So, you want to apply to UT Austin. What next?

By Rajkamal Rao  

Image Courtesy: The University of Texas Austin

The University of Texas in Austin, called UT, is the best Tier-1 public university in Texas and one of the best in the world. It has consistently made the list of eight "Public Ivy" schools. Public Ivy is a term coined by author Richard Moll in his 1985 book, Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities to refer to universities in the United States that are said to provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public university price.

Boasting over 4,800 graduate assistants including more than 1,800 research assistants, UT has earned Carnegie Foundation's classification as an institution that engages in "Very high research activity." Four Nobel laureates are affiliated with UT.

The university's Engineering, Computer Science, and Business programs are consistently ranked in the top-10 in the country, better than similar programs at Ivy League schools. In terms of prestige among the country's top public universities, UT is nearly in the same league as the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Michigan, and the University of Virginia. With the city of Austin's standing as an effective alternative to Silicon Valley and numerous high-profile multi-billion dollar investments from Big Tech, UT's prestige has dramatically increased in recent years. 

For the ultimate examples of how UT has helped change the world, high school students can look to the contributions of UT's Jason McLellan, an associate professor of molecular bio-sciences and his team of researchers, Daniel Wrapp and Nianshuang Wang. Together, they co-designed the stabilized spike protein at the heart of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to battle Covid.

Or, consider how Dr. John Goodenough, a UT Cockrell Engineering Professor and 2019 Nobel Prize winner who died in June 2023, helped change the world through his research in batteries. The Lithion Ion battery that powers modern mobile devices owes its existence to Dr. Goodenough.

 

How selective is UT?

The 2025 numbers are here. Applications for first-year admissions to The University of Texas at Austin increased 24.3% for the Fall 2025 term, compared with the number received one year ago. The University received 90,562 applications during the submission period of August 1 to December 1, compared with 72,885 applications received for Fall 2024 admission. Applications from Texas residents increased by 12%, while out-of-state applications soared by 48%. It marks the third consecutive year UT has received a record-breaking volume of first-year applications.

For context, UT processed about 51,000 applications for Fall 2021. This means that the number of applications (the demand) has skyrocketed by nearly 78% in less than four years. During this period, the supply of freshman spots remained the same, with around 10,000 students. 

UT Austin's legendary affirmative action policy—considered the platinum standard because it does not include any racial considerations yet still allows the institution to welcome a highly diverse student body—has come under severe strain. When the state of Texas first announced the policy in the late 1990s, any student who graduated in the top 10% of their Texas high school class would automatically gain admission to the state's 41 public universities. Because Texas is a segregated state with many underprivileged neighborhoods, distinctly Black, Native American, or Hispanic, the top 10% rule automatically sent sizable numbers of minorities to Austin [7,500 seats of an incoming first-year class are reserved for the top 10%].

Each year, UT received a diverse student body that was also at the top of the class, a win-win. It is little wonder that the school has risen in college rankings to become one of the finest institutions in the world.

In 2011, the university shocked Texas residents when it tightened the rule to the top 8%. Two years later, the policy was tightened again to the top 7% of the class. For the class of 2026, only the top 5% of Texas high school students are automatically admitted. At UT, the statistical chance of getting into the 2,500 "holistic" freshman spots—for those that are not in the Top 5% of their high school class—is about 3%, an acceptance rate that is tighter than the most elite schools in the country, including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, and Princeton.
 
Getting into UT is just the first hurdle. Getting into the major of your choice is the next. Then, getting into an Honors program. And finally, getting a scholarship.

The top disciplines sought are Computer Science, Business, Engineering, Natural Science majors, Communications, and Nursing.

What about majors?

When you apply to UT, you also have to choose your major. Certain majors - like engineering, computer science, and business - are extremely popular with students. With demand ever so high, admission to these majors is highly competitive. Automatic admits are given two choices for majors, but it is not always clear if the second choice is automatically granted if the first choice is denied.

While your choice of major may appear to be career-defining, it is not really so unless you are in a professional field, like nursing or medicine or engineering. Here's an excellent article by a UT freshman about majors.

Majors come with some restrictions. In general, a double major requires 140-150 credit hours total, compared to 120 for a straight single major. UT prefers that you complete all these in four years.

For example, in the College of Engineering, students have to complete 30 semester hours before they can apply for a double major. Click here for details.

UT provides students numerous opportunities in the arts - architecture and design, music, theater art.
Students who are interested in hot areas, such as Video Game development, or media/visual arts, such as Computer Animation as seen in movies, music videos, and commercials, should recognize the hybrid nature of course content, often spanning multiple colleges within UT. The university offers numerous choices to train in such topics anyway. For example, prospective students interested in pursuing Video Game Development should first apply to another major such as Arts and Entertainment Technologies (College of Fine Arts), Computer Science (College of Natural Sciences), or Radio-Television-Film (Moody College of Communication). Once accepted, the students can apply to the Game Development and Design Program. Another option is to pursue training across colleges, like the Bridging Disciplines Program in Digital Arts and Media.

Can I get a double major?

UT offers several double majors through its honors offerings. The Canfield Business Honors Program is considered a major by itself. Many students also major in another business area such as Finance, Marketing, or Supply Chain. Other examples of dual degrees include UT's Computer Science and Business (CSB) and the Electrical and Computer Engineering and Business (ECB) Honors programs.

Getting a double major means that you're, in effect, getting two degrees - although you will get only one diploma (that of your home college).  Your transcript, however, will show that you completed courses in both majors.

Suppose that your home major is Economics and you decide to major in Mathematics.  Your diploma will say that you earned a BS degree in Economics.  But your transcripts will show that you earned two majors - Economics and Math.

According to the Teagle Foundation, the following double major combinations are the most common. But UT may not allow all these combinations.

Foreign Language and International Studies
Foreign Language and Political Science
Economics and Mathematics
Economics and Political Science
Foreign Language and Biology
Foreign Language and Economics
Foreign Language and Business
Economics and Engineering
Foreign Language and Psychology

Most schools require you to complete all course credits for both majors within the time you are enrolled in the college - about 4 years. Some colleges require you to complete a minimum number of distinct courses to qualify for a double major.  It is certainly a lot more difficult to get a double major.  Because of the course restrictions, you may have to declare your majors earlier, meaning that you will miss out on trying out new electives or areas.

Ultimately, though, it is all about the number of specific credits that you are required to complete.  If you can knock off some preliminary courses when you are still in high school, it will give you more freedom to pursue a double major. 

Some schools don't allow students to pursue a second major if a student is already enrolled in composite/joint degrees, which by design, combine two different fields.  MIT, for example, offers composite degrees in Mathematics with Computer Science or Computer Science with Molecular Biology.  In general, MIT says that students are expected to plan a double major program in advance and complete it in four or five years.  MIT offers double major opportunities only to its top students - those who score at least a GPA of 4.0 or higher on a 5.0 GPA scale.

There is no definite advantage in getting a double major - meaning, you won't necessarily be preferred by employers nor will you automatically get a leg up when you try to attend graduate school.  Still, the thinking is that if you can get two majors during the same 4 years for the price of one (and a bit more), and you can demonstrate your commitment, this is altogether helpful.  Some researchers report that up to 25% of college students in the US are currently pursuing double majors.

Some colleges allow you to take courses at a partner institution to earn simultaneous degrees.  For example, Carnegie Mellon University students can take medical courses at the University of Pittsburgh because these are not offered at CMU.  Simultaneous degrees are posted on one transcript as two degrees, but two separate degree certificates are issued, one from each college.

Check with your target college or university for specific program information about Dual/Double Majors and Simultaneous Degrees.

 

How competitive are the Honors Programs? What's the difference between CBHP & McCombs?

