Sensible Advice for Freshmen and Sophomores Targeting UT-Austin
Many families want to get a head start on the college application process. I’ve received many more messages since COVID from middle and early high school, and even sometimes elementary parents about tips and advice for their children.
I almost never work with students before their junior year because I don’t want to be in the business of telling teenagers how to live or not live their lives. Or telling parents how to raise their children. My clients come to me toward the end of junior year and the beginning of senior year already having strong grades, SATs, and extracurriculars. I help them cross the application finish line.
Don’t hire “resume planning” services
In most instances, I don’t recommend hiring an independent admissions counselor for students younger than junior year. I question the value they add, and whatever application checklists they might provide are freely available on Google or from your high school counseling staff. I recognize that the college admissions arms race means that families must start planning earlier and earlier.
You can figure out things like the course schedule and summer programs from free resources or parent social media groups. Your money and time is better spent on SAT preparation. The most important aspects of college applications are the college list and the essays, and these concerns don’t become relevant until the spring of junior year.
So, if you’re a younger student, how should you prepare for your eventual college applications? There honestly isn’t a ton of advice or secret tips. But you can consider these five pieces of advice around grades, the SAT, the resume, summer programs, and college visits.
Grades matter the most
First, you should try and earn the highest grades in the most rigorous courses offered at your school. UT and most universities only look at thew transcript at the end of junior year, so if you make mediocre grades as a freshman, it can be difficult to play catch up.
Proceed cautiously with accelerated math sequences
I want to address a related theme. One increasingly popular trend is for families to hire math acceleration consultants and tutors. I honestly don’t know the logistics of how this works, but families will test out of or take summer school classes to complete pre-algebra, algebra 1, or geometry. The idea is to take pre-cal as a freshman and Calculus AB as a sophomore. That positions students to take BC as a junior or more advanced math like multivariable calculus, linear algebra, or differential equations, usually at a community college.
I don’t necessarily recommend this accelerated math pathway. There are serious concerns about student’s math preparedness, and unlike reading or phonics, research suggests that there are adolescent development windows for when teaching pre-algebra and geometry is appropriate, which is why these concepts aren’t usually introduced in elementary school. Math and engineering professors at top universities report that many students enroll without being able to operate basic functions.
Particularly in the era of ChatGPT, it’s even easier to game the system. The point of school is to impart essential skills, learn how to think, and prepare for the future rather than stepping stones to walk over. It also doesn’t necessarily help your admissions chances to take advanced math early on. If you are applying for a STEM major, universities want to see that you’ve completed the equivalent of Calculus AB. Rushing through math might have unintended consequences down the road.
Students sometimes take core curriculum classes like health, speech, or their social studies classes over the summer. This can free up space to take an honors or AP elective, which can boost their rank. This can be a good idea because it completes required courses the student may not be interested in while freeing up space for other coursework.
Prepare for the SAT/ACT
The second piece of advice is to do well on the official SAT and ACT. I’m not a test prep specialist or counselor, so how to get a good score is outside the scope of my knowledge and content. These concerns are relevant during sophomore and junior year. Ideally, you have the SAT completed and target score achieved before senior year begins. The PSAT isn’t especially important. Some lesser selective universities will offer scholarships for National Merit semifinalist or finalist, but these are not typically the sorts of top 50 universities like UT that students want to enroll. UT does not offer anything for national merit standing.
The resume matters more for STEM applicants
Third, especially if you want a STEM or business major, it’s essential to have related experiences on the resume. This can mean joining DECA in the case of business, HOSA for science majors, or robotics for prospective engineers. For STEM/Business majors at UT and top 50 universities, it isn’t enough to be academically excellent with well-rounded extracurriculars. You must demonstrate interest in your preferred major.
Since I’m not in the business of telling students how they should or shouldn’t spend time, I can’t comment much more than for students to spend their time in ways that interest them and not waste time grinding away at activities or volunteering. It isn’t worth a potential burnout to continue activities that take away from your wellbeing or at the cost of doing things you prefer. You need to build a strong resume, but it isn’t worth becoming a slave to college admissions incentives.
Consider attending reputable summer programs
Fourth, a related theme is to make the most of your summers. I have a PDF and spreadsheet of summer experiences, so you can email me if you want to receive it. Summer programs weren’t really a thing when I worked in admissions in the early 2010s, although that was the period when families sent their students to remote countries to do volunteering.
Those programs have mostly fallen out of favor, but in it’s place, especially since COVID, are thousands of engineering, business, medical, and leadership programs. Some are highly reputable and associated with institutions and are cheap or free. Others charge exorbitant fees and add questionable value. Summer programs are a great way to explore your interests, supplement your school curriculum, and build your resume. They also help you get to know a university more deeply than on a half-day official campus visit. It might help you decide whether to apply binding early decision somewhere. I assist my high school junior clients with these applications.
One word of caution is that, since summer programs are much more common than a generation ago, private businesses are taking advantage of anxious families by charging exorbitant fees for programs that may not add substantive value. One way they trick families is to rent building and classroom space at prestigious universities. Then they advertise their program as “at Yale” or Harvard or Princeton or wherever, but that the program isn’t sponsored by the universities but merely located at them. In general, you should be suspicious of programs that charge more than $5,000 per week. I’ve even seen some that charge $15,000 for a weeklong program, which is more than three full semesters of UT-Austin tuition.
Pre-acceptance college visits are rarely helpful
Finally, I’m not a fan of what I call pre-acceptance visits. Pre-acceptance visits tend to be the sort of whirlwind trips families take in the summers after sophomore or junior year by visiting many campuses. These can have some limited benefit, particularly if the student is considering to apply binding Early Decision.
UT does not offer early decisions and doesn’t consider demonstrated interest. So, if you already know you want to apply to UT and know what major you want, visiting campus probably isn’t helpful. If you come from a highly educated, American-born family, you’re likely already familiar with many colleges. However, for families who are unfamiliar with American universities or if they were educated in another country, visiting campuses can help develop college literacy.
Official visits tend to be sales pitches persuading you to apply or enroll. Still, at UT, most visiting families don’t need any persuading since it’s the dream school for many students. Pre-acceptance college visits sometimes lead to really irrational enrollment decisions, depending on things like the weather, the tour guide, what you had for lunch, and so on. The only way they are useful is deciding whether to apply or not, but since applications only cost some time and money, you don’t need to potentially spend thousands of dollars to visit a campus before you gain admission. Just apply, see if you get in, and then visit later to decide if you want to enroll.
Post-acceptance visits are more helpful
During the spring of senior year, once you’ve received most or all of your decisions, I find it’s more productive to visit campus once you know your major, honors programs, total cost of attendance, summer orientation, housing, and so on. You can ask much more concrete questions than with pre-acceptance college visits. They can help decide where to enroll, especially if you’re considering going to an expensive out-of-state or private university. So, for most families with younger students, I wouldn’t go out of your way to visit UT or really any other campus.
I hope you’ve found these five tips for younger students helpful. Message me at kevin@texadmissions.com