Applying for Admission Checklist

The ApplyTexas summer/fall application opens on Aug. 1. The spring application opens in early to mid-January.

After you submit your ApplyTexas application, you’ll receive an email from us that includes your UT EID, allowing you to access MyStatus and the Document Upload System. During peak periods, this can take 2-3 days.

Typically, the deadline for receipt of supporting credentials (such as essays and transcripts) is extended a few days beyond the application deadline in order to allow those who complete last-minute applications time to upload items after they receive a UT EID. 

If you are not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and will not graduate from a Texas high school, select the ApplyTexas option to apply for transfer admission as an international applicant.

If you can't afford the application fee, request a waiver when you apply for admission using ApplyTexas application. You may be eligible for a waiver if you or your family was affected by a natural disaster; you received a NACAC fee waiver; you are currently eligible for a Pell Grant; your family receives public assistance; you are homeless or a ward of the state; or you are currently serving or previously served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Request a fee waiver when you apply for admission or submit the Request for Fee Waiver form using Document Upload.

International applicants who do not qualify for Texas residency are not eligible for a fee waiver.

If you are an international applicant and are not able to pay your fee online using a credit card, you may mail your payment in the form of a cashier’s check, bank money order or bank draft in U.S. dollars to:

The University of Texas at Austin
Graduate and International Admissions Center
P.O. Box 7608
Austin, TX 78713-7608

Make checks payable to The University of Texas at Austin, and write your six-digit Application ID number, UT EID or UT Assigned Student ID number on your check or money order. Do not send cash or personal checks.

All applicants must submit an essay responding to Topic A, along with a second essay addressing topic C, D or E.

Topic C, used to detail special circumstances you want considered as part of your admissions application, may be submitted as a second essay, or as a third essay if you are required to submit an essay in response to Topic D due to the major you selected. You may also submit it as a third essay at your discretion.

Special Requirements

Architecture

Topic D is required for those applying to Architecture.

Art and Art History

Topic D is required for those applying to Fine Arts’ Department of Art and Art History. Applicants to Design do not need to submit Essay D.

Natural Sciences

Natural Sciences requires a Topic A essay that describes how your intended major would impact achievement of your educational and career goals.

Nursing 

Nursing requires that the essay written in response to Topic A focus on your goal of becoming a nurse and/or a career in nursing. 

Social Work 

Social Work requires that the essay written in response to Topic A focus on your goal of earning a social work degree and how it will prepare you for the future. 

Topic A

The statement of purpose will provide an opportunity to explain any extenuating circumstances that you feel could add value to your application. You may also want to explain unique aspects of your academic background or valued experiences you may have had that relate to your academic discipline. The statement of purpose is not meant to be a listing of accomplishments in high school or a record of your participation in school-related activities. Rather, this is your opportunity to address the admission committee directly and to let us know more about you as an individual, in a manner that your transcripts and the other application information cannot convey.

Topic C

There may be personal information that you want considered as part of your admissions application. Write an essay describing that information. You might include exceptional hardships, challenges or opportunities that have shaped or impacted your abilities or academic credentials, personal responsibilities, exceptional achievements or talents, educational goals or ways in which you might contribute to an institution committed to creating a diverse learning environment.

Topic D

Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?

Topic E

Choose an issue of importance to you—it could be personal, school-related, local, political or international in scope—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community or your generation.

Generally, you should plan to submit your essays in conjunction with your ApplyTexas application; do so even after you’ve submitted other portions of the application by logging in to your ApplyTexas account.

You may also submit other essays using the Document Upload System—or by mailing them to the Office of Admissions—although these submission methods are not preferred.

You must submit transcripts documenting any enrollment at a college, university or post-secondary school, including those at which you:

• Earned dual credit coursework while in high school
• Earned credit that was then transferred to another institution
• Were awarded credit through study abroad, especially if the study abroad program was handled through a third-party institution (not your home college/university)
• Enrolled in coursework but did not earn credit
• Are currently enrolled (If you are enrolled in courses at the time of the deadline, submit an updated transcript from your current college or university as soon as your grades are posted for this additional coursework, no later than June 1 [fall applicants] or Jan. 7 [spring applicants].)

To be considered for transfer, credit you earned by examination must be listed on an official college transcript you submit to UT with departmental abbreviations and course numbers used by that institution. Letter grades assigned to such coursework by the sending institution will be included when your transfer GPA is calculated. Test scores, attachments to the official college transcript or letters from the institution’s registrar’s office are not accepted as a substitute for formally transcripted credit.

Some colleges are able to submit transcripts to UT Austin on your behalf using our SPEEDE server or Parchment. If SPEEDE or Parchment is not available, submit transcripts using the Document Upload System. The uploaded document must be a digital scan or PDF version of an official transcript. (Be sure to include both the front and back!) Any document labeled “unofficial,” grade reports or advising reports, photos (i.e., images taken with a smartphone) and screen shots are not acceptable. 

Track upload status by logging in to the Document Upload System. 

Mail or Hand Delivery

You may also mail or hand deliver official transcripts to the Office of Admissions, although mailing and hand-delivery are not preferred and may result in processing delays.

We cannot accept transcripts submitted via email.

International applicants for transfer admission are required to have earned 24 semester hours of required transferable coursework by the application deadline.

If the documents you are submitting are written in a language other than English, you must also submit complete and official English translations together with the original-language records.

Texas High School Graduates

Texas high school graduates who wish to be considered for automatic transfer admission must submit an official high school transcript showing their class rank.