Students are also invited to apply to Honors Programs at the University, College, or Department levels. Honors programs offer additional benefits to students, such as smaller class sizes, the ability to register early for courses, or designated housing (the Quad). Rules regarding admission to Honors programs vary by college. Admission is competitive.

The only times you can get into CBHP is as an entering Freshman, or in rare cases, as a Sophomore. Demonstrating the high bar of CBHP, McCombs business students say that their Freshman GPA should be 3.95 to apply for admission as a Sophomore. This is because the two business programs, although sharing the same building, are vastly different.

CBHP is a major in itself; McCombs is not. CBHP courses are taught using the case method of instruction, just like at Harvard or Darden (the University of Virginia). CBHP courses are, by design, intense. For example, the Freshman MIS course involves long-form projects that require mastery in Excel, knowledge of R programming, SQL, and Tableau; the McCombs equivalent is less rigorous. CBHP courses are open only to Honors students, but CBHP students could take McCombs courses at will. Students from the two programs intersect at University and Business School events, such as recruiting and networking events, but otherwise, largely remain excluded from each other.

At McCombs, you may only pursue a single major within the business school. Students enter the school as an undeclared business major. This is not an inferior choice. Unless you are applying to the Canfield Honors program, you have to complete 30 credits and demonstrate your competence before you are accepted into a major of your choice. Remember, you can change your major any number of times.

At the Canfield Business Honors Program (CBHP), you can pursue a double major in business. McCombs students can however pursue a double major outside of the business school, such as in History, or Biology. Most McCombs students pursue a major and a minor, such as a major in Finance and a minor in Accounting.

The College of Natural Sciences is more generous. It allows students multiple chances to apply to their Honors program. "Current UT students and transfer students can apply to any of the CNS honors programs before their fourth long semester of college. See each program's website for application instructions." Please look at FAQ #4 here. For the undergrad class of 2026, there were 3,000 applicants for the Polymathic Honors Program within the College of Natural Sciences. Only 150 were offered a spot.

UT offers two admission deadlines - the priority deadline (Nov 1) and the regular deadline (Dec 1). Students who meet the priority deadline are offered a decision no later than Feb 1, although frequently, the school continues to send out admission offers even earlier. Regular deadline students will hear about their application before March 1.
 

What happens after you apply?

If you're an automatic admit and you apply before the priority deadline, you will generally hear from UT within a few days that you have been admitted to UT. But UT will likely not confirm admission to the major of your choice because this evaluation is through a holistic process. It is entirely possible for automatic admits to be denied admission to both their chosen majors. If your first and second choice majors are less-in-demand Liberal Arts areas, you are more likely to be awarded admission to one of those majors right away.

The best-case scenario is if you get into all three: UT, your first-choice major, and the Honors program of your choosing.

The next scenario is that you get into UT but your first-choice major is denied. This can be disappointing for those set on pursuing a high-in-demand major such as computer science or business. For its part, UT provides you with a list of majors that are still available. Some students may accept a close relative (Applied Math instead of Computer Science) in the hopes of maintaining very high grades in the Freshman year and requesting an inter-departmental transfer. Such transfer cases are very competitive. Generally, students with UT GPAs above 3.9 have a chance.

Students denied their first-choice major can always appeal the decision to UT. Unlike private universities, UT, as a public institution, offers students a rigorous appeals process. But success during appeals is rare because the burden is on the student to prove that the original application was so replete with errors (wrong grades, incorrect test scores, inaccurate recommendation letters) that the student deserves a second look. You can use the MyStatus page to appeal your decision.

Students denied their choice of major need to confront the real possibility of not attending UT at all, electing to enroll in another university where they at least have their favorite major locked in. They can then hope to transfer to UT for the Sophomore year, but admission to your favorite major is still extremely competitive. More than 1,500 students transfer, so you could get lucky.  

Coordinated Admissions Program

With so much demand for the top majors, many students selecting these majors are routinely being denied admission [the Top 5% get two choices] and are being offered Coordinated Admissions Program (CAP) admission to pursue a liberal arts major at one of six UT system schools for the first year and then transfer to the 40 acres. UT doesn't seem to appreciate that most students wanting to pursue CS, Business, Engineering and CNS majors DO NOT WANT to entertain CAP offers. It is becoming UT's polite way of saying no.

After completing CAP requirements during their freshman year at a UT system school like UT Arlington, students automatically transfer to UT Austin to complete their undergraduate studies. Students must examine CAP requirements at their system school, UT's core curriculum requirements and their high school AP record to decide which high school courses to transfer for college credit. If you have already claimed credit, it has been written to your student record and cannot be changed. CAP admissions are restricted to Liberal Arts majors. It is not realistic to expect CAP students to transfer to business, computer science, or engineering. You have to compete for those precious spots just like any other transfer student.

Please click here to watch a 1-hour discussion about the CAP program.

The worst scenario is that you're denied admission to UT. If this happens, you unfortunately have to move on for the Freshman year and enroll somewhere else. Maintain excellent grades and try for transfer admission to the UT Sophomore year. 

Core Curriculum: What courses will I take at UT if I enroll?

All students pursuing an undergraduate degree at the university must complete the 42-hour statewide core curriculum. [Examine this link to see a detailed list of all core courses for any Texas institution].

Core courses may be chosen from a large menu of classes offered under broad topic areas such as English Composition, Humanities, History, Government, Social Sciences, Math, Natural Sciences, and the Arts. Students can generally proceed to take classes in their major only after completing core curriculum requirements - and will do so after three semesters, assuming 15 credits a semester.

Based on a state law passed in 2015, UT is more generous in awarding college credit for AP/IB courses taken in high school. Work with UT's Testing and Evaluation Services department to apply for credits transfer. Here's a complete map between AP courses and UT approved courses.

Can I take community college credits to transfer to UT?

If you want to meet core curriculum requirements before you even start at UT by taking classes during the summer, you can do so by registering at your favorite community college. You will save money  because community colleges are much less expensive than taking courses at UT. 

Suppose you live in the Fort Worth area and want to complete an Economics course that you will be forced to take at UT to satisfy the core curriculum. Suppose also that Economics, as a topic, is not crucial to your college or post-college career. You may then fulfill the Economics requirement by completing a course at the Tarrant County Community College and have your credits transferred to UT.

To do this, go to UT's Transfer Credit website, select Tarrant County Community College in the "Sending Institution" dropdown, and select "Economics" in the UT Department dropdown. Leave the UT course number blank. Click on Initiate Search and you will get a list of courses that you can take at TCCC that can transfer to UT. 

UT Housing

Watch this video for a quick summary of the various housing options on campus. For information on UT Austin apartments, subleases, housing, and roommates, check out this Facebook group.

Home to Texas

Home to Texas is an innovative scholarship-funded summer program that connects first-year students with internship and research opportunities in their hometown communities. Apply to this in the Spring semester of your freshman year at UT.

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How generous are NMS awards?

By Rajkamal Rao  

The NMSQT Scholarships
The PSAT-11 test also serves as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) and assumes enormous significance, more important than the SAT/ACT.

Nearly 1.6 million 11th grade students took the PSAT in 2018. Only 16,000 high achievers, about 1% of the total, qualified for the NMS Semifinalist recognition. The NMS Semifinalist determination is based only on the Selection Index Score (SIS).

About 15,000 were classified as NMS Finalists using additional filters such as grades, extracurricular activities, essays, and principal nominations.

About 8,000 qualified for the NMS Scholar recognition, about 0.5% of the total.

Recap: How SIS Scores Are Calculated

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation piggy-backs on the exhaustive/expansive testing infrastructure of the College Board to use the same PSAT-11 scores to determine its awardees. The NMSC is a non-profit that lobbies thousands of private companies to dole out merit scholarships to merit-worthy students.

