The Office of Admissions for the University of Texas at Austin has recently released 3,000 more first-time freshman admission notifications to Texas and non-Texas residents across all majors. These notifications are in addition to approximately 6,000 favorable decisions released on December 7.

Congratulations to everyone who has received favorable news.

Some students who applied by the December 1 regular admission deadline have also received word of their admission to their first-choice major, so this “wave” is not exclusive to November 1 priority applicants.

UT-Austin expects to admit approximately 17,000 students to joint he Class of 2023.

If they expect 45-48% of these admitted students to enroll, as has historically been the case, they are seeking to enroll a class of 7,650-8,160.

Who has been receiving their decisions?

It’s hard to say why some students find out early while others do not. In the past, it was almost exclusively high achieving applicants who got in. Reading self-reported admitted student profiles online though, it seems a wider range of students academically are receiving word earlier. A lot of highly talented students have yet to hear.

It may be that there is a financial-need component based on a student’s self-reported family income on Apply Texas. Universities want to offer as early as possible academically qualified, financially needy students to help their transition from HS to college.

There may be some new mechanism entirely to flag applicants for early release. It’s just too hard to tell.

Because UT is notoriously non-transparent with their admissions policies, anything you read online including in this blog are open to conjecture and educated guesses. I always make an effort to put boundaries around my speculation.

Among my clients, a pretty wide range of students have gotten in looking purely at their academic index, i.e. their class rank, test score, and first choice major. Many of my most high achieving clients ranking and scoring in the top 2% and higher have yet to hear back. A few clients I did not feel confident about getting in have received word, so there’s been some pleasant surprises.

The Adjusted Academic Index range for my admitted clients on a scale of 2 to 4.3 is 3.51-4.18 across a variety of majors. Nine clients with a greater than 4.0 Academic Index are waiting to hear, and another nine between 3.8-3.99 are still hoping for good news.

If it were the case that only my most outstanding clients were receiving admission, I would be less hopeful for the next tier of students academically strong applicants. Since a wide range are hearing back, I remain optimistic.

Some observations and best guesses

One difference from this to previous years is UT seems more deliberate in how many decisions they release and when. They’ve announced the December and January waves a few days in advance on the Campus to Counselor newsletter.

In the past, students found out irregularly on Fridays from mid-November until mid-February. There seems to be some method to the madness, but it’s beyond me to state anything conclusively.

Remember that Honors programs release their decisions totally at their discretion independent from the Office of Admissions regular decisions. It seems the bulk of decisions from all programs are yet to be released.

UT seems to be reviewing and releasing decisions much quicker this year than in year’s past. I’ve heard they hired more file readers, and since the essays and requirements are the same this year as last, there is likely more institutional memory to expedite review without having to train staff on new topics.

It’s possible that they could have all decisions out by February 1, which falls on a Friday this year. That’s the day I’m watching closely. It’s also possible more decisions could be released in subsequent Fridays, so stay tuned.

What if I have not received my decision?

UT has released 9,000 regular admissions offers. If they have approximately 55,000-58,000 total applications, that means 45,000 or so students still have not received word of their decision. Roughly one-quarter of all applicants will gain admission from this point forward.

It is not possible to update your application with first-semester senior year grades, submit a “letter of continued interest,” or modify your application in any way. It is also not advisable to request a major chance if My Status gives you the option.

There is nothing to do but continuing to manage your expectations, keep an open mind about other universities, and wait to hopefully receive some good news.

If you have not applied to an in-state university where you are 100% guaranteed admission based on your rank/GPA and test score, and you haven’t received favorable news yet from other universities, I would advise you to apply to a few sure-things to give you options.

This will not be the first time in your life that you confront a difficult waiting game. Focus only on what you can control, in this case, your attitude, expectations, and finding productive outlets for the inevitable college admissions stresses.

Best wishes to the students and families still waiting to receive news.