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College Essays

The ApplyTexas college application contains many essay prompts, and each of the most popular colleges in Texas has different requirements for which essays they expect applicants to answer.

So how do you get advice on writing your best ApplyTexas essays, no matter which school you're applying to? Look no further than this article, which completely unpacks all possible ApplyTexas essay prompts. We'll explain what each prompt is looking for and what admissions officers are hoping to learn about you. In addition, we'll give you our top strategies for ensuring that your essay meets all these expectations and help you come up with your best essay topics.

To help you navigate this long guide, here is an overview of what we'll be talking about:

What Are the ApplyTexas Essays?

Comparing applytexas essay prompts a, b, and c, dissecting applytexas essay topic a, dissecting applytexas essay topic b, dissecting applytexas essay topic c, dissecting applytexas essay topic d.

• Dissecting the UT and Texas A&M Short Answer Prompts
• Briefly: ApplyTexas Essay Topic E (Transfer Students Only)

The ApplyTexas application is basically the Texas version of the Common Application , which many US colleges use. It's a unified college application process that's accepted by all Texas public universities and many private ones. (Note that some schools that accept ApplyTexas also accept the Common App.)

The ApplyTexas website is a good source for figuring out whether your target college accepts the ApplyTexas application. That said, the best way to confirm exactly what your school expects is to go to its admissions website.

Why Do Colleges Want You to Write Essays?

Admissions officers are trying to put together classes full of interesting, vibrant students who have different backgrounds, strengths, weaknesses, goals, and dreams. One tool colleges use to identify a diverse set of perspectives is the college essay .

These essays are a chance for you to show admissions officers those sides of yourself that aren’t reflected in the rest of your application. This is where you describe where you've come from, what you believe in, what you value, and what has shaped you.

This is also where you make yourself sound mature and insightful—two key qualities that colleges are looking for in applicants . These are important because colleges want to enroll students who will ultimately thrive when faced with the independence of college life .

Admissions staff want to enroll a diverse incoming class of motivated and thoughtful students.

ApplyTexas Essay Requirements

There are four essay prompts on the ApplyTexas application for first-year admission (Topics A, B, C, and D). For Topics A, B, and C, there are slight variations on the prompt for transfer students or those looking to be readmitted. We’ll cover each variation just below the main topic breakdown. There are also several short-answer prompts for UT Austin and Texas A&M , as well as Topic D for art and architecture majors and  Topic E for transfer students only . Although there are no strict word limits, colleges usually suggest keeping the essays somewhere between one and one and a half pages long.

All Texas colleges and universities have different application requirements, including which essay or essays they want. Some schools require essays, some list them as optional, and others use a combination of required and optional essays. Several schools use the essays to determine scholarship awards, honors program eligibility, or admission to specific majors.

Here are some essay submission requirement examples from a range of Texas schools:

• You are required to write an essay on Topic A .
• You also have to answer three short-answer prompts (250–300 words each) .
• If you're applying for a studio art, art education, art history, architecture, or visual art studies major, you'll have to write a short answer specific to your major .
• UT Austin also accepts the Common App.

Texas A&M

• If you're an engineering major, you'll have to respond to  a short-answer prompt .
• Texas A&M also accepts the Common App .

Southern Methodist University

• You must write an essay on Topic A .
• You may (but do not have to) write an essay on Topic B .
• You also have to answer two short-answer prompts .
• SMU also accepts the Common App and Coalition App and has its own online application, so you have the option to pick and choose the application you want to fill out .

Texas Christian University

• You must write an essay on any of the topics (A, B, or C) .
• TCU also accepts the Common App and Coalition App has its own online application, so it's another school for which you can choose the application you want to use.

The essays required as part of each admissions application differ from college to college. Check each institution's website for the most up-to-date instructions.

Three of the ApplyTexas essay topics try to get to the heart of what makes you the person you are. But since Topics A, B, and C all focus on things that are essential to you as a person, coming up with a totally unique idea for each can be difficult—especially since on a first read-through, these prompts can sound really similar .

Before I dissect all of the ApplyTexas essay prompts, let's see how A, B, and C differ from one another. You can then keep these differences in mind as you try to think of topics to write about.

ApplyTexas Prompts

Here are the most recent prompts for Topics A, B, and C on the ApplyTexas application.

Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?

Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.

You've got a ticket in your hand. Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

How to Tell Topics A, B, and C Apart

One helpful way to keep these topics separate in your mind is to create a big-picture category for each one: Topic A is outside, Topic B is inside, and Topic C is the future .

In other words, Topic A is asking about the impact of challenges or opportunities on you and how you handled that impact. Topic B is asking about your inner passions and how these define you. Finally, Topic C wants to know where you're going from here. These very broad categories will help as you brainstorm ideas and life experiences you can use for your essay .

Although many of the stories you think of can be shaped to fit each of these prompts, think about what the experience most reveals about you. If it’s about how your external community shaped you, that'd probably be a good fit for Topic A. If it’s a story about the causes or interests that you're most passionate about, save it for Topic B. If it’s primarily about an event that you think predicts your future, it'll likely work well for Topic C.

(Note: if you are a transfer student writing the essay variation for Topics A, B, or C, keep in mind that these variations still ask you about the outside, inside, or future respectively.)

Your years-long passion for performing in theater productions is an appropriate subject for ApplyTexas Topic B essays.

Now, we'll thoroughly deconstruct everything you need to know about Topic A, the first ApplyTexas essay prompt.

What’s the Prompt Asking, and How Should You Answer It?

This prompt wants to see how a particular external experience as a high school student has shaped you . The prompt uses the phrase "your story," signaling that admissions staff want to know what you believe has had the biggest impact on you.

Step 1: Describe Your Experience

The first part of the prompt is about identifying and describing specific experiences you've had as a high school student. You don't want your essay coming across too vague, so make sure you're focusing on one or two specific experiences, whether they've been positive or negative. The prompt suggests zeroing in on something "unique," or something that has affected you in a way it hasn't impacted anyone else.

You'll want to choose an opportunity or challenge that you can describe vividly and that's really important to you. In other words, it   needs to have had a significant impact on your personal development.

It should also be an experience that has been part of your life for a while . You're describing something that's affected you "throughout your high school career," after all.

Step 2: Explain How This Experience Shaped You

You shouldn't just describe your experience—you also need to discuss how that experience affected you as a person . How did this particular opportunity or difficulty turn you into the person you are today?

It's best if you can think of one or two concrete anecdotes or stories about how your chosen experience(s) helped shape you. For example, don't just say that a public piano recital made you a hard-working person— describe in detail how practicing diligently each day, even when you weren't feeling motivated, got frustrated by particular parts of the piece you were performing, and experienced stage fright showed you that working toward your goals is worthwhile, even when it's hard.

Elaborating on how a specific challenge or obstacle that you faced during your high school career helped shape your current perspective and personality is one option for Topic A essays.

What Are Readers Hoping to Learn About You?

Admission staff are looking for two main things. First, they want to see that you can be mature and thoughtful about your surroundings and events in your life . Are you curious about the world around you? If you've really reflected on your experience, you'll be able to describe the people, places, and events that have impacted you as a high school student in a nuanced, insightful way.

Second, they want to see how you stand out from other applicants . This can be accomplished in one of two ways: (1) you can emphasize how you are somehow different because of your experience and how it impacted you, or (2) you can emphasize how you learned positive qualities from the event that differentiate you from other students. Basically, how did your experience turn you into a special, interesting person?

How Can Your Essay Give Them What They Want?

How can you make sure your essay is really answering the prompt? Here are some key strategies.

#1: Pick a Specific Experience

You'll need to select a particular opportunity or obstacle to zero in on. Opportunities include travel, internships, volunteer or paid jobs, academic events, and awards. Challenges might include competitions, performances, illnesses, injuries, or learning something new. Remember, you'll want to focus on one or two particular events or experiences that have truly contributed to your personal growth .

As you're choosing the experiences you want to write about, think about significant things that happened to you in connection with those events. Remember, you'll need to get beyond just describing how the opportunity or challenge is important to you to show how its impact on you is so significant .

#2: How Did This Experience Shape You?

You then need to consider what about your experience turned you into a person who stands out . Again, this can be about how you overcame the difficulty or how the opportunity fostered positive qualities or traits in you that would make you an appealing member of the college's student body. You want to make sure you have a clear message that links your experience to one, two, or three special traits you have.

Try to think of specific stories and anecdotes related to the event. Then, thoughtfully analyze these to reveal what they show about you. Important adults in your life can help you brainstorm potential ideas.

#3: Think of the Essay Like a Movie

Like a good movie script, a college essay needs characters, some action, and a poignant but ultimately happy ending . When you’re planning out your personal statement, try to think of the story you’re telling in movie terms. Ensure that your essay has the following features:

• Setting: As you're describing your experience, taking time to give a vivid sense of place is key. You can accomplish this by describing the actual physical surroundings, the main "characters" in your community, or a combination of both.
• Stakes: Movies propel the action forward by giving characters high stakes: win or lose, life or death. Even if you are describing your experience in positive terms, there needs to be a sense of conflict or dynamic change. In the anecdote(s) you've selected to write about, what did you stand to gain or lose?
• External conflict resolution: If there's an external conflict of some kind (e.g., with a neighbor, a family member, a friend, or a city council), you need to show some level of resolution.
• Internal conflict resolution: Inner conflict is essentially about how you changed in response to the event or experience. You'll need to clearly lay out what happened within you and how those changes have carried you forward as a person.