The SIS, which the NMSC generates, weights a student's "Reading and Writing" skills as 67% important whereas Math skills are rated as only 33% important. A future NMSC could change the SIS computation to make the two sections equally weighty, or even switch the weights given the world's gravitation to STEM fields. But for 23 years, the non-profit has stayed with its current bias towards reading and writing.

Suppose a student has a PSAT score of 1480, broken down into 730 on the "Reading and Writing" section and 750 on the Math test. The SIS is calculated as [730+730+750]/10 = 221. In Texas, the National Merit Scholar Semifinalist cutoff for the freshman college class of 2020 (students who took the PSAT-11 in 2018) was 221.

The bias in the SIS computation can mean that two students with identical PSAT scores could see different NMSC outcomes.

Suppose a different student had a 720 in Reading and a perfect 760 in Math. Her PSAT is 1480, just as the student above. But the SIS would be calculated as [720+720+760]/10 = 220. In Texas, this student would fail to qualify for the NMS.

The ranking of the Semifinalist winners is not performed nationwide but within each state. So, while a Texas student with a 221 SIS made the cutoff for the 2018 NMS awards, he would have failed to make it in California where the cutoff was 223. In Arkansas, the cutoff for the same year was 204.

The Semifinalist and Finalist Awards

At many universities, Finalists receive impressive cash benefits.

At Texas Tech University, National Merit Finalists who designate Texas Tech as their first choice institution with the National Merit Corporation will be eligible to receive 100% cost of attendance including tuition, fees, room, board, books, transportation, and a personal/miscellaneous allowance.

At UT Dallas, National Merit Finalists are automatically admitted into the Collegium V Honors Program, providing access to small class sizes and early registration. All tuition and fees are waived for four years, plus a stipend of $8,000 for each year is included. Also included is a $1,500 per-semester on-campus housing stipend and a one-time study-abroad stipend of $6,000.

Courtesy: UTD

Note for students interested in the UTD Computing Scholars Honors program (CS^2)

The process for applying to the CS Honors program, by leveraging the NMS Semifinalist designation, is this:

1. Apply to UTD.

2. Send your long-form resume as a .pdf file to the person who will nominate you to the program. Participation in the program is by invitation only and someone who knows you well should recommend you to the program. 

3. The resume should confirm that you are an NMS semifinalist. In the letter requesting the nomination, you should include your UTD application number and request the recommender to include this information for identification. 

3. The recommender will nominate you by writing an email to the UTD contact person for CS^2 program - currently Dr. Vincent Ng.

3. You will get an invitation to appear for an exam.

4. You begin practicing your coding skills on a website like Leetcode to do well on the exam.

5. The first 30 students who pass the exam get in.

At the University of North Texas, Finalists are admitted into the Honors College. All tuition and fees are waived. Housing, a meal plan, and personal expenses are also paid by UNT. 

At Texas A&M, NMS winners get committed cash awards. If you're a Semifinalist but didn't make it to the Finalist stage, you will get $3,000 a year for four years. If you become a Finalist, you will get $7,000 a year on top. Plus, you will get another $500. This amounts to a total of $42,000 over four years. Given that Texas A&M's in-state tuition for 4 years is $47,480, this translates to an 88% discount in tuition, nearly a free ride.

At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, tuition is fully waived for Finalists. At the University of South Carolina, Finalists qualify for in-state tuition plus get additional cash discounts. Even private universities like Baylor and SMU offer impressive cash awards. 

Why are these colleges so generous? Before we answer this vexing question at a time when tuition rates are rapidly rising, let's examine how selective they are - that is, how many students they admit each year out of every 100 students that apply.

• Texas Tech = 70%
• UNT = 70%
• UTD = 69%
• Texas A&M = 67%
• Nebraska = 80%

To be sure, these institutions are not the most selective - and much like a professional sports team willing to invest resources in signing up star players, they are eager to land star scholars into their ranks by offering generous financial grants. To these colleges, the NMSQT scholars add prestige to their respective student bodies - so they aggressively recruit scholars with ever-so-sweet deals. Just because they send out letters does not mean that they have expended any funds. Most scholars rarely accept offers from such institutions preferring to attend colleges that have a "better brand."

But if the brand of the institution doesn't matter - the quality of the overall experience can still be very good at such schools - students who accept such offers benefit enormously. They graduate with practically no student debt and get an extremely powerful head-start to life. Even the power of a branded institution, where students have to incur a loan, may not often be a match. We have run studies that show that after allowing for slight differences in post-graduate income when attending a branded school, not having any student debt is an undeniably better financial situation for a student to be in than having a branded degree but with a large debt.

When colleges are more selective, they have fewer reasons to attract scholars through attractive cash scholarships. These colleges are so confident in their brand that they get their fair share of NMS scholars without having to make any dents in their budgets. They're increasingly diverting whatever NMS money they had to need-based scholarships for a larger cohort of students who can otherwise not afford to attend.

For these reasons, UT Austin has not been providing scholarships to National Merit Scholars since 2009. With a selectivity of about 38% and some programs (Engineering, Business) ranked in the Top-10, UT Austin doesn't have to "bribe" merit scholars its way. The pre-eminent institution in Texas boasted the second-largest cohort of NMS Finalists (behind Harvard) but since 2009, it is attracting fewer NMS Finalists as a result of its policy decisions. The best way for NMS students to get a full-ride scholarship at UT is to apply to the Texas Exes program for the Forty Acres award. This is extremely competitive - here are the profiles of the 2019 winners. About 15 students, out of about 50 NMS Finalists, will be selected for the award.

At elite private colleges, such as Stanford and Rice, Finalists don't get automatic rewards but are still considered the most likely to win the few merit awards that are given out. Remember that most awards at private colleges and universities are based on financial need, not merit.

The Scholar Awards

Every year, the top 7,500 among the Finalists - about one in two - get picked for one of three awards:

1.  The National Merit $2,500 Scholarships (about 2,500)
2.  The Corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarships (about 1,000)
3.  The College-sponsored Merit Scholarships (about 4,000)

 

Summary

True, the NMS awards dole out cash and benefits. But beyond the cash, the awards are about prestige where merit is still based on pure academic performance and not some, subjective "holistic" evaluation of a student's promise.

Whether the award is a letter from NMS or a $2,500 cash scholarship for someone who is privileged to reach tighter levels of the filter, the real value is the right to brag about this accomplishment during college admissions.

The selectivity of the top schools in the nation ranges from about 4.6% (for Stanford) to about 11% (for Cornell). When a student has earned a merit badge designating her as commended, she is in the top 3.125% of the student population. If she were to make the NMS Semifinalist cut off, she's in the top 1% of American students. All other things being equal, she should be sought by the top schools.

Of course, merit is not the only determinant in college admissions, as the Harvard case shows. How well-rounded you are - and what adversity factors you overcame, if any - matters just as much.

But any top college which rejects an NMS Semifinalist because they are not well-rounded enough does so at its own peril. For students, the key is to apply to several top schools carefully balancing selectivity and yield.

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Beginning Fall 2021, expect three major college admissions changes

By Rajkamal Rao  

For over two years, the Anti-Trust Division within the Department of Justice has alleged that three established admissions practices of colleges are anti-competitive and violate the law, hurting students and families.

1. The May 1 deadline. Colleges have always maintained that May 1 is when students pay a deposit and lock in their seats. After that date, other colleges can no longer "poach" these students because the students have already signed a "binding agreement."
   
   Change: Beginning in Fall 2021, colleges will no longer impose the May 1 deadline and will allow students to walk away from their acceptance letters if they decide to pursue a different college. Students will lose their deposit at the first institution - so expect colleges to raise deposit amounts to lock in students from abandoning their acceptance commitments.


