains some transfers from LASA every year that didn't make the top 6% after their sophomore year.  They transfer back to their home school to game the system. I'm sure that happens at Anderson and Austin also.

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6 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

I know McCallum gains some transfers from LASA every year that didn't make the top 6% after their sophomore year.  They transfer back to their home school to game the system. I'm sure that happens at Anderson and Austin also.

Is that a thing? Doesn't that punish a hardworking kid who has been busting his ass, but is teetering on 5%, in his home school?

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On 9/17/2024 at 9:13 AM, swraith said:

Is top 5% at Anderson, Austin, Bowie, and McCallum about the same?  I assume top 5% at LASA is a whole different discussion.

I have no hard data, but I would imagine Anderson kids score a bit better on tests.  It's a really good school, and the IB program is pretty rigorous.

 

20 hours ago, yoladu said:

Is that a thing? Doesn't that punish a hardworking kid who has been busting his ass, but is teetering on 5%, in his home school?

Well, yeah, but I don't think that's a big concern for them.  Another issue is kids dropping out their senior year, shrinking their class size.  A lot of that might happen after the point where changes in rank don't matter.

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On 9/17/2024 at 11:44 AM, GreenspointTexas said:

Thank god my kids are going to a meh, inner city high school

Surrounding yourself with low performers and mouth breathers has always been the secret to my success.  It's also why I post here.

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Honestly, being zoned for a meh high school and not moving might be one of the smarter things we have done. Oldest 2 were auto admit. Such a nice feeling to have that safety net. Oldest didn't end up going because he didn't get into McCombs, but is crushing it at a private school out of state. Ok, maybe a little under-prepared in math but I can blame covid.

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On 9/18/2024 at 1:15 PM, jimmyjazz said:

I have no hard data, but I would imagine Anderson kids score a bit better on tests.  It's a really good school, and the IB program is pretty rigorous.

I think that you might find that schools with fewer socioeconomically disadvantaged kids do better on tests.  Test scores, IMHO, are less about the school and more about the groupings of kids at a school, the resources they have, and the students' family's focus on doing well on what is being measured.

Some Austin ISD SAT data from 2021-22, ranked by percent of students that are economically disadvantaged:

Bowie: 1180 avg SAT (13.0% eco dis)
LASA: 1425 (13.6%)
McCallum: 1159 (22.9%)
Anderson: 1186 (24.4%)
Austin High: 1124 (24.5%)
Ann Richards: 1060 (42.6%)
Crockett: 968 (62.1%)
Akins: 962 (61.0%)
LBJ: 854 (79.3)
Travis: 945 (83.0%)
Navarro: 906 (87.5%)
Northeast: 885 (92.5%)

The numbers bounce around a bit year to year and that year Anderson was a bit higher than where you would expect them based on ecodis percent.
But LASA is certainly in the lead as you would expect, the other west side schools are all similar, and then you have a big drop-off to the rest of the schools.

Most of the LASA kids come from Bowie/McCallum/Anderson/Austin High, so if those kids were at their home school the SAT scores of those schools would be higher.

It's actually a bit worse than the data shows because as you go lower on that list you have a lower percentage of kids taking the SAT at all.

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If attending Texas had been priority one, I might have chosen to live in Fort Worth and enroll them in FWISD. While Fort Worth is a nice place to live, its schools lag behind those in Houston and Dallas in statewide testing performance. Strategically moving there for high school would have made it easier for the kids to rank in the top 5% of their class, considering the academic landscape. As it was, there was a small exodus of kids from my kid's senior class during her four years of high school trying the same.

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My daughters went to LASA (old LBJ campus) and graduated from UT. 

During LASA graduations, LASA lists the kids and what universities/colleges that they are attending. If I remember correctly, both times LASA had over 15% of the graduating class going to UT-Austin. I think over 25% of the LASA kids were accepted by UT. I would imagine that is the still the norm, but maybe not since LASA moved to the bigger school with larger number of kids.

 

For reference. Neither kids were top 10% at LASA. One was accepted in Plan II, the other was accepted in the Business School.

Edited by crash_davis
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And they are going to have to keep lowering that number until either people stop moving here or the state makes more than one public university that's worth a crap. 

Texas is the 800-pound gorilla for public options, and there are no peers in state with the same prestige (for public universities). 

