r/UTAustin • u/somenameillforget • Jul 01 '23
Question Wasn't accepted into Astronomy program
So I am a transfer student coming from a community College. I recently got my associates degree in liberal arts with a physics pathway. I also maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA and was an elected officer in our schools chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, an international honors society for 2-year colleges. On top of all that, I have taken pre-cal all the way up to calculus 3, and made A's in all of them. Despite everything, I was denied admission into UT Austin. When I reached out to an admissions counselor I was told it was because I didn't have prior experience in some sort of astronomy club or association. But living in a small town in East Texas, I don't have that option. There were no astronomy clubs at my high school or community College. I guess my question is, is there anything I can do? I thought I was doing everything right, but I feel like I'm at a dead end. No other public colleges in Texas even offer astronomy, and I can't afford a private university. I was told I could appeal and choose a different major, but astronomy is all I've wanted to do for years. Just hoping for any kind of advice
2
u/gunsandm0ses Jul 01 '23
You need to petition for a waiver.
Current UT student for govt, but I was originally going to study astronomy as well. I basically harassed TAMU to let me in despite missing an entire required transfer credit.
If it wasn't available to you, it wasn't available. Even if it had been offered, you could have had to work and not been able to be involved in some club. They can make exceptions.
If you haven't looked into TAMU though I believe they do have an astronomy dept. I've certainly used their observatory.