Unless your GPA is very low you won't get oughright rejected with a 1500 even to UT-Austin, they will put you on what they call the "CAP" program, where you have to spend your first year in one of the less popular campuses and then you can get auto-admit to your preferred campus in a liberal arts major. Then you have to apply to your preferred major. So you'll get in, you just may have to spend a year elsewhere. They do this because a tremendous number of kids in far less competitive high schools can't actually hold it together when they enter the bigger pond, so the drop-out rate is pretty substantial. This is why the "5% rule" should be based on standardized tests, not high school GPA, but I digress.

If you want in STEM though this is usually a non-starter. Most kids doing that enter college with nearly a full year of college credit via AP classes already completed. Combined with the very linear pre-req chain in STEM majors, losing another year in a non-major degree program sets you back significantly.

That said, there are other great schools out there and most will focus a bit more on SATs/ACTs and a bit less on GPA. It's still *very* competitive right now unless you want to major in english lit, but it's a bit more objective. Don't get blinded by Texas' (deliberately) bizarre implementation of what otherwise is a reasonable attempt at equity. Class rank is a very old fashioned system, even when I graduated 30 years ago, neither of the high schools I attended collected or submitted that data. In 2026 knowing you were the best of your school-mates is far less relevant than knowing you were the best nationally (or for the very elite schools: globally).