UT Austin and Texas A&M for Private School and Out-of-State Students

Much of what's written about UT Austin and Texas A&M focuses on automatic admission for students at the top of their Texas high school class. But two large groups of applicants don't take that path: students at Texas private schools that don't report class rank, and students from outside Texas. For both, admission comes down to holistic review, and the rules around majors, testing, and residency matter more than the headline admission rate.

Who Uses the Automatic Path, and Who Doesn't

Texas law requires public universities to admit Texas high school graduates in the top 10% of their class, and it covers accredited private schools as well as public ones. UT Austin may cap automatic admission at 75% of its seats for first-time Texas residents, and for summer and fall 2027 its cutoff is the top 5%.

The key word is rank. Texas A&M, for example, lists what a top 10% applicant must do: attend a public or private high school in Texas, rank in the top 10% by the deadline, report that rank on its STARS self-reported academic record, and provide an official transcript "that includes a numeric rank." A student whose school doesn't rank can't meet that last step, so they're reviewed holistically, the same way most out-of-state applicants are. Our guides for Dallas and Houston private school students cover the automatic admission rules and the local picture in more detail.

How Holistic Review Works at Each

UT Austin states plainly that "no specific class rank, test score or other qualification by itself" ensures admission. For a private school student without rank, that means the transcript, the school profile, and the essays carry the weight rank would otherwise carry. Our guide to transcripts without AP or class rank explains how colleges read those.

Majors Are Part of the Admission Decision

At both flagships, the major your student chooses shapes the outcome. UT Austin lists "competitiveness of the major you applied to" among its review factors and requires a short answer on why the student chose their first-choice major. Texas A&M's catalog notes that even for automatically admitted students, "choice of major is not guaranteed," and its admissions office says every applicant to the College of Engineering, including top 10% students, is reviewed for placement into General Engineering, a category that also covers Computer Science.

That has practical consequences:

• Choose the major deliberately. A popular, capacity-limited major is a different admission decision than the university's overall rate suggests.
• Make the case for it. Coursework, activities, and the major short answer should show a genuine, documented interest.
• Understand the alternatives. Read each university's current rules on second-choice majors and internal transfer before applying, since they change and they matter if the first choice doesn't work out.

Applying from Outside Texas

For out-of-state families, including many in Florida, California, and New York, the most important fact is structural. Under Texas Education Code section 51.803(j), a university that uses UT Austin's capped automatic-admission system may not admit nonresident first-time undergraduates beyond 10% of its first-year capacity. Out-of-state and international applicants to UT Austin compete for that share.

At Texas A&M, the admissions office says that "most out-of-state students are admitted through the holistic review process," using the same factors as Texas students who don't qualify automatically.

A few other points for nonresidents:

• Platform: both accept the Common App, so there's no need to learn ApplyTexas. Our guide to the application platforms covers the differences.
• Testing: a UT Austin application requires a score even if every other college on the list is test-optional.
• Timing: UT Austin's early action deadline is October 15, earlier than the November 1 deadlines common elsewhere, and Texas A&M's application period for College Station ends December 1, 2026.
• Cost: nonresident tuition is substantially higher than in-state, so compare net cost against in-state options and private colleges with merit aid. Our guide to merit aid covers that comparison.

Where These Flagships Fit on a List

For students applying holistically, and especially for out-of-state students at UT Austin, these universities belong in the reach or target range depending on the major and the student's record, not in the likely category. Our guide to building a balanced college list explains how to categorize colleges using real data, including major-specific competitiveness.

Final Thought

For students who don't fit the automatic path, the Texas flagships reward the same things selective colleges everywhere do: strong grades in demanding courses, a clear and genuine academic direction, and essays that show who the student is. What's different is how much the major matters, and for out-of-state students, how few seats are available.

Passage Point Admissions is based in South Florida and offers virtual advising to families anywhere in the U.S. through our college admissions advising.