 

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1 hour ago, The Dog said:

And they are going to have to keep lowering that number until either people stop moving here or the state makes more than one public university that's worth a crap. 

Texas is the 800-pound gorilla for public options, and there are no peers in state with the same prestige (for public universities). 

 

I don’t know the TX numbers, but the other state schools we looked at are enrolling more out of state kids now than in the past as a percentage. They are focusing on higher quality out of state to the detriment of non high performing local kids which may or may not be a positive depending on perspective. Should they cater to in state kids or shoot for the best of the best no matter where they come from?

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7 minutes ago, Brew said:

I don’t know the TX numbers, but the other state schools we looked at are enrolling more out of state kids now than in the past as a percentage. They are focusing on higher quality out of state to the detriment of non high performing local kids which may or may not be a positive depending on perspective. Should they cater to in state kids or shoot for the best of the best no matter where they come from?

UC system, especially UCLA, got bitch slapped for this. Now, UC Davis only take in state kids. UCLA stopped drastically reduce international student acceptance.

I don't think Texas schools are taking more out of state kids. The lege would definitely frown on that. Would love to see stats.

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5 hours ago, crash_davis said:

UC system, especially UCLA, got bitch slapped for this. Now, UC Davis only take in state kids. UCLA stopped drastically reduce international student acceptance.

I don't think Texas schools are taking more out of state kids. The lege would definitely frown on that. Would love to see stats.

UT system data, although you can drill down to individual institutions.  Texas is "UTAUS" in the drop downs.  Click on the "By Institution" tab.
93% in state UT system wide, 88% in state for UT Austin:

https://dashboard.utsystem.edu/data-index/applied-admitted-enrolled

Some similar charts and graphs for the Aggies (66k out of 77k from Texas):

https://abpa.tamu.edu/accountability-metrics/student-metrics/student-enrollment-distribution-map

Edited by Texas Jeff
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Might be a dumb question…isn’t it based on the class rank after the HS junior year, they apply at the beginning of senior year, correct? My middle kid is a HS senior now. He fell to 6.1% at end of junior year not because his actual class rank fell, but because class size dropped by over 50 students from sophomore to junior year. We are a bit nervous. Can he make up ground in his senior year and still get auto admit even though it’s long past application? I was under impression it was locked in at end of junior year.

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1 hour ago, Texaus said:

Might be a dumb question…isn’t it based on the class rank after the HS junior year, they apply at the beginning of senior year, correct? My middle kid is a HS senior now. He fell to 6.1% at end of junior year not because his actual class rank fell, but because class size dropped by over 50 students from sophomore to junior year. We are a bit nervous. Can he make up ground in his senior year and still get auto admit even though it’s long past application? I was under impression it was locked in at end of junior year.

Yes, it's the grades at the end of the junior year.  So not automatic, but if he does the holistic review, they will consider his grades through the first semester of the senior year.  Auto-admit is just getting your foot in the door.  You still have to write some pretty solid essays and have your resume considered to get into your major or colleges other than liberal arts.  My son was auto-admit last year, but the application process still was grueling because he wanted either Plan2 or Liberal Arts Honors.  Thankfully, his major (history) wasn't one of the more competitive ones.

 

TLDR, not auto admit but don't sweat it.  Auto-Admit application and holistic application are the same application at the end of the day.  Declaring a major isn't like declaring bankruptcy anymore.  You can't just yell it.  You have to ask nicely, and they'll think about it.

 

/so there are two jokes here.  The Michael Scott one and the more creative one about how declaring a philosophy major is, in fact, like declaring bankruptcy.  There probably are more.

Edited by dcbc
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14 hours ago, luke duke said:

What does it take to get into the Engineering school these days? Daughter will be top 1 or 2% unless there’s a major meltdown.

High grades, some interest and probably a bit of luck.  Some engineering degrees are more competitive than others.  There is an objective component to applying (SAT scores, class rank) and subjective components (activities, essays, the rest of it).  It all gets rolled into an application and read in maybe 15 minutes by someone charged with wading through thousands of similar applications.

Demonstrated interest may be important, basically is the kid doing something in school or during summers to show interest in the subject.  I say "may" because no one knows exactly how kids are picked.

