Comments on: #2 List Of The Day: Best Public Universities For The Money

By: Joe Sixpack

Joe Sixpack — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:25:09 +0000

I’m a big believer in transferring to UT after your freshman year. The extra year provides seasoning. Freshman year is a waste anyway.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:18:27 +0000

Fair enough, Lake. 81% of entering freshman at UT from Texas high schools entered under the top 10% rule. See Table 2b (PDF). I haven't heard of people enrolling in the fake/crappy private schools to make top 10%, but I have had private-school-teacher friends tell me they have a problem with good kids transferring to public schools from private schools for junior/senior years so they can be top 10% at those schools, where they weren't at the private school.

By: Lake Parker

Lake Parker — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:14:15 +0000

Last comment, I promise, but I’d just like to point out to Wick and the other top 10% rule haters that the sentence, “75% of applicants admitted in 2004 were admitted under the top 10% rule” is very different form “75% of applicants enrolled in 2004 were admitted under the top 10% rule.”

Pretty much every top student in the state treats UT as a safety school. Admitted and enrolled mean very different things.

By: Lake Parker

Lake Parker — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:09:06 +0000

Ah, I’m wrong. Does this mean kids can get into UT for being in the top 10% of some makeshift school like those charter schools in Lake Highlands strip malls or those fake private schools in Oak Cliff (Tyler Street Academy I think)?

By: Lake Parker

Lake Parker — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:05:54 +0000

Private school students don’t get in under the top 10% rule, thats for public school students.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:33:11 +0000

Oh, and I’d like to think that my kid will have a choice of schools, but like UT. My kid’s in a local private school, and may not make the top 10% based on the small class sizes, but we’re not at the high school stage yet.

By: Don in Austin

Don in Austin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:30:47 +0000

Aggie wannabes can go to Blinn, future Horns can attend UTSA then transfer in as sophomores. For what they save in freshman tuition they can get a nicer apt and a higher quality of booze to throw up.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:30:45 +0000

Well, Mike, we're on the same page. Just saw a Startlegam story on the 10% rule, too.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:17:01 +0000

What I meant to conclude with is that the vast, vast majority of parents I hear harp about the top 10 percent rule and UT would not see their kids admitted to UNC if they lived in Charlotte or Berkeley or UCLA if they lived in Orange County.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:06:36 +0000

Matt,

I was going to argue with you about the top 10 percent rule and state that actually a good number of Texas residents admitted to UT are outside the top 10 percent, but I looked at the latest stats and saw only 19 percent of the 2008 UT class were from outside to the top 10. That’s down pretty significantly from previous years. The better football program and increasing popularity of Austin probably plays a big role. The miserableness of College Station and fall of their football program might contribute to A&M’s popularity in the opposite way, but I’m too lazy to look it up.

I tutor for the SATs and am therefore familiar with college anxiety and expectations and all sorts of gripes about the 10 percent rule. If UT really wants to be in the company of Berkeley, U of Michigan and UVa, people in the 30th percentile in Lake Highlands or the 45th percentile in Highland Park or the 18th percentile at Irving MacArthur probably shouldn’t gain acceptance. Based solely on grades, on which I would not construct an admissions process, I’d probably take the top 60 percent at St. Marks or Greenhill, the top third at Highland Park, the top 15 percent at Lake Highlands…