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How to Write the 2021 University of Texas Application Essays Part 1

My hook for this post is the University of Texas application for 2020-2021, but I am also going to take a look at reusing essays selectively in your other applications, which can save a lot of time and work. There are a couple of venues for applying to the University of Texas, and in discussing these I will introduce (briefly) and compare several important application portals used in Texas, but also nationally. Lesson one: to write a great University of Texas essay, you actually start by taking a look at the alternative of using either the Texas application site or the Coalition Application site.

Like the University of California, Texas runs its own college application portal . But in addition to the Coalition and UT/Apply Texas portals, the good news is that you can write a great University of Texas essay and turn around to reuse it for some of the 800-plus colleges using the Common Application portal, with little or no reediting–if you watch your word counts and choose your prompts wisely.

Different Application Portals: Apply Texas

Goal #1 for applying to college in 2020-2021 is to look for ways to reuse essays. Which brings us to those application portals.

Apply Texas is the foundation of all Texas applications, but universities determine which prompts to use. Assuming you are applying to the University of Texas, you could go directly to the UT website, which shows a single prompt fo the longer personal essay. This prompt is also up as the “A” prompt on the Apply Texas portal, and it is the Apply Texas system that handles all the data and that stands behind the various Texas public university applications–it’s a bit like the way the University of California is set up as a single portal, but there is more variation in the application requirements for Texas. Technical and state colleges are included in Apply Texas, whereas in California, the Cal State university system has a portal that is entirely separate from the University of California system.

For an example of how the Apply Texas requirements can vary from school to school, UT Austin requires a full set of the Texas application essays, including using option A for that longer essay and several shorter essays of about 250 words. In contrast, Texas Tech “strongly suggests” that you write at least one of the required essays but does not require it.

Of course, if you are a serious applicant to Texas Tech: write all of the essays. When offered the chance to do more, you want to do more. It demonstrates commitment.

And this year, in particular: if you did not take the SAT or ACT before the Covid rules came into play, or want to retake because your scores are below the mnidle 50%, but don’t end up getting one of the limited seats available before apps are submitted (or you just don’t want to risk your own or your family’s health for another test) you will want as much positive material for that holistic application evaluation as possible, to make up for missing data from standardized tests.

The Next Portal: The Coalition Application

Next portal: That longer essay prompt for UT Austin, which is Prompt A for Apply Texas is actually shared with the Coalition Application . “ Coalition ” is the short name for The Coalition for College Access .This might seem odd until you look at the UT Austin site, where it tells you that you can use the Coalition portal to apply, and skip the UT/Apply Texas portal.

To clarify: you only use one portal to apply–you will apply either through the UT portal, which is supported by Apply Texas or you will apply to UT through the Coalition App portal, which also allows you to apply to other schools listed on the Coalition portal, both inside and outside of Texas. So the Coalition is accepted by UT but is not limited to Texas schools. The question then, is whether it covers all or most of the colleges you want to apply to.

How to choose? See if all the colleges you want are among those listed on the Coalition App–if they are, you will save a lot of time by filling out all that basic data from name and personal information through activities only once, instead of using diferent sites and pasting in and tinkering with the same basic information, data and short responses over, and over. Using a more national portal like the Coalition Application offers efficiency. But the Coalition Application itself is not the biggest of the portals available.

A Comparison to the Common Application

A big drawback of the Coalition App is its relatively short list of participating colleges. The Coalition has 151 schools participating for 2020-2021. Compare this to the Common Application, which will be used by 884 universites . Sadly, the Common Application is not accepted by UT, among many others, but the Common App’s reach does make it a portal you are likely to use at some point this year.

To be very clear: though the Common Application is indeed the most commonly used app portal of all, its not an option for Texas public colleges (e.g. Texas Tech, UT Austin, et al). Outside of the University of California system, however, most of the big-name colleges that might come to mind do use the Common Application.

This is why you want to look at it now, and another reason: the Common Aplication essay prompts are up, so you can compare them, to the UT main essay. And there are other good schools in Texas among the Common App’s 800-plus clients, including Baylor, Rice, and TCU, not to mention those dozens of schools you have heard of and likely want to apply to outside of Texas.

So our focus on the Common App in this post is aimed at the possibility of reusing an essay on two or more portals.

Why You Should Look at Reusing Essays

The typical person applying to 10 colleges will generally use at least one main, longer essay of 550-650 words, and a series of supplementals. This means that you could easily write 20 essays for 10 apps–or 30. Most of these supplemental essays will be shorter than the 550-650 word main essays, but still–the more chance you have to reuse material, the more efficiently you can move through the work. And the workload, once school starts, can be quite extreme. With all the variables up in the air for this year, saving some labor on essays is a good idea.

I want to add before you go on to the rest of this post, and taking a look at the essay prompts, that there is one caveat–the various essay checking software programs, like Turnitin, will flag repeat uses of essays, and the use of such software is becoming more widespread–either through the adoption of Turnitin or other options, like in-house algorithms at some schools. Noting that it’s not really possible to plagiarize yourself, the focus here is on being sincere in your appeal to your target schools, and crafting the majority of supplemental essays carefully to suit your targets. But you need to balance this with the knowledge that, in the contemporary application scene, most students applying to selective and super selective colleges apply to ten or more universities, and they almost all reuse some degree of material. I will discuss fine tuning strategy on this in a later post.

Pay Attention to Word Count Limits in Essays

In addition to looking at the essay prompts, you should note that there are some differences in the word counts allowed–if you use the Coalition site, they suggest no more than 550 words; the Common Application allows no more than 650 words , and that is a firm limit; and for U Texas, I suggest 550 to no more than 650 words. (I’ve seen essays of up to 700 plus words accepted through the UT section of the Apply Texas application portal in the past, but suggest shooting for 550 as your max in your Texas main, which of course is the max word count suggested on the Coalition App.)

Many Application Essay Prompts Will Be The Same As Last Year

Whether they have reached perfection or just can’t get a revision done in this Covid-disrupted year, all three of the portals we have discussed will be using the essay prompts they had up last year. Please don’t take this as a green light to imitate your older sibling’s essays from last year, however–that essay scanning software I discussed is one reason. Being yourself and doing your own thing is another.

Let’s take a look at Texas first, then I will compare Texas prompt A to the current Common Application prompts to show you how to save a lot of work by reusing an essay or two–

2020 through Spring 2021: University of Texas Essay Prompt A

ApplyTexas Essay Prompt A

Guidelines for Essay Topic A—350-ca. 750 words, recommend aiming for 550 words.

Texas Essay Topic A (For U.S., applicants, as well as Transient, Readmit, and Transfer International applicants) : Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

This is the definition of a “personal” essay question , and it overlaps with a range of essay prompts required by other universities. It also overlaps with most of the Common Application prompts, depending on the angle you take–and when you can use one essay for two applications, that is a must-do opportunity. Just take a look at the Common Application prompts, which in the main define a more specific angle on the same broad prompt for how your experience has shaped who you are .

You just want to be sure your focus is on the last few years/high school, but keeping the focus on ongoing and recent experience is a rule of thumb in college essays anyhow–as opposed to writing about that deeply felt experience in elementary school. Generally skip those, unless they initiated or motivated activities that are still ongoing in high school, particularly if they continue today.

A Few Words About Social Justice Topics

One specific comment on topics at this point: Most college counselors advise against putting controversial, editorial-page topics at the center of college essays, but in my opinion, this year is different. Social justice, a perennial but undervalued subplot in American life, has come to the fore as the main focuses in recent months for most of you, for reasons I do not need to review here.

If you are genuinely engaged in the movement for equality and social change, this could be a good topic. Just be sure this is a real commitment for you personally, with some roots, as no doubt quite a few people will choose to write about this as the challenge or experience they faced, or the belief (system) they challenged in college essays in 2020-21. This is a challenging topic, and you need to avoid preaching to the converted (as well as the unconverted) and you really want to be wary of name calling and oversimplification, particularly of solutions. And of course, eschew cynicism. Click my tag for Social Justice at either the top of bottom of this post to see some other discussions of social justice topics over the years.

Now let’s take a look at how closely the Common Application overlaps with the focus of the Texas main essay.

Comparing the University of Texas and Common Application Essay Prompts

In addition to the quick comparison of prompts below, I have recently posted on how to brainstorm/start the Common Application Prompts for 2020-2021 . I have also looked compared the Common Application Prompts to the Coalition Application, here: Coalition App Versus Common App Essays.

Common Application Prompts for 2020/2021–compare these with the U Texas Essay A–

1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. Note that you would put the majority of the focus on your high school experience, with some background or lead-in, and this prompt is a match for the UT application essay A.

2. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? If your high school experience included a challenge or setback you had to overcome, bingo. Also a match for the Texas application essay, option A.

3. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome? If this challenge occurred during your high school years, even it it did not happen on campus, just connect it the the person you are or have become and link it to some reference to your high school experience, and you are set.

4. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma – anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution. Notice that this offers you an opportunity to look at the past or the future. For UT you’d need to background the essay in the past, but then you could always turn from that past experiene to the future, to how your education will be shaped by this and what you plan to do with that education–which is a nice way to wrap up an essay–you never want to repeat or restate your introduction in the conclusoin of a college essay–that is formulaic writing, and frowned on. Not to mention that it does not fit in a pesonal essay format.

5. Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. This overlaps not only with some of the other Common Application prompts, it also matches UT’s prompt A, again if you focus on this occuring during your high school years.

6. Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more? Again, if you discovered a passion in high school, or discuss one that grew during high school (usually academic, and tied to whatever you want to major in or focus on in college, for the best effect) , this also ties in well with the University of Texas essay.

7. Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design. Since anything goes here, any Texas essay should also fit.

Contact Me for Editing and Essay Development

Texas has three additional, short essay responses required, and there is some variation in these (e.g. a prompt for Art and Architecture majors) and I will come back to these in the next week or two. Let me know if it was useful for you to look at comparing and reusing essays–I may look at the UT system short essays in comparison to those used by other systems if y’all hare enthusiastic about this approach. You can leave a comment, or if you are looking for essay development and essay editing, and you want the best, hands-on assistance, Contact Me . This link takes you to my business portal.

I do all the editing and coaching myself, so if you do want to create your best possible essays, contact me soon, while I still have some space available.

The Eyes of Texas

Oh, and of course, here is your bonus for this post, the University of Texas, fight song :

“The Eyes of Texas”

I once did know a president

A-way down South, in Texas.

And, always, everywhere he went,

He saw the Eyes of Texas.

The Eyes of Texas are upon you,

All the livelong day.

You cannot get away.

Do not think you can escape them

At night or early in the morn —

The Eyes of Texas are upon you

’Til Gabriel blows his horn.

Sing me a song of Prexy, *

Of days long since gone by.

Again I seek to greet him,

And hear his kind reply.

Smiles of gracious welcome

Before my memory rise,

Again I hear him say to me,

“Remember Texas’ Eyes.”

* “Prexy” refers to a President, particularly a college president, and dates back to the early 19th Century, so yes, it does predate UT Austin and in fact predates the state of Texas.

(To be sung at UT football games and after a few too many fermented beverages on sundry occasions. Of course, that won’t likely happen this year, but we can hope for the 2021 season, when you will likely be arriving on campus.)

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UT Austin Supplemental Essays 2023-24

As one of the top public universities in the United States, the University of Texas Austin ( UT Austin ) is a popular choice for many students. Housed within the University of Texas System , UT Austin attracts students from all over the world. An integral part of any application is the UT Austin supplemental essays. Impactful and well-written essays will help your application stand out and allow UT Austin admissions officers to better understand your unique qualifications and personality.

The UT Austin supplemental essays may be only one part of your larger UT Austin application , but they should be taken seriously. This means that you’ll want to carefully and comprehensively respond to each of the UT Austin essay prompts. 

The UT Austin essay prompts are designed to give admissions officers a deeper look into your motivations and goals. Your UT Austin essays can help paint a holistic picture beyond your Common App essay and resume. With UT Austin ranking highly across multiple lists (including U.S. News and Forbes ), ensuring that your essays stand out is crucial. 

For many students, starting the UT Austin essays can feel daunting–especially given the competitive UT Austin acceptance rate. However, we’re here to help! This guide will detail the UT Austin essay prompts and help you work through the University of Texas supplemental essays. Keep reading to learn more about the UT Austin supplemental essays and the best way to help your essays stand out. 

UT Austin Admissions: Quick Facts

University of texas at austin quick facts.

• UT Austin Acceptance Rate : 31%– U.S News ranks UT Austin #9 on its Top Public Schools list. You can read more about UT Austin’s acceptance rate here .
• 1 long-form essay (500-700 words) 
• 3 short answer essays (250-300 words) 
• UT Austin Application : Students can submit their application through the Common App , or through the Apply Texas application. 
• Priority Deadline: November 1 st  
• Regular Deadline: December 1 st  
• UT Austin Essay Tip : Start your UT Austin supplemental essays early! With so many UT Austin essay prompts, you’ll want to make sure you have enough time to edit and receive feedback. Give yourself several weeks at a minimum, and start earlier if you can! 

Does UT Austin have supplemental essays?

Yes, there are several required UT Austin supplemental essays. Students will need to complete a long-form essay unique to UT Austin, as well as several short-answer essays. These UT Austin supplemental essays help admissions officers understand your application on a deeper level. Therefore, they can help your UT Austin application stand out. 

The UT Austin essay prompts are designed to help you showcase your proudest achievements. The University of Texas Austin supplemental essays allow you to elaborate on your high school experiences – be sure to think through your responses carefully! Think of the UT Austin essays as an opportunity to demonstrate who you are and what you’re passionate about. We’ll detail the UT Austin essay prompts later in this guide, so keep reading! 

UT Austin Essay Requirements

According to the UT Austin website , students need to complete a total of four UT Austin essays. The UT Austin supplemental essays will differ if you are a transfer student (we’ll get into this later in this guide). For first-year students, the UT Austin supplemental essays will include one 500-700-word essay and three 250-300-word short-answer essays. The UT Austin essay prompts can be found on the Common App, or the Apply Texas portal, but we will also detail them in this guide. 

The long-form essay prompt for the 2023-24 application cycle is: 

University of Texas at Austin Essay Prompt

Tell us your story. what unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today.

This essay will need to be between 500-700 words. Students will not need to submit other Common App essays to UT Austin. Therefore, you can think of this essay as replacing the standard Common App essay that many other colleges use. 

