The University of Texas at Austin has lowered its automatic admission rate to students in the top 5% of their high school’s graduating class. Right now, students must rank in the top 6% of their graduating class to be guaranteed a spot at the university.
President Jay Hartzell announced the change at a Faculty Council meeting on Monday as UT Austin continues to face historic numbers of applicants each school year.
In 1997, HB 588 was passed, guaranteeing Texas students who graduate in the top 10% of their high school class automatic admission to all Texas public universities.
However, as application rates began to increase at UT Austin, lawmakers tweaked the rule in 2010, allowing UT to set its own auto-admittance rates annually but also requiring 75% of first-year in-state students to have been automatically admitted.
UT Austin began its own auto-admittance rate at 7%. In 2017, the rate was lowered to 6% as applicants rose from 38,000 in 2013 to 51,000 in 2017, per UT News.
The college received a record-breaking 73,000 applications for the current fall 2024 semester, marking a 10% increase from the year before. This is the second year in a row that UT has seen a 10% increase in applicants.
UT Austin was ranked as the ninth top public university by U.S. News & World Report in 2023. Globally, it ranked 43rd for best university.
The school recently received worldwide attention at the Summer Olympics.
Nearly 50 swimmers from UT competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
UT showcased the most swimmers out of any other colleges at the trials. Eight of them joined the team of 50 swimmers to compete at the Olympics.
Additionally, UT swim coaches Bob Bowman and Carol Capitani played pivotal roles as swim coaches for Team USA in Paris.
The school’s talent, however, does not stop at swimming. UT sent athletes from their men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, rowing, soccer, diving, women’s tennis, men’s and women’s track and field, and women’s indoor volleyball to the Olympics as well.