Describing your feelings before, during, and after the opportunity or challenge is a crucial element of a Topic A college essay.

#4: Add Details, Description, and Examples

Your essay will really stand out if you add effective examples and descriptions.

For example, imagine Karima decides to describe how learning to navigate public transit as a high school first-year student made her resourceful and helped her explore the city she grew up in. She also discusses how exploring the city ultimately changed her perspective. How should she frame her experience? Here are some options:

I was nervous about taking the El by myself for the first time. At the station, there were lots of commuters and adults who seemed impatient but confident. At first, I was very afraid of getting lost, but over time, I became as confident as those commuters.

I felt a mixture of nerves and excitement walking up the Howard red line turnstile for the first time. What if I got lost on my way to the museum? I was worried that I would just seem like a nuisance to all of the frowning commuters who crowded the platform. If I needed help, would they help me? Was I even brave enough to ask? When the metal doors opened, I pressed my nails into my palms and rushed in after a woman with a red briefcase. Success! At least for the first step. I found a sideways-facing seat and clutched my macrame bag with my notebook and sketching supplies. A map hung above my seat. Pressing my finger to the colorful grid, I found my stop and counted how many I still had to go. I spent the entire train ride staring at that map, straining my ears for everything the conductor said. Now, when I think about the first time I rode the El by myself, I smile. What seemed so scary at the time is just an everyday way to get around now. But I always look around on the platform to see if any nervous kids linger at the edges of the commuter crowds and offer them a smile.

Both versions set up the same story plotwise, but the second makes the train ride (and therefore the author) come alive through the addition of specific, individualizing details , such as the following:

• Visual cues: The reader "sees" what the author sees through descriptions such as "frowning commuters who crowded the platform," "woman with a red briefcase," and "colorful grid."
• Emotional responses: We experience the author’s feelings: she "felt a mixture of nerves and excitement." She wonders if she's brave enough to ask for help. The train ride was "so scary at the time" but feels "everyday" now.
• Differentiation: Even though the commuters are mostly a monolithic group, we get to see some individuals, such as the woman with a red briefcase.

ApplyTexas Topic A Essay Ideas

There's no one best topic for this essay prompt (or any other), but I've included some potential ideas below to help you get started with your own brainstorming:

• Describe a time you organized the people around you to advocate a common local cause.
• Hone in on a particular trip with one or more family members.
• Identify a time when you were no longer in your comfort zone. Describe how you adapted and learned from that experience.
• Discuss being a minority in your school or neighborhood.
• Describe going through a cultural or religious rite of passage as a high school student.
• Elaborate on how you moved from one place to somewhere totally different and handled your culture shock.

ApplyTexas Topic A for Transfer, Transient, or Readmit Students

If you are applying to transfer or to be readmitted, you likely already have some college experience. So in this case, ApplyTexas offers a personal statement option that allows you to write about your life beyond your high school years. This option still asks you to demonstrate what in your experience has turned you into a unique individual. But if, for instance, you left college and now are reapplying, you’ll want to address how some aspect of that experience made an impact on who you are now. Otherwise, follow the advice above for the standard Topic A prompt.

Here’s the current Essay Topic A prompt for transfer applicants:

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 admissions committee directly and to let us know more about you as an individual, in a manner that your transcripts and other application information cannot convey.

Next up, let's go through the same process for ApplyTexas Topic B, taking it apart brick by brick and putting it back together again.

What’s the Prompt Asking?

At first glance, this prompt seems pretty vague. "Tell us about yourself" is not exactly the most detailed set of instructions. But if we dig a little deeper, we can see that there are actually two pretty specific things this question is asking.

#1: What Defines You?

This prompts posits that "most students"—which likely includes you!—have some kind of defining trait . This could be "an identity, an interest, or a talent," so you need to express what that defining trait is for you specifically.

For instance, are you an amazing knitter? Do you spend your free time researching cephalopods? Are you a connoisseur of indie movies or mystery novels? Or maybe you have a religious, cultural, ethnic, or LGBTQIA+ identity that's very important to you. Any of these things could plausibly be the main, framing theme of your essay.

#2: How Does That Defining Trait Fit Into "You" Overall?

Even though you have some kind of defining trait, that's not the entirety of you. Essentially, you need to contextualize your defining trait within your broader personality and identity. This is where the "tell us about yourself" part comes in. What does your defining trait say about you as a person? And how does it fit into your overall personality, values, and dreams?

In a Topic B college essay, you could potentially describe your knowledge of chess and how it exemplifies your talent for thinking several steps ahead.

Admissions staff are hoping to learn two main things:

#1: What You're Passionate About

It's essential that this essay communicates genuine passion for whatever you write about. College is a lot of work, and passion is an important driving force when things get busy. Therefore, readers are looking for students who are really engaged in the world around them and excited about specific causes and activities!

#2: How You View Yourself (and How Successfully You Can Communicate That)

A strong, well-developed sense of self goes a long way toward helping you weather all the changes you're going to experience when you attend college. Even though you'll change and grow a lot as a person during your college years, having a sense of your own core traits and values will help those changes be exciting as opposed to scary .

Colleges are looking for a developed sense of self. Additionally, they are looking for students who can communicate messages about themselves in a clear, confident, and cohesive way .

The challenge with this prompt is giving a complete picture of you as a person while still staying on message about your defining trait. You need to be focused yet comprehensive. Let's explore the best ways to show off your passion and frame your identity.

#1: Define the Core Message

First, you need to select that defining trait . This could be pretty much anything, just as long as you're genuinely invested in this trait and feel that it represents some core aspect of you.

It should also be something you can describe through stories and anecdotes . Just saying, "I'm a redhead, and that defines me" makes for a pretty boring essay! However, a story about how you started a photography project that consists of portraits of redheads like you and what you learned about yourself from this experience is much more interesting.

Be careful to select something that presents you in a broadly positive light . If you choose a trait that doesn't seem very serious, such as your enduring and eternal love of onion rings, you risk seeming at best immature and at worst outright disrespectful.

You also want to pick something realistic —don't claim you're the greatest mathematician who ever lived unless you are, in fact, the greatest mathematician who ever lived (and you probably aren't). Otherwise, you'll seem out of touch.

#2: Fit Your Message into the Larger Picture

Next, consider how you can use this trait to paint a more complete picture of you as a person . It's great that you're passionate about skiing and are a member of a ski team, but what else does this say about you? Are you an adventurous daredevil who loves to take (reasonable) risks? Are you a nature lover with a taste for exploration? Do you love being part of a team?

Select at least two or three positive messages you want to communicate about yourself in your essay about your key trait.

In a Topic B essay, a student could connect their long-time passion for cooking to their penchant for adding their unique touch to every project they take on.

#3: Show, Don't Tell

It's much more interesting to read about things you do that demonstrate your key traits than it is to hear you list them. Don't just say, "Everyone asks me for advice because I'm level-headed and reasonable." Instead, actually describe situations that show people asking you for advice and you offering that level-headed, reasonable advice.

#4: Watch Your Tone

It's important to watch your tone as you write an essay that's (pretty overtly) about how great you are. You want to demonstrate your own special qualities without seeming glib, staid, self-aggrandizing, or narcissistic .

Let’s say Andrew wants to write about figuring out how to grow a garden, despite his yard being in full shade, and how this desire turned into a passion for horticulture. He could launch into a rant about the garden store employees not knowing which plants are right for which light, the previous house owner’s terrible habit of using the yard as a pet bathroom, or the achy knee that prevented him from proper weeding posture.

Alternatively, he could describe doing research on the complex gardens of royal palaces, planning his garden based on plant color and height, using the process of trial and error to see which plants would flourish, and getting so involved with this work that he often lost track of time.

One of these approaches makes him sound whiny and self-centered, whereas  the other makes him sound like someone who can take charge of a difficult situation .

ApplyTexas Topic B Essay Ideas

Again, there's no single best approach here, but I've outlined some potential topics below:

• Are you known for being really good at something or an expert on a particular topic? How does this impact your identity?
• Discuss how you got involved in a certain extracurricular activity and what it means to you. What have you learned from participating in it?
• Describe something you've done lots of research on in your free time. How did you discover that interest? What have you learned as a result?
• What's your most evident personality trait? How has that trait impacted your life? (You can ask friends and relatives for help with this one.)
• Relate the importance of your LGBTQIA+ identity.
• Discuss your religious or cultural background and how this defines you.
• Describe your experience as a member of a specific community.

