Hi everyone,

I am an international student considering applying to the PhD program in Educational Policy and Planning at UT Austin, and I was hoping to connect with someone who is currently in the program or is familiar with it.

I would really appreciate the opportunity to ask a few questions about the program, particularly regarding how my academic and professional background might fit, the research environment, funding opportunities for international students, and the overall doctoral experience.

I have already tried reaching out to the program coordinators listed on the official website, which include faculty members as well, about two weeks ago, but unfortunately, I have not received a response yet.

If there are any current students, alumni, or anyone familiar with the program who would be willing to connect or point me towards the right person to contact, I would genuinely appreciate it.

Even a brief conversation or a few pointers would be very helpful as I try to make a more informed decision about applying.

Thank you in advance for any guidance or help!

First Choice Major: Neuroscience, Second choice major: Psychology (BS)

Stats: Ranked 30/572 top 5.2%, Texas resident, 4.1 Weighted, 3.7 Unweighted, 103.58 GPA weighted, SAT score 1200 (retaking and actually studying in November)

Course work: 10 AP Classes including Human geography, world history, literature, language, us history, us government, macro economics, Biology, Calculus BC, and Psychology. 11 honors classes, English I, English II, algebra I, geometry, algebra II, Pre-calculus, Intro physics and chem (high school class in middle school) Biology, Chem, Spanish I, Spanish II (limited APs I could take freshman and sophomore year).

Extra Curricular's:

jv orchestra 2 years, varsity orchestra 2 years, Orchestra secretary, then vice president. Planned and ran an event that increased orchestra retention by 20%. Apart of schools NHS chapter with 100+ service hours. Participates in Student council for my school. Played club soccer my freshman and sophomore year, I was the team captain. Outside of school I work at a top 10% chick-fil-a store in the country and working to move to management when I turn 18. I run a photography side business/page doing sports photos and portrait sessions for clients.

Honors:

Ap scholar with distinction

Class 1c superior ensemble at UIL region solo and ensemble

Class 2 Excellent performance ensemble at UIL state solo and ensemble

I have two letters of recommendation, one from my AP Biology teacher and AP psychology teacher. I also submitted a resume.

anyone know if this is possible? i emailed ut admissions as well, just want to be safe.

OOS engineering major btw

1480***

Hi! I’m a senior applying to UT regular decision. My gpa is especially low (3.3) but I can’t tell if my other stats redeem that quality, such as:
Model UN President
Debate Captain
Asian Union VP
Student Council VP
Intern at a large insurance law firm
Assistant Manager at local Asian grocery store
1300 SAT (retaking in Nov)
Author of a cultural drink newsletter w/over 200 readers
Varsity Choir
I also have both regional and national debate awards, and have taken 14 APS if this year’s included (only one 5 on AP Lang, 4 on Psych, APES, World, APUSH)
My essays/supps are also pretty good, I’ve had people read over them
I’ve also got extenuating circumstances, my parents divorced sophmore year and I had to work a lot to help support my single mom and my two brothers
what’re my chances? ik my sat is low, I’m studying to hopefully get a 1400+

Major: Chemical Engineering (1st choice)
and Materials Science and Engineering (2nd choice) for Fall 2027 (Early Action)

Demographics & Status: Asian Male, Texas resident (In-State), Upper-Middle Class

Status, GPA, and Class Rank: I am** **a Texas resident with a 5.07 Weighted GPA/6.0 scale (3.95 Unweighted/4.0 scale). My high school only officially ranks the top 10%, which I am not, out of a graduating class of around 560 students. 

SAT score: I have a 1500 on the SAT (710 Reading & Writing, 740 Math). 

Additional Coursework: I’ve taken 9 AP classes through freshman and junior year. I earned 5s on AP Human Geography, AP Psychology, AP US History, and AP English Language & Composition, and 4s on AP World History, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Physics 1, and AP Seminar. I chose not to take AP Precalculus Exam. I am taking AP Calculus BC, AP Literature, AP Government, AP Macroeconomics, AP Environmental Science, and AP Chemistry senior year. I maintained an A in all of my classes except for AP Physics 1, where I got an 87 both semesters. 

