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Coordinated Admission Program

The Coordinated Admission Program (CAP) is an enrollment pathway offered to Texas resident high school graduates applying for freshman admission to the University of Texas at Austin. You’ll begin your studies at another UT System university for your freshman year. After completing all CAP requirements, you may transfer to UT Austin to complete your undergraduate studies.

Upon successful completion of the CAP requirements, you are guaranteed admission to UT Austin’s College of Liberal Arts. Keep in mind, specific majors are not guaranteed. You can also compete for admission to majors in colleges outside of Liberal Arts, with the exception of the School of Architecture.

How to Participate

Texas resident high school graduates, who are not offered regular admission to The University of Texas at Austin, are offered to participate in CAP. This includes an opportunity to attend a UT System school your freshman year and transition to UT Austin your sophomore year. To accept the CAP offer, you only need to complete the CAP agreement by the deadline provided in MyStatus. You do not need to apply to the university you’ll be studying at for your freshman year. However, these schools have specific enrollment criteria and requirements.

Current CAP Students

Program Requirements

In order to receive the guarantee of admission to UT Austin, you must complete the items below and satisfy the full terms of your CAP agreement.

1. Complete a minimum of 30 semester credit hours of transferable coursework specified by the UT System school you choose to attend.

All coursework must be taken at the UT System school you attend during the fall and spring semesters of your freshman year. The summer semester prior to your freshman year may be included if your CAP school requires a summer start. Advanced Placement exam credits or “Maymester” credit hours will not count toward the 30-hour requirement. Work with the CAP academic advisor at your UT System university to ensure all the courses you take are on the approved course list.

2. Complete at least one mathematics courses beyond Math 301 (college algebra).

If you test out of or receive credit for a math course beyond Math 301 before enrolling in CAP, you must complete a math course beyond Math 301. If you’re prepared to enroll in a math course beyond college algebra when you begin your CAP year, you will work with your academic advisor at the UT System university you attend to select an appropriate course. The mathematics course you take will be counted toward your 30 hours of required coursework.

If you need to take college algebra, you must do so in the fall semester of your freshman year in order for it to count as part of your 30 hours of required coursework. You will then need to take another mathematics courses in the spring to fulfill your mathematics requirement. If college algebra is taken as a prerequisite or preparation course in the fall semester, the grade that you earn will not be considered when your CAP GPA is calculated. In such cases, your GPA will be calculated using your other 27 hours, and you must earn at least a 3.2 GPA. Math 301 does not apply to the math requirements for most degree plans at UT Austin.

3. Earn at least a 3.2 cumulative grade point average on the coursework that you complete.

None of the individual grades you earn for transferable CAP courses can be below a C, regardless of your cumulative GPA. If you make a D or an F in a course during the fall semester of your CAP year, you must retake that course (or take another course in its place) during the spring semester.

If you retake a course, you may only count it once toward your semester hours. That means that you’ll have to take at least 33 hours of coursework to obtain 30 hours of transferable coursework. Additionally, if you retake a course, both grades will calculate into your CAP GPA during review of your eligibility for transfer. This means if you take Calculus 1 and earn a grade of an F and retake it and earn an A, both grades and GPA points are considered in GPA calculations.

4. Submit your final official transcript by June 1.

Your transcript must include final grades from all coursework completed at your UT System school. It must arrive by June 1 or the following Monday if June 1 falls on a weekend.

Transcript Info

Financial Aid

Participating UT System schools establish their own policies for determining financial aid and scholarship eligibility for CAP students.

If you applied for financial aid at UT Austin but will attend another UT System school as part of CAP, you must send your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) information to that university. This will enable the other UT System school to have access to your financial aid information during your freshman year.

If you have not sent the FAFSA to your selected university, you may do so in several ways:

  • Online: Visit FAFSA and select the Returning User login. You will need an FSA ID and password to access and update your information. Once you have successfully logged in, choose the Make FAFSA Corrections option and add the school using its federal school code.
  • Paper Student Aid Report (SAR): If you have your paper SAR, add your university’s school code to the section where you can make updates/corrections. Sign the report and return it to the address indicated for corrections.
  • Phone Correction: Call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 800-433-3243. You will need the Data Release Number (DRN) printed on your SAR to make the correction by phone.

Once you add the school code of your UT System school to the FAFSA, the financial aid office at your selected university will receive the FAFSA information and begin reviewing your aid application. If additional information is required, the school’s financial aid office will contact you directly.