ApplyTexas Topic B for Transfer, Transient, or Readmit Students

The ApplyTexas variation on Topic B is specifically designed for two different possible application situations. The first is for people who are applying as nondegree-seeking or postbaccalaureate students (aka “transient students”). In this case, they ask you to discuss the courses you want to take and what you hope to accomplish if you are admitted. That means they still want you to focus this essay on what you are passionate about, as mentioned above, but they expect that passion to be based on courses the university offers more directly.  

The second is for students who are reapplying after being suspended for academic reasons. In this situation, they ask you to describe any actions you have taken to improve your academic performance and to give them a reason why you should be readmitted. You’ll still need to focus on your positive traits in this variation, so this can be a tricky task. As in the example above, you’ll need to watch your tone and not come across as whiny. Instead, confront the cause of your academic suspension and what you learned from that experience; then, turn it into a newfound strength. Maybe you learned new study habits you can describe for them. Maybe working full-time while you were suspended improved your work ethic. Whatever you choose, show how a negative situation changed into a positive learning experience for you, and focus on the better person you are now because of it. 

Here’s the current prompt for Essay Topic B for transfer applicants:

If you are applying as a former student and were suspended for academic reasons, describe briefly any actions you have taken to improve your academic abilities and give reason why you should be readmitted. If you are applying as a nondegree-seeking or postbaccalaureate application, briefly describe the specific objectives you wish to accomplish if admitted, including the courses in which you would like to enroll.

Now, we can take apart Topic C to get a good handle on how to tackle this future-facing essay.

You've got a ticket in your hand—where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

If ApplyTexas Topic A and Topic B were all about your past experiences, Topic C wants you to give readers a glimpse of your imagined possibilities .

There are basically two potential approaches to this question. We'll break them down here.

Option 1: Describe Your Long-Term Goals

One approach to this prompt is to use your essay as a chance to describe your long-term goals for your career and life .

For some students, this will be a straightforward endeavor. For example, say you’ve always wanted to be a doctor. You spend your time volunteering at hospitals, helping out at your mom’s practice, and studying biology. You could easily frame your "ticket" as a ticket to medical school. Just pick a few of the most gripping moments from these past experiences and discuss the overall trajectory of your interests, and your essay would likely be a winner!

But what if you’re not sure about your long-term goals yet? Or what if you feel like you really don't know where you're going next week, let alone next year or 10 years from now? Read on for Option 2.

Option 2: Demonstrate Thoughtful Imagination

Although you can certainly interpret this as a straightforward question about your future, you can also use it as a chance to be more imaginative.

Note that this entire question rests on the metaphor of the ticket. The ticket can take you anywhere; you decide. It could be to a real place, such as your grandmother's house or the Scottish Highlands or the Metropolitan Museum. Or it could be somewhere fantastical, such as a time machine to the Paleolithic.

The important point is that you use the destination you select—and what you plan to do there—to prove you're a thoughtful person who is excited about and actively engaged with the world around you .

The destination you choose to write about, whether realistic or fantastical, should be clearly linked to a specific goal or set of goals that you wish to pursue or are currently pursuing.

If you're on a direct path to a specific field of study or career, admissions officers definitely want to know this. Having driven, goal-oriented, and passionate students is a huge plus for any college. If this sounds like you, be sure your essay conveys not just your interest but also your deep love of the subject, as well as any related clubs, activities, or hobbies you’ve done during high school.

If you take the more creative approach to this prompt, however, realize that in this essay (as in all the other ApplyTexas essays),  the how matters much more than the what . Don't worry that you don't have a specific goal in mind yet. No matter where your eventual academic, career, or other pursuits might lie, every activity you've done up to now has taught you something, whether that be developing your work ethic, mastering a skill, learning from a mentor, interacting with peers, dealing with setbacks, understanding your own learning style, or persevering through hardship. Your essay is a chance to show off that knowledge and maturity.

So no matter what destination you choose for your ticket (the what ), you want to communicate that you can think about future (and imagined!) possibilities in a compelling way based on your past experiences (the how ).

Whether you take the ideas of "where you are going" and "what you are doing" in a more literal or more abstract direction, the admissions committee wants to make sure that no matter what you study, you'll be able to get something meaningful out of it . They want to see that you’re not simply floating through life on the surface but are actively absorbing the qualities, skills, and know-how you'll need to succeed in the world.

Here are some ideas for how to show that you have thoughtful and compelling visions of possible futures.

#1: Pick Where You're Going

Is this going to be a more direct interpretation of your goals (my ticket is to the judge's bench) or a more creative one (my ticket is to Narnia)? Whichever one you choose, make sure that you choose a destination that is genuinely compelling to you . The last thing you want is to come off sounding bored or disingenuous.

#2: Don’t Overreach or Underreach

Another key point is to avoid overreaching or underreaching. For instance, it’s fine to say that you’d like to get involved in politics, but it’s a little too self-aggrandizing to say that you’re definitely going to be president of the United States. Be sure that whatever destination you select for your ticket, it doesn’t come off as unnecessary bragging rather than simple aspiration .

At the same time, make sure the destination you've chosen is one that makes sense in the context of a college essay. Maybe what you really want is a ticket to the potato chip factory; however, this essay might not be the best place to elaborate on this imagined possibility.

While you can of course choose a whimsical location, you need to be able to ground it in a real vision of the kind of person you want to become . Don't forget who your audience is! College admissions officers want to find students who are eager to learn . They also want to be exposed to new thoughts and ideas.

#3: Flesh It Out

Once you've picked a destination, it's time to consider the other components of the question: What are you going to do once you reach your destination? What will happen there? Try to think of some key messages that relate back to you, your talents, and your goals .

#4: Ground Your "Journey" in Specific Anecdotes and Examples

The way this question is framed is very abstract, so ground your thoughts about your destination (whether it's more straightforward or more creative) in concrete anecdotes and examples that show you're thoughtful, engaged, passionate, and driven.

This is even more important if you go the creative route and are writing about an unusual location. If you don't keep things somewhat grounded in reality, your essay could come across as frivolous. Make sure you make the most of this chance to share real-life examples of your desirable qualities.

Imagine Eleanor’s essay is about how she wants a ticket to Starfleet Academy (for the uninitiated, this is the fictional school in the Star Trek universe where people train to be Starfleet officers). Which essay below conveys more about her potential as a student?

My ticket is to Starfleet Academy. There, I would train to become part of the Command division so I could command a starship. Once I was captain of my own starship, I would explore the deepest reaches of space to interact with alien life and learn more about the universe.

I've loved Star Trek since my dad started playing copies of old episodes for me in our ancient DVD player. So if I could have a ticket to anywhere, it would be to Starfleet Academy to train in the command division. I know I would make a superb command officer. My ten years of experience in hapkido have taught me discipline and how to think on my feet. Working as a hapkido instructor in my dojo the past two years has honed my leadership and teaching qualities, which are essential for any starship commander. Additionally, I have the curiosity and sense of adventure necessary for a long career in the unknown reaches of space. Right now, I exercise my thirst for exploration through my photography blog. Using my DSLR camera, I track down and photograph obscure and hidden places I find in my town, on family trips, and even on day trips to nearby cities. I carefully catalogue the locations so other people can follow in my footsteps. Documentation, after all, is another important part of exploring space in a starship.

Both versions communicate the same things about the imagined destination, but the second essay does a much better job showing who Eleanor is as a person. All we really learn from the first excerpt is that Eleanor must like Star Trek .

We can also infer from version 1 that she probably likes leadership, exploration, and adventure because she wants to captain a starship, but we don't really know that for sure. Admissions officers shouldn't have to guess who you are from your essay; your essay should lay it out for them explicitly and articulately.

In the second essay, by contrast, Eleanor clearly lays out the qualities that would make her a great command officer and provides examples of how she exemplifies these qualities . She ties the abstract destination to concrete activities from her life, such as hapkido and photography. This provides a much more well-rounded picture of what Eleanor could bring to the student body and the school at large.

Eleanor's essay about her desire to explore the final frontier creatively illustrates her curiosity and leadership potential .

ApplyTexas Topic C Essay Ideas

I've come up with some sample essay ideas for the two different approaches to this prompt.

Possibility 1: Your Concrete Goals

• Describe your goal to pursue a particular academic field or career and discuss how specific classes or extracurricular activities ignited that passion
• Discuss how your plans to pursue politics, project management, or another leadership role were fostered by a first experience of leadership (this could be a straightforward leadership position in a club or job or a more indirect or unplanned leadership experience, such as suddenly having to take charge of a group).
• Discuss how your desire to teach or train in the future was sparked by an experience of teaching someone to do something (e.g., by being a tutor or by helping a sibling deal with a particularly challenging class or learning issue).
• Describe your goal to perform on stage, and discuss how your past experiences of public creativity (e.g., being in a play, staging an art show, performing an orchestra, or being involved in dance,.) led you to this goal

Possibility 2: Creative/Abstract Destination

• What would you do if you could visit the world of a favorite childhood book, movie, or TV series? What qualities does that show about you?
• Is there a relative or friend you would like to visit with your ticket?
• Is there a particular historical period you would like to time travel to?
• Is there a destination you've always wanted to go to that you've read about, heard about, or only conjured up in dreams or in a moment of creativity?