2. ED Restrictions. When students apply to colleges using Early Decision, colleges were returning the favor only by offering admission to select students. Colleges never doled out additional incentives - such as admission to honors programs, financial awards, or housing choices - to ED applicants.
   
   Change: Beginning in Fall 2021, expect colleges to offer ED admits sweet incentives beyond just an offer of admission.


3. Transfer students. When a student applied and got admitted to College A, but decided to attend College B instead, current rules prevented College A from taking any steps to entice the student back from College B.
   
   Change: Beginning in Fall 2021, expect colleges, such as College A above, to dig into their applicant pool and offer students that didn't accept their offers the first time around attractive transfer packages to enroll the next year.

NACAC, the industry association which governs colleges, has already agreed to make these changes as part of a consent agreement with the Department of Justice. The matter is in court - and if the court approves the decree (which should be a mere formality), the DOJ has agreed to drop its Anti-Trust complaint against NACAC.






Each change above significantly strengthens student choice and weakens the incredible hold that colleges have on students and families.

This development, therefore, is a huge victory for families.


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Is getting into TAMS a good idea?

Is getting into TAMS a good idea? By Rajkamal Rao Image Courtesy: The University of North Texas The Texas Academy of Math and Sciences (TAMS), a program on the campus of the University of North Texas, is primarily a STEM program. TAMS was designed to accelerate students through the Texas university system. Students withdraw from high school and enter UNT early for their 11th and 12th grades. Because Texas law requires state-chartered colleges and universities to accept credits earned at other state-chartered colleges and universities, credits earned at TAMS are easily transferrable if a student decides to attend a 4-year degree program, such as at UT Austin, or Texas A&M, and is accepted at such an institution. Acceleration is the primary appeal of the TAMS program. At the end of their 12th grade, many students would have earned 48-54 college credit hours, even as they are earning credentials to graduate with a high school diploma. Such students could take a couple of college classes during the summer at their 4-year institution and start their junior year in college. Meanwhile, their friends who stayed back in a traditional high school would be entering the same college as a freshman! Acceleration particularly appeals to students who want to pursue a medical degree, which takes 8 full years. There are Medical Early Assurance Programs which are designed to cut this to 7 years, but with TAMS, one could potentially cut it all down to just 6 years. Besides acceleration, TAMS, because of its intense stress on STEM training, is also attractive to elite schools around the country. TAMS, housed in an actual university, provides access to labs and professors not available in a high school. It has various STEM-based clubs in which students get to do real research assisting professors. Outstanding TAMS graduates often obtain admission to top tech schools such as CalTech, MIT, and Georgia Tech. With so much going for TAMS, admission is competitive (SAT scores and high math/science competencies required). Students are required to submit their school transcripts from the 7th grade, through the first reporting period of the 10th grade. Students should be on track to complete Geometry, Algebra I, and Algebra II by the end of their sophomore year (10th grade). The last SAT test that students can take for the regular admissions cycle is the October test date of a student's sophomore year. Four recommendation letters are needed - from your Science, Math, and English teachers, along with one from your school counselor or principal. Students will select one of six tracks - Health Professions, Engineering, Computer Science + Mathematics, Music, Visual Arts and Design, General Science and Mathematics. TAMS is a residential program, and charges for tuition, living, and food. The cost is about $27,000 a year. You must fill out the FAFSA form to find out for what financial aid you will qualify. Admissions Process and Interview Day If you're lucky to be selected, the first step in the process is that you're invited to attend an interview. Only students who show strong promise are invited to Interview Day. High SAT scores (1500 and above) are good predictors to getting the invitation, although students with scores as low as 1320 also have been known to be invited. Applicants must request that their official SAT/ACT score report be sent to UNT (not TAMS). Students, along with their parents, convene at TAMS on Interview Day around 9 AM. After a general session with everyone, the parents break out into a Financial Aid session, but the students are taken to a test hall for their math tests. The tests are about an hour long and are broken into Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 levels. Performing well on the math exams on interview day is an important step in getting accepted to TAMS. Use these links to help you prepare better. Successful TAMS students tell us that unless one gets a perfect score on these tests, they are unlikely to make it to the final stage. At the conclusion of the math tests, students are given a short break. Then they are grouped into units of four students each. The group interview process then starts. Students are quizzed on their personalities (if you were a fruit, what fruit would you be and why?), or world topics (such as the environment). Students are expected to build off on answers provided by other members within the group. This portion of the interview is to see how well you do as a team. Sometimes you're asked to participate in a fun activity, such as a scavenger hunt. Be mindful that UNT staff will be observing how you interact with each other, and how you contribute to your team's overall output. Towards the end of the group session, you'll be asked to write a short essay. The topic could be about the interview day, what you learned from the day's activities or some other subject unrelated to TAMS. In Nov 2019, TAMS began testing one-on-one student interviews instead of group interviews. Clients report that the interviews were about 20 minutes long. TAMS accepts students on a rolling admissions calendar, from October through April. Students who are successful in the interview are offered admission during the customary season, in March. You must accept offers of admission before May 1. The institution maintains an excellent FAQ page. <!-- replace with your text END-->

By Rajkamal Rao  

Image Courtesy: The University of North Texas

The Texas Academy of Math and Sciences (TAMS), a program on the campus of the University of North Texas, is primarily a STEM program. TAMS was designed to accelerate students through the Texas university system. Students withdraw from high school and enter UNT early for their 11th and 12th grades.

Because Texas law requires state-chartered colleges and universities to accept credits earned at other state-chartered colleges and universities, credits earned at TAMS are easily transferrable if a student decides to attend a 4-year degree program, such as at UT Austin, or Texas A&M, and is accepted at such an institution.

Acceleration is the primary appeal of the TAMS program. At the end of their 12th grade, many students would have earned 48-54 college credit hours, even as they are earning credentials to graduate with a high school diploma. Such students could take a couple of college classes during the summer at their 4-year institution and start their junior year in college. Meanwhile, their friends who stayed back in a traditional high school would be entering the same college as a freshman!




Acceleration particularly appeals to students who want to pursue a medical degree, which takes 8 full years. There are Medical Early Assurance Programs which are designed to cut this to 7 years, but with TAMS, one could potentially cut it all down to just 6 years.

Besides acceleration, TAMS, because of its intense stress on STEM training, is also attractive to elite schools around the country. TAMS, housed in an actual university, provides access to labs and professors not available in a high school. It has various STEM-based clubs in which students get to do real research assisting professors. Outstanding TAMS graduates often obtain admission to top tech schools such as CalTech, MIT, and Georgia Tech.

With so much going for TAMS, admission is competitive (SAT scores and high math/science competencies required). Students are required to submit their school transcripts from the 7th grade, through the first reporting period of the 10th grade. Students should be on track to complete Geometry, Algebra I, and Algebra II by the end of their sophomore year (10th grade). The last SAT test that students can take for the regular admissions cycle is the October test date of a student's sophomore year. Four recommendation letters are needed - from your Science, Math, and English teachers, along with one from your school counselor or principal.

Students will select one of six tracks - Health Professions, Engineering, Computer
Science + Mathematics, Music, Visual Arts and Design, General Science and Mathematics.

TAMS is a residential program, and charges for tuition, living, and food. The cost is about $27,000 a year. You must fill out the FAFSA form to find out for what financial aid you will qualify.

Admissions Process and Interview Day

If you're lucky to be selected, the first step in the process is that you're invited to attend an interview. Only students who show strong promise are invited to Interview Day. High SAT scores (1500 and above) are good predictors to getting the invitation, although students with scores as low as 1320 also have been known to be invited. Applicants must request that their official SAT/ACT score report be sent to UNT (not TAMS).

