About 250 freshman applicants are being invited to join the 2009 wait list.

This year is proving to be a difficult year in college and university admissions. Schools typically use historical data to determine how many admission offers to make. But changing economic conditions and the numerous enrollment opportunities that many students have make predictions less certain. To ensure that we are able to meet our goal of enrolling a class of 7,200 new freshman and to give more deserving students the opportunity to be a part of the entering class of 2009, we have instituted a wait list.

The students invited to join the wait list were selected by the Office of Admissions using the same holistic and individual review that is used when admission decisions are made. The most qualified of the students who weren’t admitted to the entering class were invited to join the wait list.

No, students may not request to be added to the wait list.

We don’t know the answer to that question. There really isn’t any way to predict how many students might eventually be offered admission because decisions about the wait-listed students will be made based on whether room in the entering class opens up. And since this is the first time we’ve had a wait list, there really isn’t any history for us to use as a basis for an estimate.

Being asked to join the wait list is not a guarantee that admission will be offered. Some, all, or no students invited to join the wait list may be offered admission to the entering class.

Students are not ranked on the wait list. If you accept the invitation to join the wait list, you’ll hold a place on the list—but not a specific place. Your full application will be considered for spaces as they become available.

Decisions about admitting students from the wait list will be made by the Office of Admissions considering the available spaces that open up in the entering class.

Students will be admitted based on the enrollment needs of the University as other admitted students turn down their admission offers. As spaces open up, the wait-listed applications will be reviewed to determine which students on the list will be offered a space. All aspects of an individual application will be considered.

If a student is admitted from the wait list, he or she will be notified through Status Check and by mail. In addition, the Office of Admissions will make an effort to contact each student admitted from the wait list by e-mail or phone.

Yes, you will be required to satisfy your admission enrollment deposit if you are offered a space in the entering class.

It isn’t possible right now to know what spaces in the entering class might open up, so it also isn’t possible for us to know what majors might be offered to an individual wait-listed student who is admitted. Decisions about how spaces will be filled will be determined as they become available.

No, only the contents of your original application will be considered during the wait list process. That application will be considered in its entirety.

Maybe. If a student invited to join the wait list applied to begin his or her studies in a regular summer session and then is admitted to the entering class from the wait list, the student may still have the opportunity to begin studies during a regularly scheduled UT Austin summer session. Should this situation arise for you, you should discuss your desire to start in a summer session with the Office of Admissions when you are offered admission to the entering class.

Because it is difficult to determine how many of the students who are on the wait list might eventually be admitted to the entering class, it’s simply a good idea for wait-listed students to have another option in place should the wait list not work out for them.

Every student on the wait list should have another option in place for their freshman year. No wait-listed student should turn down every other opportunity they have because there is no guarantee that any individual student or that a certain number of students will be admitted from the wait list.

Every student on the wait list should have another option in place for the fall semester. There is no guarantee that any student on the wait list will be admitted to UT Austin.

• If you’re interested in accepting the invitation to join the wait list and you think CAP is a good option for you if you aren’t eventually admitted to UT Austin, then you should complete the process for both.
• If you’re interested in CAP and want to go ahead and make plans for that option without having to wait to hear from UT Austin about the wait list, then you may also complete your CAP agreement and decline the invitation to be on the wait list.
• If you’re interested in the wait list but you don’t think CAP is for you – even if you aren’t admitted from the wait list – then you should accept the invitation to be on the wait list and proceed with your plans to attend another college or university in the fall semester.
• And finally, if you aren’t interested in either the wait list or CAP, then we would appreciate it if you would decline both programs. We’re always sorry to lose good students, but should you decide not to join the wait list or to participate in CAP, we do wish you all the best in your studies.

No, completing your CAP agreement will not affect your status on the wait list in any way. As a matter of fact, everyone on the wait list should have some other plan in place for the fall semester. Waiting until the wait list process is completed to make other plans for the fall is not a good idea.

No, the deadline for submitting the CAP agreement for some UT System universities is May 1. At least some decisions about the wait list may not be made until after that date. The UT System university you’re interested in attending may no longer be available to you if you wait until the wait list process is closed out to submit your CAP agreement.

We will begin making decisions about the wait list as soon as we determine that space will be available in the entering class. We’ll notify individual students about admission as soon as possible after that. We understand the value of hearing something as early as possible and will do whatever we can to lessen the time that students have to wait.

It isn’t likely, however, that anyone will hear anything about being admitted from the wait list until the last week in April or the first week in May.

We expect to make all decisions about the students who are on the wait list no later than May 15, 2009.

Yes, if you applied for on-campus housing, your housing application will still be in place if you are admitted from the wait list. If you are admitted, you should contact the Division of Housing and Food to complete your on-campus housing process.

It is true that some of the orientation sessions fill up rather quickly, but we’ve never had to turn any admitted students away from orientation. There is always space in at least one of the orientation sessions for all admitted freshman. Sometimes that means that a student might have to attend the orientation session that’s held just before the fall semester starts, but all students do get to attend orientation.

If you are admitted from the wait list, please contact New Student Services to complete your orientation registration process.