Options, numbers, and timing Admission Decisions
Freshman admission to the University of Texas at Austin has become increasingly competitive over the last several years. And it’s no wonder: As the flagship of the University of Texas System, UT Austin offers one of the best undergraduate experiences available in the country – at one of the best prices.
But increased competition doesn’t mean that you should assume you can’t get in; we’ve done a great deal over the last few years to offer options to students to help as many of them as possible become part of our student body.
Admission Options
Regular summer, fall and spring admission
The university’s entering freshman class usually totals about 7,200 students each year, most of them in the fall. Some students apply to begin their studies in one of the university’s two regular summer sessions; and about 100 freshmen, some of whom are early high school graduates, are also admitted to the spring semester each year.
Read more about regular admission to the university.
Wait List
In recent years, the university has invited a few students who are not immediately admitted to the freshman class to join the fall wait list.
Coordinated Admission Program
Each year several thousand Texas graduates are given the opportunity to participate in the Coordinated Admission Program. These students can earn automatic admission to UT Austin at the start of their second year of study by successfully completing the requirements for the program during the initial year of study at another University of Texas System School.
Each year several hundred former CAP students transfer to UT Austin to complete their degrees—and none of them have to apply for transfer admission.
Find out how CAP works.
Transfer admission
Other students decide that the regular transfer route is for them. These students begin their studies at a community college or at a regional or national college or university and apply for transfer admission once they complete 30 semester hours of transferable credit.
Find out more about transfer admission.
Some students who are denied freshman admission also eventually apply for transfer admission to UT Austin after beginning their college work elsewhere.
Read more about options for students who are denied admission.
Timing for Decisions
The application review process begins after a freshman applicant has submitted all the items needed to complete his or her application. How long it takes to receive a decision can vary a great deal from student to student.
- Texas applicants who qualify for automatic admission can find out rather quickly that they’ll be admitted to the university; decisions about their majors can take longer.
- Applicants to competitive majors, even applicants who qualify for automatic admission, may have to wait until after the deadline to find out which major they’ll be admitted to.
- Some decisions about admission to competitive majors can be made only after the applications from all applicants to that major have been reviewed. That means that most decisions for these majors cannot be made until weeks after the application deadline.
- A few highly qualified applicants may receive an early decision even if they do apply to a competitive major.
Target Date for Summer/Fall Freshman Decisions: March 1
Decisions are made at different times, and a variety of things can impact when an individual decision is made. So, if you hear that someone you know has received his or her decision, you should not automatically assume that the fact that you haven’t heard is a bad thing. Some students who are admitted to the fall semester do not learn of their decision until near the end of the decision process.