Will Texas's Admissions Policy Hurt Athletics?

Reader Comments
Back to blog

I too agree that the top 10% law should be revised, at the very least to top 5%. I know for a fact that UT is turning away several excellent students each year because of this silly law. I got accepted into the CAP program a few years back when I graduated from high school and it was a pretty big surprise. Both my parent studied at UT, my father obtaining his PhD from the physics department and my mother, her master's from the communications department. My sister also attended UT back in the late 90s and received a degree in education. I was top 11% percent in my class and had several extra curricular activities. I was president of three different clubs in my school, scored a 1640 on my SAT, did an summer internship at NASA my junior year of high school, received a letter of recommendation from a NASA scientist, and I still didn't get it. I'm starting to believe the committee involved with accepting students is either brain dead or on crystal meth.I know for a fact that several students in the top ten percent of my class flunked out of UT their freshman year and were back at home the following semester. The people in charge should really start to accept people on merit and not because of some number. I had to become the outcast in my family and attend Texas A&M University. I guess it worked out in the long run though, A&M does have a better nuclear engineering department anyway.

Maxim of TX 5:09AM April 05, 2009

I applied to Austin for fall 2009 and just recieved a letter in the mail indicating that I would only be accepted to the university through the CAP program, which would require me to attend one of the UT schools for my freshman year first, such as that of El Paso, San Antonio, or Pan American. I'm a American citizen, however I'm graduating from an American school overseas. I scored above a 1900 on my SAT, have a 4.0 cumulative, graduated in the top 10% of my class, the president of the National Honor Society, a member of student council, and have been participating in various sports since 9th grade. Basically, I've met the minimum requirements, and have also added multiple letters of reccomendations, including one from the Superintendant of my school (a UT Alumnus). I do truly believe that I embody the qualities of UT Austin and would have been accepted had this law limited the number of applicants accepted by the top 10% law. I support and call for a revision of this law..especially for the sake of musicians, athletes, and non-texas and top 10% students!!

Aliyah of TX 9:54AM March 15, 2009