We’ll discuss some more detailed tips later in this guide, but you should focus on 1-2 core experiences for this essay. 500-700 words is not a lot of space, so it’s important to be mindful of how you use your words. Reflect on who you are today, and try to identify 1-2 things that have shaped you. This can be a club or leadership opportunity, a work experience, or your family/cultural background. The UT Austin essays help admissions officers learn more about you, so think about what you want them to know!

Of course, as you now know, this isn’t the only essay you’ll need to write–it’s simply the longest! Let’s check out the short-answer essay prompts!

UT Austin Short Answer Essays

In addition to the long-form essay detailed above, students will need to complete three separate UT Austin supplemental essays. All of these essays have a word count of 250-300 words. So, it’s important to be efficient with your answers. Think of these UT Austin supplemental essays as part of a collective whole – try to build themes between each prompt that will help with your overall application narrative. Each essay should add new information to your application. 

Here are the UT Austin essay prompts: 

University of Texas at Austin Short Answer Essay Prompt #1

Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major.

This prompt is best described as a “Why Major” essay. You’ve most likely seen similar prompts in other college apps. Our guide on  Why Major Essay Examples will allow you to see how these essays should be written. Check it out before tackling your University of Texas supplemental essays. In fact, reading essay examples can help inspire you when writing your essays! 

Keep in mind that out of all the UT Austin application essays, this essay requires the most research on UT Austin’s programs. Most importantly, you should be specific in your reasons for applying to your chosen major. So, be sure to search for relevant coursework, professors, and research opportunities. 

University of Texas at Austin Short Answer Essay Prompt # 2

Describe how your experiences, perspectives, talents, and/or your involvement in leadership activities (at your school, job, community, or within your family) will help you to make an impact both in and out of the classroom while enrolled at ut..

This essay is an opportunity to highlight an extracurricular activity, job experience, or leadership skill for the UT Austin admissions officers. Resist the urge to write about the same experiences as the previous prompt. You may notice that this prompt is similar to the long-form answer prompt, so it’s important to write about a different topic and focus on how you’ll make an impact at UT Austin. 

Research similar clubs/leadership opportunities at UT Austin and link them to your experiences. Mention how you’ll build from your high school experiences. As the University of Texas Austin supplemental essays help build a cohesive narrative, you can connect this essay to your long-form essay, but be sure to have a fresh perspective. 

University of Texas at Austin Short Answer Essay Prompt # 3

The core purpose of the university of texas at austin is, “to transform lives for the benefit of society.” please share how you believe your experience at ut austin will prepare you to “change the world” after you graduate..

This essay allows you to imagine your future career goals and how UT Austin will help prepare you to accomplish them. If you’re still not sure what you’d like to pursue after college, the UT Austin essay prompts can help you detail larger-scale goals. Do you want to pursue a graduate degree, start your own business, or help solve a difficult problem? Make sure to build connections to resources available at UT Austin specifically! 

UT Austin Transfer Essays

It’s important to note that if you are a transfer student, your UT Austin essay prompts will differ slightly. The University of Texas supplemental essays are designed to encapsulate a student’s experiences and qualifications. So, it’s understandable that transfer students have different UT Austin application essays. 

Transfer students must complete two UT Austin supplemental essays, both between 500-700 words. The UT Austin essay prompts are different for transfer students, but they offer the same opportunity to directly address the admissions committee. These UT Austin essays will help determine if you are a good fit, so it’s important to spend adequate time and energy on them. 

All prospective transfer students must complete “Topic A” as the first of two UT Austin supplemental essays:

University of Texas at Austin Transfer Essay Topic A 

The statement of purpose will provide an opportunity to explain any extenuating circumstances that you feel could add value to your application. you may also want to explain unique aspects of your academic background or valued experiences you may have had that relate to your academic discipline. the statement of purpose is not meant to be a listing of accomplishments in high school/college or a record of your participation in school-related activities. rather, this is your opportunity to address the admission committee directly and to let us know more about you as an individual, in a manner that your transcripts and the other application information cannot convey..

Out of all the University of Texas Austin supplemental essays, this prompt is the most open-ended. The personal statement is meant to help you communicate directly with the admissions office, and provide a narrative around who you are as a student. Your UT Austin essays can help explain aspects of your resume or transcript and provide a more holistic sense of your accomplishments. Out of the two transfer UT Austin essay prompts, Topic A allows you to paint a broader picture of your academic experiences. 

Focus on 2-3 aspects of your resume or transcript, and try to build a cohesive narrative around them. Discuss what you studied at your previous university, and talk about your goals at UT Austin. Ideally, use the University of Texas supplemental essays as a way to break down your accomplishments so they stand out in your application. 

Transfer students then need to pick another one of two UT Austin essay prompts in order to complete their application, “Topic C” or “Topic E”. Here are the prompts:  

University of Texas at Austin Transfer Essay Topic C

There may be personal information that you want considered as part of your admissions application. write an essay describing that information. you might include exceptional hardships, challenges or opportunities that have shaped or impacted your abilities or academic credentials, personal responsibilities, exceptional achievements or talents, educational goals or ways in which you might contribute to an institution committed to creating a diverse learning environment.  , university of texas at austin transfer essay topic e, choose an issue of importance to you—it could be personal, school-related, local, political or international in scope—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community or your generation..

Picking between these two UT Austin essay prompts can be difficult – if you’re not sure which to choose, try to draft a thesis sentence for both. You may then have a better idea of which of the two UT Austin essays will complete your application. It’s important to differentiate your UT Austin application essays, so as to avoid redundancy. Make sure you’re discussing different ideas, experiences, and accomplishments in each essay. Most importantly, write on topics that you’re passionate about. The only way to write an authentic, moving essay is if you truly care about the theme. 

Additionally, you can use this essay to build on a common theme in your application. But, be sure to use the UT Austin supplemental essays to cast a wide net. The more you’re able to communicate across your University of Texas supplemental essays, the better you’ll be able to explain why you’re a good fit for UT Austin! 

How to write UT Austin Supplemental Essays

Writing your UT Austin supplemental essays can feel daunting, so we’ve compiled some tips to help! Most importantly, give yourself the time to prepare and map out your answers. This will make the writing process easier, and ideally, less stressful! Additionally, it will ensure that you write your best UT Austin essays possible!

Here are five tips on how to write your University of Texas Austin supplemental essays: 

Five Tips for Writing University of Texas at Austin Supplemental Essay

1. answer all parts of the prompt.

The UT Austin essay prompts are designed to allow you to elaborate on your resume and overall application. Therefore, it’s important to touch on all aspects of the question. Many students will only address one part of the prompt; however, your University of Texas Austin supplemental essays serve as the best opportunity to speak directly with the admissions office. They developed the UT Austin essay prompts to help them understand you as an applicant. This means you need to address every part of each prompt. When reading through your first draft, ask yourself “Does this answer all parts of the question?”. If it doesn’t, be sure to expand!

2. Rank your accomplishments

With so many UT Austin essays, it can be easy to keep focusing on your top achievements. However, you want to use each essay strategically – the UT Austin essay prompts allow you to expand on many different aspects of your resume. Alternatively, you may want to write on a topic that hasn’t been seen elsewhere in your application. With so many possible paths to take in your responses, a good place to start the essay writing process is to rank your top accomplishments or most meaningful experiences. Then, match them with the different UT Austin essay prompts. This will ensure your UT Austin supplemental essays cover a wide range of experiences. 

3. Create a cohesive narrative 

While you may write them one at a time, the admissions officers will read all your University of Texas Austin supplemental essays all at once. The most impressive UT Austin essays build a cohesive narrative around a student’s accomplishments and goals. If you want to become a doctor, make sure your essays echo this – bring up any experience you have in the medical field or connect your essays to your passion for medicine. You don’t want to be too repetitive but think of 1-2 major themes you want your UT Austin application essays to convey. 

4. Do your research!

Many of the UT Austin essay prompts want to know how you’ll contribute to the overall campus environment. Therefore, it’s important to conduct extensive research for your University of Texas supplemental essays. Spend ample time on the UT Austin website, or consider booking a visit if you’re able. Use specific examples in your UT Austin supplemental essays to help the admissions officers understand your interest. Through these essays, admissions officers should be able to envision the positive impact you’ll have on the UT Austin campus. 

5. Plan ahead 

With so many UT Austin essay prompts, it’s important to plan ahead to make sure you’re able to craft the best University of Texas supplemental essays. You’ll have to spend significant time and effort on your UT Austin supplemental essays. Don’t wait until the day before the admissions deadline to write your UT Austin essays! Create a calendar for yourself to help you stay on track. The earlier you start your essays, the better! Stay organized and focused to ensure you give all of the UT Austin supplemental essays the time they deserve! 

Does UT Austin care about essays?

Given the high amount of UT Austin essay prompts, it’s fair to say that your UT Austin supplemental essays matter. The University of Austin supplemental essays allow admissions officers to better understand your application. The UT Austin essays should paint a holistic picture for the admissions office of you as an applicant. Therefore, it’s important that they are an authentic reflection of your accomplishments and personality. With the competitive UT Austin acceptance rate, your University of Texas supplemental essays will need to stand out. 

It’s hard to say exactly how the UT Austin essay prompts factor into the admissions process, but we know that they can greatly add to your application. The UT Austin essays are the best chance you have to speak directly with the admissions office, so it’s crucial that you develop a unique voice. Ensuring that your UT Austin essays reflect your personality and experiences will help your application significantly! 

How to make your UT Austin Essays stand out!

Overall, crafting your UT Austin supplemental essays to highlight your proudest accomplishments will help your application stand out. The UT Austin essay prompts are designed to help bring out what you’re most proud of, so be sure to answer all aspects of the prompt for each question. And, most importantly, choose your topics carefully!

For your Why Major essay, make solid connections between your extracurricular experiences and your intended major – this will help your University of Texas Austin supplemental essays feel cohesive. For example, if you’re planning to major in business, be sure to discuss any entrepreneurial experiences you’ve had or focus on how you’ve developed an interest in business through clubs. Making strong connections in each of your University of Texas supplemental essays will help your application stand out. 

In addition to the mandatory UT Austin essay prompts, there is an optional essay for students who wish to expand on additional circumstances: 

University of Texas at Austin Optional Essay Prompt

Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance..

Many students have experienced disruptions to their high school academics, or want to provide context to a dip in grades. If you had a rough semester, this essay prompt allows you to address it formally. Some students explain difficult situations at home that impacted their performance or detail a difficult class or two. It’s up to you if you’d like to complete this essay. But if you’ve had a drop in grades, it can be a good idea to use this opportunity to explain the circumstances. Responding to this optional essay if it pertains to you, will allow admissions to better understand your application as a whole. 

Resources on the Best Schools in Texas from CollegeAdvisor

In addition to helping you with your UT Austin supplemental essays, CollegeAdvisor has many resources to help you on your college journey. Be sure to read our guides on the Apply Texas Essays and the Best Colleges in Texas . We also have extensive guides on UT Austin, including UT Austin Scholarships and How to Get Into UT Austin . 

Our guides can help you as you answer the UT Austin essay prompts and craft your University of Texas supplemental essays. The University of Texas Austin supplemental essays are only one part of the overall application, so it’s important you’re prepared! Researching the university and application process will allow you to have the best chances of gaining admission to your dream school. Preparation is everything when it comes to writing college essays.

UT Austin Supplemental Essays – Final Thoughts

Your UT Austin supplemental essays can help admissions officers understand you on a deeper level.  Additionally, they should explain why you’re interested in attending UT Austin. The UT Austin essay prompts are designed to round out your application, providing some context for your resume and activities list. It’s important to plan your University of Texas Austin supplemental essays ahead of time in order to avoid repetition and to make sure that they highlight all of your proudest accomplishments. 

Think of your University of Texas supplemental essays as a single assignment, rather than many different essays. They should build off of each other, reflect common themes, and provide a detailed overview of your accomplishments and interests. The University of Texas Austin supplemental essays are the best way to showcase your talents and make your application shine. Be intentional with each essay, and see each UT Austin essay prompt as part of a larger whole. 

Writing about yourself can be challenging; however, the more practice you have, the better. It’s important to use the UT Austin supplemental essays to your advantage, as they can provide a great boost to your application. Write many drafts for each essay, and be sure to collect robust feedback. These essays are your canvas – decide what kind of picture you want to paint!

This essay guide was written by senior advisor, Jess Klein . Looking for more admissions support? Click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

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How to Write the ApplyTexas Essays 2023-2024 + Examples

Born from the collaboration between the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and various public and private universities around the state, ApplyTexas is a wide-spanning application that allows its users to apply to hundreds of Texan colleges. Like the Common App, it offers a platform for students—natively Texan or not—to send off the same information to many schools, although each school may require differing additional information. 

Unlike the Common App, ApplyTexas may be used to apply to the community colleges, public four-years, participating private schools, graduate programs, and even scholarships within Texan borders. For this article’s purposes, we will be focusing primarily on ApplyTexas’s 150+ four-year colleges and universities. Check out our full list of Texan colleges .

Read this ApplyTexas essay example to inspire your own writing.

Which Colleges Require Which Essays?

As for the ApplyTexas essays, there are three main prompts — prompts A, B, and C — but some colleges will only require some, keep others optional, or not accept certain prompts at all. They may also have additional short answer questions and supplements of their own. Even the recommended word count varies between schools.

Here’s a quick snapshot into the unique essay requirements of a few top ApplyTexas colleges:

University of Texas at Austin:

• Topic A is required.
• 4 short answer responses, 1 of which is optional (250-300 words).
• Additional major-specific materials/requirements for art/art history, architecture, nursing, and social work programs .
• Also accepts the Common App.

Southern Methodist University:

• Topic A essay required, B is optional. 
• Also accepts the Common App, Coalition Application, and its own application.

Texas A&M University, College Station:

• Topic A is required. 
• 4 additional short answers for all applicants, 1 of which is optional.
• 1 short answer for applicants to the College of Engineering.

Baylor University, Waco:

• Choose between Topic A, B or C (optional). 
• Also accepts the Common App and its own application.

Texas Christian University:

• Any essay topic on the ApplyTexas application (optional)
• 3 additional short answer questions, 1 of which is optional.
• Any essay topic on the ApplyTexas application (optional).

Never ignore optional prompts! Taking the time to complete them shows that you truly care about the school. Ignoring them will make admissions officers wonder if you even like it enough to actually attend it if accepted.

If you are applying to any of these universities and feel you would rather use the Coalition Application or the Common Application, see our Coalition Application Essay Guide and our Common Application Essay Guide . Keep in mind that essay requirements will vary depending on which platform you use. For instance, some schools (SMU, TCU, Baylor) may have additional short essays if you use the Common App.

