Unlike most universities, UT Austin offers 10 distinct honors programs that vary in their academic emphasis rather than having one overarching honors college or program:
A demanding four-year undergraduate curriculum is offered by Texas CSB with the goal of preparing students for top technology careers. For students interested in careers in today’s business world with a strong focus on technology, the Texas CSB offers distinct advantages. University officials anticipate that it will draw talented students from across the country who have strong quantitative and technical skills. For students interested in data and marketing analytics, financial engineering, and leadership positions in tech companies, the program is an especially alluring opportunity. ”.
Rest assured that the selection process is extremely rigorous. The CSB will need to come close to meeting the requirements of the Business Honors Program and the Turing Scholars Program. “Turing denies 85% of valedictorian applicants. Therefore, it’s crucial that you show a broad and deep level of dedication to computer-related activities. “The BHP’s average SAT is north of 1500, and the CSB’s is also Only about 12% of applicants gain admission to the BHP.
According to the website, “Our top-rated faculty push students to think outside the box and learn the varied business and computer science disciplines.” The 44 classes in the curriculum expose students to all facets of business and computer science, and each class has between 30 and 40 students.
To finish the program in four years, the majority of CSB students must enroll in at least one summer session and take 17 credits on average per term. The CSB curriculum alone appears to be almost full-time. Here is a link to a sample four-year course schedule. It is not for the faint-hearted.
Students must also complete the university’s core requirements, which include government, history, and composition courses.
Turing: Self-Taught
Whether UT cares about MOOCs, Coursera, independent studies and projects, or other activities and interests is a common query from applicants. Just as any activity on a resume doesn’t necessarily speak for itself, simply having these on yours won’t help you all that much. As an applicant, it is your responsibility to explain to the reviewers how you went about your activities, the reasons you explore a variety of interests, and any obstacles to participation you may have run into along the way.
It’s one thing for parents who have STEM graduate degrees to encourage you to pursue robotics and programming even before you can walk. Some applicants’ access to numerous resources and privileges from a young age is quite obvious. Of course, students in resource-rich environments are praised for pursuing and following through on their commitments, but coming from a family with less exposure to technology or professional networks is quite another.
Instead of stuffing your resume with unnecessary information, teaching yourself at home or in school with little to no resources shows your reviewers that you have internal motivation and curiosity for its own sake. They describe how their father sent them to a local programming workshop with a Windows 3 computer in another essay. 1 book. Moreover, “Even in high school, I was a programming late-bloomer. My freshman year, I took AP Computer Science A, but it wasn’t until almost the end of my sophomore year that I learned about programming contests and robotics. ”.
However, they have produced a wide range of personal projects in numerous fields simply because they are interested in them. Another distinguishing quality is their capacity to recognize problems in the real world and develop solutions. Given Turing’s extreme selectivity, we believed they had a good chance of being admitted, but it didn’t end up working out. STEM programs would be well-served by students like this.
Math and Logical Reasoning
This highly specialized student, as opposed to the generalist applicant above, has numerous computer science and strong STEM commitments. Although they focused their Diversity short answer on describing their varied non-STEM interests, they played to these strengths throughout their application. Similar to the first example, they look at underlying themes and ways of thinking that link their early interests to their present-day interests and pursuits. Giving thoughtful justifications for applying to UT, especially as an out-of-state applicant, is another effective strategy.
Looking back, I can see areas where the content of this Major short answer and their Turing response below could be changed. You have to divide up and choose which content you want to place where when applying to Turing, which can be difficult. All of your applications will be seen by the Turing reviewers, but the Turing essay won’t be seen by the regular admissions reviewers. That became consequential here because, despite ranking top 10% with a 1520 and state/national level accomplishments, they did not gain admission
Specifically if your academics are anything less than perfect, my advice moving forward is to lead with your strongest STEM and CS activities and interests in the regular admissions first-choice major short answer rather than saving it for the Turing essay. They eventually covered some of their STEM activities in their Leadership short answer, but I now see that a better approach would be to move some of their Turing essay below to the Major short answer and replace some of the “softer” analysis to comment on their STEM activities in the Turing essay.
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Turing: Math and Logical Reasoning
Their strategy here is to provide as much information as they can about their numerous commitments and achievements. They go into great detail about their extensive studies, which are beyond what is typically taught in high school. They enrolled in the subsequent calculus sequence at their nearby four-year university and took more than a half-dozen advanced and specialized computer science topics through CTY. They started around the age of twelve, giving them an advantage over many other students, much like the student from our first example, and it’s fairly uncommon to see such a long list of coursework.
It is also evident that they have an innate interest and curiosity in their pastimes and interests, as evidenced, for example, by their AP Chemistry research paper, which examines the relationship between chemical engineering and artificial intelligence. The fact that they self-studied for AP CS despite taking a full course load is also impressive. Additionally, they did a good job of including Why Turing statements at the conclusion of their essay. If they had scored in the top 2% of the 201550, I believe they would have had a good chance at capturing Turing. Despite being rejected from UTCS/Turing, they were accepted into Illinois, a program that is equally strong and competitive.
