Prospective and Incoming Students

Hey! If you're considering UT, you really should read this page thoroughly - it's got lots of tips! Anytime you see something you're interested in (terms such as "application", "campus shuttle network", "Plan II", "academic year", etc), move your mouse over it and there might just be a link for you!

The University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin is a public institution here in the good old US of A. We offer undergraduates nearly 2,700 courses in eleven colleges and schools that provide over 90 bachelor-level degree programs. Graduate study is available in more than 90 fields. Close to 2,300 faculty, including Pulitzer Prize winners, Nobel laureates, and members of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, teach 50,000 students from all fifty states and over one hundred countries. Popular choices among Singaporeans here are degrees in Engineering and Business (the Accounting program is 5th in the nation), but we also have people doing Radio-Television-Film, English, Plan II(UT's equivalent of an Ivy League Liberal Arts program), Journalism, Geology and Psychology.

Austin is the capital city of the state of Texas. Austin lies east of the rolling hills of central Texas and is surrounded by a number of rivers and lakes. This means KAYAKING, SWIMMING AND JETSKIING! And so on. The population of the Austin metropolitan area is about 1.1 million - big enough to be more happening than your average college town, but small enough to be spared from vices of big cities. The climate is considered subtropical; the temperature seldom falls below freezing in the winter months of December through February, but consistently reaches 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees centigrade) or higher in the summer months of June through August. What does this mean? For more than half the year, weather conditions in Austin are JUST LIKE BACK HOME, except without the rain! If you love biking, swimming and doing outdoorsy stuff, Austin is a nice place to live in. The only drawback is the public transportation (apart from the campus shuttle network) is quite sucky compared to Singapore. But hey, cars are cheap! And we'll drive you around. Did I mention the campus shuttle network? Those buses can take you to some pretty interesting places..

The academic year at our University is composed of a fall semester, a spring semester, and a summer session. The fall semester begins in late August and ends in late December; the spring semester begins about mid-January and ends in late May. The summer session consists of two six-week terms in sequence, but you can choose to do either one or the other or both. However, you don’t *have* to spend the summer at UT – if you are thinking of taking your history and government classes (these are required classes for all students) during summer, why not take them at Austin Community College? It will be easier and cheaper. By the way, it gets pretty hot in summer (above 100F/40celcius) so you might wanna consider that when planning for summer school.

Instruction at The University is given in courses, the credit for which is measured in semester hours. Most courses meet 3 hours a week during the fall and spring semesters and have a credit value of 3 hours for 1 semester. For each hour a course meets, an average of 3 hours of preparation is expected of the student.

Admission Policy

Because The University of Texas at Austin extends its resources to only a limited number of academically qualified international students, admission is highly competitive (but think about it this way – if you’re deemed worthy, then there’s a spot set aside for you here). Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. IMPORTANT: Housing applications are processed regardless of whether or not you’ve been accepted, so send it in ASAP if you wanna live on campus! Grad students, check out the housing options for you.

Admission is offered only to those international applicants who will be full-time students seeking degrees. If you are from Singapore, you’ll need your GCE O and/or A level certifications (yes, they’ll take you in with just O levels but you better have a good SAT score, and you’ll have to send in your secondary school transcript), OR your IB scores, SAT scores, teacher recommendations and proof of financial support (plus the other random documents required as stated in the application).

Testing out of easy classes - Do note that UT will not give advance placement for the SAT II Biology test. Check out the MEC Website to see what you can test out of. If you’re Chinese, we recommend testing out of the Chinese language classes, because the test is so easy even ACS boys can get As on it. ;)

Applicants for graduate study will be evaluated on evidence of a superior college record and an acceptable score on the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). The MPA program does not accept scores on the Graduate Record Examinations General Test (GRE) in lieu of the GMAT.

Rankings

Need more reasons to come to UT Austin? Here's four more!

1. Austin is considered the Live Music Capital of the World. All sorts of film and music festivals, such as Austin City Limits, SXSW, are held here every year. Just how big are these events? Let's just say 2005's Austin City Limits Festival had a line up that included Coldplay, Arcade Fire, Oasis and Franz Ferdinand!
2. We're a top-ranked University. The Times of London newspaper ranked us 15th in the world last year. US News and World report ranks UT Austin in the top 50 of all National Universities and #5 best Undergraduate Business Department.
3. Award-winning Faculty. Many are highly renowned in their fields: Nobel Prize winners, Rhodes Scholars, Members of the National Academy of Science and the National Academy of Engineering, and consultants to federal and international agencies and laboratories.
4. An exceptional education at a good price. UT Austin's highly ranked academic programs, cutting edge facilities and stellar faculty offer an Ivy League education at a non Ivy League Price! US News ranks us in the top 10 "Best Bang for Buck"!

Adjusting to America

Things to do? Email us at utexas.ssa@gmail.com

The Singaporean Students' Association

Simply said, we rock. And we're on facebook.. :P