If you still feel ApplyTexas is the platform for you, read on!

Before You Begin

It’s important to verify that your desired schools are featured on the ApplyTexas platform. Certain private schools—Rice University, for example—use the Common Application instead of ApplyTexas.

And while all the public universities in Texas accept ApplyTexas, some of them also accept the Common Application and Coalition Application, as we’ve seen. The Common Application , Coalition Application , and ApplyTexas offer tools to determine whether a university is included in their platform. Be sure to verify which application is better suited to your college list. Many students can tackle all their schools with just the Common App, but others may have to use a couple different platforms.

Approaching the ApplyTexas Essays

So you’ve worked through the application form, requested copies of your transcript and recommendation letters, effectively described your extracurriculars, and sent in your scores, if any. All that remains now are the essays: your best shot at showing admissions officers how you think, who you are, what matters to you, and why!

As you may remember, ApplyTexas contains three essay prompts: Topics A, B, and C. Each school may have different essay requirements, so it is best to familiarize yourself with all of them. For instance, even if you’re bursting with knowledge about your future major, these essays are an opportunity to speak holistically with regards to your life and experience.

Essay-Writing Strategies

With few parameters aside from the word limit of approximately 800 words (and with each school often setting different word counts), the ApplyTexas essay may seem intimidating. Luckily, the prompts can act as a creative and procedural tether. Whereas students applying via Common Application may begin by shaping a central idea before matching it up to one of the various prompts, ApplyTexas essays grow from the prompt up . Because of this, the best brainstorming and organizational practices for each prompt are unique. The one factor that remains ubiquitously relevant is writing — good writing. Before we get into the details of ideation and organization for each prompt, we’ll review some ways to ensure your writing is clear, communicative, and evocative.

Tips for writing well:

• Show, don’t tell (you’ve heard it before, but it’s worth hearing again!)
• Use active, rather than passive, sentence construction.
• Write with precision.
• Avoid clichés

The somewhat hackneyed advice of “Show, don’t tell” is nevertheless crucial to writing a compelling application essay. The meaning of showing a reader rather than telling them is best interpreted literally. Imagine you’re outside your house and you see a dog skateboarding on it’s two front paws. You run inside, eager to { tell, show } whoever is home. You fling open the door and narrowly avoid a collision with your brother, still unlacing his shoes from basketball practice.

You tell him: “Aamir, I just saw a dog skateboarding on its two front paws!”

You show him: You grab Aamir by the corner of his Jersey. “Come quick” you squeal, and he stumbles out after you, tripping on his laces. Thankfully, the dog is still there. “Just look,” you breathe out, already mesmerized by the wind rushing through the schnauzer’s mustache. Wobbling ever so slightly, the pup remains confident as he shreds the inclined blacktop of the cul-de-sac. Then, a moment later, it’s over. Unaware of the scale of his accomplishment, the dog scratches behind his right ear. You look over at Aamir. “Whoa.”

Out of these two scenarios, we can be sure that Aamir will only remember the second. It’s much the same for admissions committees; they’re more likely to remember you if you show them what you want to communicate. Now, showing doesn’t need to be much longer than telling. In fact, succinct writing is just as important as descriptive writing. Abandoning the literal narrative of “showing,” we’re left with something like this: A schnauzer puppy from the cul-de-sac was balanced on his front paws—miraculously, on a skateboard. Man, that dog could shred.

Using active voice is another crucial component of clean, clear writing. It’s also pretty simple. Make sure your sentence’s subject performs the action indicated by the verb. For example, instead of writing “the skateboard was maneuvered by a schnauzer,” you would opt for, “the schnauzer maneuvered the skateboard.” The only exception to this rule is when you want to bring explicit attention to the person or thing affected by an action. Our story is actually a decent example. What’s more noteworthy? The skateboarding? Or the fact that a dog is doing it? An acceptable passive construction might look like this: “the skateboard—would you believe it—was being maneuvered by none other than the schnauzer from across the cul-de-sac.” In this instance, we’re able to use passive voice to create humor and suspense. That being said, the vast majority of your sentences should employ the active voice.

The active voice is also a big part of writing with precision , and word choice may also make writing precise or imprecise. For example, while “evasive” is a synonym of “oblique” in one sense, it would nevertheless be embarrassing to write that, “John sat in the armchair evasive to the television.” Rather than picturing a chair positioned diagonally (obliquely) from the television, readers are left wondering what in the world an evasive chair might be. So use your thesaurus — carefully. 

It is common for burgeoning writers to get a little too adjective-happy. Adjectives’ power correlates inversely with their use. If each of your sentences is flush with adjectives, you’re diluting their impact.

Finally, avoid any clichés, aphorisms, etc. that fail to add value to your essay. Admissions officers will read countless essays boasting “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  If you’re tempted to use a hackneyed phrase, find its seed instead. Clichés are cliché because they stem from important thoughts, universal truths, and romantic principles. In the case of “Be the change you want to see in the world,” the seed might be an individual’s ability to impact a community, or to transform outdated and unjust systems. The seed of a clichéd phrase may still be worth writing about, but it’s important that you write authentically and originally.

Dissecting the Prompts

ApplyTexas features two sets of prompts, one for incoming freshmen (both domestic and international) and one for transfer, transient, or readmit applications. In this article, we will cover the first set to help freshman applicants. Want to know your chances at an ApplyTexas school? Calculate your chances for free right now.

While different schools require different combinations of essays, most students should be prepared to deal with topics A, B, and C. Students intent on pursuing a degree related to art and design should also be ready to answer topic D. Check out this ApplyTexas database to scout out which schools will require which essays . 

Here are this year’s prompts:

• Topic A: Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?
• Topic B: Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.
• Topic C: You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?
• Topic D (specific to majors in architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education): Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Notice how you are encouraged to speak about an opportunity or a challenge. Many students believe that they must talk about a tragedy in order to grab the attention of admissions officers, but this isn’t true. An essay can easily be thoughtful, insightful, and an engaging read without utilizing this specific emotional appeal.

Still, stories about difficult circumstances are often memorable. They are most effective when focused primarily on the student’s journey of working through the challenge instead of the challenge itself. Check out Collegevine’s article if you would like more tips on writing about challenges .

You’re trying to stand out, so beware of overused tropes like the following:

• Mental illness: It takes enormous strength to heal from and learn to manage a mental illness. Still, they may be tricky to write about. Read our article for more information on covering mental illness and disabilities within your application .
• Getting a bad grade in a class but then working hard to raise it.
• Sports stories such as winning/losing the “big game” or getting injured.
• Death of a pet or family member.
• Mission trip which made you realize how lucky and privileged you are.

Side note : Sometimes students face challenges that are outside of their control and which have negatively impacted their academic and/or extracurricular performance. If this has been your experience, and you don’t plan to explain them within this essay response, you may ask one of your recommenders to do so through their letter of recommendation.

Now, there’s no such thing as a “bad” or “good” essay topic; students have gotten into top schools with essays about Costco, pizza deliveries, and sparkling water. It often matters less so what you write about than how you write about it! 

These common essay topics are only doable when well-written, specific, and featuring a fresh take. The story of how fixing your Calculus grade taught you the value of hard work is not nearly as interesting as that of a student who is diagnosed with dyscalculia—a disability which creates a difficulty in understanding and working with math and numbers—and then opens up a dyscalculia awareness club with plans to become a special education teacher. The latter story would demonstrate the student’s ability to turn preconceived weaknesses into strengths, and admissions officers will quickly see that though he may initially struggle with long division, this student is nonetheless a creative problem-solver.

Please be aware that although it is possible to make a “common” topic interesting, it is easier to write about a situation that is unique to begin with. Also, don’t feel pressured to write about a challenge, especially if the situation has happened so recently that you haven’t fully finished processing or growing from it.

With all of this in mind, let’s get into brainstorming! Many people begin their ideation process through writing long lists or even talking into their phones in an untethered stream-of-consciousness. Do whatever it takes to get your creative juices flowing! 

As you reflect, you may consider these questions:

• Which values and skills do you hold closest to your heart? Honesty? Hard work? Clear communication? Diversity? Environmental stewardship? Activism? Where did these priorities come from?
• What are you most grateful for? What are you most proud of? What risks have you taken which have paid off?
• What do you like to do? When and how did you get into it?
• How would your family and friends say you have changed for the better over the years, and why?
• Look back at your list of extracurricular activities. Which ones were challenging and/or special opportunities? When have you tried something new?

Practice self-compassion while considering topics, and know that none are too big or too small. You can write about anything from taking a summer math class (even though you’re more of an English person) to being a camp counselor to giving your first speech in front of a crowd.

Overall, the admissions officers are looking for growth. They want to see the circumstances you turned into opportunities for improvement. You may even reflect upon a situation that initially seemed like an unpleasant challenge but later revealed itself as a hidden opportunity. For example, you may have reluctantly let your friend drag you to a business club meeting before discovering a passion for economics and rising as a club leader.

Ideally, your story will be unique and offer a fresh perspective. Be specific about the challenge or opportunity you were presented with, and think about how it changed you for the better. 

Remember, they are literally asking for you to “tell [them] your story,” so consider using a narrative format, especially if storytelling is a talent of yours. 

Here’s a general outline: 

• If you choose to go with a traditional storytelling format, we recommend beginning with a vivid anecdote featuring rich imagery to draw the reader in or an unexpected premise which makes one have to read on in order to fully understand. 
• From there, you may dive into who you were at the time, how you felt and how you acted, before moving towards your turning point—the challenge or opportunity—from which you decided to grow. 
• Explain how, exactly, the turning point influenced you. Ask yourself: How did it make you feel? Excited and ready for more, or initially anxious? How did it impact you? Perhaps you learned something new about yourself, or maybe now you’re kinder, more confident, or a harder worker. 
• To mix it up a bit, you could even play with sequencing, perhaps starting with a moment of success before reflecting on all of the growth you had to complete to get to that point.

Finally, you are human, so you don’t have to portray yourself as perfect in the end. You are using this essay to talk about what may be one of your greatest strengths or sources of pride, but make sure to stay balanced with a humble tone.

Here’s an Example Essay for Topic A:

The morning of the Model United Nation conference, I walked into Committee feeling confident  about my research. We were simulating the Nuremberg Trials – a series of post-World War II  proceedings for war crimes – and my portfolio was of the Soviet Judge Major General Iona  Nikitchenko. Until that day, the infamous Nazi regime had only been a chapter in my history  textbook; however, the conference’s unveiling of each defendant’s crimes brought those horrors  to life. The previous night, I had organized my research, proofread my position paper and gone  over Judge Nikitchenko’s pertinent statements. I aimed to find the perfect balance between his  stance and my own.

As I walked into committee anticipating a battle of wits, my director abruptly called out to me.  “I’m afraid we’ve received a late confirmation from another delegate who will be representing  Judge Nikitchenko. You, on the other hand, are now the defense attorney, Otto Stahmer.”  Everyone around me buzzed around the room in excitement, coordinating with their allies and  developing strategies against their enemies, oblivious to the bomb that had just dropped on me.  I felt frozen in my tracks, and it seemed that only rage against the careless delegate who had  confirmed her presence so late could pull me out of my trance. After having spent a month  painstakingly crafting my verdicts and gathering evidence against the Nazis, I now needed to  reverse my stance only three hours before the first session.

Gradually, anger gave way to utter panic. My research was fundamental to my performance, and without it, I knew I could add little to the Trials. But confident in my ability, my director  optimistically recommended constructing an impromptu defense. Nervously, I began my  research anew. Despite feeling hopeless, as I read through the prosecution’s arguments, I  uncovered substantial loopholes. I noticed a lack of conclusive evidence against the defendants  and certain inconsistencies in testimonies.

My discovery energized me, inspiring me to revisit  the historical overview in my conference “Background Guide” and to search the web for other  relevant articles. Some Nazi prisoners had been treated as “guilty” before their court dates.  While I had brushed this information under the carpet while developing my position as a judge,  it now became the focus of my defense. I began scratching out a new argument, centered on the premise that the allied countries had violated the fundamental rule that, a defendant was “not guilty” until proven otherwise.

At the end of the three hours, I felt better prepared. The first session began, and with bravado, I  raised my placard to speak. Microphone in hand, I turned to face my audience. “Greetings  delegates. I, Otto Stahmer would like to…….” I suddenly blanked. Utter dread permeated my  body as I tried to recall my thoughts in vain. “Defence Attorney, Stahmer we’ll come back to  you,” my Committee Director broke the silence as I tottered back to my seat, flushed with  embarrassment. Despite my shame, I was undeterred. I needed to vindicate my director’s faith  in me. I pulled out my notes, refocused, and began outlining my arguments in a more clear and  direct manner. Thereafter, I spoke articulately, confidently putting forth my points. I was  overjoyed when Secretariat members congratulated me on my fine performance.

Going into the conference, I believed that preparation was the key to success. I wouldn’t say I  disagree with that statement now, but I believe adaptability is equally important. My ability to  problem-solve in the face of an unforeseen challenge proved advantageous in the art of  diplomacy. Not only did this experience transform me into a confident and eloquent delegate at  that conference, but it also helped me become a more flexible and creative thinker in a variety of other capacities. Now that I know I can adapt under pressure, I look forward to engaging in  activities that will push me to be even quicker on my feet.

Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.

This prompt is a more varied than the first one, and gives you more leeway in choosing what you’ll actually be talking about. Someone’s identity, talents, and interests, might be linked together but they just as easily might not. Either way, don’t worry. With regards to this prompt, there is no ideal angle. Let’s break down what it could mean to address each of these categories.

Identity can refer to any number of traits that you feel define you. This includes race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, and other more community-based identities such as gamer, athlete, artist, weaver, dancer, Democrat, etc. Your identity is simply what makes you, you. Essays about identity are a great opportunity to demonstrate your critical and political acuity, personal convictions, and social history. However, they also pose certain risks. The premise of writing about identity is that you’ll demonstrate what makes you unique as a person. Even though many of us share certain identity traits, we’ve all experienced them differently. It’s especially important to focus on those details. Essays about identity that lack individual texture risk making you appear almost clone-like. That being said, there is no topic that is inherently cliché for this prompt.