Computer Science with Math Focus
This applicant has an extensive and deep interest in mathematics. They started a successful summer camp that has been running for four summers to help students get ready for AIME and other math exams and competitions, which they discuss in their Essay A. They have been tutoring since seventh grade. Their task is to combine their aptitude for computer science with their mathematical interests.
Their admissions journey is a good illustration of how you don’t necessarily need to specialize in computer science from an early age, even though it’s conceivable that they could have applied to Applied Mathematics or Computational Engineering. It’s acceptable and possibly preferable to change your major in college to something related. Because of their excellent academic standing, they decided it was worth the risk to apply to the more competitive computer science program than students with similar majors.
They effectively demonstrate their suitability for computer science by bringing up recent hobbies and interests that may not be listed on the resume. Mathematicians and computer scientists can communicate their interest in data analytics by fusing their love of baseball with sports analytics. To demonstrate that they have some understanding of the various disciplines and distinctions between hardware and software, another powerful technique is to make reference to a favorite class or teacher. That suggests computer engineering as a possible major but disparages it in favor of computer science’s focus on software.
Turing: Computer Science and Math
The Turing honors prompt asks you to discuss your aptitude for and demonstrated interests in computer science. This response is a straightforward way to respond to that prompt. The second paragraph demonstrates how they have explored their CS interests in school with a brief mention of local competitions after continuing to discuss their aptitude for mathematics. They elaborate on one competition to demonstrate their teamwork, leadership, and what about competing they enjoy, rather than just talking about how they performed.
The roles, responsibilities, and abilities acquired during a pertinent internship are covered in the following paragraph. Finding a problem and explaining how they came up with a solution shows that their experience was meaningful and not just something to put on their resume. Additionally, it aids them in strengthening the link between mathematical ideas and computer science theories to solve real-world problems, which makes a nice transition to their next sentence about their curriculum interests. They have a clear understanding of what they want to get out of their UT studies, as evidenced by the fact that they conclude with a discussion of related courses in computational engineering.
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Minecraft Red Stone and Other Interests
By beginning with their proposed major, highlighting their professional aspirations, and providing a brief explanation of why they are pursuing computer science, this applicant adopts a systematic and straightforward approach to responding to the prompt. If you have a dream job, mentioning it and talking about it are good ways to express your aspirations and interests. From elementary school through high school, they go in order of when they first developed their interests and the specific ways they explored them.
I gained a lot of knowledge about the Redstone mod platform for Minecraft in order to assist this student in explaining what it is and why it is a relatively difficult and unusual independent project. Our challenge was to explain its significance to a lay reader, so we decided on a metaphor. “Playing Redstone is like experimenting with different canvases and mixing your own paints, whereas playing Minecraft is like painting with crayons.” Few people bother to change their palettes to accommodate various needs. ”.
Building metaphors and analogies can be a very effective way to make complex topics more digestible and relatable, regardless of the subject, if you’re using technical jargon or discussing an otherwise obscure topic. They hint at what they will eventually cover in their Turing essay in the second to last paragraph, and they make reference to information they already provided in Essay A. Although it is not required, doing so can help your reader understand where they have been and what to expect from subsequent prompts. Last but not least, they did a nice job identifying a professor who piques their interests and other materials that demonstrate why UT is the best fit for them.
Although the student had few STEM or CS activities on their resume, they were able to elaborate on a significant mentor and independent studies to show that they were a good fit for the major. It may be necessary to cite some other life experiences to show your suitability for computer science if your STEM resume is weak. It isn’t like they’re applying totally uninformed.
By focusing on their relationship with Tom and how he assisted them in pursuing a late interest in computer science for half of their essay, the applicant suggests that they will make the most of a bachelor’s degree in computer science. They mention UT’s distinctive curriculum since they are applying as OOS candidates to show that they are making a well-informed choice. Despite not being accepted into UT, they were accepted into Illinois and Tulane instead.
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A Peek into the Computer Science and Turing Scholars Honors Program at UT
FAQ
How many Turing Scholars are there?
The Turing Scholars Program is unique. We are able to offer an exceptional educational experience that combines the advantages of a large university with a small community by serving a small number of truly exceptional students—we typically matriculate about 50 first-year Turing Scholars each fall.
How do you get into UT Turing Scholars?
Join the Turing Scholars program Current Computer Science (CS) majors may apply for admission to the Turing Scholars Honors Program at the conclusion of each semester by completing an online application and emailing a resume to the address provided on the online application.
How many people apply Turing Scholars?
UT received less than a thousand applications for CS ten years ago. Now, it wouldn’t surprise me if more than 6,000 applied for an admissions rate of less than 15% For the fall semester of 2019, 729 CS applicants were admitted, and 403 enrolled.
What is the least competitive major at UT Austin?
Liberal arts, undergraduate studies, social work, and education are some fields of study that will always have lower competition. the latter two because there aren’t as many applicants for them. Every applicant to these colleges and universities has lower test scores than the average applicant. Some, like Architecture, will always be competitive.