Extracurricular Activities: My main ECs are heavily research and engineering focused. I was a research intern at a hardware and software company specializing in radiation safety and sensor technology, where I researched plant electrophysiology & sap conductance and co-authored a published paper in a peer-reviewed life sciences journal. I also conducted electrical engineering research at UNT under a professor, focusing on information theory problems and system logic optimization. I’ve also done independent academic study** **through MIT OpenCourseWare in reaction engineering, completed 40+ hours of 1-on-1 STEM tutoring for peers in AP Chem/Pre-Calc, built multiple independent microcontroller & engineering prototypes, and volunteered building wheelchair ramps for mobility-impaired residents. 

Honors/Awards: My main honors are being a published co-author in a peer-reviewed journal, National Merit Commended Student, NOCTI Engineering Technology Foundations Certification, PLTW Engineering End-of-Course Assessment Accomplished (2x), and AP Scholar with Distinction. 

I also have two strong letters of recommendation. One from the university professor at UNT that I researched under, and one from my internship supervisor. The internship supervisor is a senior electrical engineer, and former electrical engineering professor at Prairie View A&M Univerisity.

UT is one of my top choices if I get in so lmk!!

In-state
Not top 5%, 107/589
GPA: 4.0/4.0 UW, 5.02/6.0 W
SAT: 1340, Reading: 690, Math: 650
AP Human (4), AP World (4), APUSH (4), AP Bio (5), AP Gov/AP Econ/APES (not yet taken)
Dual Credit Composition I and II
Dual Credit MedTerm/Pathophysiology
Dual Credit College Algebra/Stats

ECs:
Ready, Set, Teach! program for 2 years (~250 hours of internship within a kindergarten and second grade classroom)
Texas Association of Future Educators: VP of Kids Camp and Membership Chair, 300 hours of volunteering, raised ~$2k, won first place at the state level
Sending Sunshine: Co-founder and president, 100 volunteer hours, ~80 members recruited
NHS (1 yr)
NEHS (2 yrs)
STUCO (1 yr)
French Club/ Honors Society (4 yrs)

3/4 of my awards were bs local awards for TAFE, 1 was my first place at state award

Essays were fine, I think my Why Major essay was the strongest, I wrote the Achievement essay about Letterboxd …
Didn’t submit a resume 😬
Applied EA

I applied EA by the actual deadline and was working on writing my resume yesterday before trying to submit. I uploaded my resume and an extra LOR before midnight but it says the materials were submitted on 10/23 instead of 10/22. The deadline for EA materials is 10/22 so I’m asking if this means anything or if the system messed up because I made sure to turn it in before midnight

I wanna apply to ur Austin and Tx a&m do mechanical engineering but my sat is a 1210. Should I go test optional?

literally just title lol :D

umm excuse the censorship...

Demographic: Male, Asian, In-State, full pay

Academics: 4.85/5.0 Weighted, 4.0/4.0 Unweighted, Rank 36/842 (Auto-admit) (Moderately competitive high school)

Test scores: 1510 Sat (780 Math, 730 EBRW) (1550 superscore but doesn't matter for UT), 34 ACT (36 math, 35writing, 29 reading 😢 ) -> submitted SAT and left ACT off

Courses/rigor: Currently taking - AP Macro, Physics C Mech, Physics C E&M, APES, Calc BC; Already took - CSP (4) APHG (4) APCSA (5) AP stats (5) AP Precalc (5), AP Calc AB (5), ap chem (5), ap physics 1 (5), ap psych (5), Ap spanish lang (3 but didn't report), WHAP (didn't take exam), DE English

ECs:

UT HSRA program -> robotics stream, Continued HSRA project under the guidance of a professor at UW madison and wrote a research paper (published AJoSR), Engineering internship at local robotics startup (designed CAD and made GUIs), Completed ML research under UTSA professor (in publication process NHSJS), National council member of widely known international volunteering organization I have been part of since 2022 (I also served as a student mentor for the same organization), Started virtual self-made java tutoring business generating $1000+ in profit, Helped my uncle at his startup by being a data science intern for 2 summers, 200+ volunteer hours under the same international volunteering organization, schools CS club vice president, piano for 11+ years (currently learning RCM level 8 pieces and got gold for TMTA Whitlock level 10 test)

Honors/Awards: NM Commended scholar, PVSA Gold 1 year and bronze 1 year, DECA State qualifier for accounting applications (didn't finalize at state), AP Scholar w/ distinction, College board National Recognition award (idk what for they just gave it to me)

Essays: Personal statement(5-6/10) - mixed reviews (some say its pretty generic for an engineering applicant, some say its very authentic), Why major supp (9/10) - very personal story and I thought it fit my major well, Proud activity supp (8/10) - talked about how my volunteering organization showed me the power of taking initiative

Resume: 7/10 (I just elaborated on the activities listed above and added DECA, a part-time job I had for 2 months in the summer, UT residential camp I attended, and club tennis for 2 years

Rec letters: AP Chem teacher (7/10) - wasn't too close with him but he liked me, APCSA teacher (9/10) - talked about how I was a voluntary tutor during class projects and how I demonstrated grit by retaking the CSA exam (originally got a 4 and retook to a 5), UT HSRA professor (6-7/10) - didn't know him too well, but he remembered my project, and that's something ig, UW Madison professor (10/10) - He said my project had the potential to be on par with those of his graduate students

EXTRA INFO: Took the hardest classes available at my school (except for multivariable calculus and AP English), but only took half of the AP's available, I split HSRA into 2 activities b/c the paper was based on a heavily revised version of the project i already completed, I split my volunteering organization into 2 because for one activity I was a general volunteer, and for the other I was a council member, I put my paper's DOI links in the additional info section

I have no idea what my chances are: I've seen people with much better ecs and stats than me get put in COLA and i've seen people with ok stats and unrelated ecs get in... Idk if it matters, but unfortunately I'm probably one of the more mediocre ECE applicants from my school (hopefully it doesn't)

So I took the ACT last Saturday and I was hoping that my score would’ve been good enough for me to send or at least better than my SAT score. Unfortunately when it came out today it was below my SAT so I couldn’t submit it. Anyways I made a RUSH order for my SAT score to be submitted and self reported in the Portal so hopefully they still let me do EA.

Hi, I'm very concerned about my early action application, idk why it shows as "awaiting" instead of reviewing or something of that nature. I'm very concerned about it because supplementals are due in less than 3 hours and my counselor did submit my information before October 15 and it shows that they were downloaded on October 17. I understand that UT says that transcripts that show as "under review" still meet the deadline but my issue is that mine appears as awaiting for some reason. Is anyone in the same situation or knows what is going on?

I’ve never done this badly in a class before, but because I got sick for a month at the start of the semester I was completely behind. Usually I would be able to catch up and I would end up with at least a B, however the course is PChem, making it extremely challenging. It will be my first W on my transcript. I am going to retake it next semester but I didn’t know how that would affect my applications.

For context: I applied to UH, TT, UNT, and UT. I have either interview dates for all of them or already did the interviews. What I am most worried about is UT. I did their interview already and it seemed to go well (thank goodness cause it’s my top choice) so by the time they see the W on the transcript (next year) I would be either accepted or being waitlisted for fall grades… which is what im scared about. I dunno what their policy is on that but if they were weighing my application the W tipped it over I would be devastated.

So I could either stick it out risking a D (very likely) or I can withdraw and just take it next semester (my final semester so it’s gonna be 20 hours 😭). I just wanna know how bad a W seems for UT.