Remember to tie your imaginative destination to concrete details about your special qualities!

Topic C for Transfer, Transient, or Readmit Students

ApplyTexas offers a Topic C alternative in case there is personal information you want them to consider along with your application, such as why you are transferring to a new school. They still want you to focus on the future, but they encourage discussing any hardships, challenges, extenuating circumstances, or opportunities that have affected your abilities and academic credentials (in a positive way). They also want you to discuss how these circumstances can help you contribute to a diverse college community. In this case, this variation is not fundamentally different from the ticket question; it just asks for a more specific focus. So if this variation applies to you, use the advice above for question C option one. 

Here’s the current prompt for Essay Topic C for transfer applicants:

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.

Would you use your ticket to visit Renaissance Italy, a journey you metaphorically hope to take as a history major?

If you're applying to one of several fine arts fields, you might have to write this essay.

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, design, 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?

If you’re applying to study architecture, art, or art history, one of the essays you will likely have to write is this one. This essay topic is trying to ask as broadly as possible about an experience with art that has moved you in some way. This means that your options for answering the question are quite varied. So what are the two different parts of this prompt? Let's take a look.

Part 1: Observation and Reaction

Think of a time you experienced that blown-away feeling when looking at something human made. This is the reaction and situation the first part of the essay wants you to recreate. The prompt is primarily interested in your ability to describe and pinpoint exactly what quality made you stop in your tracks. The huge set of inspiring object options the prompt offers tells us that your taste level won't be judged here.

You can focus on a learning experience, which includes both classes and extracurricular activities, or you can focus on a direct experience in which you encountered an object or space without the mediation of a class or teacher. The only limit to your focus object is that it is something made by someone other than you. Your reaction should be in conversation with the original artist, not a form of navel-gazing.

The key for this part of the essay is that your description needs to segue into a story of change and transformation . What the essay topic is asking you to show isn’t just that you were struck by something you saw or learned about, but that you also absorbed something from this experience that impacted your own art going forward.

Did seeing the Angkor Wat Temple during a trip abroad with your family foster your intellectual passion for Southeast Asian art or religious monuments?

Part 2: Absorption

This brings us to the second part of the essay prompt: this is where you need to move from the past into the present — and then at least gesture meaningfully toward the future.

It’s one thing to look at a piece of art, such as a sculpture or architectural form, and feel moved by its grace, boldness, or vision. But it’s a sign of a mature, creative mind to be able to take to heart what is meaningful to you about this work and then transmute this experience into your own art or your interpretation of others' creative works.

This essay wants to see that developing maturity in you ; therefore, you should explain exactly how your own vision has changed after this meaningful encounter you've described. What qualities, philosophy, or themes do you now try to infuse into what you create or how you analyze art?

More importantly, this essay prompt asserts that being affected by something once isn’t enough. That’s why in this second part of the essay,  you also need to explain what you’ve been doing to keep having similarly moving encounters with other creative works .

You have some choice, too, when it comes to answering, "What have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?" For example, you could describe how you’ve sought out other works by the same artist who moved you the first time. Or you could describe investigating new media or techniques to emulate something you saw. Or you could discuss learning about the period, genre, school, or philosophical theory that the original piece of art comes from to give yourself a more contextualized understanding.

If you’re planning an academic career in the visual arts or architecture, then you’re entering a long conversation started by our cave-painting ancestors and continuing through every human culture and society since.

This essay wants to make sure that you aren’t creating or interpreting art in a vacuum and that you have had enough education and awareness to be inspired by others. By demonstrating how you react to works that move you—not with jealousy or dismissal but with appreciation and recognition of another’s talent and ability—you're proving that you're ready to participate in this ongoing conversation.

At the same time, this essay is asking you to show your own creative readiness.  For example, describe not only the work you have produced but also your ability to introduce new elements into that work—in this case, inspired by the piece you described. This way, you can demonstrate that you aren’t a one-note artist but are mature enough to alter and develop what you make. Or if you want to major in art history or art education, relate how your perspective on a particular piece of art or architecture is shaped by your unique perspective, based on your experiences, education, and cultural identity.

A student might write their Topic D essay on how Michelangelo's Madonna della Pietà   has influenced their own artistic renderings of youth and beauty in grief.

What are some best practices for teasing out the complexities of art in written form? Here are some helpful tips as you brainstorm and write your essay.

#1: Pick One Piece of Art or Learning Experience

Once you’ve chosen between these two contexts, narrow down your selection even further . If you're writing about an educational encounter, don’t forget that it can come from an informal situation as well. For example, you could write about something you learned on your own from a documentary, a museum visit, or an art book.

If you're writing about a direct experience with art, don't necessarily fixate on a classic piece . Alternatively, you could discuss a little-known public sculpture, a particularly striking building or bridge you saw while traveling, or a gallery exhibition.

Whatever you end up writing about, make sure you know some of the identifying details . You don’t need to know the answers to all the following questions, but do your best to research so you can answer at least two or three of them:

• Who is the artist?
• Where is the piece on display?
• What kind of work is it?
• With what materials was it made?
• When was it made?

#2: Figure Out Why You Were Struck by This Particular Work

The make-it-or-break-it moment in this essay will be your ability to explain what affected you in the object you're writing about . Why is it different from other works you’ve seen? Were you in the right place and time to be moved by it, or would it have affected you the same way no matter where or when you saw it? Did it speak to you because it shares some of your ideals, philosophies, or tastes—or because it was so different from them?

Be careful with your explanation because it can easily get so vague as to be meaningless or so obscure and "deep" that you lose your reader. Before you start trying to put it down on paper, try to talk out what you plan to say either with a friend, parent, or teacher. Do they understand what you’re saying, and do they believe you?

#3: Make a Timeline of Your Own Creative Works

When you think about what you've been making or thinking about making during your high school career, what is the trajectory of your ideas? How has your understanding of the materials you want to work with or study changed? What message do you want your works to convey, or what message in others' works most resonate with you? How do you want your works to be seen or engaged with by others? What is the reason you feel compelled to be creative or involved in the arts?

Now that you’ve come up with this timeline, see whether your changes in thought overlap with the art experience you're planning on describing . Is there a way you can combine what was so exciting to you about this work with the way you’ve seen your own ideas about art evolve?

#4: Use a Mix of Concreteness and Comparisons in Your Description

Just as nothing ruins a joke like explaining it, nothing ruins the wordless experience of looking at art as talking it to death does. Still, you need to find a way to use words to give the reader a sense of what the piece that moved you actually looks like —particularly if the reader isn't familiar with the work or the artist that created it.

Here is my suggested trick for writing well about art. First, be specific about the object. Discuss its colors, size, what it appears to be made of, what your eye goes to first (e.g., bright colors versus darker, more muted ones), what it represents (if it’s figurative), where it is in relation to the viewer, whether or not you can see marks of the tools used (e.g., brush strokes or scrapes from sculpting tools).

Second, step away from the concrete, and get creative with language by using techniques such as comparative description. Use your imagination to create emotionally resonant similes. Is there a form of movement (e.g., flying, crawling, or tumbling) that this piece feels like? Does it remind you of something from the natural world (e.g., a falling leaf, a forest canopy being moved by wind, waves, or sand dunes shifting)?

If the work is figurative, imagine what has been happening just before the moment in time it captures. What happened just after this point? Using these kinds of nonliteral descriptors will let your reader understand both the actual physical object and its aesthetic appeal.

Dissecting the UT and Texas A&M Short-Answer Prompts

Both UT Austin and Texas A&M require short answers as part of their first-year applications. For both schools, some prompts are required by all applicants, whereas others are required by those applying to certain majors or departments.

We'll go over the UT Austin prompts, followed by the Texas A&M prompt.

UT Austin Short-Answer Prompts

UT Austin requires three short answers from all first-year applicants and also offers an optional prompt. Each short answer should be approximately 250–300 words , or one paragraph.

Short Answer 1: Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?

Short Answer 2: Describe how your experiences, perspectives, talents, and/or your involvement in leadership activities (at your school, job, community, or within your family) will help you to make an impact both in and out of the classroom while enrolled at UT.

Short Answer 3: The core purpose of The University of Texas at Austin is, “To Transform Lives for the Benefit of Society.” Please share how you believe your experience at UT Austin will prepare you to “Change the World” after you graduate.

Optional Short Answer: Please share background on events or special circumstances that may have impacted your high school academic performance.

What Are These UT Austin Short-Answer Prompts Asking?

Obviously, these short-answer prompts are asking four different things, but they do have some similarities in terms of their overall goals.

These prompts basically want to know what you can offer UT Austin and why you'd be a great fit as a student there . They also want to know why you chose UT Austin and your specific major.

In other words, all these prompts essentially work together as a "Why This College?" essay .

How Can You Give UT Austin What They Want?

Admissions officers will be looking for evidence that you're genuinely interested in the school, the major you've chosen, and the career you want to pursue . Make sure to identify features of the program that appeal to you. In other words, why UT Austin? What makes you a good fit here?

