- in state, class of 2028
- hispanic
- low income, no assets/retirement/savings (17k/yr AGI family of 3)
- NOT First gen but i almost was
- underfunded inner-city Title 1 public school (982 sat avg, 847 school district avg)
- somewhat noncompetitive area (not rural, not houston/dallas/austin)

STATS:
- UW GPA: 96.12
- W GPA: 100.67 (six seven)
- very strong GPA upward trend
- Rank: 6/93 (top 6.5%) (im working towards getting top 5% 🤞)
- SAT: 1480, 780 RW 700 M (highest SAT score in the school). RETAKING NOVEMBER AND UNTIL I GET 790+ MATH
- associates degree by graduation, 20 DE classes [95% of ppl in my school do this though]
- no APs (school barely offers any).
- highest math will be AP Calc AB by senior yr 😢 (hardest math track my school has)

ECS:
- (10th/11th) Custom built & sold budget PCs locally. $13k revenue over 6 months, 30+ 5 star reviews; managed accounting for 250+ transactions, 15h/wk

- (11th) Led weekly SAT instruction in my school; delivered 15+ workshops, selected as 1 of 10/400 students to lead schoolwide lessons. Received informal commendation from school principal. SIngle handedly created 10+ lesson plans. Conducted 3+ lessons to a crowd of 100+ students as part of school-mandated schoolwide SAT lessons for the entire junior and senior classes

- (10th/11th) Online Volunteer SAT Tutoring: Tutored 100+ students online; answered 1,000+ SAT questions, mentored 10+ students to earn 700+ section scores, tailored 1:1 study strategies.

- (10th/11th) part-time janitor job, 10hr a week (got laid off a few weeks ago sadly)

- (9th/10th/11th) Created & edited 60+ educational Rubik’s Cube YT videos; garnered 1.2M+ views in 3 months, collaborated with 5+ creators in the space

- (9th/10th/11th) Family Responsibility: managed family budget helping family save money, and house cleaning (8hr/wk)

- (9th/10th/11th) volunteer at numerous rubik's cube competitions: judged 250+ competitors across 5+ Rubik’s Cube competitions; coordinated with fellow volunteers to support efficient event operations.

- (10th) cyberpatriot varsity member: Served as co-head of the varsity team in 2+ CyberPatriot competitions; developed team strategy & helped improve competition scores by 20%.

- (11th) AVID Class representative: tutored peers in coursework weekly; organized AVID cohort events, led teams of 20+ students, raised $200+ through fundraising. (in my school, AVID is required all 4 years)

- (11th) school Astronomy club member, helped plan & execute 2+ fundraisers which went on to raise $300 in total; contributed event ideas and supported financial management.

- (9th/10th/11th) wikipedia editor with 100 edits; edited articles about rubiks cubes

- (9th/10th/11th) 100+ community service hours working at school events and fundraisers

- (10th) art club member: contributed to 2+ events

- (9th/10th/11th) weightlifting

Awards/Honors:

- 3rd place within state Rubik's cube championship
- peaked top 100 nationally for the hardest discipline of competitive rubik's cubing (9th)
- peaked top 2.5% nationally for 3x3x3 competitive rubik's cubing (10th)
- peaked top 3.5% nationally for 2x2x2 competitive rubik’s cubing (11th)
- school's A honor roll (9th/10th/11th)
- president's list, community college (9th/10th/11th)
- national hispanic honor society member (11th)

Additional Info:
- single parent household
- both parents are #unemployed
- mom (custodial parent) is 90-100k in debt
- family hasnt had a car since i was in 7th grade, which makes some ECs a lot harder (my city's also super car dependent)
- part of family is homeless
- squatters lived in our home in 9th grade so it affected my grades a lil
- had to spend like 20-30hr a week cleaning in 9th grade bc my dad was a severe hoarder so that also affected my grades + ECs