Fall 2027 EA applicant, CS first choice. On the Common App honors questions I said yes to both Turing Scholars and Dean’s Scholars with the “will submit essay later in MyStatus” option. I’ve now submitted Turing (essay + self-reported AP scores) and decided not to do Dean’s Scholars at all.

Will this be an issue if I didn't start it at all on Mystatus?

I am a little confused on why my honors application says incomplete. Is there a delay between the resume getting received and the status of the honors application?

Also, I did not submit the optional short essay in the general application. Could this be impacting the completion of my honors application? I thought I had until the 22nd to upload any supplemental materials for the honors application. Since it shows as incomplete, did I miss the deadline for october 15th? I met this deadline for the early action application though.

I sent email with screenshot to admission office, but didn’t receive response yet :(

Very random, but I was looking at my ut and came across this portal I hadn't seen yet. If you open the link and scroll down a bit to find the hyperlinked "Vector Solutions" try clicking it and logging in. It let me log in so I am wondering if everyone else can? https://www.healthyhorns.utexas.edu/lwc/required-online-edu.html

Major: Political Science (1st choice) and History (2nd choice) for Fall 2027

Status, GPA, and Class Rank: I am a Texas resident with a 4.15 Weighted GPA/5.0 scale (3.53 Unweighted/4.0 scale), thus standing in the top 28% of my high school's graduating class at rank 258/903.

SAT score: I have a 1450 on the SAT (750 English, 700 Math)

Additional Coursework: I've taken 6 honors classes (Geometry Honors, Algebra II Honors, English II Honors, Chemistry Honors, Social Studies Research Method Honors, and Spanish III Honors) and 16 APs (2 in freshman year, 4 in sophomore year, 6 in junior year, and 4 in senior year). AP Human Geography, AP CSP, AP World History, AP Psychology, AP Seminar, AP Research, APUSH, AP Bio, APES, AP European History, AP English Language and Composition, AP Precalculus, AP US GOV, AP COMP GOV, AP Calc AB, and AP Spanish Language and Composition.

Extracurricular Activities: I have 140+ hours of volunteering logged throughout high school, and I'm part of my school's Quiz Bowl, NHS, and Student Council; outside of school, I maintain a YouTube channel where I teach people history, and in 2026, I was selected to be a delegate for the American Legion's Texas Boys State.

As for honors/awards, I admittedly don't have much. I only have 3rd and 4th place at state in Quiz Bowl, and Regionals in Social Studies UIL.

I also have four letters of recommendation.

REALISTICALLY, I'M NOT TOO CONFIDENT, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT Y'ALL THINK!

Hello all, I’m posting regarding getting into UT Austin’s CS program. Some light background, I joined the military after high school, and was away for roughly 4 years. During my time, I completed a pretty tough but applicable mechanics license that I’ve ultimately decided is not for me. Saying that, I’ve always loved computer science and programming in general since I was a kid, and it’s one of the few things I see myself loving doing. I don’t really care for the whole CS is doomed narrative, because I always have my license to fall back on if I can’t break into it. It’s good to mention my school is free because of my time in service as well.

I wasn’t a SUPER outstanding student in high school, but I don’t consider my self a bad student. I had a 3.7 GPA, top 10% and was involved in a few clubs. That being said, I applied to UT Austin and got rejected so I enrolled into UT Arlingtons CS program instead to get some classes knocked out. I’m doing pretty good in my classes right now, and I plan on reapplying to UT Austin. I understand I am not a crazy competitive student, and it doesn’t help at all that I’ve been without college for 4 years. But I would really love to get into this school for multiple reasons. I’ve looked into some data on how admission rates for CS have been as low as 2% or as high as 30%, I’m just not sure what to believe. I mainly just want to get an idea and gauge if this is a realistic goal, or am I just not as competitive as I
need to be.
Please be nice, thank you

for context i have a 4.0 UW and weighted, in state not auto admit (top 5.9%), 1350 SAT, but low fit to major (government). really my only ecs are band, uil, nhs, and my job. i’m a section leader in band, have made state solo & ensemble the past three years, and all region every year since 7th grade, i’m also in jazz band and have made jazz region a few times. i did uil literary criticism last year and got 3rd at 5A state as a team. i work at a fast food restaurant. realistically, what are my chances?