Talent is a topic that will surely feel familiar to you as a prospective college applicant. Frankly, that’s what can make it tricky to write an essay about your talents—it risks echoing the several other parts of an application that are designed to draw out and display your talents for an admissions committee. Even so, if you believe that you have gained an especially insightful lesson or reflection from one of your listed activities, it may still be worth writing about. Just make sure you’re elaborating on your talents rather than reiterating them. Beyond the talents already featured in your application, many applicants have a talent that stands out from their formal talents and activities. One might be a master bird-caller, for example, but not have it listed as an extracurricular. Often times, writing about a wild-card talent is a way to introduce a facet of your personality that would otherwise remain invisible. The topic of talent also gives you the opportunity to write about certain interpersonal skills that might be especially important to you but impossible to express on a resume. For example, if you cultivate your skills as a listener and have a well-formulated political or philosophical imperative for doing so, that could make a great topic.

Interests are unique from talents in that you need not necessarily be good at them. They might not even be skills-related to begin with. For example, you might be supremely interested in pigeons but unable to include that interest in any other part of the application. Interests can make for especially unique, quirky, and fascinating essays. That being said, such essays also risk missing the whole point of the prompt. You need to tell the committee about yourself. If you choose to write about an obscure interest, it’ll be crucial to relate it back to your personality, outlook, or identity.

Now that we’ve addressed the differences between the subsections of this prompt, let’s review some ways in which you can brainstorm. While writing about identity, talents, or interests will result in slightly different essays, the goal is the same: to show the admissions committee—through your own eyes—who exactly you are.

The first step in brainstorming for this prompt is making a list of your defining characteristics. As you do this, you’ll want to prioritize characteristics that paint you in a generally positive light. While you don’t want to brag, you definitely want to be optimistic about who you are.

Second , you should make a sort of genealogy for each characteristic. How did they come to be so important to you? What experiences built up to the point where you’d consider a trait to be essential to your personality?

Finally , you’re going to need to rank your traits and their accompanying genealogies. For some students, who have a very central and defining trait, this won’t be tricky at all. But for students who are less certain what to write about, it will be important to prioritize the traits with the most interesting genealogies. Seeing as you want to show the committee rather than tell them, it’s crucial that you pick a trait that has a compelling history—that fits into a narrative or intellectual picture of yourself. This is especially essential for students intent on taking a more creative tone with this prompt. While an obscure interest can be interesting and endearing, it needs to have a compelling genesis and impact within your personal history.

Here’s an Example Essay for Topic B:

In one of the side streets of Rabat, one of the many winding corridors in the Medina, a long-abandoned house is standing, dilapidated from its years of neglect. The windows have been smashed; valuable materials have been ripped out of the floor and graffiti smears peeling walls. Yet remnants of its old life still remain intact; photo albums clutch family moments as cobwebs dangle from their spines. A mini plastic basketball hoop clings to a wall and a handmade poster above it reads “Senior League: Armond – Junior: Sasha and Lucy” but the faded yellow of the net suggests that no games have been played here for a long time. Not since we left. Mom left him just as I was turning four. The relationship had been emotionally stressful for the past few years and the threat of physical danger forced her to make a secret escape with us. We left everything behind.

Thousands of miles away and thirteen years later, I have never been back. I have never met him. As young as I was, I have not been oblivious to his absence. Even now, there are moments when I experience this emptiness inside of me. A sensation so overwhelming, I can’t believe I have managed to ignore it for so long. I lie down, close my eyes and grieve. Not just for him but for the life I never had, or at least, the one I left behind and can no longer remember. As the tears stop, I slowly drift to sleep. Sometimes I dream that he has unexpectedly turned up on the doorstep of our Chicago house especially for me. I open the door and immediately recognize him. I jump into his arms, simultaneously crying and laughing. I wake up, the empty feeling has passed and I know that he will never come. But I can’t help romanticizing the first time we meet.

However, going on eighteen, reality is soon catching up with me. Four years ago at the age of eighteen my brother, Armond, travelled to Morocco to meet him. Last year my sister, Sasha, did the same. So now, it is my turn; my own rite of passage awaits me. I have been waiting for this opportunity my whole life, even imagined it ten times over. But the more I thought about it, the more I doubted it. As the youngest in the family, I have striven to emulate my siblings in many ways. I could feel the assumption that I would go to meet him just as they did. However, I know that I am not yet ready. Unlike Sasha and Armond, my memories of Rabat are just a haze. I do not know whether they are real, or dreams or stories I have been told. I don’t understand any Arabic, and his English is very broken. And most of all, I cannot remember his face. The emptiness still comes back every now and then. But I know that the hole is not father-shaped, and if I meet him now, he might think it is. What I need to do first is to find out who I am before I can know what shape that hole really is. And when I know, I will understand what it would mean to meet him. For now at least, that tired old home stays suspended; a three-dimensional snapshot of my forgotten childhood. I like to think it’s waiting for me; waiting for when I’m ready to go back.

You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

Topic C stands opposed to Topics A and B in that it is almost entirely oriented towards the future. While each of your essays should demonstrate a degree of imagination, this prompt also carries the most overt call for creativity. There are two main genres of responses to prompts like this. The first genre adds to the forecasting effort found throughout your whole application. The second represents a creative departure from the path of your ambitions.

Choosing a Genre:

Forecasting is what you do when you make promises or predictions about what you’ll do with an educational opportunity. You’re forecasting when you tell UT Austin that you want to attend their engineering program in order to realize your dream of developing clean, public transportation. You’re forecasting when you draw conclusions from your past accomplishments to predict your future success. The act of applying to a school is inherently future-oriented. That being said, good applications demand cohesion and balance. An application that is too future-oriented will leave the admissions officers wondering who exactly you are . An application that is too auto-ethnographic will leave them wondering about your ambitions .

A forecast oriented answer to topic C will likely link-up with other parts of your application. For example, the engineering student from the example above might write that they’re holding a ticket for the very first 100% green, interstate transportation system—a system that they’ve spent the past 15 years building from the ground up. In this case, the essay looks back from a future point in which the student has fulfilled the ambitions they forecasted. It’s also possible to write this essay looking forward. Students that hope to attend medical school or law school might write about holding a “ticket” to their tertiary degree. These essays would go on to imagine the important, transformative work that those students would accomplish when they get to medical/law school.

Here’s an Example Essay for Topic C:

I’m holding a flyer that declares the date and time—this coming Tuesday at 7:30 PM—for a meeting of the Low Carbon Emissions Workers’ Union. Twelve years ago, when I started my undergraduate degree in public policy, the union was only a flicker of a thought, housed somewhere in the back of my mind. Still, those years were crucial. With every class I took, whether in policy studies, environmental science, or history, that flicker grew stronger. Following my interest in labor, I developed a rapport with the university employees that kept things rolling on campus—the people that took care of us, really. For my senior thesis, I made it my mission to collect and present an oral history of labor on campus. Many university workers expressed a sense of relief at being employed by the university. It allowed for decent wages and preserved the dignity of it’s workforce through open dialogue and worker representation. Through this sense of relief—or rather, through its negative—my thesis became invested in the alternatives for these laborers, in what lay on the other side of their relief. Though they were specifically skilled in care work, janitorial work, landscaping, and more, most of them told me that outside the university there was little opportunity for the advancement of worker’s interests. Finding work on a free-lance basis or through predatory placement companies, these care-laborers were largely on their own.

After graduating, I stayed in touch with my contacts at the university. Throughout law school, I made time to continue coordinating with them. We were hatching a revolutionary idea. Our goal was to create a union that could unite the various forms of under-the-radar care-work that was so often left out of organized bargaining units. The plan that we finally realized was even bigger than that. Not only would it unite domestic workers, janitors, and landscapers, its umbrella would extend to cover teachers, day-care supervisors, nurses, artists, and agricultural workers. This was the Low Carbon Emissions Workers’ Union. While it contained specifically oriented compartments, each aimed at advancing the rights of a particular sub-group of laborers, its superstructure was perhaps the more significant. In the same way that my senior thesis became invested in its negative all those years ago, this union stood as a foil to the socially and environmentally destructive tendencies of so many economic giants. We mobilized and housed research regarding Green-GDP, environmentally adjusted Gini coefficients, and other methods aimed at illuminating the real cost of having an economy predicated on environmental exploitation. As a political and intellectual force, the union gained ground in reevaluating the ways in which we value certain kinds of labor over others.

I’m smiling as I tack the flyer to the community board at my old university. I step back to look at it. “I can’t believe this is where it all started,” I think to myself. “Well, see you all this Tuesday.”

The genre of creative departure allows you to focus more on your personality, imagination, and capacity for critical thought. If you feel that your application already does enough to forecast your ambitions, you may opt to write about something completely unrelated. Especially for students applying to creative programs such as theatre or studio art, this can be a good moment to demonstrate your fit. Students who pick this genre can write about almost literally anything. The ticket in your hand could be for a time-machine to the Renaissance, a one-way expedition to Mars, or a mysterious back-alley puppet show. The important thing is that you use the premise of your essay to reflect on the world in a mature and thoughtful manner.

Here’s another example essay for Topic C:

“Take a number” buzzes an automated voice from somewhere inside the ticket booth. I reach out and tear off a slip of blue paper. 96. “Great,” I snort, “might as well settle in for the long haul.”

Someone behind me notices my annoyance and pipes up.

“I know right? I’ve never seen the time machines so crowded in my life.”

“Me neither,” I respond, “application season I guess.”

“Must be. Damn ticket prompts.”

I turn around to address my queue-compatriot. He’s a tall guy, pretty built for our age—probably a football player or something. He looks anxiously down the line, craning his neck to see something or someone just out of view.

“What’s got your nerves up?” I ask, “where are you headed?”

“You know,” he shrugged, “the usual. Off to 1904 to encourage Hitler to pursue his passion for painting. I’m just worried she’s gonna get there first.” I stepped out of line to see where he was looking. Fourth in line was a girl decked out in all black, determination etched into her features.

“Is she carrying a rail-gun?” I ask, stepping back into line. Football nods. “Yeesh…that’s a bit extreme but to each their own I guess. Wonder how the AdComms are gonna feel about that.”

Football fidgets for a few minutes before asking, “And you? What’s your plan?”

“Way back. Off to the early fifth-century to help Pelagius argue against St. Augustine.”

“Pelagius. He was an early theologian that rallied against Augustine’s notion of original sin.”

Football nods. “So all that with Eve and the apple, yeah?”

“Exactly. The doctrine of original sin says that because Adam and Eve had the apple, every human from then on was infected with their sin. That’s one of the reasons babies are baptized, to cleanse them. It’s behind a whole host of other things too. All the indulgences that people paid into the church, our long-standing association of sexuality with guilt and impurity, not to mention most of the pessimistic philosophies surrounding human depravity.”

Football chuckles. “So let’s say you win” he proposes, “then what? Babies don’t get baptized? There are still nineteen people ahead of us. You might want to change plans.”

My brow furrows a bit as I consider his suggestion. “I don’t know,” I say, “Pelagius argued for a whole lot of things. He was a big proponent of free will and accountability. He thought we should do good for the sake of good, not for salvation. He even countered a lot of hang-ups that endure to this day—bedroom stuff, bathroom stuff, all of it. Where Augustine saw sin and depravity, Pelagius saw beauty and Grace.” I continue. “I mean, I’m not even religious. I just think we could use a sort of ‘reset’ for our collective psyche. People are too caught up in hating themselves. We’re subconsciously misanthropic and it hurts. It hurts when a corporation takes advantage of a mining community because profit is the only legitimate motive in a world that seems like a lost cause. It hurts all the young people who hate their bodies and strive for an unrealistic ‘cleanliness’ from deformity and irregularity. It hurts women who get told they’ll be ‘second-hand stock’ if they have sex before marriage. It hurts when the police open fire in a neighborhood because they’re scared a kid might do it first.”

“Yeah” he nods, “hey, do you mind if I tag along? Mine might be a lost cause anyways—that girl was scary.”

Just then my number comes up on the time machine’s display. I look up at Football. “Sure. Why not. Oh, and I don’t think I caught your name.”

“It’s Bryan.”

“Well Bryan, we’re off.”

Please Note: The essay in this section is specific to certain college majors and is not required by all colleges/universities that accept the Apply Texas Application. If you are not applying for a major in Architecture, Art, Art History, Design, Studio Art, Visual Art Studies/Art Education, you are not required to write this essay.

Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space affected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?”

Topic D is a situational prompt for students looking to engage with art, design, and image. Unlike topics A and B, topic D is specifically asking you to tell a story. Regardless of the mode of narrative you employ, your essay should start with a moment of confrontation, observation, and reaction. Whether you engage with a piece of art or a lecture from design class, this step is crucial. It is here that you will demonstrate your ability to sift through your feelings about art, pulling out the concrete variables and specific vocabularies to describe why the art made you feel that way in the first place. It’s unsurprising that the prompt is so intent on drawing this out from you—understanding how art has impacted you is the first step towards creating art to impact others.

The second part of this process should move you beyond the moment of interaction detailed in step one, either to the present or the future. In this section, you’ll want to set your compass, so to speak. Using the lessons from part one, you should forecast the ways in which your future ambitions will be uniquely impactful. This can include anything from aperture to allegory. Whether technical or philosophical, your art is largely a product of your inspiration—being able to trace and predict this link demonstrates your maturity as a budding artist or designer.

Here’s an Example Essay for Topic D:

Standing in the Musée de l’Orangerie, surrounded on all sides by Monet’s Water Lilies, I felt myself melt away. The noise of the room seemed to dim, even as my perception heightened. I was somewhere else. The water lilies had swallowed me whole. They were beautiful, certainly, but also tense. One of the lesser-known iterations, flush with the purples, golds, and oranges of autumn, reminded me of the fluttering dance of falling leaves. And yet, its leaves were static—not because they weren’t real; they were real to me in that moment—but because of the water’s tension. Tethered to the surface of the pond, equally unable to float up or down, the leaves were trapped in a planar prison. The painting was practically bursting with the energy of an infinite autumn, but the water held it all together with its sticky buoyancy. Surface tension is far crueler than gravity, I thought to myself. My throat tightened and I felt paralyzed, peacefully imprisoned along with the lilies and leaves.

“Huh.” My brother stepped up beside me. “Look, you can see the canvas poking through,” he whispered, nudging me. He was right. As my eyes latched onto those bare fibers I felt a gust of release; I was back in the room.

