The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) received a record-breaking surge in applications for the Fall 2025 term. Applications for freshman admission increased 24.3% this year, for a staggering total of 90,562 applications. For Texas’s flagship public university, applications from in-state residents increased by 12%, while out-of-state applications soared by 48%. These numbers speak to UT Austin’s (and southern schools in general) rising popularity among students.
Additionally, UT Austin stood out as one of the few highly selective institutions where the proportion of Black and Hispanic incoming students remained steady despite the Supreme Court’s overturning of affirmative action. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently highlighted the university’s automatic-admit policy, viewed as an affirmative action alternative but also a major factor in UT Austin’s increasing selectivity.
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UT AUSTIN SHAKE-UP
Despite the return of a standardized testing requirement for applicants that began this cycle, UT Austin saw a third consecutive year of record-breaking application numbers. Standardized test scores don’t change admissions decisions for automatic admits, but they are used to match these students to their choice of majors.
This is also the first year that UT Austin offered an Early Action program, which had a deadline of October 15. This decision will be communicated to applicants by January 15. The regular deadline for applications was December 1, with a guaranteed decision by February 15.
Students deferred during the early round will receive a final decision by February 15 as well. There will also be a waitlist for the first time, only applicable to those who are not automatically admitted. Most students will be notified as early as March 1 if they are admitted from the waitlist.
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TTA Top Tip: Often considered a “Public Ivy,” UT Austin differs from its peer universities in that 90% of its incoming first-year class is reserved for in-state residents, 75% of which will be offered automatic admission based on their high school ranking. This means that out-of-state applicants are fighting for the remaining 10% of first-year spots. Consequently, the major you’re applying to at UT Austin matters a lot. Some majors, such as computer science, engineering, and business, are much more competitive than others. It’s important to ensure your application materials and achievements are in line with your first-choice major to make you a compelling candidate for admission.
MORE FROM TOP TIER ADMISSIONS: UT AUSTIN
- The Rising Popularity of Southern Colleges
- Public Ivies: Class of 2028 Acceptance Rates
- Deferred? 5 Things You Need to Know This Year
- UT Austin Shake-Up: Testing Required and a New Early Action Program
- What are the “Southern Ivies”?
At Top Tier Admissions, we are committed to making the college admissions process more transparent. Easy access to clear data helps families understand trends in college admissions and guides them in making more informed decisions. This year we’re once again collecting early acceptance rate data and trends at selective schools and providing insight and analysis of our own.
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