Students, along with their parents, convene at TAMS on Interview Day around 9 AM. After a general session with everyone, the parents break out into a Financial Aid session, but the students are taken to a test hall for their math tests. The tests are about an hour long and are broken into Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 levels.

Performing well on the math exams on interview day is an important step in getting accepted to TAMS. Use these links to help you prepare better. Successful TAMS students tell us that unless one gets a perfect score on these tests, they are unlikely to make it to the final stage.

At the conclusion of the math tests, students are given a short break. Then they are grouped into units of four students each. The group interview process then starts. Students are quizzed on their personalities (if you were a fruit, what fruit would you be and why?), or world topics (such as the environment). Students are expected to build off on answers provided by other members within the group. This portion of the interview is to see how well you do as a team. Sometimes you're asked to participate in a fun activity, such as a scavenger hunt. Be mindful that UNT staff will be observing how you interact with each other, and how you contribute to your team's overall output.

Towards the end of the group session, you'll be asked to write a short essay. The topic could be about the interview day, what you learned from the day's activities or some other subject unrelated to TAMS.

In Nov 2019, TAMS began testing one-on-one student interviews instead of group interviews. Clients report that the interviews were about 20 minutes long. 

 

TAMS accepts students on a rolling admissions calendar, from October through April. Students who are successful in the interview are offered admission during the customary season, in March. You must accept offers of admission before May 1.

The institution maintains an excellent FAQ page.

A Note About Rao Advisors Premium Services
Our promise is to empower you with high-quality, ethical and free advice via this website.  But parents and students often ask us if they can engage with us for individual counseling sessions. We are indebted and privileged to have earned their trust in matters which are so important to them. Please check out our public Google reviews to see what they say about us.

Individual counseling is part of the Premium Offering of Rao Advisors and involves a fee.  Please contact us for more information.

2019-20 Automatic Admission Colleges and Universities

By Rajkamal Rao  

Texas A&M's AIS. Image Courtesy: Texas A&M

Texas high school students know that a good class rank can help you get into many Texas public universities and colleges without much effort. Students in the top 6% of their class are automatically admitted to the state's flagship university, UT Austin, without regard to their SAT/ACT scores or extracurricular activities.

Here's our breakdown of the various automatic admission options which Texas high school students enjoy. Schools generally do not publish class ranks below the top 10% but are supposed to provide the weighted average GPA cutoffs for the top 25%, top 50%, and top 75%, by Texas state law. Simply ask your counselor for the cutoffs and look at your own transcript to find out which quartile you fall into. Also, in the list below, when ACT or SAT scores are mentioned, these are minimum scores.

1. If you're in the top 6% of your class, you automatically get into UT Austin.



2. If you're in the top 10% of your class, you automatically get into any Texas public university, including Texas A&M, UTD, UT Arlington, Midwestern, Tarleton State, Texas State, Texas Tech, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Texas Woman's, University of Houston (Top 15%) and UNT.



3. If you're in the top 25% of your class AND [have an ACT score of 21 OR SAT score of 1070], you automatically get into Midwestern University.



4. If you're in the top 25% of your class, you automatically get into Tarleton State and UT Arlington.



5. If you're in the top 25% of your class AND [have an ACT score of 20 OR SAT score of 1000], you automatically get into Texas State.



6. If you're in the top 25% of your class AND [have an ACT score of 24 OR SAT score of 1180], you automatically get into Texas Tech.



7. If you're in the top 25% of your class AND [have an ACT score of 21 OR SAT score of 1080], you automatically get into the University of Houston.



8. If you're in the top 25% of your class AND [have an ACT score of 20 OR SAT score of 1030], you automatically get into UNT.



9. If you're between 25% and 50% of your class AND [have an ACT score of 24 OR SAT score of 1170], you automatically get into the University of Houston.



10. If you're between 25% and 50% of your class AND [have an ACT score of 26 OR SAT score of 1260], you automatically get into Texas Tech.



11. If you're between 25% and 50% of your class AND [have an ACT score of 22 OR SAT score of 1090], you automatically get into Texas State.

A Note About Rao Advisors Premium Services
Our promise is to empower you with high-quality, ethical and free advice via this website.  But parents and students often ask us if they can engage with us for individual counseling sessions. We are indebted and privileged to have earned their trust in matters which are so important to them. Please check out our public Google reviews to see what they say about us.

Individual counseling is part of the Premium Offering of Rao Advisors and involves a fee.  Please contact us for more information.

Seniors: How do you request recommendation letters?

By Rajkamal Rao  

Most colleges use online recommendation platforms. Image Courtesy: UT Austin

Seniors often ask us the best way to send recommendation letters to colleges. Recommendation letters form a crucial part of your overall profile and in an age when admission tests like the SAT/ACT are becoming less relevant as more colleges go test-optional or even test-blind, essays and recommendation letters, both being subjective assessments, become ever more important.

Essays are your subjective descriptions of yourself; recommendation letters are subjective descriptions of you by someone else.

You request recommendation letters typically when you enter the 12th grade. By this time, you should have a fair idea of the list of schools to which you plan to apply. 

There are two types of recommendation letters: Counselor recommendations and teacher recommendations.

Counselor recommendations

In general, counselor letters are more important than teacher recommendations. Counselor letters represent the official evaluation of the entire school about you and includes information related to non-academic qualities, such as attendance, school-sponsored extracurricular activities, community service, tardiness, bullying, etc. A principal is unable to write such a letter for all students in a high school, so, this task is delegated to the designated counselor who oversaw your performance. Your counselor is assumed to know enough about you to write a fair fact-based opinion, largely based on grades and other data contained in the school's information systems.

Counselor recommendations are generally divided into four areas: Distinctive Qualities; Intellectual Growth and Trends; Areas of Significant Impact; and Readiness for College & Recommendation.

Here's a sample letter, courtesy of Michelle Rasich, Director of College Counseling at Rowland Hall, an independent, coeducational day school in Salt Lake City, for a fictitious female student, SueAnn. 

1. Distinctive Qualities

While SueAnn prides herself on her academic accomplishments, it is her concern for and interest in other people that are her most defining attributes. For SueAnn, “A friend in need, is a friend indeed.” She is the student who will notice someone sitting alone at lunch and encourage her friends to join the student. She is the leader among her peers who stands up for what she believes in. She is the traveler who will dive into a new culture, practicing her Spanish with pride and conversing with strangers as if they were old friends. SueAnn is the volunteer who will roll up her sleeves, create a new school club, the “Helping Hands” Humanitarian Club, and work with refugee students in our community. She is the artist who loves writing poetry or prose and sketching for class or pleasure. She is the soccer player who, despite being plagued by a nagging injury, always brings physical and mental toughness which her coach cites as the hallmark of her game. She is the babysitter who is in top demand within her neighborhood. SueAnn will change the world because she believes in and practices the art of human connection, relationship building, and caring.

2. Intellectual Growth and Trends

In this year’s senior class, the highest total number of GPA weighted courses, including AP and/or Advanced Topics (AT) courses, taken by any student is 15 courses. SueAnn has taken a total of 10 GPA weighted courses, which is a very demanding course selection at Rowland Hall.

COVID-19 Impact: SueAnn is the only senior to take every social studies course available. She was scheduled to take additional elective courses this year that were unfortunately eliminated due to the scheduling constraints created by our COVID-19 safety protocols to reduce in-person capacity.

 SueAnn is one of seven seniors in AT French V, which is our most rigorous world language sequence that begins with about 25 students annually in French II in the ninth grade. In French V Honors, students read works by French philosophers, in French, and write a fifteen-page research paper, in French. Awards: Last year, SueAnn was awarded 1st prize in a Federal Bar Association’s National Essay Contest and was also the Utah State Debate Champion.   