To this day, that remains one of my most intense experiences with art. While it wasn’t exactly euphoric, it was transformative. Spanning the whole wall, the water lilies are all you can see; they colonize your reality. It was that quality—the quality of transportation out of time and space—that has stayed with me most. Monet’s techniques, brushstrokes that infuse the canvas with texture and momentum, allowed for a sort of virtual reality. VR before VR. It was the power of that experience that prompted me to combine my art with contemporary VR techniques. My first VR project pays homage to the water lilies. Putting on the headset, you find yourself in a blue green film, replete with flowers of every kind. It’s peaceful but when you try to move you find that the further you stray, the slower you get. A few feet out and you’re snapped back to the start. The piece explores movement and energy through anxiety and ensnarement.

As I continue my education in fine art, I’m primed to explore the range of possibilities allowed by VR technology. I’m eager to create landscape experiences that more directly implicate art and embodiment. My current project also takes inspiration from Monet’s impressionism. Entering the reality, one finds oneself on the top of flower-freckled hillside, umbrella in hand despite the blue skies. It is windy and the grasses sway around you. Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, you begin to blow away, to disperse, until there’s nothing left. The viewer is utterly gone, yet utterly present.

Want to learn more about how to write the ApplyTexas essays? Check out one of our popular recorded live streams on this topic.

Where to Get Your ApplyTexas Essays Edited

Do you want feedback on your ApplyTexas essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools.  Find the right advisor for you  to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Personal Statements & Statements of Purpose

Personal statements and statements of purpose are carefully crafted essays for academic applications, like graduate schools or fellowships, meant to effectively communicate to the admissions committee who you are, your motivations, your goals and how you prepared for graduate school.

Personal Statement vs. Statement of Purpose

While the terms might be used interchangeably, the two are subtly distinct from one another.

A personal statement is commonly written for scholarly fields in academia and professional fields like medicine and law. While it includes information about academic and career goals, it typically includes information about yourself as a person and your motivation for your chosen field. A strong personal statement demonstrates how much genuine motivation you have to pursue this field of study and that you have the necessary skills and background to be successful. It is typically a personal narrative.

A statement of purpose is written largely for science-oriented disciplines and typically describes your preparation to pursue your chosen field, your academic and research experience, and your career goals. A strong statement demonstrates how you have advanced your academic interests and how you plan to successfully pursue your goals. When writing a statement of purpose, you are making a case that you are a preferred candidate. Be logical, concise and clear in your writing for the best results.

Basic Content

Regardless of which version you are requested to write, a basic framework can be a good starting point. Keep in mind that your essay should be a reflection of your goals and illustrate your ability to write well. Take time to refine your personal statement and be sure to include transitional sentences between paragraphs. A good flow to your essay and story is essential to keeping your reader’s attention!

A personal statement or statement of purpose should answer the following 5 questions:

• Why do you want to go to graduate school?
• How have you prepared for graduate school?
• Why will you be a strong and successful graduate student?
• What are you career goals and how will this degree help you achieve them?
• Why do you want to attend this particular graduate program? Make sure you personalize your essay for each program and describe why the particular program or faculty is a good fit for you.

Getting Started

Do you feel like you don’t know what to focus on or don’t have experiences that will help you stand out? Try these activities to help you get started.

Brainstorming Activity

Select one of the following prompts and free write on the topic for 5 minutes.

• Think about a time you overcame an obstacle.
• Write about a person who inspires you. What qualities do they possess?
• Write about a time you acted as a leader.
• Think about key moments when you realised you wanted to pursue graduate school.
• What qualities do individuals in your field of study possess? Write about how you have demonstrated one of these qualities.

Once you have finished your free writing, have a friend read over the statement and highlight the one sentence that most interests them. Then free write for five minutes on that sentence. You will find this may help you narrow down your focus.

Call a Friend

Some people have a harder time writing than they do talking. If this sounds like you, have a conversation with a friend or family member about why you want to go to grad school and how you have prepared. Make sure to make an audio recording of your conversation and then type up when you said. This will give you some content you can start shaping for your statement.

Diving Deep into the Components

Committee members will read through hundreds of applications — How will you help yours stand out? Make sure to put significant thought into every section of your essay and that you’ve answered the 5 basic content questions above.

Introduction

Learn how to write in an engaging fashion that will bring your story to life. Avoid clichés like “ I have always wanted to be a... ” and instead paint a picture that creates connection to the reader.

The opening paragraph for a personal statement typically introduces the reader to your personal and/or professional motivations. Here are two examples:

For twenty-three years, my grandmother (a veterinarian and an epidemiologist) ran the Communicable Disease Department of a mid-sized urban public health department. The stories of Grandma Betty doggedly tracking down the named sexual partners of the infected are part of our family lore. Grandma Betty would persuade people to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, encourage safer sexual practices, document the spread of infection and strive to contain and prevent it. Indeed, due to the large gay population in the city where she worked, Grandma Betty was at the forefront of the AIDS crisis, and her analysis contributed greatly towards understanding how the disease was contracted and spread. My grandmother has always been a huge inspiration to me, and the reason why a career in public health was always on my radar.

The brain, to me, is such a complex and sovereign organism that has influence over the internal mechanisms and this has always allured to me. My true fascination has manifested from observing the external factors that can affect the function of the brain. From a young age I have been exposed to addiction; a factor which I believe has incited a passion within me to pursue a neurological career. I have witnessed the physical and psychological effects that an alcohol addiction has over an individual, and in my seventeen years the greatest thing that I have observed is the pattern of habits that relapse and evolve with an addiction. Although this can be a truly upsetting environment to have been around, I have learnt that people and their minds are incredibly resilient. This is something I wish to delve deeper into in during a Master’s in Counseling.

On the other hand, opening paragraphs for statements of purpose should grab the reader’s attention in a straight-forward manner, since the reader is not expecting that you stray too far from your academic or professional field. Openings involving research experience, classroom experience or other specifics related to the field of study are common. Here are two examples:

I might not have learned about Professor Norman Roland’s lab if it had not been for the Freshman Research Initiative. This innovative program at The University of Texas at Austin introduces high-achieving freshman to university research. As a result, I worked for two semesters with Professor Roland’s team on the mutation rates and genetic interactions of bacteria. As a young Texan from a very “business-oriented” family in El Paso, I found myself in new territory. Those first two semesters were pivotal in defining my career direction. They gave me the foundation to pursue undergraduate assistantships in two additional research labs at UT Austin, which helped me identify my own specific research interests and the motivation to pursue a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology.

While assisting in field biology research in Prince William Sound, Alaska, I was intrigued to see that when a colony of 16,000 blacklegged kittiwakes was flushed by a predator, they made a particular descending warble vocalisation. In fact, this distinct call seemed to be the only coordinated activity in which I ever saw them participate. Later that afternoon, I practiced making the “flush call” for hours. Finally, I climbed onto the colony and did my best imitation. The thunder of the entire colony lifting off, as other birds picked up the call, cemented my long-held intention: I want to work with sound. My purpose for undertaking doctoral work in acoustics and animal behaviour is twofold. First, my professional goal is to contribute to the existing research on biological systems, which use sound. Second, my personal goal is to convey in-depth understanding and love of these systems to the students I teach.

Experiences

Admissions committees want to know where your interests originated, how they have evolved over time, and what experiences you have had in college to prepare you for success in their program. Don’t try to cram every experience on your resume into your statement. Instead, pick 2-4 of the most impactful experiences you had to describe in greater detail and how each of those experiences prepared you for graduate school.

Research or Academic Experiences

If you have had research experience or school-related activities (e.g., projects, papers, presentations) that have been influential to your goals, focus more on what you learned from these experiences if you are writing a personal statement, and more on describing the project or research study in detail if you are writing a statement of purpose. This paragraph would also be the place to mention any personal qualities that would make you a successful student in their program. Be sure to back up those statements with specific examples documenting your abilities in these areas.

Internships & Work Experience

Internships and work experience is extremely valuable when applying to graduate school. Make sure you include these in your statement especially if they are related to your field of interest.

Co-curricular Activities

Involvement outside the classroom can offer valuable experiences to your personal and professional development. This may be particularly important in business and law, where leadership qualities are given priority. For instance, being an officer in a student organization or editing the college newspaper can show programs the leadership qualities you possess. Again, do not simply describe your experiences. Thoughtfully analyze your activities and look for ways to set yourself apart from the crowd.

Career Goals

Although you do not need to have your life mapped out in detail, be able to identify some general career goals and indicate how you plan to use your graduate training. Admissions committees want to see that you can conceptualize your future. Point out how your goals are congruent with the training you would receive from that program. Keep in mind that no one in the graduate program will remember what you put for your career goals in your admissions essay so it is okay if these goals change in the future.

Goodness of Fit

Before making their admissions decisions, the committee first needs to determine if you are a good match for them and if they are a good match for you. Your academic record and exam scores, reference letters and personal statement all help them assess if you could be a successful student in their program. By pointing out what attributes about their program appeal to you and/or how the research by certain faculty is in line with your interests, you demonstrate to them your motivation to learn from their specific program. This is most appropriate when applying to a scholarly or research program and not for applied fields like law. Here is an example:

During my graduate training, I want to enhance my research skills, further my knowledge of pharmacology, and learn how to successfully and independently investigate complex research questions. I believe UTSW will provide the necessary training and resources to achieve my goals because of cutting-edge technology and a collaborative work environment. Outstanding faculty research, like the efforts to understand mechanisms of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases by Dr. Maria Chahrourand and Dr. Gang Yu, respectively, support my research interests and career goals of working in neurological diseases. Acceptance into UTSW’s graduate school would be the first step in achieving my career goal of becoming a successful research scientist.

In your final paragraph of the essay, briefly summarize your main points and remind the committee members that you are eager to be a part of their graduate program. Be mindful to not sound repetitive. A nice touch could be to return to the theme of your catchy intro and have your story conclude full circle.

Extenuating Circumstances

The statement can also provide an opportunity to explain extenuating circumstances or particulars about your background. Clarifying the reason you had a low GPA, for instance, can help the admissions committee understand your application better. The important thing is to explain, not make excuses for, your situation. We strongly recommend making an appointment with a CNS Career Coach to talk about the best way to frame your situation in your statement.

Tips and Mistakes

Our CNS Career Coaching team reads hundreds of essays each year. Here are our top tips and most common mistakes to help you be successful writing your admissions essays. 

• Focus on you : Graduate school committees are interested in knowing more about you as a person and whether or not you’re a good fit for their program.
• Follow word and/or character limits .
• Proofread : Keep in mind that these essays are a sample of your communication skills. Triple check for grammatical errors, typos and unclear passages before you submit your essays.
• Be concise and relevant : Admissions committees read hundreds of application each cycle. Keep their attention with concise and relevant writing.
• Finish before the deadline : Give yourself time to draft, revise and edit multiple times. Your recommendation letter writers will likely want to see a draft of your statement as well — another good reason to start early!
• Consider your audience : Most admissions committee members are professors in the department of the program you are applying to. 
• Create a holistic picture : Your statement should complement your resume/CV, but both documents should be understandable without the other.
• Have multiple people review your draft : CNS Career Coaches, faculty,  graduate students and the University Writing Center can all provide feedback.
• Only you will know when you are done .

Common Mistakes

• Breadth over depth : Focus on in-depth description of 2 or 3 key experiences as opposed to briefly mentioning everything you have done.
• Telling your life story : Instead, selectively mention key experiences that are most relevant to the application and you future field of study.
• Dramatic generalizations : These usually take the shape of “I always knew...” Don’t proclaim your passion. Demonstrate it.
• Not focusing on you : Make sure you hone in on what makes you uniquely qualified for this particular graduate program and how you can be an asset.
• Incomplete : Make sure your essay answers the question(s) or prompt provided by the application committee. If there is no prompt, then review our 5 questions your statement should answer at the top of this page.
• Dishonesty : Don’t just say what you think the admissions committee wants to hear. You don’t know what they want to hear. They will sense dishonesty and you lose credibility.
• Be careful with quotes: Admissions committees want to hear your story in your words. Avoid quotes unless there’s absolutely no way to tell your particular story without it.
• Mixing up schools : This usually happens when applying to more than one school. Carefully check which statement is going to whom and that any mention of the program you’re applying to is correct in the essay.

Want Help with Your Statement?

Visit the University Writing Center

Frequently Asked Questions

General applicant faq, my transcript is listed as "under review.” what does this mean will i miss the deadline, do you accept any documents via email, does ut austin conduct interviews for admissions.

No, UT Austin does not provide interviews for general admission.

Does UT Austin utilize demonstrated interest in the review process?

No, UT Austin does not utilize demonstrated interest in the holistic review process. Anything that you would like to be considered should be submitted with your application.

Do I need to submit a letter of recommendation?

Letters of recommendation are optional. You’ll be considered for admission whether you submit letters of recommendation or not. Note that some freshman honors programs do require a letter of recommendation to complete the honors application.

How do letters of recommendations work?

Letters of recommendation can help us to learn things about you that aren’t available from other application items. If you do submit them, they will be considered when we review your application. But they are optional, and you will be considered for admission whether you submit letters of recommendation or not.

You may submit up to two letters of recommendation with your admission application. They should come from someone who knows you well but is not a family member or relative. We encourage you to provide letters from sources outside of your high school. In your letters or recommendation, we’re looking for information that expands upon or isn’t available in other items you submit, such as your admission application, resume or essays— such things as:

• Your academic success and potential.
• Your leadership contributions to your school, family or community.
• Your persistence in response to challenging situations.
• Your interaction with students and peers from different cultural backgrounds.
• Your preparation for your selected first-choice major, both in school and out.

Do I need to submit an expanded resume?

What format is required for my expanded resume.

We do not have a preferred or recommended resume format or length. We encourage you to choose a format that most easily allows you to share more about your involvement. The length or format of your expanded resume do not have any impact on the review of your application.

What should my expanded resume include?

Your expanded resume should include all of your involvement and achievements, not just those that did not fit within the resume section of your online application. You should include any work experience (paid or volunteer), extracurricular activities, accomplishments and awards. You may also choose to include family responsibilities.

How do I know which documents to submit?

Use the appropriate application checklist on our website. Once you submit your application, you’ll also be able to log in to MyStatus to view the appropriate deadlines for all application materials.

How do I submit additional documents?

If you apply using the CommonApp, most documents can be submitted along with your application. If you apply using ApplyTexas, most documents can be submitted in MyStatus. Note that we cannot accept documents via email.

Do students have to live on campus at UT Austin?

No, we do not require students to live on campus. However, we highly recommend it!

When can I apply for on campus housing?

You are eligible to apply for on campus housing as soon as your admission application is complete. You can access the housing application in MyStatus.

I am receiving a UT help desk error when I try applying for housing? What should I do?

