Comments on: Top 10 Percent Rule Killing Texas Universities

By: PublicHSstudent

PublicHSstudent — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:30:20 +0000

I would also like the law if I were in the top ten percent. It’s great that your kid is going to UT. LOTS of kids want to go there. It also depends on the high school your kid goes to. I’m not saying he does to an easy school or an extremely difficult school, but that does play a huge factor in the “fairness” of this rule.

I have a higher GPA and a better SAT score than kids I know from a high school in my town and they are in the top ten percent of their senior class. With a 4.57 GPA, I’m not in the top ten. At our rival school, you can have a 3.95 and be in the top ten. Fair? I think not. Now for these students, their SAT scores don’t matter and neither do their resumes or extracurricular activities because the are top ten.

I’m not saying your son doesn’t deserve to be at UT, but the law should be changed because it is hurting the university.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:29:01 +0000

I like the law. My son is in the top 5% at a public high school and will be attending UT soon enough.

By: Jay Friedman

Jay Friedman — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 03:16:35 +0000

Folks, if you believe the rule/law is harmful to the hardworking folks who stretch financially to buy a $110,000 home in a great school district just to give their kids a public school education are being punished, please join our facebook group to get this law repealed or modified. Thanks!

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/169205?m=7d6fff67

By: Private School Mom

Private School Mom — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:41:58 +0000

I agree with PublicHSstudent. Our Texas public universities aren’t judging applicants for their abilities, intelligence or talent any more. Just their GPA.

Too bad this kid is competing against thousands of other students for less than 5% of the available slots in the UT freshman class.

But take heart PublicHSstudent – if your SAT scores are decent, you can get into plently of other great state universities (outside of Texas) and they’ll give you in-state tution. You may like it enough to stay there afer graduation and settle down with a good job. And then you can buy property and spend your paycheck in that state.

Meanwhile, we’ll will attract the down-and-out from across the country and Mexico to Texas because we’ve got ‘job growth’ and one of the best economies in the free world.

I hope you’ve already applied early to UT and that you’ve got lots of other applications in to other public universities. I hope one of them will recognize your abilities.

By: PublicHSstudent

PublicHSstudent — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:53:38 +0000

LOC…. kids probably want to go to the university because they love Austin and UT, not to get into a fraternity or sorority. Considering only 17% of the entire student body (undergraduate and graduate) are apart of Greek life…

I don’t know…maybe it’s the “freshman experience” that draws them to not going to a feeder school for the CAP program… good try though.

By: PublicHSstudent

PublicHSstudent — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:50:17 +0000

The top 10% rule does not only hurt private school students, FYI. I am top 12% of my senior class, 62 out of 496 with a 4.56 GPA….. I go to an INNER CITY high school that is known around the nation for being academically challenging and offering programs that only our school offers. My hope is to attend the University of Texas at AUSTIN for Fall 2009 and being in the graduating class of 2013. In order to be in the top 10% of my high school, you basically have had to test out of any 4-point class you have to take as a course to graduate. That leaves only honors and AP courses left because you must have classes to fill up your schedule. So while some students at not as challenging high schools relax in non-honors classes and are in the top 10%….. students, like myself, in ALL AP courses, making As… are NOT in the top 10%. Yes, I go to a public school, but it does not mean it is inferior to the so-called “elite Dallas Prep schools.” We try just as hard and are screwed just as much, I’m sorry Craddick is too lazy to actually weed out the “good” students from the “bad,” because these kids suffering from the rule feel inferior because they are not apart of the “top ten elite.”

By: Private School Mom

Private School Mom — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:42:26 +0000

LOC,
The top 10% rule applies only to students graduating from Texas Public schools – not private school students. The kids at our private schools are competing with everyone else for the handful of slots available to students who are not in the top 10% of public schools. I personally know of several smart, talented kids (from both public and private schools) who are now in college out of state due to our top 10% rule. Several universities (U of Arizona, U of Oklahoma, etc.) now offer ‘in-state’ tuition rates to qualified Texas students. Those smart kids are being lured to other states because last year UT accepted more than 95% of their incoming freshmen based solely on the 10% rule. What a shame when every public university in the southwest will accept your kid and UT won’t.
Fortunately, my child was one of the luck ones who got in last year without being in the top 10% (because he graduated from a Dallas private school). Some would call the top 10% rule, reverse discrimination. It discriminates against private school students.

By: FRED

FRED — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:13:49 +0000

Can anyone post a link that supports Wick’s statement that Craddick refuses to consider changing the Top 10% rule?

By: Pigskinnie

Pigskinnie — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:30:26 +0000

First off, I think LOC is right that this argument is more about family traditions of attending UT and going through rush during that freshman year. It wasn’t a big deal to me, and I went out of state for college, but I don’t think that’s an unreasonable thing to be upset about. I attended a very strong Metroplex high school, and I’ve even taught in one of the worst high schools in the Metroplex, and I assure you there is a HUGE difference in the student bodies. As a taxpayer supporting UT, and with no axe to grind, I do think that the Legislature is wasting the outstanding UT resource with this policy. But maybe we are not thinking of this properly, since the rule basically was created in response to the Hopwood case that overturned the prior use of ethnicity as a UT admission tool. It’s basically “affirmative action” to boost urban and rural students at the expense of suburban students. So maybe we have to consider the merits of “affirmative action” as part of this discussion. Can of worms now opened…

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:58:42 +0000

I will have to say I was glad to fall on the fortunate side of the 10% rule, but that did mean my resume going into college was irrelevant to UT Admissions. All those hours on the vball and soccer team, Student Council Secretary, Key Club, NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, etc. were “pointless” as far as admissions were concerned. I also knew that my SAT score did not matter one bit because I was already in. If the 10% must stand, resumes, community involvement, and a minimum SAT should be held to a higher standard. Maybe then UT could weed out some of the top 10%ers that don’t deserve their place as much as others.