Don't let the December 1 deadline sail away!

With two weeks left, it is important to begin your essays now and finish them up if you have started. There are three truths: deaths, taxes, and students waiting until the last minute to complete their applications. About half of all applicants to UT-Austin will submit their applications between now and the deadline. That means about 25,000 students wait until the last minute. A bulk of students submit between Thanksgiving and December 1. 

Yes, you should have started earlier, and yes, your parents and teachers probably told you so. That time has past.

How should you spend your last two weeks? It is critical that you start and have your first drafts completed by this weekend! If you are able, please have at least one or two people look over your essays. You won't believe the number of applications that have typos, where it is obvious that not only did nobody read over that student's essays, the student themselves didn't reread before submitting.

This means many applicants put submit their first effort, which is almost always their worst effort. Until I am blue in the face, I stress every year the importance of starting early. Every year, I receive panicked requests as we approach the midnight hour. I saw it on October 15 with honors applicants waiting to meet the priority deadline, and I anticipate it again.

While I am at it, THERE IS NO OCTOBER 15 PRIORITY OR EARLY DEADLINE EXCEPT FOR HONORS.

This is a particularly pervasive myth. Indeed, some students will find out early in December, but this does not mean UT has rolling admissions! They don't! 95% of all applicants will find out in one batch at the end of February. Nobody will be denied early, and any student you hear at school or on social media who have received their choice of major, they would have gained admission by February anyways.

Some exceptional students gain admission. UT started doing this in 2013 to get an early start on recruiting those students hoping they will enroll before they receive their other decisions. Some low income, high-achieving students also receive their financial aid at this time.

Please, do not get discouraged if your friends are hearing back already, or if some of them are receiving phone interviews from Business Honors alumni. 

Once you submit, please, please just forget about it. I know this is easier said than done, and I respect that this is a tremendously anxious time. There is nothing more you can do, and no amount of phone calls or additional supplements will make a difference. It is out of your hands.

There is nothing I can do to soothe your worries other than to be realistic about the competitiveness of UT-Austin and emphasizing applying to a wide net of universities where at least some will guarantee you admission based on your academics. More students will be denied than admitted, and there are many qualified students who can do the work than space at UT allows.

If you are still finishing up your Apply Texas application, or you would like help with other selective universities with January 1 deadlines, please get in touch! kevin@texadmissions.com

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