Be as specific as possible in your responses. Since you won't have much room to write a lot, try to focus on a particular anecdote, skill, or goal you have.

Admissions officers also want to see that you have an aptitude for your chosen career path , so if you have any relevant work, research, or volunteer experience, they definitely want to know this! It's OK to take a broad view of what's relevant here.

Finally, they're looking for individuals who have clear goals as well as a general idea of what they want to do with their degree . Are you interested in working with a specific population or specialty? Why? What led you to this conclusion?

Texas A&M Engineering Prompt

All engineering applicants to Texas A&M must submit an esssay responding to the following prompt:

Describe your academic and career goals in the broad field of engineering (including computer science, industrial distribution, and engineering technology). What and/or who has influenced you either inside or outside the classroom that contributed to these goals?

What Is This Texas A&M Engineering Prompt Asking?

The engineering prompt wants to know two essential things:

• What are your future goals for your specific field of interest (i.e., the kind of engineering field you want to go into or are considering going into)?
• What environmental or external factors (e.g., a person, a mentor, a volunteer experience, or a paper or book you read) contributed to your development of these goals?

How Can You Give Texas A&M What They Want?

Be as specific as possible in your response. For the engineering prompt, what admissions officers want to know is simply what your biggest engineering ambition is and how you came to have this goal.

You'll want to be as specific as possible. Admissions officers want to see that you have a clear future in mind for what you want to do with your engineering degree. For example, do you plan to go on to a PhD program? Why? Do you have a particular career in mind?

In addition, make sure to specify the main inspiration for or motivation behind this goal. For instance, did you have a high school teacher who encouraged you to study engineering? Or perhaps you decided on a whim to take a computer science class, which you ended up loving.

Remember that the inspiration for your engineering goals doesn't have to be limited to something school-related. If you get stuck, think broadly about what initially got you interested in the field.

Briefly: ApplyTexas Essay Topic E (Transfer Students)

US transfer students and international transfer students must typically submit an additional essay responding to the following prompt (or must submit an essay on one of the topic variations listed above ).

Choose an issue of importance to you—the issue 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.

What's the Prompt Asking?

This prompt, which is intended for transfer students, essentially wants to know what hardship, challenge, or social issue has affected you on a personal level (or a larger group you're part of) and why you think this particular issue is so important to you .

For example, maybe you identify as LGBTQIA+ and have personally experienced discrimination in your local community because of your sexual orientation or gender identity. Or perhaps you grew up in a wealthy family but have begun to see recently how widespread the issue of homelessness really is and now are making a more conscious effort to find ways to remedy this problem in your own community.

The issue you choose doesn't have to relate to a wider social issue; it could be a learning disability you have, for instance, or the fact that you no longer share the same religious beliefs as your  family.

The most important part of this question is the connection between the issue and yourself . In other words, why is this issue so important to you ? How has it affected your life, your goals, your experiences, etc.?

This essay is a way for admissions officers to get to know you and what matters to you personally on a much deeper level than what some of the other essay topics allow, so don't be afraid to dive into topics that are very emotional, personal, or special to you .

Furthermore, be sure to clearly explain why this particular issue—especially if it's a broader social issue that affects many people—is meaningful to you . Admissions officers want to know about any challenges you've faced and how these have positively contributed to your own growth as a person.

The Bottom Line: Tips for Writing ApplyTexas Essays

The ApplyTexas application contains four essay prompts (Topics A, B, C, and D), with different schools requiring different combinations of mandatory and optional essays . There are also short-answer prompts for UT Austin, as well as a Topic E only for transfer students.

One way to keep these three similar-sounding essay topics (A, B, and C) separate in your mind is to create a big-picture category for each one:

• Topic A is about your outside .
• Topic B is your inside .
• Topic C is about your future .

Now, let's briefly summarize each essay topic:

Essay Topic A

• Overview:  Describe any unique experiences you've had as a high school student and how these have shaped who you are as a person.
• Pick a specific aspect of your experience.
• Describe how it made you special.
• Describe the setting, stakes, and conflict resolution.
• Add details, description, and examples.

Essay Topic B

• Overview:  Describe a defining trait and how it fits into the larger vision of you.
• Define the core message.
• Fit that core message of yourself into the larger picture.
• Show things about yourself; don’t tell.
• Watch your tone to make sure that you show your great qualities without seeming narcissistic, boring, glib, or self-aggrandizing.

Essay Topic C

• Overview:  Describe "where you are going" in either a literal, goal-oriented sense or a more imaginative sense.
• Pick where you’re going, but don’t over- or underreach.
• Flesh out your destination. How does it relate back to you?
• Ground your “journey” in specific anecdotes and examples.

Essay Topic D

• Overview:  Describe being affected by a work of art or an artistic experience to make sure that you are ready to enter a fine arts field.
• Pick one piece of art or one specific experience of learning about art.
• Figure out exactly why this work or event struck you.
• Examine your own work to see how this artwork has affected your creativity or engagement with art or art history.
• Use a mix of concrete descriptions and comparisons when writing about the piece of art.

Short-Answer Prompts

• Overview: Specific to UT Austin applicants
• Describe your relevant experiences and interests up to this point.
• Describe what about the program appeals to you and how you will use your degree (i.e., your future goals).
• Treat the prompts as parts of a "Why This College?" essay.

Essay Topic E (Transfer Students)

• Overview: Specific to US and international transfer applicants
• Pick an issue that means a lot to you and has had a clear effect on how you see yourself.
• Emphasize how this issue or how you've treated this issue has ultimately had a positive impact on your personal growth.

What's Next?

Curious about the other college essay choices out there? If your target college also accepts the Common Application, check out our guide to the Common App essay prompts to see whether they would be a better fit for you.

Interested to see how other people tackled this part of the application? We have a roundup of 100+ accepted essays from tons of colleges .

Stuck on what to write about? Read our suggestions for how to come up with great essay ideas .

Working on the rest of your college applications? We have great advice on how to find the right college for you , how to write about your extracurricular activities , and how to ask teachers for letters of recommendation .

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Apply Texas Essays 2022‒2023

Apply texas essays 2023.

If you live in Texas or plan on applying to schools there, it’s likely that you’ve heard of the Apply Texas portal . At Texas schools, the Apply Texas essays are an important part of the application process. In fact, the Apply Texas essays are the best way to let your personality, experiences, and interests impress admissions teams. 

In many ways, Apply Texas—including the Apply Texas essays—resembles the Common Application. So, you can likely repurpose plenty of information from the Common Application as you complete the Apply Texas application. 

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to tackle each of the Apply Texas essays. We’ll discuss:

• General information about the Apply Texas portal 
• How to respond to each of the Apply Texas essay prompts
• Different Texas college requirements
• The importance of the Apply Texas essays
• More useful essay resources from CollegeAdvisor

Now, let’s start our deep dive into the Apply Texas essays. But first, let’s talk about the Apply Texas application more broadly. 

What is Apply Texas?

Apply Texas is a college application portal where students can apply to higher education institutes in Texas. The portal was created in order to allow students to fill out one application for all Texas schools. Students will create an Apply Texas login in order to access their applications. 

However, while many of the best colleges in Texas require an Apply Texas login to complete their application, some don’t. So, make sure to check the application requirements for every school. 

Apply Texas essay vs. the Common Application essay

You may be wondering, what’s the difference between the Apply Texas essay and the Common Application essay? Well, logically, Apply Texas can only be used to apply to schools in the state of Texas. However, some Texas schools may also accept applications through the Common Application or Coalition Application. If that’s the case, then you can decide which portal to use. 

Overall, the Apply Texas essay format is similar to the Common Application essay format. This means that many of the tools you’ve used for your Common Application essay will help you complete your Apply Texas essays. You can also look at Common App essay examples to help you write the Apply Texas essays. 

Understanding the Apply Texas essay requirements

Different schools will have different requirements when it comes to the Apply Texas essay prompts. Some schools may not even require an essay at all. 

For example, Texas State University applicants will complete their applications using the Apply Texas login. While Texas State only lists their essay as “highly recommended,” you should still complete it. You can also check out some Apply Texas essays examples to bolster your application. 

The Apply Texas application also has its own unique Apply Texas essay prompts, which differ from the prompts on the Common App. So, while you might be able to repurpose your Common App essay for one of the Apply Texas essay prompts, you should think carefully about your choice of topic. 

What schools use Apply Texas?

Many two- and four-year universities in Texas use Apply Texas. This includes the majority of public universities as well as some private colleges. 

However, you should always double-check each school’s admissions site to see which application portal you should use. Each school’s requirements will vary. 

You can use Apply Texas to apply to some of the best colleges in Texas , including UT Austin and Texas A&M University. However, Rice University—the top college in Texas, according to U.S. News—does not use Apply Texas. 

Understanding the Apply Texas essay format

If you’re planning to apply to multiple Texas schools, you should create an Apply Texas login. However, all schools’ requirements will be different. This means the Apply Texas essay format could slightly vary.