How do i find non-ut scholarships.

Check out the resources on our scholarship page! You can also contact the Office of Admissions or Texas One Stop for assistance.

Freshman FAQ (Domestic and International)

Am i a freshman.

You can apply for freshman admission if you are:

• A high school senior.
• A student who has completed high school and has not yet enrolled at another college or university after graduation.

When is the freshman deadline for summer/fall enrollment?

• To meet the Early Action application deadline, you need to submit your online application by October 15 and any remaining application materials need to be received by November 8.
• The regular deadline is December 1. All remaining materials must be received by December 11.

How do I apply for the Early Action deadline?

All students apply to UT Austin for our regular deadline. To meet the Early Action deadline, your application must be submitted by October 15. All remaining documents need to be submitted by November 8.

What is the difference between the Early Action and regular deadline?

Students who meet the Early Action deadline will receive a notification no later than January 15. Regular deadline applicants will receive a notification no later than February 15. The Early Action deadline does not provide an advantage in the review process nor is it binding.

When will I receive my admission decision?

• If you complete your application by the Early Action deadline (October 15), you will receive an admission notification by January 15, 2025. This notification may be a final admission decision or a decision deferral to February 15, 2024.
• If you complete your application by the regular deadline (December 1), you will be notified of a decision no later than February 15, 2024.

Some decisions are made and delivered earlier than the published decision dates.

What applications does UT accept?

• If you are applying for summer/fall admission, you have two options: ApplyTexas or the Common App.
• If you are applying for spring admission, submit the ApplyTexas application.

Do I need to submit both applications?

No, only one application should be completed.

Does UT have a preference about which application I submit?

No, please complete the application that works best for you! Your choice will not impact your admission decision.

How should I pick my first-choice major?

We encourage you to choose a first-choice major that is aligned with your interests and strengths, not just what you hope to do as a career. We will consider you for this major during our holistic review.

Remember that your major won’t necessarily determine your career later on, so we recommend reviewing the entire list of options on MyMajors before you decide.

If I don’t get my first-choice major, will I be considered for my second-choice?

You may be considered for your second-choice major if you qualify for automatic admission and are not admitted to your first-choice major.

How do I apply for UT scholarships?

There is no separate scholarship application.

To be considered for scholarships, you should apply for admission and complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for US citizens and permanent residents or the Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA) for non-US citizens who are Texas residents. All freshman applicants who do so are considered for aid through the Texas Advance Commitment.

Our Office of Financial Aid also administers some scholarships for applicants with unique qualifications. More information about consideration for these scholarships through our scholarship interest form will be available to applicants in MyStatus in mid-August.

Do I need to submit SAT and/or ACT tests?

For students applying for admission for Fall 2025, you do need to submit a standardized test score (an ACT and/or SAT score) as part of your undergraduate admission application.

How do I submit a test score?

You need to have your official scores sent from the testing agency. Your scores need to be on file by the appropriate deadline to be considered.

• If applying by the Early Action deadline, your official scores from the testing agency need to be received by November 8.
• If applying by the regular deadline, your scores need to be received by December 11.

Are there fee waivers?

You may request a fee waiver by indicating your eligibility on your application. A separate fee waiver document or request is not required, but you may be required to submit documentation in support of the request. If you have already submitted your application for admission and did not request a fee waiver, you can submit the Request for Fee Waiver form in MyStatus using the Document Upload System. Note that fee waivers are not available for international applicants.

What happens after I apply?

This past year, we received over 66,000 applications for admission. We conduct an individualized holistic review of each applicant, and this takes some time to complete. We recognize that students would like to receive a decision on their application as soon as possible, and we appreciate your patience. Please know that our timeline is designed to ensure careful consideration of each applicant.

How do I check my application status?

MyStatus will always have the most up to date information for you.

Calculus Readiness (Freshman Applicants) FAQ

What is the calculus readiness requirement, how do i show calculus readiness, i sent my test score for calculus readiness but indicated i wanted to opt-out of test scores for holistic review, what happens in this case, i am currently taking calculus and/or i plan to take an ap/ib calculus test in the spring, does this count, i took a calculus i course and made a b or higher prior to senior year, but the requirement is still listed as incomplete on my checklist., i self-reported my test scores on my application. will that be enough, i met the early action deadline but have not fulfilled calculus readiness yet. if i send my scores now, will i no longer meet the early action deadline, do i need to take the ut math assessment, can i take the ut math assessment more than once, how long does it take for the scores from the ut math assessment to post, academic coursework form (freshman applicant) faq, do i need to submit the academic coursework form, do i include courses that count for high school credit that i took in middle school, do i include courses that i am currently taking in 12th grade, do i include all courses on my transcript, i took a summer class during high school. which grade level should i categorize this as on the entry form, what if i took all of the courses for one subject area in middle school do i still report them, applying for freshman honors programs faq, i want to apply to an honors program, but it’s not showing up for me because of my major choices. how can i update my majors.

If you want to change your first- and/or second-choice major(s) so that you can apply to an honors program, email us at [email protected] . Include your full name, UT EID and updated first- and/or second-choice majors. If your request is approved, you will gain access to the honors application within three to five business days.

If I apply for honors and am not admitted, can I still be admitted to UT?

Transfer faq (domestic and international), am i a transfer student.

You are considered a transfer student if:

• You have already started your post-secondary studies at another college or university after graduating from high school or earning a GED.
• You have or will have earned 24 semester hours of required transferable coursework at another college or university. The option to use coursework in progress is not available for spring semester applicants.
• You have graduated from another institution and want to take additional undergraduate coursework.

Are transfer students able to apply for the Early Action deadline?

There is not an Early Action deadline for transfer admission.

• For summer/fall enrollment, you will receive an admission notification by June 15.
• For spring enrollment, you will receive a decision by mid December.
• If you are applying for transfer admission to summer or fall, you have two options when it comes to submitting your application: ApplyTexas or the Common App.
• If you are applying for spring admission, you should submit the ApplyTexas application.

Are there any prerequisites for transfer applicants?

Prerequisites and requirements vary by college, school and major. Review the additional application requirements for transfer admission on our Colleges and Degrees page.

Colleges and Degrees 

Continuing students, transfer students who have completed the admissions application, and former students applying for readmission may apply for scholarships by completing the  Continuing and Transfer Scholarship Application .

The application is available starting in November each year and is used to award scholarships for the following academic year. Coordinated Admission Program (CAP) transfers should wait until after Dec. 1 to submit the application. 

The deadline to submit the  Continuing & Transfer Scholarship Application is March 15 at midnight CDT.

Continuing & Transfer Scholarships Application

No. SAT and/or ACT scores are not required nor reviewed in the transfer admissions process.

You may request a fee waiver by indicating your eligibility on your application. A separate fee waiver document or request is not required, but you may be required to submit documentation in support of your request. If you have already submitted your application for admission and did not request a fee waiver, you can submit the Request for Fee Waiver form within MyStatus using the Document Upload System. Note that international students are not eligible for fee waivers.

International FAQ

Am i an international student.

You are considered an international student if:

• You are neither a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and
• You did not graduate from a Texas high school.

For international students, UT accepts the Common App and ApplyTexas applications.

What is the application fee?

The application fee is $90 for international students.

Are there any fee waivers?

There are no fee waivers for international students.

I can’t pay my fee online. Is there a mail option?

If you are an international applicant and are not able to pay your fee online using a credit card, you may mail your payment in the form of a cashier’s check, bank money order or bank draft in U.S. dollars to:

The University of Texas at Austin Graduate and International Admissions Center P.O. Box 7608 Austin, TX 78713-7608

Make checks payable to The University of Texas at Austin, and write your six-digit Application ID number, UT EID or UT Assigned Student ID number on your check or money order. Do not send cash or personal checks.

Do I have to submit TOEFL or IELTS scores?

You must submit Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam scores unless you graduated from a high school in the United States or in a country where English is the only official language after completing at least three years of study. You are also exempt from submitting TOEFL or IELTS exam results if you are from the following qualifying countries:

• American Samoa
• Canada (except Quebec)
• Grand Cayman
• New Zealand
• Trinidad/Tobago
• Turks and Caicos Islands
• United Kingdom
• U.S. Pacific Trust

Additionally, permanent residents are exempt from this requirement if they:

• Earned three years of U.S. high school English credit, excluding ESL courses; or
• Resided in the United States for 10 or more years; or
• Earned a bachelor’s degree at a U.S. institution of higher education; or
• Attended a U.S. institution of higher education immediately prior to enrollment at the university; or
• Graduated from a U.S. high school.

The requirement will not be waived for the completion of English Compositions courses.

Which test is preferred, TOEFL or IELTS?

The TOEFL iBT is preferred over the IELTS. We cannot accept institutional TOEFL (ITP) scores or IELTS General Training scores.

What are the minimum scores acceptable for admission?

Minimum scores acceptable for admission are:

• TOEFL: 79 (internet-based test)
• IELTS: An overall band of 6.5 on the Academic Examination

What are the university codes for the TOEFL and IELTS?

UT Austin’s TOEFL code is 6882. There is no institutional code for the IELTS examination. To fulfill the requirement with scores from the IELTS, please use the IELTS electronic score delivery service to send your scores to the “University of Texas at Austin” account.

Do you accept Duolingo or will my SAT English scores substitute for IELTS or TOEFL?

What grades does my high school transcript need to include.

If you are an international applicant, you must submit documentation showing that you have completed an accredited secondary school series equivalent to that of a U.S. high school. Submit an official record or transcript (mark sheet) that shows all your secondary school work and grades (or marks) starting with ninth grade and continuing through the end of 12th grade. You should also include copies of your official final examinations taken at the end of the secondary school program, including external exams such as the General Certificate of Education “O” and “A” Level Examinations, school leaving certificates and matriculation exams.

What if my transcripts are not written in English?

If the documents you are submitting are written in a language other than English, you must also submit complete and official English translations together with the original-language records.

How do I submit my transcript?

You can view how to submit your transcripts on our Transcript Info page. Please note, transcripts are not accepted via email.

Texas Residency FAQ

Who is a texas resident.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board establishes the  rules that govern Texas residency for higher education in Texas.

How does UT Austin determine Texas residency?

When you apply for admission, the university uses information you provide on the admissions application to make an initial determination about residency. If the submitted information indicates you aren’t a U.S. citizen or permanent resident but that you may qualify for residency based on Texas high school graduation, you will be prompted by the application to download and submit the Residency Affidavit. It must be completed, signed, notarized and submitted to the university.

What options do I have to establish Texas residency?

You have two options to establish Texas residency:

• Graduation from a Texas high school
• Establishing your domicile in Texas

How do I establish residency through high school graduation?

Requirements

To establish residency through high school graduation, you must:

• Graduate from a Texas high school or receive a GED in Texas; and
• Live in Texas for the 36 months immediately before high school graduation; an
• Live in Texas for the 12 months immediately before the census date (usually the 12th class day) of the semester in which you enroll at the university (or another college or university).

If you are an international student seeking residency through high school graduation, you must submit a  Residency Affidavit  ( PDF ) stating that you will apply for permanent residency when you are eligible to do so.

How do I establish residency through domicile?

This option is available to students who are:

• Citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. (Non-citizens and non-permanent residents may also use this option if they have an application for permanent residency on file with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service .)
• International students who possess an eligible visa.

If you are independent for tax purposes, you may gain resident status if you establish domicile in the state. If your parent(s) claim you as a dependent on their federal income tax return, they must establish domicile in the state for you to claim residency.

To establish domicile, you or your parent(s) must meet the following criteria:

• Live in Texas for 12 consecutive months; and
• Establish and maintain domicile for 12 consecutive months, as evidenced by:
• Gainful employment in Texas; Note: Student jobs do not qualify as gainful employment.
• Sole or joint marital ownership of residential real property in Texas by the person seeking to enroll or the dependent’s parent, having established and maintained a domicile at the residence;
• Ownership and operation of a business in Texas; or
• Marriage for one year to a person who has established domicile in Texas.

What if I am incorrectly classified?

Sometimes students submit incorrect information or information that makes it appear as though they are non-residents when they actually do qualify for Texas residency. In other cases, students initially ineligible for residency later become eligible.

If you believe you are incorrectly classified, take steps to correct the inaccuracy by submitting the Residency Core Questions .

How do I appeal my Texas residency classification?

If you’ve submitted the Residency Core Questions and have been classified as a non-Texas resident after review of the form, you have the option to appeal your residency determination. You must do so before the 12th class day of the semester.

To appeal, email the Residency Appeals Committee at [email protected] stating why you should be considered a Texas resident. Be sure to provide any additional information you can offer in support of your case. The committee will review the information you submit and make a determination. The decision of the Residency Appeals Committee is final.

• Texas McCombs School of Business Essay Tips and Examples

July 11, 2023

Jeremy Shinewald

The McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin asks for just one relatively brief yet still revelatory essay from its applicants. Applicants are asked to write a cover letter to the admissions committee essentially making a pitch for why they want (or need) to earn a Texas McCombs MBA. Anyone with a potential problem area or unclear element in their profile can also submit an optional essay to address the issue(s). While minimal, the Texas McCombs essay still gives applicants ample opportunity to provide meaningful insight into their characters and strengths. Our more in-depth analysis of the program’s essay prompt(s) for 2023–2024 follows.

Texas McCombs Essay Analysis, 2023–2024

Essay 1: please write an application cover letter summarizing your aspirations, qualifications, and personal and professional experiences that make you a strong candidate for the texas full-time mba program. (limit: 500 words).

We can understand that this essay prompt might initially be intimidating for some candidates, but once we break things down for you, we hope you will feel more confident in your ability to write a strong essay in response. Along with this prompt, McCombs offers the following elaboration: “The application cover letter is a critical means of assessing an applicant’s motivation for attending the McCombs School of Business, their background and goals, and their communication and writing skills. Strong applications convey careful research on Texas McCombs and enthusiasm for the program.” In short, the admissions committee wants to know (1)what your professional path and goals are, (2) why you feel you need an MBA, and (3) why you want to earn your MBA at McCombs. These are all just basic components of a traditional personal statement that most schools ask for. Not so scary now, right? 

The broad scope of this essay prompt allows you a great amount of freedom to choose and share the information you believe is most important for your candidacy. And the 500-word maximum is equal to roughly four or five short paragraphs. Basically, McCombs wants to know about your professional past, your goals, and why you need its MBA program to facilitate or accelerate your career. Be sure to relate your strengths to your professional aspirations, sharing illustrative examples. Definitely take the time to research your desired path and potential firms, if you have not done so already, to understand what is involved and the skills and qualities required. 

