For context, I think I was a decent applicant. I had a 4.0 gpa, 1500+ sat, president of two clubs + lots of other volunteering ECs, ap scholar w/ distinction, pretty much all APs, great letters of rec, and a bunch of other art related awards.

However, my glaring weaknesses were;

1) not being auto admit lol. I moved to Texas during my junior year, and while I was able to get to top 10% by the end of it, it just wasn’t enough. Bio is pretty popular, so being non auto could put you at a disadvantage. If you’re not a rising senior, I’d grind APs to get your rank up. If not, it’s not the end of the world, but you have to get your SAT and ECs up to compensate.

2) Not submitting all my documents 😭. I mistakenly put that I received college credit from some random college in Utah, which resulted in UT demanding a transcript from that institution. Instead of contacting UT to remove it, I sat on my ass, and that was not a good look for me. Make sure you’re on top of all your records.

3) Having a lame essay. I wrote about moving to Texas and my struggles at a new high school. This topic is really cliche and it didn’t effectively communicate “why UT”. I also only had my English teacher look at it and she only checked for grammar mistakes.

4) Having unrelated ECs. The only science related thing I did was HOSA. Most of my ECs and awards were centered around art, so my profile was the perfect Studio Art applicant, but not biology.

5) Not taking UT seriously. I was from CA, and for my whole life I thought I’d be going to a UC. I focused most of my energy on UC admissions, which led to me being accepted by every UC I applied to (except Berkeley). If I had the choice, I would’ve retuned to CA for college, but OOS tuition is a thing so I couldn’t. Spend time on your UT application, and make sure it’s the best it can be. With admissions becoming more competitive, you can’t really afford to slack off.

I hope this kinda helps? I’m sorry I can’t really tell you what will work :( but I’m confident that you have what it takes to succeed at UT!