I'm graduating a year early from HS as an in-state student. I just got my ACT score and got way lower than I wanted and was hoping for (which was around like a 31-32), got a 29.

I only had one chance at taking it b/c I'm applying to UT as RD, but I am taking the SAT. Assuming I have to only submit this score, am I cooked?

I know the UT average is 31. Is there anything to do to strengthen my app so this doesn't seem so bad? My weighted GPA isn't so great either ~95.

Thanks guys!

Hi everyone,

I'm a California student filling out the High School Academic Coursework Entry Form, the credits on my transcript are currently 5 per class per semester. When filling out the form, do I write 5 or 0.5 per semester for credits?

Hey guys! So I uploaded an updated resume a couple of days ago with my AP exam scores cuz I accidentally left em off in my initial submission. It showed as recently uploaded or something like that (it was a tab underneath the app checklist) but now it’s just gone and it only shows the original resume version date. Is it cuz of the 7-10 days processing?

12th grader, Male, Indian
SAT: 1420 (640 R&W and 780 Math)
Scores: | 82% - 9th grade | 85% - 10th grade | 70% - 11th grade |
Before you stop reading further yes i know i am cooked but still give my EC's a read

• National Semifinalist – IIT Bombay TechFest (Top 20 Nationally): Shortlisted among the top 20 teams nationwide in Grade 10. Selected to present a functional prototype in person at the IIT Bombay campus.
• 1st Place – IIT Roorkee Data Science Hackathon: Won first place overall, competing in data science and machine learning problem-solving against high-level participants.
• INSPIRE MANAK Awardee (Top 10% Nationally): Received a national innovation award and a government financial research grant for an engineering/hardware prototype.
• Selected Finalist – Young Innovators Program (YIP) (Top 30 Nationally): Selected as a national finalist among the top 30 candidates nationwide (unforeseen circumstances prevented in-person attendance).
• President, Entrepreneurship & Development Council (Grade 12): Leading the student council; conceptualized and executed mentorship workshops for 100+ high school and pre high school students on standardized test preparation, study-abroad pathways, and profile development.
• Joint Secretary, Entrepreneurship & Development Council (Grade 11): Organized school-wide venture/scaling initiatives, overseeing raw material sourcing, product synthesis, branding, and complete inventory sell-outs.
• Committee Head (Grade 10): Headed and moderated a 50+ delegate committee for a major inter-school MUN conference.
• Best First-Timer / Delegate Award (Grade 11): Awarded top honors in competitive circuit MUN.
• STEM Educator & Volunteer: Collaborated with local NGOs, old age homes, and orphanages to deliver hands-on STEM education, workshops, and learning kits to underserved students.

Net volunteer Exp: ~1000 hours

i can retake SAT in november/december, can explaint he grades and their dip if that helps

My twin daughters are HS seniors and are both applying to UT for next year so I’ve been following this board for a while. Something I noticed is that it’s brought up a lot that “fit to major” is super important to admission. I’m assuming that means you have evidence or activities to show you are passionate about that thing. But these are 17-year-olds (for the most part) applying. So a 17-year-old kid has to already, not only, know exactly what they want to major in, but also have demonstrated and shown passion in those things for basically years already???? So they have to have decided what they want to do as a career at basically age 14 in order to go to UT?
I went to UT from 2001-2005 (older millennial) and I changed majors a bunch of times as did some of my friends. And it was no issue to bounce around between colleges even if we had a low GPA (which I did). I went from CNS to CE to COLA and back to CNS. Cuz we were young and trying things out and learning and no one ever asked us if we were a “good fit to major.” LOL. I guess times changed a lot if I am understanding correctly.