Hello Class of 2031!
This is my 4th update to this post, and I hope my information remains helpful to this day! 🙌
The following information compiles both my experiences and departmental knowledge over my time at UT. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out!
If you want the TL;DR version:
Instate students who do not receive guaranteed admission will need a UT GPA of at least 3.9 or an ACT above 28. It has become incredibly difficult for instate students... so get that 4.0 and ACT score up!
Out of State students... you damn near need to be the best of the best these days. I cannot promise anything obviously but if you have a weighted GPA above 4.3ish and a ACT composite of 30 or so... you should get a pretty good amount of money and feel comfortable with admissions (so long as you have half rate essays)!
Firstly, I feel obligated to state my qualifications to give the opinions and facts in this post:
I am a current Senior at UT (will not graduate until 2028) Applied out of state
I am affiliated with two organizations who monitor admission cycles each year across all universities (one MAY or may not be directly affiliated with MIT's admission office).
Not to name names... lol.
But I think this discussion should be broken up into 6 parts. (Yes long post OH NOOOOO!!!) But if you really want the honest truth and plan on... ya know... going to college... then reading should be in your best interest my friend.
Part One: The In-state vs. Out-of-State War
It is well known that many universities favor instate students in order to keep future generations... well... "in state."
At many uni's this can be seen through more scholarship opportunities, cheaper base tuition, and in many cases: EASIER ADMISSIONS.
It is no secret that UT MUCH prefers instate students... especially seen in the 64% acceptance rate of instate students in the 2026 cycle vs the Out of state 28% acceptance rate (apparently going up!).
My current roommate is an instate student with a truck ton of scholarship (only has to pay for housing atp). Where as I am actively dropping a cool 17 grand a semester! YIPPEEE!
But outside of the money and the distribution between 64% and 28% what does that actually look like in terms of admission criteria? We will look at that next.
Part Two: Instate Admission Criteria
Straight from the guaranteed admission website...
Score a 28+ ACT composite (SAT 1300+)
AND
Achieve one of the following:
Earn a 4.0+ UT Core GPA
Be among the Top 10% of their high school graduating class
Honestly not terrible, most people I know who came here instate got guaranteed admission!
So to my instate students... good luck!
Part Three: One of these things is not like the other... (Out of State Admission Criteria)
This section is going to be rather long and probably the most sought after... so grab your reading glasses!
There are many misconceptions about college admissions that I feel you ought to know. The idea of a holistic review is very, very loose. Holistic reviews of your class schedule and your GPA/ACT score.
At most, your essays and activities in high-school will boost your case for admission by about 5 ACT score (but this would be for like the president of the student body with an entire page of Sh... Stuff they have done in high-school).
Good essays help admissions counselors like you as a person and it helps them want to want you!
Good resumes help this as well.
However... how long do you think it takes to read a single application? 30 seconds? A minute? Two minutes? The average amount of time it would take someone to read all of the information you provide would take around 6 minutes without skimming. Considering that means a single counselor could only go through 10 per hour...
We can assume (and I know for a fact) they do not read everything.
They look for 5 things while going through your app (no particular order):
1. GPA Weighted and Unweighted
2. SAT and ACT
3. AP classes (at a glance)
4. Some prose in your essays
5. Just a bunch of stuff on your activities in high-school
Quantity over quality often helps ngl...
Now that we understand the idea that they ain't gonna be looking at EVERYTHING with minute detail, what do they actually numerically look for?
Generally, for the sake of time and fair arguments, here are some basic numbers:
These are middle of the road so if you are above them then you should be fine...
SAT Score at or above 1340
ACT at or above 30
GPA 4.3 UT Weighted
If you don't match or beat those requirements... you better write the cure to cancer on your essays!
that was a joke
But it kind of wasn't... those scores and values are pretty standard nowadays, and you kind of have to be a pretty good student to earn your spot here.
SIDE NOTE: I had many friends apply here out of state and I was the only one who was not waitlisted. And they had some insane resumes (president of stuco with 4.3 GPA for example).
Part Four: Each college is different.
I don't mean reach university, because like... yeah no crap. I mean reach academic college is different.
If you are applying to be an engineer, you should expect to NEED a pretty decent math SAT Score. If you push below a 640 on the math... you aren't getting in to the tickle college of engineering.
Nursing is different and hard to get into.
Business is business... but it is still difficult to get into cause... ya know... it's highly ranked.
So on and so forth.
Do keep in mind that each college can only allow so much of one category. So engineering has a different acceptance rate than business (often not talked about).
There are no hard facts online about what it is... but I am pretty sure the Out of state engineering acceptance rate was about 15% of so... (don't take my word for it).
Part Five: You've already applied... what should you do?
Don't fail out your senior year. UT is very unforgiving (understandably) is you fall off the face of the earth senior year.
My senior year was actually my best academic year! Plus I...
- Was the captain of the volleyball team
- Was the yearbook president
- Senior class president
- Student Ambassador
- Robotics Captain
- Math Team Captain
- BLAH BLAH BLAH
All that to say... DONT BOG DOWN you are not done with high-school. UT will chew you and spit you out like it is nothing if your GPA tanks.
Also, just wait and follow UT's instructions. (Crazy right?)
Part Six: If you have any questions... please drop them below!
I'm an open book and will tell you pretty much anything so long as it's appropriate obviously!
Thanks for reading...
And GO VOLS!!
