Becoming a Longhorn POLICIES & Processes

International students living and going to high school in Texas may qualify for Texas residency under Texas law. Such students are eligible to receive automatic admission if they meet the requirements of the Top Ten Percent law and may also qualify for state financial aid.

Learn more about how your students might qualify for this benefit from the Residency Office. Talk to a residency officer to work out any issues if necessary.

If students qualify for Texas residency, they should follow these steps when applying for admissions:

• Submit the ApplyTexas Application for Freshman Admission and all required items, including a $60 application fee ($50 for spring 2006).
• Send a completed Residency Affidavit to the residency office.

Students who qualify for residency as international students may want to apply for state-funded financial aid (it’s a good idea to do so). To do so, students should submit the completed PDF FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) by mail directly to the UT Austin Office of Student Financial Services, Attn: Assistant Director of Student Financial Services. (Do not use the online FAFSA.)

Some international students may be attending high school in the United States and may be interested in attending UT Austin. Whether an international student comes to UT Austin from their home country or from a school in the U.S., they should become familiar with our International Office and its services.

State law offers automatic admission to top 10% students but not necessarily to the majors they select. As a result, some of the more highly sought after colleges and schools at UT Austin limit the number of students they admit each year based solely on rank. This list can change from year-to-year.

Visit the section on Schools & Majors with special requirements for details.

Although many students believe that it’s best to claim as much college credit a possible, doing so may not always be the best option. Two situations in particular make it a good idea for incoming UT Austin students to wait to make decisions about claiming college credit.

• Texas Be-On-Time Loan Forgiveness: Students who complete their degrees within a certain period of time and with a minimum amount of coursework may be eligible to have some of their student loans forgiven. Students who claim credit for work that isn’t needed to complete their degrees can jeopardize their eligibility for loan-forgiveness.
• UT Austin’s Tuition Rebate: Graduating UT Austin students are eligible for a $1,000 tuition rebate if they graduate within four years with no more than three hours of credit beyond that needed for their degrees. Students who claim credit that they do not need for their degrees run the risk of being ineligible for this rebate.

All students should plan to speak with both an academic advisor and a financial aid officer during orientation about the courses they would like to claim credit for. Waiting until they have spoken with the people who can give them the best advice about claiming credit is the best decision for all students.

To be considered for admission to the College of Engineering, a freshman applicant must meet the College’s Math Readiness Requirement by the admissions application deadline. The goal of the requirement is to assure the ability of entering freshmen to function at an appropriate level in their coursework. Most applicants meet the requirement by submitting SAT Subject Test scores but there are other options available.

Students who plan to attend a junior or community college before applying for transfer admission and students who begin working on college coursework before they graduate from high school should plan ahead to make sure the courses they take are likely to transfer.

The university offers transfer credit resources to help prospective students, applicants, and counseling professionals determine how courses are likely to transfer to UT Austin. You can review our official transfer credit policy and learn more about common transfer credit problems, the Texas Common Course Numbering System, and how we compute transfer GPA.

Final decisions about an individual applicant’s transferable coursework are made only after he or she applies for admission to UT Austin. Whether a particular course will count toward a specific degree plan is determined by individual academic departments.

Official transcripts are part of a complete application. They should show coursework through the end of the junior year (6th semester). (Students provide information about senior year coursework as part of the ApplyTexas Application and submit official final transcripts after their graduation.)

To be official, transcripts must include your school’s seal or the signature of a school official.

Official transcripts must be received by the deadline.

• Mail transcripts to
  The University of Texas at Austin
  Office of Admissions/Transcripts
  P.O. Box 8058
  Austin, TX 78713-8058
• Official transcripts can come to us directly from your office or you may choose to have each student mail his or her own transcript.
• Faxed copies of transcripts are not considered official.

If an applicant is to be eligible for automatic admission based on top 10% status, Texas law requires high schools to report rank explicitly (e.g., “47/230” with “47” being the numbered rank of the student and “230” being the number of students in the class).

Rank must be reported to UT Austin by the deadline in the following manner:

• Most high schools report rank on official high school transcripts.
• You may also send us a letter (by mail or fax) on school letterhead to report an applicant's rank.
• Include the applicant’s full name and any identifying information you have that will help us to match the rank you're reporting with the applicant (for example, the student’s full name and date of birth, the student’s UT EID, the student's application number, or other identifying information).

Changes in rank

If an applicant’s rank improves, you should submit updated information (in the same manner in which you reported their earlier rank) indicating the student’s new rank. If the applicant’s file was complete by the deadline, we will update his or her file until a decision is made.

We use your official school profile to help us evaluate applications. Please send your school profile to the following address early in the application cycle:

• The University of Texas at Austin
  Office of Admissions/School Profiles
  P.O. Box 8058
  Austin, TX 78713-8058

Please do not submit a separate profile for each student from your school.

If you agree to write a letter of recommendation for a student, take the time to write a personal letter. Real, sincere insight into an individual student’s qualities may make a difference (even though they are not required when applying to UT Austin); a form letter probably won't.

Letters of recommendation should be submitted in the following manner:

• Provide specific information about the student for whom you're writing the letter. Include the student's full name and his or her UT EID or application ID to help us match your letter to the correct student.
• Mail letters of recommendation to
  The University of Texas at Austin
  Office of Admissions/Recommendation
  P.O. Box 8058
  Austin, TX 78713-8058
• Or fax your letters to 512-475-7478.

The easiest way for a financially needy student to receive a fee waiver is to send us a copy of his or her fee waiver for the SAT or ACT.

If a financially needy student does not have a fee waiver for the SAT or ACT, we will accept a letter from a high school counselor or principal explaining the student’s financial situation and the reason the waiver is needed.

For an application to be complete, the application fee must arrive by the deadline. Documentation relating to a request for a waiver should arrive in time for a decision about the request to be made before the deadline.

Submit application fee waiver requests on behalf of your students in the following manner:

• Students may send a copy of their own SAT or ACT fee waiver.
• Mail letters relating to fee waiver requests to
  The University of Texas at Austin
  Office of Admissions/Fee Waivers
  P.O. Box 8058
  Austin, TX 78713-8058
• Or fax your letters to 512-475-7478.
• Include the student's full name and UT EID (or other details to help us match your letter with the correct application).

Following graduation, you will need to send us a final official transcript for each admitted student indicating successful completion of senior coursework as soon as possible following the end of the school year. We'll send you a list of all admitted students from your high school.

• Mail final official transcripts to
  The University of Texas at Austin
  Office of Admissions/Final Transcripts
  P.O. Box 8058
  Austin, TX 78713-8058