Use the school code for the UT System school you plan to attend:

  • UT Arlington: 003656
  • UT El Paso: 003661
  • UT Permian Basin: 009930
  • UT Rio Grande Valley: 003599
  • UT San Antonio: 010115
  • UT Tyler: 011163

Participating Schools and Eligibility

Participating CAP schools set their own enrollment criteria. While you do not need to apply to these schools to participate in CAP, you may not fit the enrollment criteria for all participating universities. View the enrollment criteria and the list of participating universities below.

Enrollment Requirements

Students offered participation in CAP select from a list of participating UT System schools. The schools available to an individual student depend upon the enrollment requirements the student meets. Each participating UT System school sets its own enrollment requirements annually.

Students who do not meet the CAP requirements for one of these schools will not be offered that school as an option for their CAP participation. If you would like to be considered for a school that you do not qualify for, please contact the school directly. Please note that schools with limited CAP spaces available may not consider students who do not meet the established enrollment requirements posted below.

UT Arlington

Class Rank
Top 10% OFFERED
Top Quarter OFFERED
Second Quarter OFFERED
Third Quarter NOT OFFERED
Fourth Quarter NOT OFFERED
Non-Ranking School OFFERED

Explore CAP at UT Arlington

UT El Paso

Class Rank
Top 10% OFFERED
Top Quarter OFFERED
Second Quarter OFFERED
Third Quarter OFFERED
Fourth Quarter OFFERED
Non-Ranking School OFFERED

Explore CAP at UT El Paso

UT Permian Basin

Class Rank
Top 10% OFFERED
Top Quarter OFFERED
Second Quarter OFFERED
Third Quarter OFFERED
Fourth Quarter NOT OFFERED
Non-Ranking School OFFERED

Explore CAP at UT Permian Basin

UT Rio Grande Valley

Class Rank
Top 10% OFFERED
Top Quarter OFFERED
Second Quarter OFFERED
Third Quarter OFFERED
Fourth Quarter NOT OFFERED
Non-Ranking School OFFERED

Explore CAP at UT Rio Grande Valley

UT San Antonio

Class Rank
Top 10% OFFERED
Top Quarter OFFERED
Second Quarter OFFERED
Third Quarter NOT OFFERED
Fourth Quarter NOT OFFERED
Non-Ranking School OFFERED

Explore CAP at UT San Antonio

Stephen F. Austin State University

Class Rank
Top 10% OFFERED
Top Quarter OFFERED
Second Quarter OFFERED
Third Quarter NOT OFFERED
Fourth Quarter NOT OFFERED
Non-Ranking School OFFERED

Explore CAP at Stephen F. Austin

UT Tyler

Class Rank
Top 10% OFFERED
Top Quarter OFFERED
Second Quarter OFFERED
Third Quarter OFFERED
Fourth Quarter NOT OFFERED
Non-Ranking School OFFERED

Explore CAP at UT Tyler

Is CAP Right for Me?

More than a thousand students participate in CAP each year. Around a third return to UT Austin for their sophomore year after successfully completing the CAP program. If you received a CAP offer and are weighing your options, here are a few things to consider.

With the successful completion of the CAP requirements, you will:

  1. Be guaranteed admission to the College of Liberal Arts (specific majors not guaranteed).
  2. Be able to compete for a major outside the college outside Liberal Arts (except for the School of Architecture).
  3. Begin your sophomore year at UT Austin with at least 30 hours of transferable coursework to support on time graduation.

We do not recommend CAP:

  • If you are interested in architecture or interior design.
    Majors in the School of Architecture are not available for competitive transfer after CAP.
  • If you have a number of AP or IB credits and cannot fulfill the 30-hour CAP requirement.
    You might have difficulty finding courses from the approved CAP lists if you have a number of AP or IB credits. If you find there are not enough available courses to complete the 30-hour requirement, then CAP is not the best option for you. You would be better served attending college elsewhere as a regular freshman. While you’ll lose your guaranteed admission by not participating in CAP, you will have a more academically challenging and productive freshman year. If you enroll in college after high school graduation and attain 24 college credits, you can apply to transfer to UT Austin and compete for space in the transfer applicant pool.
  • If you are not ready to take college algebra in the fall semester of your freshman year.
    You must enroll in and complete at least one math course beyond college algebra (Math 301) during the two or three semesters of your CAP year. If you are not prepared, at a minimum, to enroll in college algebra during the fall semester of your CAP year, you will not be able to fulfill the minimum CAP math requirement within the allotted timeframe. This will disqualify you from enrolling at UT Austin. We recommend consulting with the UT System university you are interested in attending regarding your math placement before enrolling in CAP.