3. Areas of Significant Impact

As a four-year member of our Cross Country and Track teams, SueAnn has been a constant in the running program. She is always present, cheerful, hardworking, and committed to contributing to the team’s success, which earned her the recognition of Coach’s Choice (a sportsmanship award) her sophomore year, Most Improved Runner her junior year, and team captain this year. 

Outside of school, SueAnn is drawn to volunteering with organizations that serve or support children. She is wonderful with children and enjoys spending time with them. Whether she is behind the scenes working as the Social Media Manager of our club Roots and Shoots﹣a club working towards integrating refugee children into our community through teaching them about the environment in weekly lessons﹣or she is tutoring middle school children in math and helping them develop their organizational skills, or she is creating programming for children at an after school program for “Circles Salt Lake”﹣ whose mission is to reduce poverty in the Salt Lake area through creating connections and friendships that aid people to thrive﹣or she is a summer camp counselor at the YWCA, SueAnn chooses organizations with missions that she believes in and are committed to supporting the growth and development of children.

4. Readiness for College & Recommendation

SueAnn’s growth and development academically and personally has been consistent throughout high school resulting in a strong sense of self-confidence in her ability to transition to and succeed in college, which is why I proudly recommend her.

Name | Title | Email

Teacher Recommendations

Teacher recommendations are very important too. Someone who knows you really well and can speak to your strengths (and weaknesses) is always the best choice. Recommendations from teachers are by design more personal and colleges love to see teachers providing in-person accounts of their students.

Suppose you chose Mrs. Robinson, your AP English Language teacher, to write one of your letters. [The others are your Math teacher who also dubbed as your tennis coach, and your Athletic Band Director].

You would send Mrs. Robinson a polite email requesting her to write you a recommendation letter - and why you're asking her to do so. A few pleasant words about how much you enjoyed her classes - or during your activities working with her outside the classroom - would help. Attach your resume so that she knows your entire profile. And tell her the list of schools you're applying to (including their deadlines) so that she can plan her work. If she's a good teacher, several students just like you will be approaching her for help.

Follow up on the email by walking into her office and reminding her about your email. Ask her if there's anything she's looking for which will help her write the letter. And tell her that she should shortly be seeing links from colleges and universities in your list.

Teacher recommendations are generally divided into four areas: Student's experience with the curriculum; Academic Growth and Trends; Personal Qualities; and Recommendation.

Here's a sample letter from an AP English teacher, courtesy of Michelle Rasich, Director of College Counseling at Rowland Hall, an independent, coeducational day school in Salt Lake City, for a fictitious female student, SueAnn.

1. Student’s Experience with the Curriculum

SueAnn began English 12 via Zoom while in quarantine in Baja awaiting admission to the US. Her previous English education included language classes in Italy and a semester in Dublin. Although she’s adapted remarkably well, she had deficits to overcome that students raised with American schooling did not; for instance, she’d never made a works cited list and relied upon an indirect organizational structure in her essays that’s typical in Romance languages but seems repetitive to English speakers.

2. Academic Growth and Trends        

We’ve now been in school for 12 weeks, with SueAnn attending in-person for less than half of that time due to cohorting for COVID and her quarantine in Mexico. Nevertheless, I know her better than almost any other student in the class because she’s met with me at least weekly, lingered after class to graciously ask questions, and responded as promptly and pleasantly to email as any senior I’ve encountered. Her academic growth has taken several forms:

Through composing and repeatedly revising two literary analyses, SueAnn has learned the basics of paragraphing, organization within paragraphs, quotation and attribution, and mechanics in English, and she’s done so exceptionally quickly. Every time I’ve asked her to revise to incorporate a new skill, she’s happily and promptly done so and resubmitted for more feedback.

SueAnn has met with me to brainstorm topics for her college essays, discuss the conventions of the genre, and go over mechanical questions. Together we’ve puzzled over such seemingly basic questions as “What is the difference between ‘watch,’ ‘see,’ and ‘look?,’” questions that animate her much more than they animate most students because she’s so eager to learn. 

SueAnn’s reading comprehension, speed, and fluency have improved, evidenced by her reading aloud in class (which she always volunteers to do) and her improving quiz scores. SueAnn’s conversational English has improved, both as a result of her participation in class and of forming social connections with some really wonderful seniors, who take her on local hikes and explore Salt Lake City to the degree that the pandemic allows.

3. Personal Qualities

I’ve worked with many international students. SueAnn stands out as the most resilient, pleasant, diligent, curious international student I’ve worked with for several reasons:

Where many new students accept that cliques have already formed and fall into the social sidelines, SueAnn pushes herself to engage with others and has no trouble making friends. Her eagerness to speak English “like a native speaker” leads SueAnn to all but beg me to line edit assignments with her so that she can practice. She never backs down from a challenge, even drafting, redrafting, revising, submitting, and resubmitting a single essay until it reaches the standard that other students have had years of education in this country to reach.

SueAnn is an ideal student in her willingness to make mistakes, perhaps partly as a result of her experience as a 4-language guide in Florence. Her curiosity to learn about people and cultures trumps any embarrassment she may feel. Truly, I’ve never seen anything like it.

4. Recommendation

SueAnn’s resilience, coachability, friendly personality, and quick learning curve will make her an asset to your institution both academically and socially. I recommend her without reservation.

Teacher’s Name | English 12 Teacher | Email

Optional recommendations

Sometimes you may want to request additional recommendation letters beyond the two teacher and one counselor recommendation letters typically allowed on college application portals, such as the Common App. Perhaps you served for a local charity whose leader is willing to write you a letter and is asking you for a format. Worse, the person may ask you to self-write a letter and send it so that that person can submit it in as though he/she wrote it. You should avoid this at all costs. Self-written recommendation letters violate student code of conduct and are inherently dishonest.

Before you ask your external reviewer to proceed, you should ask your target college if they even accept such letters, and if they do, how such letters can be sent. UT Austin allows you to request a recommendation letter link from within MyStatus (see below). Other colleges may direct you to their website or an email address.

The format that each institution uses for external recommendations can be different. To prepare your reviewer, have them evaluate you using CommonLOR, a format used by top graduate schools of business. Word or .pdf versions are available at the bottom of the link. Note that your target institution may not use the CommonLOR. Remember to send your recommender your long-form resume to provide some context beyond what they know about you.

Requesting recommendation links

Now that you have prepared your recommenders, it's time for you to have those links sent.  Requesting recommendation links works differently based on the application platform you're using (Common App, ApplyTex, Coalition App, etc).

Before you start filling out the Common App, check out this page for what you’ll need to gather to successfully complete your application. As you come to the end of the Common App, there is a section that allows you to select which teachers, counselors, and advisors from whom you want recommendations. At this stage, you will also waive your FERPA rights - see the UT Austin step-by-step process below to understand what FERPA is.

When you're done with the FERPA step, a link is sent to each of these people, via email. They will fill out an individual evaluation (rating you on a scale of 1 to 5 using various factors) and type in the recommendation letter into a box on the Common App form. When they "save and submit" their recommendation letters, these evaluations are stored in the Common App database and will stay there until you apply to the college of your choice. You can verify that the letters are submitted by logging into the Common App - the status will show "Submitted".

Note that the recommendation letters are designed to be generic, so your teacher should refrain from indicating the name of your desired college on the recommendation letter. This is also to prevent the hassle of asking your teachers for letters again and again for every college that is in your list.

As you complete your application to a particular college from the Common App, the tool will ask you to verify if the list of recommenders is still accurate. When you confirm, the Common App sends a notification to your target institution to "download" the recommendation letters from the Common App database. You can see the status as "Downloaded" when a college has done just that. 

