What happens After You Apply
After you’ve applied for admission, you should monitor your application’s status and do a few things to help make sure you’re prepared for your admission decision.
Steps to Take After You Apply
Check Your Status
After you submit your application for admission, you will be able to log in using your UT EID and password to check your status through MyStatus.
The web site will list missing documents that are required for an admission decision and inform you if a decision has been made.
ApplyTexas applications submitted online take a full business day to appear online. Documents that are faxed or mailed are processed individually before being scanned and loaded onto our system. As a result, it can take two or more weeks for faxed or mailed items to appear in MyStatus, especially as the deadline approaches.
Learn about International Issues
In addition to applying for admission, international students have specific processes that they must see about before enrolling in a U.S. college or university. Although many of these processes can be completed only after being admitted, it may be helpful to think about and begin planning for them before you receive your admission decision. Submission of your financial documents for issuance of the I-20 or DS-2019 can be done any time after you have made your application to UT. The financial documents are not required for admission.
Visit the web site of the International Student & Scholar Services to learn more about these issues, including immigration, financial requirements, and immunizations.
Apply for On-Campus Housing & Honors Programs
If you haven’t done so by the time you complete your admissions application, you should apply for housing (if you plan to live on campus) and, if you’re a first-year applicant, to any honors programs you may be interested in.
Although there aren’t any firm application deadlines for housing, applying as early as possible may improve your chances of receiving a space in the residence hall of your choice. Notifications about housing contracts are delivered to applicants only after they’ve been admitted to the university.
Learn about Testing Requirements
Applicants for international admission as first-time students and as transfer students must fulfill certain testing requirements when applying for admission. (See Testing information for First-Time Students including TOEFL, IELTS, SAT Subject Tests, and IB and Testing information for Transfer Students.)
If you’re admitted, you may be required to take certain placement exams before enrolling in university courses. You can find out about necessary exams as well as opportunities to earn credit by examination from Instructional Assessment and Evaluation (formerly Measurement & Evaluation).
The Texas Success Initiative (TSI) is a state-legislated program requiring some students to take an assessment test before enrolling. Even if you’re a transfer applicant and you didn’t have to satisfy the TSI requirement (formerly called the Texas Academic Skills Program, or TASP) to enter another college or university you attended, you may need to do so before enrolling at UT Austin. However, many students are exempt from the TSI requirement.
Send Updated Transcripts (transfer applicants completing work after the deadline)
Transfer applicants who complete additional transfer coursework after the application deadline must provide updated transcripts as soon as the new coursework is posted. To provide such updates, mail a paper official transcript to us showing grades for newly completed coursework as soon as possible.
Send Official Paper Transcripts (admitted transfer students)
If you are admitted to the university as a transfer student, you will be required to mail official copies of your secondary high school transcripts (with graduation certificates) and the post-secondary transcripts (university and college-level) you submitted during the application process. An official transcript must bear the official seal and signature of your school/institution registrar. Official updated transcripts must arrive before you will be permitted to enroll at The University of Texas at Austin.
The university will compare your official paper transcripts to the PDF transcript documents you uploaded when you applied for admission. Any alterations or omission of information on the transcripts submitted to The University of Texas at Austin could be grounds for cancellation of your application and/or withdrawal of our offer of admission.
The Admission Decision: What We Consider
When reviewing applications, admissions representatives look for information that will help them to make decisions based on each applicant’s abilities as a student and a scholar. As applications are reviewed, decisions about academic achievement are based on performance in secondary and postsecondary school and standardized test scores (if required for the applicant).
In addition to academic achievement, the university also considers each applicant’s personal achievement when making admission decisions. Submitted information is used to determine an applicant’s dedication to an interest or cause, community involvement, and personal achievements. All of the items submitted with your application, including your essays, your activities information, your letters of recommendation, and any information you submit about special circumstances, will be considered when your admission decision is made.
Special Circumstances
Special circumstances in an applicant’s life sometimes help an application reviewer to get a clearer picture of the applicant’s qualifications. The special circumstances we consider include:
- Socioeconomic status of family
- Single parent home
- Language spoken at home
- Family responsibilities
- Overcoming adversity
- Cultural background
- Race and ethnicity
- Other information in the file
If you’d like us to consider a special circumstance in your life, you may submit optional Essay C or mail us a letter detailing your situation. If you’d prefer that someone else tell us about the circumstances, have that person write a letter on your behalf. Sometimes a letter from a doctor or a counselor is also appropriate when communicating details about an individual situation.
Timing for Your Decision
We review each application individually and consider each in relation to the admission factors for the university and for the major(s) to which each applicant applies. As a result, there isn’t a specific date by which we make decisions.
- Most admissions decisions are made only after we know the qualifications of the entire pool of applicants (following the application deadline).
- Most applicants for first-time undergraduate admission to the summer/fall semester are notified by the middle of April; most transfer applicants will find out about their decisions in June.
- Most spring semester applicants are notified on a rolling basis beginning in November.
Once we make a decision about your admission, we’ll notify you through MyStatus within 24 hours of your decision and by mail as soon as possible.