There are different kinds of engineering schools.  UT is the first kind, they give the kids direct entry into a particular engineering program.  Other schools admit the kid to "engineering" where they take the basics, and then they have to apply to a specific type of engineering at roughly the end of their freshman year.  So they might want EE but they might be offered civil engineering at the end of their freshman year.  I think I remember at least one school that had the freshman program, but gave the kids free choice to choose their path after that ... maybe Florida?  I can't remember...

So, depending on what your kid wants, you might be trying to get into a specific major at a particular college, or just generically into engineering with a round two of applications during their freshman year at that school, to get into a particular engineering major.

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I think that you might find that schools with fewer socioeconomically disadvantaged kids do better on tests.  Test scores, IMHO, are less about the school and more about the groupings of kids at a school, the resources they have, and the students' family's focus on doing well on what is being measured.
Some Austin ISD SAT data from 2021-22, ranked by percent of students that are economically disadvantaged:

Bowie: 1180 avg SAT (13.0% eco dis)
LASA: 1425 (13.6%)
McCallum: 1159 (22.9%)
Anderson: 1186 (24.4%)
Austin High: 1124 (24.5%)
Ann Richards: 1060 (42.6%)
Crockett: 968 (62.1%)
Akins: 962 (61.0%)
LBJ: 854 (79.3)
Travis: 945 (83.0%)
Navarro: 906 (87.5%)
Northeast: 885 (92.5%)

The numbers bounce around a bit year to year and that year Anderson was a bit higher than where you would expect them based on ecodis percent.
But LASA is certainly in the lead as you would expect, the other west side schools are all similar, and then you have a big drop-off to the rest of the schools.

Most of the LASA kids come from Bowie/McCallum/Anderson/Austin High, so if those kids were at their home school the SAT scores of those schools would be higher.
It's actually a bit worse than the data shows because as you go lower on that list you have a lower percentage of kids taking the SAT at all.

I only know about McCallum but all students take the SAT for free as juniors regardless if they are college bound or not. I would imagine those schools have their average score dragged down by the kids that just mark answers to get done.
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Ok.  Looking for some advice.  My son is dead set on getting in to Texas.  The problem is that he attends an IB school in an open district (Garland).  So every kid with a brain, for the most part, chooses GHS due to IB.  This is a district of over 300,000 because it includes Rowlett and Sachse, so lots of smartypantses.

My son currently sits at exactly 7%.  He has a 3.85 GPA on a 4.0 scale, scored a 1370 on the SAT, and has all kinds of positive references, clubs, etc... We took an official tour over the summer and heard much of the same stuff that has been mentioned on this thread - that is the importance of the essay and extracurricular activities.  

I'm having a hard time determining if he's screwed or not by not being inside the cutoff.  Assuming he does well on the essay, any idea what our odds are?  I get that TX has high standards and lots and lots of applications, but it seems shitty that he would be adversely affected because he attends an extremely competitive (academically, definitely not football) school.

Poor kid.  When I attended Garland, I had a 3.1 GPA and finished in the Top 5% due to IB showing up the year after I graduated.  I don't recall even writing an essay.  

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19 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Ok.  Looking for some advice.  My son is dead set on getting in to Texas.  The problem is that he attends an IB school in an open district (Garland).  So every kid with a brain, for the most part, chooses GHS due to IB.  This is a district of over 300,000 because it includes Rowlett and Sachse, so lots of smartypantses.

My son currently sits at exactly 7%.  He has a 3.85 GPA on a 4.0 scale, scored a 1370 on the SAT, and has all kinds of positive references, clubs, etc... We took an official tour over the summer and heard much of the same stuff that has been mentioned on this thread - that is the importance of the essay and extracurricular activities.  

I'm having a hard time determining if he's screwed or not by not being inside the cutoff.  Assuming he does well on the essay, any idea what our odds are?  I get that TX has high standards and lots and lots of applications, but it seems shitty that he would be adversely affected because he attends an extremely competitive (academically, definitely not football) school.

Poor kid.  When I attended Garland, I had a 3.1 GPA and finished in the Top 5% due to IB showing up the year after I graduated.  I don't recall even writing an essay.  

He needs to be strategic about the major he's applying to. Then he needs to be sincere in the essays about why UT should want him in that program. Don't let an essay counselor/consultant drive the message. 

I don't know what the best source of information on the admissions criteria and percentages by major, but if going to UT is more important that a specific major, then target one of the less competitive ones. 

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