Exceptions: The University of Texas, Austin (if you use ApplyTex)

For UT Austin, the process is different because ApplyTex, UT's preferred application platform, does not offer the Common App feature of sending recommendation links. So, UT designed its own "link" system from its MyStatus page. The following details apply only if you use ApplyTex. [Remember that UT and Texas A&M have both switched to the Common App (from Coalition), so if you're already applying to schools using the Common App, there's little need to use ApplyTex]. 

1. Log in to UT's MyStatus page. You can only do this after you have completed your ApplyTex or Coalition App, paid the fee, and have received your UT EID.

2. On the Admission tab in MyStatus, click on "Document Upload Requests."

3. Click on "Select Other Doc Type"

4. Choose "Letters of Recommendation" from the drop down and select the radio button "send a request to someone to upload a document for you." You can request three letters, typically from your science, language arts, math, or social studies teachers. You may also submit up to two optional letters of recommendation - from teachers, mentors, or people who know you well, either within or outside of your high school. The letter should give additional context or information to support your admission that is not already provided in your application or other submitted documents (résumé, transcripts).

5. Waive your FERPA rights to see your recommendation letter. Remember that these documents are 100% confidential between the recommender and the university of your choice. When you grant a FERPA waiver, you are freeing recommenders to talk about you without fear of being sued or otherwise harmed. Most colleges will not review recommendation letters if you don't waive your FERPA rights because colleges cannot tell if you could be in on the recommendation letter process, including, in extreme cases, if you self-wrote your recommendation with the express approval of the teacher (a common occurrence in foreign countries).

6. Fill out the details of the recommender including the email address. The college will send a secure link to the recommender when you're done with this step. When the recommender clicks on that link, a form and a text box will open up for her to complete the recommendation letter. Anything that the recommender writes will directly be part of your student record, but because you waived your FERPA rights, you will not be able to see it. And this is by design.

What About Schools That Do Not Provide Links?

Not all schools allow you to send links to your teacher to complete the recommendation letter online. In such cases, you either upload your recommendation letter after receiving it from your teacher, which means you have a chance to see what your teacher wrote about you, or you ask your teacher to mail it to the target college or university, in which case you will protect the recommendation's confidentiality.

Consider Texas A&M, which does not provide a link for third party uploads. This restriction applies only if you use ApplyTex. [Remember that UT and Texas A&M have both switched to the Common App (from Coalition), so if you're already applying to schools using the Common App, there's little need to use ApplyTex]. 

Recommendation letters can be uploaded by the student on the student's Application Information System (AIS) page. Go to the "Upload Documents" page under the "My Documents" tab. Because you are uploading your own recommendation letter, you can see its contents before upload. Texas A&M doesn't care too much about the FERPA rights of confidentiality.

If your teachers want their letter to remain confidential, they should mail it to the address below. Documents mailed to Texas A&M cannot be viewed by the applicant and will remain confidential. Be sure to have your recommender include your Texas A&M UIN ID and email address which uniquely identify you to Texas A&M.Give your recommender a postage-paid envelope addressed to:

FRESHMAN Admissions Processing
Texas A&M University
P.O. Box 30014
College Station, TX 77842-3014

Follow the same process for all the other Texas public universities: UTD, UNT, Texas Tech, etc.

The Most Important Step

Make sure you thank your counselors and teachers profusely. Their time and effort could well mean the difference between attending that first-choice college or not.

A Note About Rao Advisors Premium Services
Our promise is to empower you with high-quality, ethical and free advice via this website.  But parents and students often ask us if they can engage with us for individual counseling sessions. We are indebted and privileged to have earned their trust in matters which are so important to them. Please check out our public Google reviews to see what they say about us.

Individual counseling is part of the Premium Offering of Rao Advisors and involves a fee.  Please contact us for more information.

Are Medical School Early Assurance Programs (EAP) a good idea?

By Rajkamal Rao  

Image Courtesy: Rao Advisors

The U.S. government's Occupational Outlook for doctors has never been better. Job prospects are expected to be very good because almost all graduates of domestic medical schools are matched to residencies (their first jobs as physicians) immediately after graduating. Prospects should be especially good for physicians who are willing to practice in rural and low-income areas, because these areas tend to have difficulty attracting physicians. Job prospects also should be good for physicians in specialties dealing with health issues that mainly affect aging baby boomers. For example, physicians specializing in cardiology and radiology will be needed because the risks for heart disease and cancer increase as people age.  

EAPs are programs that provide assurance to students that they will be accepted into a college of medicine without having to complete the MCAT or other tedious admission steps. The concern is legitimate. Just over 40 percent of the 53,371 applicants to American medical schools in 2019 secured a spot, according to the New York Times.

There are two kinds of Early Assurance Programs.


EAP after you enter college

EAPs allow undergrads already in four-year institutions to apply to med school, without first completing their degree. If you have completed ten pre-med courses (two courses each in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics - all lab-based; one semester of Math; one semester of Biochemistry, Psychology, and Physiology (or Anatomy)) before the end of your sophomore year in college, you have demonstrated a strong commitment and willingness to pursue a career in medicine. If you maintain at least a 3.5 GPA in these courses, some colleges fast-track you to a medical school within the campus or one that is affiliated with another university, without burdening you to take the MCAT or go through the onerous steps of getting into a college of medicine.

Remember that most traditional medical school students take their MCATs in their late junior or senior year because they are still not certain that they want to become medical doctors. So these EAPs are generally excellent choices for committed students.

BSMDs

The second EAP is the so-called BS/MD program that you enter into right out of high school. Here you will complete your BS degree and the medical school together, in 7-8 years. One of the most common questions I get at public speaking events or when families consult with us is regarding these BS/MD programs.

BS/MD programs have been around for at least 30 years. In the early days, the program was tremendously accelerated. One program in Philadelphia offered high school students a chance to earn a medical degree in just six years. Students had no life whatsoever, taking classes in the summer semester, doing internships, and only getting two weeks off for Christmas. These days, most accelerated programs run for 7 years.


List of BS/MD programs (courtesy: Magoosh)


The online MCAT preparation website Magoosh has compiled a list of colleges that offer the BS/MD program.

1. University of California San Diego
2. George Washington University
3. St. Bonaventure University/George Washington University School of Medicine
4. Northwestern University
5. University of Missouri Kansas City
6. Siena College/Albany Medical College
7. Union College/Albany Medical College
8. University of Rochester
9. East Carolina University
10. Case Western Reserve University
11. University of Toledo
12. University of the Sciences in Philadelphia/Commonwealth Medical College
13. University of Pittsburgh
14. Brown University
15. Texas Tech University
16. University of Texas Dallas/University of Texas Southwestern
17. Albany Medical College
18. Baylor College of Medicine
19. Boston University of Medicine
20. Brown University Warren Alpert School of Medicine
21. California Northstate University School of Medicine
22. Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
23. Drexel University College of Medicine
24. Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine
25. Florida State University College of Medicine
26. Hofstra North Shore — LIJ School of Medicine
27. Howard University College of Medicine
28. Indiana State University
29. Medical College of Georgia
30. Meharry Medical College
31. Northeast Ohio Medical University
32. Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
33. Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
34. Rosalind Franklin University Chicago Medical School
35. Rowan University — Cooper School of Medicine
36. Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
37. Sidney Kimmel Medical College
38. State University of New York Downstate Medical Center
39. Stony Brook University School of Medicine
40. St. Louis University School of Medicine
41. Temple University School of Medicine
42. Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine
43. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine
44. The Commonwealth Medical College
45. University of Alabama School of Medicine
46. University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
47. University of Colorado College of Medicine
48. University of Connecticut School of Medicine
49. University of Illinois at Chicago School of Medicine
50. University of Hawaii School of Medicine
51. University of Miami School of Medicine
52. University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine
53. University of Nevada School of Medicine
54. University of New Mexico School of Medicine
55. University of Oklahoma School of Medicine
56. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
57. University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
58. University of South Alabama College of Medicine
59. University of South Florida College of Medicine
60. University of Texas Medical School
61. Wayne State University School of Medicine
62. Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education/Various medical colleges
63. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/Albany Medical College

So what is the allure of a BSMD? Forbes magazine summarized it well in an article in Nov 2018.