While you’ll find one Apply Texas essay word limit on the application itself, different schools will recommend different word counts. You may also not complete all of the Apply Texas essays for every school.

So, top Texas universities such as the University of Houston , Texas Tech , and TCU will have slightly different requirements, even though you’ll use the same Apply Texas login to access their applications. Use our College Search Feature below to learn more about each school’s unique features!

What are the Apply Texas essays?

Next, let’s check out the Apply Texas essays. 

There are three Apply Texas essay prompts. You’ll complete different Apply Texas essays depending on which schools you apply to. For example, some schools may require that students respond to the Apply Texas essay A, while others may let you choose your prompt.  

Below, we’ve provided a chart with each of the Apply Texas essay prompts. 

Applicants should also note that Apply Texas word limits will vary by school. In this chart, we’ve provided the word limit suggested by the portal itself. However, you should adapt your word count to each university’s requirements. 

Remember to consider school supplements 

Additionally, note that some universities will require other short essays as well as one of the Apply Texas essay prompts. 

For example, the UT Austin application will differ from the Baylor application even though both will use an Apply Texas login. Likewise, the UT Austin application requirements aren’t exactly the same as the UT Dallas application requirements. So, always be sure to double-check the admissions sites for school specifics. 

Before tackling your Apply Texas essays, try to read some Apply Texas essays examples. This will give you an idea of the different ways to approach the essay. The Apply Texas essay format can vary, so looking at Apply Texas essays examples can help you think outside of the box. 

How long should Apply Texas essays be?

As you tackle the Apply Texas essays, you should keep the word count in mind. According to the Apply Texas application portal, you have 800 words for each of your essays. 

However, when it comes to the word limit, you’ll want to see what each university requires or recommends. Every school’s requirements will be different. 

Let’s check out a couple of schools in Texas and compare their approach to their Apply Texas essay word limit. 

The University of Texas Austin requires its applicants to respond to Apply Texas Essay A if using the Apply Texas application. Their word limit is 500-700. Additionally, students will complete three required short answer essays with word limits of 250-300 words. They can also choose to complete a fourth optional essay (also 250-300 words). 

Alternatively, Texas Tech does not require applicants to complete an essay. However, the essay is “highly recommended.” So, as usual, consider this optional essay a requirement. If using the Apply Texas application, Texas Tech gives students the option to respond to Apply Texas Essay A or B. They have placed a 500-word limit on this essay. Check out some tips from Texas Tech admissions to write your Apply Texas essays. 

Texas Christian University

The TCU admissions office requires applicants to complete one essay. However, which of the Apply Texas essays students write is up to them. The word limit is 300-500 words, so you’ll need to impress TCU admissions with a concise, authentic, and passionate essay. 

As you begin your Apply Texas essays, check out Common App essay examples and Apply Texas essays examples to help you prepare.

Apply Texas Essay A

Tell us your story. what unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today.

The Apply Texas Essay A seems to be the overwhelming favorite among universities using the Apply Texas essays. This prompt asks students to “tell us your story.” Simple enough, right? 

Of course, a prompt this broad can feel overwhelming. However, it’s a great opportunity to show admissions who you are. This is your chance to really make your application stand out by sharing something that you haven’t yet revealed (or expanded upon) in other parts of your Apply Texas application. 

This prompt is quite similar to one of the Common Application prompts. So, if you want some inspiration, you can check out Common App essay examples. 

Which Texas colleges require it?

Surprisingly, many universities in Texas do not require applicants to submit an essay. However, if a school includes an “optional” essay requirement, you should still submit one. The Apply Texas essays are a great way to stand out and enrich your application narrative. 

That being said, some universities in Texas do require applicants to submit Apply Texas Essay A. For instance, Texas A&M requires applicants to respond to Apply Texas Essay A. And, as we mentioned, the UT Austin application also requires Apply Texas Essay A.  

Remember, while going through the Apply Texas application, double-check the essay requirements. They will vary depending on each school. 

How to write Apply Texas Essay A

Like many college essays, Apply Texas Essay A asks you to share experiences that have made you who you are. Whether you have a million ideas or are drawing a complete blank, don’t worry. We’re here to help.

Let’s check out the best way to respond to Apply Texas Essay A.

You could probably tell many stories. Apply Texas Essay A asks you to share just one. This leaves a lot of room for interpretation. 

So, think about significant moments in your life. It could be easier to focus on the last few years, as you’ve probably grown a lot throughout high school. 

Make a list of moments that have changed or shaped you as a person. No moment is too small to include. As long as it shows some growth—and you can write authentically and passionately about it—then it’s a good topic. 

Answer the prompt completely

Now, the prompt mentions an opportunity or challenge. Don’t blatantly point out this in your draft by stating “this was a huge challenge/opportunity.” Most likely, if you’ve chosen a story that shows your personal growth, then it’s probably an opportunity or challenge. And, if you tell your story well, this will come through. 

You will need to clearly show how that moment that you’re sharing has shaped who you are today. For example, let’s say that you want to discuss the day you went to your first protest. From that moment forward you’ve been passionate about activism. That clearly shows how pivotal this moment was in your life. Maybe it’s even shaped what you’d like to study or your future career. 

Remember to research your school, too. Well-written Apply Texas essays will be specific to each individual school. For example, if writing an essay for Southern Methodist University , check out their specific programs and offerings. Even though this isn’t a “why school” essay, you can still link your interests and growth to the school.

Write passionately

This isn’t the time to write vague statements that could apply to any high school student. Your story should be unique to you. Make sure to choose your topic wisely to highlight your passion and authenticity. 

Don’t be afraid to get creative. Set the scene. Remember that it’s much more impactful to show rather than tell when writing. If we continue with our protest example, you might open your essay by describing the atmosphere using descriptive language that puts the reader right there with you. Then, you can reflect back on how this moment has affected you to date. 

Apply Texas Essays – Topic B

While a few schools require applicants to answer the Apply Texas essay A, some may ask you to choose which essay to respond to. Let’s review the second of the Apply Texas essay prompts:

Some students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. If you are one of these students, then tell us about yourself.

Again, the goal of this prompt, like all of the Apply Texas essays, is to let you show each school what makes you unique. You should also aim to relate it back to your aspirations. For example, how does who you are shape what you want in your future?

Approaching Apply Texas Essay B

Topic B asks you to explore a part of your identity. Is there something you can point out that shows your values, character, and personality?

For example, maybe you’ve been dancing ballet since you started walking. Maybe it’s become a form of meditation or a way for you to express yourself. Perhaps it’s taught you discipline. It doesn’t matter how it’s shaped you (although it should be in a positive way)—you just need to show how it has impacted you. 

If you decide to focus on an “identity” instead of an “interest,” then you’ve got even more options to choose from. You can choose to highlight your background, experiences, family, values, or other key features. 

Overall, your topic should be unique to you. And, again, don’t be afraid to get creative in writing this essay. Your Apply Texas essays shouldn’t read like a resume; they should be engaging while still answering the prompt. 

Apply Texas Essay Prompts – Topic C

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a university that requires students to respond to the last of the Apply Texas essays. However, you may be given the option of which Apply Texas essay prompts you’d like to respond to. So, let’s check out Essay C.

You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

You may notice that this essay seems quite different from the other Apply Texas essays—it gives you a lot more freedom. So, you can really dive into the creativity of this topic. However, remember to not get too carried away and forget that, in the end, you’re still writing a college essay. The main goal, like the other Apply Texas essay prompts, is to show who you are as a person and an applicant. 

Crafting a response to Essay C

For Essay C, your process doesn’t have to be wildly different than it was for the other Apply Texas essay prompts. First, decide what you’ll write about. Start by brainstorming options if nothing comes to mind right away. 

Maybe you have a topic in mind immediately. That’s great! If you can write passionately about your ticket destination and activity, then that’s the topic for you.

Once again, get creative. You could go to a magical land, back in time, outer space, or to a remote island. The ticket and the destination don’t matter—it’s what they show about who you are. 

Most importantly, make sure to tie in your career goals or future aspirations. How will this trip impact you and your future? What experience will you have that will shape you?

Exploring Texas college’s essay requirements

When it comes to factors such as the Apply Texas essay word limit or Apply Texas essay prompts, requirements will vary by school. While the general Apply Texas application will be the same, the Apply Texas essay format will be different. Namely, each school will request different Apply Texas essay prompts. 

Let’s look at some of the essay requirements for the best colleges in Texas:

As you can see, while the Apply Texas application is uniform, the essay requirements vary greatly by school. For instance, you’ll see the Apply Texas essays for the Baylor application vs the University of Houston application are not the same. So, always double-check with your university’s admissions sites for all requirements. 

And, don’t forget, when it comes to “optional” essays, treat them as though they are required. While Texas A&M admissions requires an essay, Texas Tech does not. However, strong essays will impress both Texas Tech and Texas A&M admissions. After all, Apply Texas essays are the best way for schools to get to know you better. 

How important are the Apply Texas essays?

When it comes to the admissions process, the Apply Texas essays are extremely important. In general, college essays let applicants share a part of their personality that they haven’t highlighted elsewhere in their application. 