I was looking at UT Austin’s newly released Fall 2026 admissions numbers and started doing some math.
According to the university’s September 22 announcement:
98,841 students applied for freshman admission.
9,487 actually enrolled.
89,354 applicants never enrolled.
UT Austin hasn’t published the total number admitted for Fall 2026 yet, so we don’t know exactly how many were rejected.
But here’s what caught my attention.
UT Austin encourages students to apply for on-campus housing before they even receive an admissions decision because housing priority is based on when they apply.
The housing application fee is $100. And it’s nonrefundable.
So students are encouraged to pay $100 to get in line for housing at a university where admission is extremely competitive, without knowing whether they’ll even be accepted.
I started wondering how much money UT Austin collects from students who never attend.
Using the 89,354 applicants who didn’t enroll:
If 25% paid the housing fee: $2.23 million
If 50% paid: $4.47 million
If 75% paid: $6.70 million
If 100% paid: $8.94 million
Obviously, these are hypothetical figures. Not everyone applies for housing, some students qualify for fee waivers, and we don’t know how many applicants actually paid.
But even if only a quarter of the students who didn’t enroll paid that fee, we’re talking about more than $2 million.
And some of those students were never even offered admission.
I understand charging a housing deposit once a student has been accepted. But encouraging students to pay a nonrefundable fee before they know whether they can attend seems questionable, especially at a public university.
I’d love to know:
How many housing applications did UT Austin receive for Fall 2026?
How many applicants received fee waivers?
How much did the university collect in housing application fees?
How many students paid the fee and were subsequently rejected?
Is this standard practice at other universities? And should colleges be allowed to collect nonrefundable housing application fees from students they haven’t even admitted?
I’m genuinely curious what other families think.

I am applying for early action, and sent in my SAT Score on Oct 17th. Collegboard says the estimated delivery is Oct 20th though, and I need all materials in by the 22nd to be considered early action. Should I worry? What should I do?

Race: White, Sex: Male, State, Texas, Major: Mathematics

GPA: 4.0, Class Rank: 2/115

ACT: 36 Composite (35 Math, 36 Reading, 36 Writing, (Uncounted) 30 Science

4 AP tests by end of senior year (max offered, 5 on both taken)

~10 Dual credit classes by end of senior year.

Mathematics Focused Activity
9,10,11,12 Number Sense .5 hours/week, 18 weeks/year

• Practiced high speed mental math techniques (multidigit multiplication, estimation, unit conversion, etc…)
• Represented my school as 1 of a 2 member team in local 10-minute math exams

Clubs and Leadership
9,10,11,12 Theatre (treasurer, 12) 8 hours/week, 24 weeks/year

• Performed on stage as an actor
• Represented my school at state competition (2nd place)
• Managed company funds as treasurer

11,12 Band 16 hours/week, 36 weeks/year

• Competed in both marching and concert competitions as a percussionist
• Worked as a loading crew during marching season (12)
• Qualified for State Solo and Ensemble, performing “The March of the Dwarfs” on piano and “Catching Shadows” as Vibraphone II
• Performed as a pianist for jazz band (12)

9,10,11 AG 4 hours/week, 16 weeks/year

• Raised and cared for young goats. Showed goats in front of a licensed judge
• Competed showing goats in state competitions

12 (County) County Future Leader (12) 5.5 hours/week, 5 weeks/year

• Selected alongside 2 other candidates from my school to a group of 12
• Observed the workings of our country government

Employment
Summer before 12 IT Summer Help 27 hours/week, 11 weeks

• Assisted (School District) IT department
• Managed inventory
• Fixed IT complaints
• Dismantled computers (mostly Optiplex)
• Ran ethernet cables

Volunteering
12 Biology Teacher Aide 4 hours/week, 36 weeks

• Graded assignments
• Provided information to substitutes in absence of a teacher

Awards and Honors

• Beta Club (9,10,11,12), Executive Committee (11,12)
• College Board Rural and Small-Town Recognition Award (11)
• A Honor Roll (9,10,11,12)

I'm mostly worried that I don't have very much mathematical experience outside of academics. My other extracurriculars are alright, but nothing special.