Here are several counterpoints to the Forbes article:

BSMD students don't explore as much

A privilege of the U.S. college experience is that students explore various topics for their first two years before deciding on a major. At some colleges, such as Brown  University, you don't declare a major at all. Your entire college experience becomes one of exploration.

Even the Association of American Medical Colleges prescribes a fairly light pre-medical schedule for students considering a traditional medical education - where you obtain a Bachelor's degree first, and then pursue medicine as you would any other professional pathway, such as law or an MBA.

In contrast, BSMD students are committing themselves to a medical education when they're still in high school, based mainly on the experiences of family members and a few forced internships during their summer years.

AAMC does not even have formal shadow program recommendations for high school students - AAMC's guide is only for pre-medical students in college. At most clinics, labs, and hospitals, high school teenagers are refused access to patient records (for privacy reasons). One of the benefits of shadowing is that medical students can sit in on doctor-patient conversations. Here again, teenagers are not permitted this privilege because they are not adults. So how does a teenager know that a medical career is right for him or her?

BSMD teenagers are thus foreclosing on hundreds of career opportunities that exist in the real world. In many situations, students may not want to become medical doctors at all, preferring to pursue other excellent careers in a health field, such as research or biotechnology. True, BSMD students can abandon their medical careers and pursue these other fields, but the social pressure to not do so is often immense. And, if there's a chance that a BSMD student may change his or her mind, why commit to a career in the first place when a world of opportunity awaits?


Oh, the MCAT Headache!

One benefit of EAP programs is that students don't have to take the MCAT, a test administered by the Association of American Medical Colleges.  The Austin College - Texas Tech program is a good example where this fact is prominently stated as an advantage. 

While the MCAT is a hard test, it is still a multiple-choice exam. As such, it is not different from the GRE, the LSAT, or the GMAT in structure, intensity, or impact. There are plenty of resources to prepare for the MCAT, such as Magoosh, Princeton Review, and Kaplan. If you need one-on-one tutoring, you can get it online from students who have taken the MCAT and possess experience - Varsity Tutors is one such site.

The MCAT is longer and grueling, but this should not be an issue for a medical doctor who is expected to spend 30+ hour shifts during their residency programs. Also, the MCAT allows you to repeat the test in case you had a bad testing day the first time.

High school students who take the SAT already take 154 questions on a 4-hour test. The MCAT has 230 questions in a 7½ hour test (with breaks), and medical students generally take it the year they apply to medical school, which is their senior year in college. Undoubtedly, high school students would have matured in their ability to take on a harder, longer test in five years?

Also, what is the message we are sending our teenagers? That they have to fear a test five years down the road?

What about the schools' brand?

Have you noticed that the top medical schools in the country - Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Duke - don't offer BS/MD programs?  The majority of colleges that offer BSMDs - Texas Tech, the University of Oklahoma, Drexel University, the University of Arkansas - never make it to the top of college ranking lists.

BSMD students who are otherwise gifted in high school may be settling for education at a lower-ranked, open-admission school, simply to have the assurance that they are automatically accepted into a medical program.

If such a student dropped BSMD altogether, is it possible that he or she could get into the nation's top 40 schools for a traditional undergrad degree? Yes, of course! And, using the brand of that degree (and the recommendation letters which come with it), is it possible to get into a top medical school? Again, yes! There are no guarantees, but in career planning, no news is often good news.


What about the cost?

Most BSMD students have already worked extra hard in high school, taking AP and IB courses. Someone with 10 AP courses could exempt them all at most public schools - and save a year in college. We wouldn't recommend students that they exmpt out of pre-med courses (Physics, Chemistry, or Biology) but there's no reason why students can't obtain college credit for AP French or AP Environmental Science.

If you save a year, then, the allure of the accelerated BSMD program vanishes. Seven years is seven years, no matter how you spend them in college.

 

Are there any visa restrictions?

In general, admission to most BS/MD and EAP programs is limited to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. 

Students who are already in America on H-4 dependent visas will have to convert to F-1 international student visas before they turn 21 to maintain their legal status. Of the 154 institutions in the U.S. that award degrees in medicine, only 48 institutions say that they accept international students (just check the international box in the search). The list of BS/MD programs accepting international students is smaller than 48 because several of the 48 that accept international students do not offer BS/MD (such as Columbia).

It is best to confirm admissions policies with your desired school. Some schools, like the University of Toledo, specifically prohibit students on visas from applying to BS/MD programs, but it may be a good idea to check if exceptions would be made for students on H-4 status who graduated from an American high school. Please let us know if you need help in constructing a letter to contact your school.

Check out AAMC's page on other restrictions for international students, especially those students aiming to enroll in a medical school with an undergraduate degree earned from a college outside the United States.

Alternate pathways

For the many high school families that are considering medicine as a pathway, have you thought of earning a 4-year Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree?




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In Texas, you now have to file the FAFSA to graduate from high school

By Rajkamal Rao  

Image Courtesy: The U.S. Department of Education

A quick trivia for Texas high school seniors and families: Approximately what percentage of graduating students enroll in some form of postsecondary education?

By postsecondary, we mean any Title IV institution - that is, one which participates in Federal Financial Aid. This includes career schools, vocational schools, 2-year community colleges, 4-year degree colleges, public research universities - any institution which awards a certificate or degree.

If you answered 60%, you're a little too high. In fact, the Governor's strategic plan for the state is to get to 60% by 2030, so we're still some ways away.

There are many reasons for students deciding not to pursue postsecondary education but research has shown that lack of awareness is an important factor. Many first-generation families are too scared to even attempt college concluding that it is too expensive.

Our nation's retail-store system of publishing the sticker price for colleges - and then discounting the price to those who apply - is one reason for this confusion. Most families do not know that the actual price they will pay will likely be a lot less than the sticker price. In fact, as we often repeat in our seminars and on this website, families who make $65,000 or less don't have to pay one dime for all four years at many need-blind colleges, with tuition, fees, boarding, and meals all paid for by the institution.

But colleges don't know to award these kinds of grants and need-based aid if you don't apply. That is, if you don't tell colleges your financial situation. So, starting for students graduating from high school in 2020, Texas is requiring every high school student to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form - or else, students won't graduate. This requirement is no different from mandating that students take a Health, Tech, Arts, or PE credit prior to graduation.

Draconian step? Too much government interference? Not at all. It doesn't cost the state one penny to enforce this requirement. No tax dollars are being spent. It doesn't cost families one penny because the FAFSA form is free. The idea is that if students are forced to file the FAFSA, maybe, just maybe, they will find the Net Price to be so low that they might consider going to a postsecondary institution after all.

We think this new rule is a really smart move.





A Note About Rao Advisors Premium Services
Our promise is to empower you with high-quality, ethical and free advice via this website.  But parents and students often ask us if they can engage with us for individual counseling sessions. We are indebted and privileged to have earned their trust in matters which are so important to them. Please check out our public Google reviews to see what they say about us.

Individual counseling is part of the Premium Offering of Rao Advisors and involves a fee.  Please contact us for more information.