For out-of-state and international kids, UT Austin (or UT) is among the toughest undergraduate schools to get in.

According to the new statistics by the admissions office (published on the Daily Texans newspaper), 29619 high school students applied to UT. Of these, 12665 were admitted and among them are 9252 Texas high school students admitted under the controversial Top 10 Percent Law.

That leaves 20367 other students having competed for the remaining 3413 spots. So, the admission rate for students not qualified by the rule above is essentially 16.7%, as low as of Ivy league schools. If you’re an admitted out-of-state or international freshman, you have every reason to feel proud of yourself.

However, the almost 10000 students automatically admitted may damage your education at UT. Everyone knows that there are so many high schools in Texas at which a retard can end up in the top 10%. Texas legislators really need to revise this stupid law immediately if they want UT competitive. Here are a few options:

  • Abandon the rule completely. I’d love to see this option implemented but it’s quite infeasible for a state school like UT.
  • Change the rule from Top 10% to Top 5% or Top 3%. This alternative is not the best but still much better than the current law.
  • Better yet, allocate the number of automatically qualified students for each specific high school according to its rating. It’s not expensive to compile/revise such a ranking every 2-3 years. Not only will UT admit the better students but this rule, if implemented, will also create incentives for Texas high schools to continuously improve to be competitive.