What a friend would tell you
What UT Austin is looking for
UT uses a priority deadline (not rolling) and auto-admits the top 6% of Texas high school classes. Out-of-state applicants face a much tougher bar and should apply to a specific college (Cockrell Engineering, McCombs Business, Moody Communications). Show why Austin specifically, not just why UT. Direct admission to competitive programs like CS or Business is a separate battle from general admission.
What students wish they'd known
UT is enormous (52,000+ undergrads), and the bureaucracy matches. Registration for popular courses is a fight, advising is inconsistent, and the 62% four-year graduation rate reflects how many students struggle to get required classes. Out-of-state tuition is steep with limited aid. Austin's cost of living has skyrocketed, and the city's identity as a quirky college town is fading under tech-boom gentrification.
UT Austin might be a fit if...
- You're a top Texas student who wants a world-class engineering, business, or CS program at in-state tuition
- You want Austin's music, food, and tech scene as your college backdrop, not just a campus bubble
- You're self-sufficient enough to navigate a 52,000-student university and build your own experience
UT Austin Admissions Strategy
Application Info
Plans: RD (rolling for some programs; auto-admit top 6% of TX HS or top 10% overall)
Deadlines: RD December 1 (priority)
Deadlines: RD December 1 (priority)
Test Policy
Test required
Demonstrated Interest
Not Tracked
Not tracked. Skip the info-session circuit and put those hours into the application itself.
Interview
Not offered
Yield Rate
47%
47% of admits enroll, which is typical for a selective school. Waitlists here move every year.
Want to boost your odds at UT Austin and every reach on your list, so admissions stops feeling like a coin flip?
Join the free one-hour workshop from two Harvard grads who have helped 3,000+ students get in. Parents welcome.
Cost & Financial Aid at UT Austin
$38000 (out-of-state)
Sticker Price
$11,000
In-State Tuition
$12,000
Avg Merit Aid
Need-blind admissions. Meets need: Partial. 58% receive financial aid.
What you get for it: UT Austin spends about $18,000 per student per year on instruction and student resources, well above the $15K national average.
What UT Austin Graduates Get
$56,000
Avg Starting Salary
90%
Employed or in Grad School
74%
Graduate in 4 Years
The 4-year number is the on-time rate; the 6-year rate (89%) is the one schools usually advertise. A wide gap means many students pay for extra semesters.
UT Austin Campus & Culture
The Campus
UT Austin's 431-acre campus stretches from the State Capitol area south to the Colorado River, anchored by the Main Building's 307-foot tower and its distinctive orange-lit crown. The Forty Acres (the original campus core) features Beaux-Arts limestone buildings around the South Mall. Darrell K Royal Stadium seats 100,119. The Drag (Guadalupe Street) runs along the western edge, lined with taco shops, bookstores, and Austin weirdness.
The Social Scene
Massive; Austin culture is central; music/food/politics scene; 6th Street nightlife; football dominates
UT Austin Traditions & Trivia
Tower Lighting
After major athletic wins or academic milestones, the UT Tower glows orange and specific numerals blaze from the office windows, visible across Austin at night, a tradition since the tower opened in 1937.
Hook 'Em Horns
The two-fingered hand sign was invented the night before the 1955 TCU game when head cheerleader Harley Clark and his roommate worked it out from shadow puppets and taught it at the pep rally the next morning.
Academics at UT Austin
What UT Austin is known for
Flagship UT research university; strong business/engineering; Austin tech scene; school spirit
Most popular majors at UT Austin
Standout programs
Engineering, Computer Science, Business, Physics, Natural Sciences
How the curriculum works
Large research university with varying rigor by college; strong general education core
Recommended high school courses
AP/IB in calculus, physics, chemistry, English, history
Notable UT Austin Alumni
Matthew McConaughey
UT film grad, Oscar winner, now a professor at the school
Walter Cronkite
Attended UT before becoming the most trusted man in America behind the CBS anchor desk
Rex Tillerson
Former Secretary of State and ExxonMobil CEO, UT civil engineering 1975
Renee Zellweger
UT English grad before winning two Oscars
Michael Dell
Dropped out of UT to found Dell Technologies from his dorm room
Janis Joplin
Attended UT briefly before becoming a rock legend in San Francisco
If you like UT Austin, also consider
Rice University
Smaller, private, Houston-based, with more personal attention
Texas A&M University
In-state rival with comparable engineering and stronger campus community
Georgia Institute of Technology
Similar STEM strength at a public university, Atlanta location
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Comparable Big Ten-level flagship with Ann Arbor's college town
University of California Berkeley
West Coast public peer with similar prestige and scale