After discussing your accomplishments along with any other elements of your profile that you feel make you a strong candidate for the Texas McCombs MBA program, strive to relate these achievements and qualities to the school’s offerings and community. Without using the actual words “why McCombs?” and “how do you expect to engage with our community?,” the school is nevertheless asking you for precisely this line of information. The admissions committee essentially wants to know what has compelled you to choose McCombs in particular for your MBA and how you will take advantage of specific resources and experiences it offers. The assumption is that something you have learned about McCombs leads you to believe that its MBA program will provide the experience, knowledge, skills, exposure, and/or other element you need to reach your goals. Likewise, something makes you feel you would fit well with the McCombs environment and be comfortable there. So what has given you that impression? All the top MBA programs want reassurance that the candidates they admit have not applied simply because of the school’s reputation or ranking but rather because they are truly excited to be a part of the community and to benefit from that specific learning experience. McCombs is not simply seeking warm bodies with which to fill its classrooms; it is striving to add to a long history of effective global business leaders and a network of alumni dedicated to the school and each other. Demonstrating your authentic interest in the program by offering concrete examples and drawing clear connections between who you want to be and what the school offers is key to crafting a compelling essay response.

If you have targeted McCombs because you feel it is the right program for you, you likely already have an idea of why that is true and how you would function as part of its community. If you do not yet have a handle on these points, you definitely need to start (now!) researching the school thoroughly, including interacting directly with students and/or alumni. Identify at least one (ideally more) resource, offering, or quality that McCombs has that is unique or that it excels in that directly relates to what you need to attain your post-MBA goals. And do not just offer a list—you must explain how the identified element(s) will fulfill particular needs for you.  

As we noted earlier, this essay covers the core components of a traditional personal statement, just presented in a different form. To better prepare yourself to write your essay response, download a free copy of our Personal Statement Guide , which offers more in-depth advice on addressing these topics, along with illustrative examples. 

Optional Statement: Please provide any additional information you believe is important or address any areas of concern that you believe will be beneficial to MBA Admissions in considering your application (e.g., gaps in work experience, choice of recommender, academic performance, or extenuating personal circumstances). (250 words)

We tend to believe that the best use of the optional essay is to explain confusing or problematic issues in your candidacy, and this prompt offers an opportunity to do just that. So, if you need to, this is your chance to address any questions an admissions officer might have about your profile. Consider downloading a free copy of our mbaMission Optional Essays Guide , in which we offer detailed advice on deciding whether to submit an optional essay and on how best to approach writing such a submission, with multiple examples.

However, because McCombs does not stipulate that you can only discuss a problem area in this essay, you have some leeway to share anything you think might be pivotal or particularly compelling. We caution you against trying to fill this space simply because you fear that not doing so would somehow count against you. Remember, by submitting an additional essay, you are asking the admissions committee to do extra work on your behalf, so you need to make sure that time is warranted. If you are using the essay to emphasize something that if omitted would render your application incomplete, take this opportunity to write a very brief narrative that reveals this key new aspect of your candidacy.

To learn more about the essays for other top business schools, visit our  MBA Essay Tips and Examples Resources Page .

2023-2024 B-Schools Outside the Top 15 Business School Essays MBA Essay Tips University of Texas at Austin (McCombs)

Tags: business school essay MBA application essays optional essay Texas McCombs

Upcoming Events

• Mar 26, 2024 Your 2024 MBA Application Action Plan (Online)
• Apr 25, 2024 Assessing Your MBA Profile (Online)

Upcoming Deadlines

• Mar 25, 2024 Dartmouth Tuck (Round 3)
• Mar 25, 2024 London Business School (Round 3)
• Mar 26, 2024 Texas McCombs (Round 3)
• Mar 26, 2024 Vanderbilt Owen (Round 4)
• Mar 28, 2024 Berkeley Haas (Round 4)
• Apr 1, 2024 Penn State Smeal (Round 4)
• Apr 2, 2024 Penn Wharton (Round 3)
• Apr 3, 2024 Columbia (Round 3)
• Apr 3, 2024 Northwestern Kellogg (Round 3)
• Apr 3, 2024 Virginia Darden (Round 3)
• Apr 4, 2024 Chicago Booth (Round 3)
• Apr 4, 2024 Michigan Ross (Round 3)
• Apr 8, 2024 MIT Sloan (Round 3)
• Apr 9, 2024 Stanford GSB (Round 3)
• Apr 9, 2024 Yale SOM (Round 3)
• Apr 10, 2024 Cornell Johnson (Round 3)
• Apr 12, 2024 UCLA Anderson (Round 3)
• Apr 15, 2024 USC Marshall (Round 3)
• Apr 29, 2024 Toronto Rotman (Round 4)
• Apr 29, 2024 UNC Kenan-Flagler (Round 4)
• Apr 30, 2024 Georgetown McDonough (Round 4)

Click here to see the complete deadlines

2023–2024 MBA Essay Tips

• Berkeley Haas School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• BU Questrom School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• Cambridge Judge Business School Essay Tips and Examples
• Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• Chicago Booth School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• Columbia Business School Essay Tips and Examples
• Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management Essay and Examples
• Dartmouth Tuck School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• Duke Fuqua School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• Emory Goizueta Business School Essay Tips and Examples
• Esade Essay Tips and Examples
• Georgetown McDonough School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• Harvard Business School 2+2 Deferred MBA Program Essay Analysis 2024
• Harvard Business School Essay Tips and Examples
• HEC Paris Essay Tips and Examples
• HKUST Business School Essay Tips and Examples
• IE Business School Essay Tips and Examples
• IESE Business School Essay Tips and Examples
• INSEAD Essay Tips and Examples
• International Institute for Management Development (IMD) Essay Tips and Examples
• Ivey Business School Essay Tips and Examples
• London Business School Essay Tips and Examples
• Michigan Ross School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• MIT Sloan School of Management Essay Tips and Examples
• Northwestern Kellogg School of Management Essay Tips and Examples
• Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• NYU Stern School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• Ohio Fisher College of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• Oxford Saïd Business School Essay Tips and Examples
• SMU Cox School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• Stanford Graduate School of Business Application Essay Tips and Examples
• The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Essay Tips and Examples
• The Wharton School Essay Tips and Examples
• Toronto Rotman School of Management Essay Tips and Examples
• UCLA Anderson School of Management Essay Tips and Examples
• UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Essay Tips and Examples
• USC Marshall School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• UVA Darden School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• UW Foster School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management Essay Analysis, 2023–2024
• Villanova School of Business Essay Tips and Examples
• Yale School of Management Essay Tips and Examples

Click here for the 2022–2023 MBA Essay Tips

MBA Program Updates

• Berkeley-Haas
• Boston University (Questrom)
• Cambridge Judge Business School
• Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper)
• Columbia University (Columbia Business School)
• Consortium for Graduate Study in Management
• Cornell University (Johnson)
• Dartmouth College (Tuck)
• Duke University (Fuqua)
• Emory University (Goizueta)
• George Washington University (GWSB)
• Georgetown University (McDonough)
• Harvard University (Harvard Business School)
• IE Business School
• IESE Business School
• Indian School of Business
• Indiana University (Kelley)
• Ivey Business School
• London Business School
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
• New York University (Stern)
• Northwestern University (Kellogg)
• Notre Dame (Mendoza)
• Ohio State University (Fisher College)
• Oxford University (Saïd Business School)
• Penn State Smeal College of Business
• Rotman School of Management
• Saïd Business School
• Southern Methodist University (Cox School of Business)
• Stanford University (Stanford Graduate School of Business)
• University of California Los Angeles (Anderson)
• University of Cambridge (Judge)
• University of Chicago (Booth)
• University of London (London Business School)
• University of Michigan (Ross)
• University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)
• University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
• University of Southern California (Marshall)
• University of Texas at Austin (McCombs)
• University of Virginia (Darden)
• Vanderbilt University (Owen)
• Villanova School of Business
• Yale University (School of Management)

• Pay for College

Freshman Admission Essays

An essay is not required for admission, but it is highly recommended. Essay topics A, B, and C below are the same topics found on the   ApplyTexas application. If you choose to submit an admission essay, select one of these topics . Essays may be submitted through your ApplyTexas or CommonApp account or by using our document uploader.

Essay Topics - ApplyTexas

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.

You've got a ticket in your hand. Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

Writing Essentials

To assist you with your essay, the Texas State English Department has provided the following guide to good essay writing.

Sentence and Paragraph Level

Does the essay reflect a relative mastery of usage, conventions, and vocabulary?

Do the sentences and ideas follow one another in a logical and coherent fashion?

Does the essay reflect a relative knowledge of the proper conventions of grammar? Do not simply use spell check or proofread your essay; read your essay out loud.

Do your sentences and words follow the proper conventions of punctuation and spelling?

Unified Theme or Subject

Narrow your topic to a single topic. Don't try to write a broad, general essay on how your life has changed. You can't do this in one page. 

Are your ideas specific and coherent? Choose language that reflects and relates specific ideas.

Creativity engages the reader. Don’t be afraid to take risks with your writing. Use creative examples.

Use specific examples to help make your points clear. It will make your essay solid and convincing. 

Submit Your Essay

Your essay may be submitted with your application or separately.

With Your Application

Document uploader.

Appealing An Admissions Decision From the University of Texas at Austin

Didn't get the news you hoped for from UT Austin? The University of Texas at Austin just saw record-breaking undergraduate applications, with a whopping 73,000 students vying for a spot. That's a 20% jump from previous years, making UT Austin more popular than ever. For students not automatically admitted (based on Texas high school rank), the overall acceptance rate will be only 11%. Some majors, like computer science, business, engineering, and nursing, will be even more competitive.

While their admissions decisions are tough to overturn, an appeal might be worth considering if you have new, significant information that wasn't in your original application. But before you dive in, understand the process and your chances.

The Office of Admissions at UT Austin has a defined process for appeals ,  with a March 15 deadline. There are huge variations from year to year in the number of students who are accepted via appeal. Before you make the decision to appeal, you need to know if you have a strong case for UT to reconsider you.

Here are some factors to consider as you decide whether or not an appeal is a good option for you: 

Do you have “ new, significant and/or compelling information ” that was not included in your initial application?

See the examples below to help you determine what type of information is significant and compelling.

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE:

• Did your grades go up significantly—especially in rigorous coursework? 
• Did you receive an academic award? 
• Did you complete an independent study or compelling academic project related to your desired major? 
• Did you take a late standardized test after the deadline and your score increased?

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES: 

• Were you selected for a significant leadership role? 
• Did you receive community recognition or an award for significant community service? 
• Did you complete a new independent service project that had a significant, positive impact? 
• Did you advance significantly in an activity (sport, music, theater, dance, robotics)?

Extenuating circumstances: 

• Did you or your family experience significant financial hardship, personal or medical issues?
• Did you forget to put something in your application?

If the answer is yes to one or more of the questions above, then you may have evidence to support an appeal. 

HOW TO OUTLINE YOUR APPEAL 

First, describe your significant or compelling new information. It is critical that you provide details. For example, if you received all A’s this semester after being an A/B student, explain how you achieved this. Don’t make the reader guess—fill in the blanks for them. If you coordinated a study group to prepare for tests, for example, explain how and why you did that. You can include more than one item, but be careful to avoid a laundry list. Again, make sure these developments are significant and compelling. 

Second, explain why this information is important. How does this significant information provide evidence that you will be a strong, successful student at UT? What does it show about how you might impact the campus community? For example, perhaps the study group you created not only deepened your understanding of the material, but helped your fellow students too! 

Again, it is very important to be specific. 

Finally, you can show a little Longhorn love—like the fact that you attended a summer program at UT and heard an amazing professor who sparked your interest in a new area or how you haven’t missed a Horns basketball game since you were 10—but remember that the purpose of the appeal is the specific evidence outlined above. Remember, like all college essays, stay confident and positive. 

In addition to the written appeal, you have the opportunity to to include one additional recommendation. Think hard about who can validate the information you are providing as the basis for your appeal—and make sure this is a different person than the teachers who wrote your initial recommendations. Also, be sure to send an updated transcript if that demonstrates improvements or achievements that will help your appeal. 

 Click here for more information about appealing an admissions decision from UT Austin.

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Ultimate Guide to Writing Your College Essay

Tips for writing an effective college essay.

College admissions essays are an important part of your college application and gives you the chance to show colleges and universities your character and experiences. This guide will give you tips to write an effective college essay.

Want free help with your college essay?

UPchieve connects you with knowledgeable and friendly college advisors—online, 24/7, and completely free. Get 1:1 help brainstorming topics, outlining your essay, revising a draft, or editing grammar.

Writing a strong college admissions essay

Learn about the elements of a solid admissions essay.

Avoiding common admissions essay mistakes

Learn some of the most common mistakes made on college essays

Brainstorming tips for your college essay

Stuck on what to write your college essay about? Here are some exercises to help you get started.

How formal should the tone of your college essay be?

Learn how formal your college essay should be and get tips on how to bring out your natural voice.

Taking your college essay to the next level

Hear an admissions expert discuss the appropriate level of depth necessary in your college essay.

Student Stories

Student Story: Admissions essay about a formative experience

Get the perspective of a current college student on how he approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about personal identity

Get the perspective of a current college student on how she approached the admissions essay.

Student Story: Admissions essay about community impact

Student story: admissions essay about a past mistake, how to write a college application essay, tips for writing an effective application essay, sample college essay 1 with feedback, sample college essay 2 with feedback.

This content is licensed by Khan Academy and is available for free at www.khanacademy.org.

University of Texas at Austin 2020-21 Essay Prompt Guide

Regular Decision: 

University of Texas at Austin 2020-21 Application Essay Question Explanations 

The Requirements: 1 essay of 500-700 words; 3 essays of 250-300 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Community , Why , Additional Info , Personal statement

All freshman applicants must submit a required essay, Topic A in ApplyTexas and the UT Austin Required Essay in the Coalition application. Please keep your essay between 500–700 words (typically two to three paragraphs).

Tell us your story. what unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today (500-700 words).

Whether you’re using the Coalition or ApplyTexas to apply to UT Austin, you’ll have many opportunities to document your greatest high school achievements. So for this essay, it’s important that you focus on telling a personal story (it’s right there in the prompt!) that doesn’t appear elsewhere on your application. What opportunities and challenges were specific to your high school experience? The goal isn’t to craft a list, so aim to focus on one central story that describes either an opportunity or a challenge. When brainstorming , on the other hand, we recommend writing the longest list you can think of: two columns or a Venn diagram documenting every hurtle or special chance you got throughout high school. 