Additionally, most schools use a holistic admissions approach when evaluating students. That means that they review all parts of the application: GPA, essays, extracurricular activities, recommendations, and more. In fact, with more schools going test-optional, essays are an even more significant piece of your application puzzle. 

All to say: strong Apply Texas essays can make a huge difference. So, give yourself ample time to write them.

5 Tips to Make Your Apply Texas Essays Stand Out

Since the Apply Texas essays are so important in the admissions process, you’ll want to do everything you can to make yours stand out. 

5 tips to write Apply Texas essays that impress 

1. meet the requirements.

This may seem obvious, but you need to make sure that you understand the requirements for each school. Double-check the word counts and requirements for each to make sure that you hit all targets. 

2. Choose a topic carefully

Your topic is the most important part of the process. If you choose a topic that you aren’t authentically passionate about, it will show. Don’t think about what admissions wants to hear. Instead, choose a topic that you can easily write about. Then go back and fine-tune your essay to answer every aspect of the prompt. 

3. Get creative

Your Apply Texas essays should be engaging and unique. Don’t feel like you need to stick to a certain format. Set the scene and capture your audience. This is your opportunity to show who you are as well as your writing chops. So, as long as you answer each prompt fully, get as creative as you’d like!

4. Show personal growth

Your Apply Texas essays should show how you’ve evolved. Ideally, you should connect your personal growth to future aspirations in college and beyond. No matter the prompt, this is your opportunity to shine. These are college essays, so you want to show what you’ll bring to campus with your responses. 

5. Start early!

The last thing you want to do when it comes to your Apply Texas essays is wait until the last minute. Creating impactful essays will take time. You’ll brainstorm, draft, edit, and redraft. You should also leave enough time to have someone else proofread your essay for mechanical errors. Likewise, if they don’t understand the narrative, you’ll want to rework your story and message so that it makes sense to a reader. 

Apply Texas Essays & More Essay Resources from CollegeAdvisor

Writing the Apply Texas essays can feel overwhelming. That’s why we’ve compiled many essay resources to help you create your best essays. While admissions requirements and essay prompts will change, the overall goal of your college essays stays the same: show admissions who you are and why you belong at that university. 

Before writing essays, you’ll also want to research specifics about the school. We have college pages that outline acceptance rates, enrollment, majors, and more to give you some quick facts on different schools in Texas. To jumpstart your research, check out the Baylor University , Texas A&M University , and University of Texas Austin pages . However, make sure to also do a deep dive into each university’s website to learn more about specific programs and campus life. 

Essay guides and other resources

Follow up by checking out our essay guides. These guides are specific to individual universities. You may even find it helpful to look at past essay guides such as our Baylor , Texas A&M , or UT Austin essay guides. Again, while prompts may change, the end goal of the essays stays the same. 

Additionally, check out the most recent guides such as this 2022-2023 Texas Christian University guide for the most up-to-date tips on making your essays stand out to TCU admissions. Looking at example essays can also help you get inspired. 

CollegeAdvisor has a wealth of resources to help you on your college journey. No matter if you’re trying to create the best Baylor application or impress Texas A&M admissions, our team can help. For expert guidance on the Apply Texas essays and more, schedule a meeting with our team here .

This essay guide was written by Sarah Kaminski. Looking for more admissions support? Click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

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Ultimate Guide to the ApplyTexas Application

🏜 going through the applytexas application.

The ApplyTexas application is the Texas version of the Common Application. It is a unified college application process accepted by all Texas public universities and many private schools. (Note that some schools that accept ApplyTexas also accept the Common App.)

🚦 Starting the Application

This is the "easier" part - so feel free to get started before having your essays and chosen colleges ready! Though it is easier, it requires more legal information, so you may need a family member's help.

• The Profile section is about you and your background; remember to have your full legal name so that paperwork can be connected together. Make sure to be honest in the entire college admissions process.

👨‍👩‍👦 Family

• The Family section is about your family members and their career as well as education; it also shows if you are a first-generation student, legacy student, twin applicant, etc.

🎓 Education

• The Education section is about your high school (or secondary school) experience, including dual enrollment. Here, you will have to put your grades, GPA, senior courses, future plans, and more.
• The Testing section is about your test scores, including AP, SAT, ACT, SAT Subject, IB, and more. You also should enter in tests you expect to take. If you will get your score back before the results come out, make sure you send your score to the admission office so they can add that to your file.
• If your colleges allow self-reporting scores, all you have to do is submit your scores here, and you don't have to pay extra! Here is a list of colleges that allow self-report.
• If not, you will have to send scores through College Board (or the corresponding organization). There will be a cost - make sure you also submit at least 2 weeks before the deadline so you don't have to pay extra fees.
• Check each college's website regarding their testing policies. For example, international applicants will have to send TOEFL or similar scores.

🛑 Extracurricular and Volunteer Activities

• At this point, we've finished all the sections that are more logistical and don't require too much thinking. The next few—activities & writing—require more thinking and changing around.
• The Activities section is tougher, and you will be changing this often. To sum it up, you should start by creating a spreadsheet or document with a non-restricted description of all your activities and extracurriculars, then pick the best 10 and narrow it down!
• This section is also the section with Honors . These Honors don't have to be all national awards! It can be smaller awards, such as school awards (honor roll, spirit awards, club awards, etc.), hackathon awards, and more. It's totally fine if you don't fill it all up, too.
• "Community/Volunteer" such as American Heart Association, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and more should be listed here.

📑 Employment Information

• This is a chance to highlight any work experience you may have!

✍️ Custom Questions

• Here, you'll find questions ranging from involvement with certain organizations to enrollment at specific schools. However there are usually 'optional' short answer questions regarding topics like, but not limited to; describe any financial need circumstances you would like for the scholarship committees, Why have you chosen to apply here, and many more! Add anything "additional" but necessary ! It is not required, and don't add any information the admissions officer can already find in your application.
• Also, don't add a second personal statement in these short answers. It should be more of extra circumstances that you want the admissions officer to know, such as extended activity information (that's significant), family circumstances, situations that hindered your academic performance, identity, employment, changes in personal life, or anything to answer the question while providing additional information!

✏️ Essay Prompts

This essay is the scary part — a section where you get to be vulnerable and show your personality, aside from all the hard facts (activities, test scores, GPA, etc.) and the uncontrollable sections (letter of rec, family/education, etc.). Find more information in the next section.

There are four essay prompts on the ApplyTexas application for freshman admission (Topics A, B, C, and D). There are also several short answers prompts for UT Austin and Texas A&M, as well as an additional Topic E for transfer students. All Texas colleges and universities have different application requirements, including essays. Some schools require essays, some list them as optional, and others use a combination of required and optional essays. Several schools use the essays to determine scholarship awards, honors program eligibility, or admission to specific majors.

There are three ApplyTexas essay topics that try to get to the heart of what makes you the person you are in three different ways. But since Topics A, B, and C all focus on things that are essential to you as a person, it can be difficult to come up with a totally unique idea for each. One helpful way to keep these topics separate in your mind is to create a big-picture category for each one: Topic A is outside, Topic B is inside, and Topic C is the future.

• Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?
• Most students have a piece of their identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.
• You've got a ticket in your hand—where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

💗 Getting Familiar with a Prompt

One helpful way to keep these topics separate in your mind is to create a big-picture category for each one: T opic A is outside, Topic B is inside, and Topic C is the future. In other words, Topic A is asking about the impact of challenges or opportunities on you, and how you handled that impact. On the other hand, Topic B is asking about your inner passions and how these define you. Finally, Topic C wants to know where you're going from here.

Remember that you can reuse essays - for example, these essays can be for the Common App as well.

Guide Outline

Related content, 11 tips for early action and early decision, summer opportunities to improve your college applications, how to contact admissions officers, early action vs. early decision: what's the difference, how to complete the activities section on common app, 7 steps to submitting the common app.

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A Great ApplyTexas Essay Example

ApplyTexas allows its users to apply to hundreds of Texan colleges on one platform. While each school has its own essay requirements, most students should be prepared to answer either Topic A, B, or C. This article focuses on Topic A.

In this post, we’ll share an essay a real student submitted for Topic A. We will also cover what the essay did well and where it could be improved to give you ideas for your ApplyTexas essay. You’ll also have the opportunity to download another sample essay.

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Read our ApplyTexas essay breakdown to get a comprehensive overview of this year’s supplemental prompts. 

ApplyTexas Topic A Essay Example

Prompt:   Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today? 

Soft melodies float in the air, feathery sounds of consonance and dissonance create a bed of melodies that I fall asleep on each night. I was born into a family of musicians. I’m the daughter of two pianists who moved across the world to continue their studies, built a home to house two grand pianos, and taught their children to write their life stories on black and white keys. My version of a bedtime story was The Swan by Saint-Saëns; I can sleep through a concerto to this day.

