Explanation of Eligibility for Automatic College Admission
Under the Automatic Admission policy (Texas Education Code §51.803), Texas students may be eligible for automatic admission to a state college or university as an undergraduate student if they meet certain criteria. To qualify for automatic admission, a student must:
(1) earn a grade point average in the top 10 percent* of his/her high school graduating class,
(2) graduate from a Texas public or private high school (or, if the student is a Texas resident, from a high school operated by the U.S. Department of Defense),
(3) successfully complete the requirements for the Recommended High School Program (RHSP) or the Distinguished Achievement Program (DAP) (or the equivalent if enrolled in private school) or satisfy ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks on the ACT college entrance exam or earn a score of at least 1,500 out of 2,400 on the SAT college entrance exam, and
(4) apply for admission to a state college or university within the first two school years after graduation from high school.
Students who meet the criteria for automatic admission must submit an application before the deadline set by the college or university to which they are applying. Students must also provide a high school transcript or diploma that indicates whether they have satisfied or are on schedule to satisfy the requirements of the RHSP or DAP.
Curriculum Requirements
Not later than the end of a student’s junior year in high school, his or her official transcript should indicate whether the student has satisfied or is on schedule to satisfy the requirements for the RHSP or DAP. Students who are unable to satisfy the curriculum requirements of the RHSP or DAP because the courses necessary to complete the requirements are unavailable as a result of course scheduling, lack of enrollment capacity, or another cause not within the student's control, are considered to have satisfied the requirements of the relevant program. In such cases, the student must have successfully completed the portions of the RHSP or DAP curricula that were available and the student’s official transcript or diploma must indicate this.
Admission and Enrollment
State colleges and universities may admit a student accepted under the Automatic Admission policy for either the fall semester of the academic year for which the student applied or for the summer session that precedes that fall semester. Additionally, the admitting college or university may require that applicants in need of additional preparation for college-level work enroll in enrichment courses or programs during the summer immediately after the student is admitted. Colleges and universities are required to admit an applicant as an undergraduate student if the applicant is the child of a public servant who was killed or fatally injured in the line of duty and who meets the minimum entrance requirements set by the college or university.
*The University of Texas at Austin
Beginning with admissions for the 2011-2012 school year, The University of Texas at Austin (UT) is no longer required to automatically admit applicants in excess of 75% of its enrollment capacity for first-time resident undergraduate students. Should the number of applicants who qualify for automatic admission exceed 75% of enrollment capacity, UT shall provide notice of the percentage of qualified applicants that are anticipated to be offered admission. For the 2011-2012 academic year, UT has determined that it will automatically admit all eligible applicants who rank within the top 8% of their high school graduating classes. For the 2012-2013 academic year, UT has determined that it will automatically admit all eligible applicants who rank within the top 9% of their graduating classes. Please note that students admitted to UT under the Automatic Admission policy will be required to complete at least 6 semester credit hours during evening or other low-demand hours in order to ensure the efficient use of available classrooms.
Additional Resources
For the complete text of this statute, please refer to the Texas Education Code (TEC), §51.803, available online at
www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.51.htm#51.803.
For questions related to the Automatic Admission policy, please visit the Texas Education Agency’s Automatic College Admission webpage at
www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=2147485632.
A list of state colleges and universities appears in TEC §61.003(3), general academic teaching institutions, available online at
www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.61.htm#61.003.
