The devil is in the details.

All of the honors programs except engineering have an early deadline of October 15. One program Business Honors, uses different phrasing - priority. You can see the difference in wording on the UT Honors "how to apply" page."

Similarly, these honors programs will all notify at least some of their applicants that they qualify for early admission.

What's the difference between priority and recommended? A big one, actually!

I shared a message from the director of BHP admissions recently disclosing how their process works. 

BHP will release letters to not just admitted students, but also those deferred to regular decision. Some may even be denied. To my knowledge, BHP is the only program that will reject applicants before all decisions go out at the end of February. 

"Approximately half of those applications were for early admission and were processed and given labels of “accept, defer, or deny” before December 1." These decisions made prior to December 1 historically go out in mid-December, so hopefully a few of you receive good news soon!

That some are denied early indicates the difference in priority and recommended. BHP's process looks similar to most selective universities that offer "Early Action."

For the other programs, don't worry if some of your friends find out they gained admission to Plan II or LAH in December! All it means is those honors programs want to review your application with the rest of the pool who applied between October 15 and December 1.

It is important to emphasize that applying to honors has no bearing on your regular admissions decision. They are separate processes. Almost all applicants, except those who are truly exceptional or strong applicants demonstrating financial need, will find out by March 1.