As you consider your “opportunities,” keep in mind that your reflection on the event or opportunity that shaped who you are today will be a source of great insight for admissions. Maybe being fluent in Tagalog opened up a unique opportunity for you to start an online exchange between your school and a school in the Philippines.  Or were you invited to perform with your dance group at a community event? Did this experience launch you to seek out other performance opportunities, spurring your interest in entrepreneurship? As you sift through your “challenges” route, aim to showcase qualities like resilience, perseverance, or simply an ability to turn lemons into lemonade. Perhaps the long commutes on the bus between home, school, and your internship taught you about time management or inspired an interest in urban planning. The challenges you choose to write about can be serious (dealing with bullies or discovering a learning disability) or seemingly banal (a public speaking #fail). While the possibilities are almost endless, students should be careful not to choose challenges that may seem trite (getting a B on a big project or winning lottery tickets to Hamilton). 

Regardless of the direction you choose to pursue, remember to make sure that admissions is learning something new about you through personal anecdotes and specific details. 

All applicants must submit three required short answers and may submit one optional short answer responding to prompts in your admissions application. Answers are limited to no more than 40 lines, or about 250–300 words, typically the length of one paragraph. Note Special Requirements: Architecture, Art and Art History, Nursing, and Social Work require additional short answer questions of their applicants. 

Required short answer 1: , why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major.

This prompt sounds simple enough: describe what you want to study and why you like it so much that you’re willing to dedicate four years of your life to it (at the very least). While you might be tempted to get technical or poetic in your response, your reader will expect you to connect your intended major to some prior experience and/or passion. In other words, tell a story. Lucky for you, we would have advised you to start with an anecdote anyway. The most memorable essays spring from concrete descriptions of your experiences. What excites you and why? When was the last time you got drawn down a Reddit rabbit hole – and what was the topic? While you don’t need to pinpoint the exact moment you became interested in ancient history or calculus, try to zero in on some inspiring experience. What was the best TED Talk you ever watched? The first time you spoke to your new friend in ASL? Your story should showcase your unique connection to your chosen course of study. And don’t forget to talk about UT Austin! By the end of your essay, your reader should not only know why you are passionate about your chosen major, but also what excites you about Austin’s program. In admissions, we call that your fit!

Oh and a quick shoutout to all the undecideds out there: don’t worry! If you can’t decide, then tell a story that demonstrates your wide range of interests or natural curiosity. Focus on the opportunities UT Austin offers across departments and how you plan to explore once you arrive on campus. It’s normal to want to try new things at the start of college!

Required Short Answer 2:

Leadership can be demonstrated in many ways. please share how you have demonstrated leadership in either your school, job, community, and/or within your family responsibilities..

When answering this question, resist the urge to rewrite your resume. UT Austin isn’t asking you for a list! Remember: it’s your job, as an applicant, to use every essay as an opportunity to reveal something new about yourself. Admissions even gives you a runway for your brainstorming : you can talk about leading at school, your job, in the community, or within your family! Think of a moment when you were in a position where you worked really hard to help a group of friends or loved ones. Maybe you are always the one helping your younger siblings with school projects, and you struggled to find ways to attain and keep your little brother’s attention. Maybe as a volunteer you were in charge of teaching new staff the proper policies for walking dogs at the local shelter. Perhaps, during a group project at school, you organized and planned all of your meetings and drove home classmates who wouldn’t have otherwise been able to attend group sessions outside of school hours. Try to isolate a single leadership moment, and bring it to life with vivid details. Describe where you were, what was happening around you, and what you were feeling. Discuss what challenges you faced, and what you ultimately learned from the experience. Don’t shy away from challenges, or even failures, since these are exactly the kinds of character-building experiences that can demonstrate resilience and quick thinking.

Required Short Answer 3:

Please share how you believe your experiences, perspectives, and/or talents have shaped your ability to contribute to and enrich the learning environment at ut austin, both in and out of the classroom..

In short, this is an essay about diversity and the aspects of your life and experience that distinguish you from your peers. For some applicants, the answer might be obvious: you might have been the only one at your school with a certain background, belief system, or inherited skill set. But whether this prompt seems like it was made for you or just a total head-scratcher, we encourage you to dig a little deeper than your first thought. What about your history, experiences, perspectives, or talents might be worth highlighting for an admissions officer? And how can the experience, perspective, or talent you choose enrich the learning environment at UT Austin? Maybe you grew up in a military family that moved around a lot, and you want to write about how this experience has shaped your ability to make new connections super quickly. Perhaps you’ll teach your floor-mates about what makes for a great ice breaker. Maybe you were raised on a farm and developed a strong work ethic at a young age as you helped your parents tend to the fields. Perhaps you will be a natural leader in group projects and take initiative in the many clubs you’d like to join. Be sure to connect your personal story to a future vision of yourself at UT Austin. The most important thing to remember for this prompt is that your experience, perspective, or talent is dynamic and specific to you and who you are, and no one else.

Optional Short Answer:

Please share background on events or special circumstances that may have impacted your high school academic performance, including the possible effects of covid-19..

This is UT Austin’s version of the Additional Info essay, which means that unless you have something crucial to explain to admissions – and there is absolutely NOWHERE else on the application for you to write about it – you should skip this essay. Think about it: If you were an admissions officer, would you really want to read one more essay per applicant? 

That being said, this essay is perfect for students who have encountered outstanding challenges, and need an opportunity to explain them. In fact, we recommend saving those details for an Additional Info essay, so that you can use the rest of your application to highlight other parts of your amazing personality. So, if something has happened that affected your academic performance, this is a great opportunity to explain the circumstances. Did an illness during your junior year cause your participation in clubs, sports, and activities to take a hit? Did a family emergency cause an overall drop in your GPA? A drop in grades or a gap in your resume does not define you. Remember to make this essay not about the things you couldn’t control, but the actions you took to improve the situation. You don’t want to come off as a victim of circumstance, but as a resilient person who can take steps to positively affect their situation.

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Admission Requirements

Application requirements.

Are you one of the following? In order to be considered for admission to the University of Dallas, you must:

Incoming Freshman

• Complete the online Common Application , including the essay. (You may also use ApplyTexas .)
• Complete the counselor recommendation (via the Common Application).
• Complete the University of Dallas Short Answer Questions (via the Common Application).
• Send your official high school transcript.
• REQUIRED: Send your official ACT, SAT and/or CLT score reports.* ACT and/or SAT score reports appearing on official high school transcripts are acceptable. Our ACT school code is 04234. Our SAT code is 6868.
• If you have taken college or university courses during high school, have an official copy of your final transcript forwarded directly to the University of Dallas.
• Submit your $50 application fee or an official fee waiver form. When completing your online application, you may submit payment electronically.

Transfer Student

• Complete the online institutional application. This includes a completed essay of approximately 500-650 words on the topic of why you are interested in transferring to UD. If you have questions, please contact the Transfer Counselor,  German J. Lopez)
• Letter of recommendation from a college instructor. This letter must be submitted by the recommender, not by the student. If you are unable to provide a recommendation from an instructor, please email the Transfer Counselor to notify who will be providing a recommendation for you.
• Look over the Academic Advising Sheet to see what courses/credits will or will not transfer.
• Have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA.
• Submit official college transcripts for each institution attended. Transcripts must be sent directly by your institution to UD; transcripts submitted by the applicant will be considered unofficial and will not fulfill this requirement.  
• If you have fewer than 24 hours of college credit, you are required to send a final official high school transcript. 
• Submit your $50 application fee or an official fee waiver form . You may submit payment electronically.

Accredited Homeschool Student

If you use an accredited homeschool program, you must submit the following items in order to be considered for admission to the University of Dallas:

• Complete the online Common Application  or ApplyTexas application , including the essay. 
• Counselor recommendation (via the Common Application or ApplyTexas).
• OPTIONAL: Teacher recommendation (via the Common Application or ApplyTexas).
• University of Dallas Short Answer Questions (via the Common Application or ApplyTexas).
• Request a copy of your most recent high school transcript. The transcript is typically sent directly to the University of Dallas from the accredited high school, along with the counselor recommendation.
• REQUIRED: Send your official ACT, SAT and/or CLT score reports.* ACT and/or SAT score reports appearing on official high school transcripts are acceptable. Our ACT school code is 04234. Our SAT code is 6868. 
• If you have taken college or university courses during high school, you must have an official copy of your final transcript forwarded directly to the University of Dallas. 
• Submit your $50 application fee or an official fee waiver form . If completing an online application, you may submit payment electronically.

Common accredited programs include Kolbe Academy, Mother of Divine Grace, Seton Home Study, Regina Caeli Academy, Texas Tech ISD, Angelicum Academy and Our Lady of Victory.

Non-Accredited & Self-Designed Homeschool Student

• Complete the online Common Application , including the essay. (You may also use  ApplyTexas ) 
• Complete the counselor recommendation (via the Common Application or ApplyTexas).  Click here  for more information on the requirements and composition of this recommendation.
• OPTIONAL: Teacher recommendation (via the Common Application  or ApplyTexas).
• Complete the University of Dallas Short Answer Questions (via the Common Application or ApplyTexas).
• Use the one-page document provided by UD . (You can view a completed sample here .) Submit this document by printing, signing and mailing a sealed copy to: University of Dallas Office of Undergraduate Admission, 1845 E. Northgate Dr., Irving, TX 75062. This document can also be uploaded via the Common Application. 
• Use a self-designed template. (Beside the sample listed above, additional templates can be found on the HSLDA website.) This must be no more than one page and must include:
• Courses organized by year. (If organized by subject, the years in which the courses were completed must be clearly noted.)
• Place where course was taken (e.g., self-designed, co-op, dual-credit, private instructor, &c.).
• GPA -- must include GPA per year as well as cumulative. (100.0 or 4.0 scale accepted.)
• Basic demographic information of the student (DOB, contact address, phone number).
• Estimated graduation date. (If the transcript submitted is the student's final transcript, it must include the actual graduation date, not estimated.)
• Signature of the primary educator (most often a parent). 
• Use FastTranscripts.com to submit your one-page transcript easily and safely.

(Please note: the grading scale submitted on a student's original transcript will be used to calculate GPA throughout the entire application process. UD reserves the right to re-calculate a GPA as deemed necessary.)

• Send your  Book List & Course Description . The Book List & Course Description document helps UD to understand the academic background of the applicant. It must include the course name, place taken, synopsis of the course, list of texts used in the course and the final grade. There is no specified length, but this document typically ranges from 5-15 pages. Please see a completed sample here .

(Any transcripts or Book Lists that do not contain all the required information outlined above will be considered incomplete and returned to the applicant.)

• REQUIRED: Send your official ACT, SAT and/or CLT score reports.* Our ACT school code is 04234. Our SAT code is 6868. 
• Submit your $50 application fee or an official fee waiver form . If completing an online application, you may submit payment electronically. 

International Student

• The online  Common Application , including the essay. (You may also use ApplyTexas .)
• Counselor recommendation (via the Common Application).
• University of Dallas Short Answer Questions (via the Common Application).
• Official transcripts (with certified English translations), showing all secondary and post-secondary courses and grades. 
• Submit national examination results and/or official notification of successful school completion.
• Official transcripts showing all secondary and post-secondary courses and grades. International transcripts must be sent through an approved transcript evaluation service .
• TOEFL minimum scores for application review: 80 for Internet-based test only.
• IELTS minimum score for application review: 6.5.
• Duolingo English test minimum score for application review: 110
• Conditional admission not offered by the University of Dallas. Students must apply English-ready. 
• Note: If you are from a non-English speaking country and choose to submit SAT or ACT scores, this score will take the place of the English language proficiency exam requirement.
• Submit your $50 application fee or an official fee waiver form. If completing an online application, you may submit payment electronically.
• Submit a copy of your passport (if available).

If you still have questions about applying as an International student, visit our  International Student Frequently Asked Questions page or contact our admission office at [email protected]

Once admitted, international students must complete the Confirmation of Financial Resources Form , certified by a bank official (not required for lawful permanent residents or those of H-4, E-2, G-2, L-2 status).

Seminarian Student

The Undergraduate Admission Office processes applications for prospective seminarians for Holy Trinity Seminary, Redemptoris Mater Seminary and the Vietnamese Redemptorist Seminary. Typically, students wishing to enter one of these seminaries have already obtained approval from their diocese or the rector of the desired seminary or are in the process of doing so.

For Holy Trinity seminarians

If you are planning to begin the propaedeutic stage of formation in the upcoming academic year, you should apply here . If accepted, you will be a non-degree seeking student during the propaedeutic stage. In the following year you would apply for admission to UD as a full-time student.

If you are currently completing the propaedeutic stage of formation at Holy Trinity Seminary and you plan to begin the discipleship stage of formation at Holy Trinity Seminary in the upcoming academic year, you should apply here . If accepted, you will become a regular full-time student at UD as either an undergraduate or a pre-theologian.

If you will have completed the propaedeutic stage of formation at Holy Trinity Seminary prior to the upcoming academic year somewhere else besides Holy Trinity Seminary, you should apply to UD as:

• An incoming freshman, if you have not completed any college coursework after high school (please apply here , using the Common App). For a checklist of all the things needed to apply as an incoming freshman, click here ).
• A transfer student, if you have completed some college coursework after high school (please apply here . For a checklist of all the things needed to apply as a transfer, click here ).
• A pre-theologian, if you have completed a bachelor’s degree (please apply here ).

For all other seminarians

If you will be receiving formation at Redemptoris Mater Seminary or the Vietnamese Redemptorist seminary, you should apply as a regular freshman, a transfer student, or a pre-theologian, depending on your prior academic history. You should follow the usual procedures for doing so. Please speak to your rector or religious superior in order to clarify your classification and the right application process for you.

If you have any questions about applying to UD as a seminarian, please contact the Undergraduate Office of Admission or Matthew Walz , the Director of the Philosophy & Letters and Pre-Theology Programs.

Non-Degree Seeking Student

• Complete the non-degree seeking application .
• Submit your  $50 application fee .
• Submit official college transcripts for the most recent institution attended.

Readmission

• Students who have previously attended the University of Dallas and wish to re-enroll should complete the readmit application .

Send all documents to:

Office of Undergraduate Admission & Financial Aid 1845 E. Northgate Drive Irving, TX 75062

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