Rank should be indicated as your numerical position out of the total number of students in the class. For example, if you were fifth in your class of 130, your transcript should report your rank as 5/130. 

International Applicants

If you are an international applicant, you must submit documentation showing that you have completed an accredited secondary school series equivalent to that of a U.S. high school.

Submit an official record or transcript (mark sheet) that shows all your secondary school work and grades (or marks). You should also include copies of your official final examinations taken at the end of the secondary school program, including external exams such as the General Certificate of Education “O” and “A” Level Examinations, school leaving certificates and matriculation exams.

If the documents you are submitting are written in a language other than English, you must also submit complete and official English translations together with the original-language records.

Other Applicants

Other applicants may wish to submit a high school transcript during the application process. Although it is not required for application completion, it must be submitted before admitted students enroll to determine correct course placement.

Ask the high school you attended to submit your transcript through TREx, a system managed by the Texas Education Agency, or Parchment. TREx is preferred if you attended a Texas public school.

You may also mail or hand deliver official transcripts to the Office of Admissions, although mailing and hand delivery are not preferred and may result in processing delays. (International students may not use these methods.)

We cannot accept transcripts submitted via email.

Your résumé should include your previous five years of academic, extracurricular, community and work activities and your honors and awards—including your high school accomplishments if they took place within the last five years. 

Be sure to incorporate:

• All your achievements, not just those that didn’t fit on the ApplyTexas application
• Details about what each activity involved rather than a general description
• The number of hours per week and weeks per year you spent on each activity

Submit your résumé using the Document Upload System.

Messages prompting you to submit additional items to meet major-specific requirements post to MyStatus following submission of your ApplyTexas application or after you’ve requested a major change. Be sure to regularly monitor MyStatus, and to complete all to-do items prior to the application deadline.

Major-specific application requirements by college or school include:

School of Architecture

• Submit an essay addressing Topic D.
• Submit two letters of recommendation, along with a portfolio documenting your design work. (More information about portfolio requirements is available in the External Transfer FAQ section of the School of Architecture’s website.)

College of Fine Arts

Butler School of Music​

• Submit the Butler School of Music application.

• Perform an audition.

Read more about completing Butler School of Music application requirements on its external or internal transfer admission webpages, or on its page for international students.

Department of Art and Art History

• Submit an essay addressing Topic D.
• Design, Studio Art or Visual Art Studies: Submit a portfolio.

Department of Theatre and Dance

• Dance (BFA): Complete an audition.
• Theatre and Dance (BA): Complete an audition or submit a portfolio.
• Theatre Studies (BFA + Teacher Certification): Take part in an interview.

College of Natural Sciences

Submit an essay addressing Topic A that describes how the intended major would impact achievement of your educational and career goals.

School of Nursing

• Submit an essay addressing Topic A, written with a focus on your goal of becoming a nurse and/or a career in nursing.
• Applicants with an associate degree: Submit any additional documents that may be required.

Other Colleges and Schools

Colleges and schools not listed above do not have major-specific application requirements but may have prerequisites or suggested preparatory coursework. 

Letters of recommendation are helpful only when they provide meaningful information about you, offered by someone who can speak of you in an unbiased way. If you choose to submit a letter of recommendation, select someone who is capable of providing a well-written, sincere, personal account. Avoid recommendations from those who know you too well to be unbiased—family members, for instance.

Although you have the option to detail special circumstances in your life by writing an essay about Topic C, you might prefer that someone else tell us about it. In that case, ask that person (even a doctor or counselor, when appropriate) to write a letter on your behalf. 

Letters of recommendation may be submitted via the Document Upload System, or you may use the system to ask someone to submit their recommendation to us directly. Track upload status by logging in to the Document Upload System.

You may also submit recommendations by mailing or hand-delivering them to the Office of Admissions, although these submission methods are not preferred and may result in processing delays. (International students may not use these methods.)

International applicants must submit either an official Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score report demonstrating an adequate knowledge of English. The TOEFL iBT is preferred over the IELTS. We cannot accept institutional TOEFL (ITP) scores.

International applicants and permanent residents are exempt from this requirement if they:

• Are from a country where English is the only official language; or
• Graduate from a high school in the United States or in a country where English is the only official language after completing at least three years of study.

Additionally, permanent residents are exempt from this requirement if they:

• Earned three years of U.S. high school English credit, excluding ESL courses; or
• Resided in the United States for 10 or more years; or
• Earned a bachelor's degree at a U.S. institution of higher education; or
• Attended a U.S. institution of higher education immediately prior to enrollment at the university; or
• Graduated from a U.S. high school.

Minimum scores acceptable for admission are:

• TOEFL: 79 (internet-based test)
• IELTS: An overall band of 6.5 on the Academic Examination

The university’s TOEFL code is 6882. There is no institutional code for the IELTS examination. To fulfill the requirement with scores from the IELTS, have official scores sent to:

The University of Texas at Austin
Graduate and International Admissions Center
P.O. Box 7608
Austin, TX 78713-7608

The permanent resident card requirement applies only to non-U.S. citizens who have permanent resident status in the United States.

If the requirement applies to you, you must submit a copy of the front of your permanent resident card. Use the Document Upload System.

Most applicants don’t need to submit the residency affidavit. If you aren’t a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident but have established Texas residency, you may qualify for residency for tuition purposes and should submit the affidavit. The ApplyTexas application will prompt those who indicate they meet these criteria to download the appropriate form.

To submit the residency affidavit, mail it to the address listed on the form.