When I turned four years old, my parents dedicated a portion of my day to sitting and practicing at our piano bench. As my relationship with music evolved from reading into interpreting, my hours with the piano turned into adventures, times to transform a monochrome score into a piece of art with color and dimension. Throughout most of my life, the best part of my day was spent creating music.

Enter high school, I found myself taking more classes, joining more extracurricular activities to feed my resume, and spending more time studying subjects that never quite sparked my interest.

As a result, my hours spent with the piano were replaced with hours spent at my bedroom desk. I became increasingly frustrated when my parents would remind me daily to practice the piano and envious of my older brother whose piano accomplishments made my parents so proud. By sophomore year, it would need to be a good day for me to practice the piano for even an hour.

My performances became defined by cold hands and memory slips, and I found it difficult to keep up with others in competitions. I began to resent the instrument I once considered to be my first love because I believed I had digressed from the hardworking pianist my parents have always wanted me to be, to a girl who let her talents go to waste. For months, I felt empty and distant from even myself; I no longer had the means to express my emotions and relate to the people I love the most.

Two nights before my brother left for college, he asked me the question I had been avoiding: “Are you ever going to practice the piano again?” After watching my uneasiness and embarrassment of not having an answer, he shrugged and explained simply: “I don’t practice the piano to win anything. I practice because I enjoy the process. I thought you did too.”

When my brother moved to Austin, my home became quiet. I no longer studied to his late-night practice sessions or fell asleep to his classical music study playlists. Our pianos were left untouched for longer periods of time and scores of music begged to be read. This absence of music made my heart grow fonder of the piano. I realized that I longed for the process of learning. It wasn’t the awards or successful performances that I craved; I wanted to again embark on the journey of telling an infinite amount of stories with just eighty-eight keys.

As I began spending more time expressing myself through the piano, I felt the joy of being heard and the vulnerability of being understood. I learned that music, much like academics, is about the individual journey. In our overly competitive society, I forgot to simply enjoy the moment in front of me. My journey with music over the past years has taught me that the travel is often more important than the destination, that I should cherish the imperfections inherent to learning and be content with my capabilities.

What the Essay Did Well

This student’s writing brings a level of musicality to her essay that nicely echoes the piano motif. From the beginning, she introduces their topic with descriptive language and a metaphor, incorporating imagery that immediately creates an immersive quality and grabs the reader’s attention. The student then shows, rather than tells, how music has been a formative part of her life by saying her “ version of a bedtime story was The Swan, ” and her “ hours with the piano turned into adventures. ” Using this word choice rather than saying “ I am very passionate about music ” shows admissions officers what your life is like.

As the prompt asks for your story, this essay follows the flow of a traditional story. After establishing a sense of serenity in the exposition, she incites conflict in the form of a busy schedule that drew her away from the piano. Although this isn’t the most unique conflict—as every high schooler is busy juggling a dozen different activities—the student gives the reader enough context to see the impact on her life. She describes the experience of playing as “ cold hands and memory slips “, a feeling that she “ let her talents go to waste “, and effect it had on her relationship with others including letting down her parents and fueling sibling jealousy.

This student’s vulnerability about how she lost her passion and had a tense relationship with her family members allows the reader to appreciate just how integral piano is to her story; without it she became a shell of the person she once was. Being vulnerable with the reader is the key to building the pathos needed to make your story resonate. If we can feel for this student at her lowest, we will celebrate her when she triumphs.

The author concludes this essay by mentioning her family again and making an extended metaphor about the world being a piano. By reiterating her family’s influence, she effectively connects back to the beginning of the essay and thus improves the overall flow of the essay. Furthermore, her metaphorical ending demonstrates her writing prowess and allows the essay to end on a more general, future-facing note.

What Could Be Improved

One area that could be strengthened is the turning point of the story where the student learns to love the piano again. She overly emphasizes her brother’s role by making this climactic point revolve around the advice he gave. It is important to emphasize how you were able to overcome your challenges; while it is okay to get help, you should remain the focus of the passage.

The student mentions her self-reflection after her conversation with her brother and how she worked towards reframing the way she thought about piano. In the end, it is her brother’s absence that causes this student to start playing again.  While this thought process is informative, the essay could be stronger if she detailed tangible steps she personally took to relearn the piano.

For example, if she fell in love with a piece she heard in a movie and made it her mission to nail those notes, or if she taught a younger cousin how to play and in doing so, rediscovered her love of making music, this could be an even more compelling read. Thus, it is important to pick a topic in which you were an active part of the resolution. Detailing tangible actions will show colleges your approach to conflict-resolution more than a passive recounting of your thought process. 

Where to Get Your ApplyTexas  Essays Edited

Do you want feedback on your ApplyTexas essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Review & Decision Process

Each application receives an individualized holistic review as part of our decision review process. This process informs decisions of admission as well as major selection.

Decision Timing

We consider every application individually and in relation to the admission factors for the University and for the college, school and majors to which you apply. As a result, some decisions will be delivered earlier than others.

Summer/Fall Enrollment (Freshmen)

• Early Action Decisions Released January 15
• All Decisions Released February 15

Summer/Fall Enrollment (Transfer)

• Decisions Released June 15

Spring Enrollment (Freshman + Transfer)

• Decisions Released Mid-December

What We Look for in Holistic Review

The University uses an individualized, holistic review process to consider each completed application. No specific class rank, test score or other qualification by itself—other than automatic admission based on section 51.803 of the Texas Education Code—ensures admission.

Items Reviewed for Freshman Applicants

• Strength of academic background
• Test scores
• Record of achievements, honors and awards
• Special accomplishments, work and service both in and out of school
• Recommendations (although not required)
• Competitiveness of the major you applied to

Items Reviewed for Transfer Applicants

• Substantial coursework from a challenging academic institution
• Evidence of relevant coursework and experiences related to your field of study
• Required courses for specific areas of study
• Evidence of a positive academic trend (GPA)

Supplemental Items

If you believe that supplemental items will help convey information about your qualifications better, we encourage you to submit them with your application. Supplemental items include:

• Expanded resumes of accomplishments and extracurricular activities (Note: Expanded resume is required for transfer admission)
• Letters of recommendation
• Letters addressing your special circumstances

Automatic Admission Decisions

The initial legislation, passed into law in 1997, offered automatic admission to eligible students in the top 10 percent of their Texas high school class. In 2009 , the law was modified for The University of Texas at Austin. Under the new law, the University must automatically admit enough students to fill 75 percent of available Texas resident spaces. Each fall, the University notifies Texas school officials of the class rank that current high school juniors need to attain by the end of their junior year in order to be automatically admitted. • Summer/Fall 2024 and Spring 2024 applicants: Top 6%

Automatic Admission Reports

If you graduated from a Texas high school, you may qualify for automatic transfer admission.

To be eligible, you must:

• Have graduated from high school in 2008 or later.
• Qualify based on Texas law for automatic freshman admission to a Texas university.
• Enroll at a Texas community or junior college after you graduate from high school.
• Complete the core curriculum at a Texas public junior college or other Texas public or private lower-division institution of higher education.
• Earn a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5 on a four-point scale (or the equivalent).
• Apply for transfer admission to a term no later than four years after the academic year (e.g. 2014-15) in which you graduated from high school.

Requesting Automatic Transfer Admission

If you want to be considered for automatic transfer admission, check the box on the ApplyTexas or CommonApp to indicate that you believe you qualify. In addition to the regular application requirements, you must submit:

• A completed Automatic Transfer Admission Form Automatic Transfer Admission Form .
• An official high school transcript indicating your class rank at graduation.
• An official college transcript indicating your completion of the core curriculum.

Core Curriculum

After you apply, refer to MyStatus for additional details about your automatic transfer admission status.

Decision Types

Congratulations! You’ve been offered a place in the freshman class at UT Austin. You should submit your housing application if you haven’t already done so and submit your enrollment deposit.

2. Deferral

Due to the competitiveness of the applicant pool and limited space in high-demand programs, some applicants who meet the Early Action deadline may receive a defer decision by January 15. These applicants will continue to be considered for admission based on the competitiveness of the applicant pool. Students will receive a final decision no later than February 15.

We regret that we are not able to offer admission at this time.

4. Alternative Pathways

Some Texas students who are not offered admission to UT Austin may be offered an alternate pathway to enroll.

Alternate Pathways

UT Austin has a thorough and thoughtful review process. A reverse in an admissions decision is unlikely. However, students may submit an appeal in certain situations.

• Request Info
• Check Status
• Transfer Admissions

UTSA has a streamlined transfer application process, and our admissions counselors are standing by to help you with a wide range of services and materials.

Before you Apply

Before you get started, take note of these important details:

• There are two ways to apply to UTSA, ApplyTexas and Common App . Pick one! Please do not submit an application on both platforms. Students interested in a fully online degree program should apply through UTSA Online .
• Please submit only one application per term.
• You are responsible for ensuring that all required documentation is received at UTSA by the application deadline (not postmarked).
• An Admission decision cannot be processed until your admission file is complete (i.e. UTSA has received your application, fees, test scores, documentation, etc.)
• All documents in support of an application become the property of UTSA and cannot be returned.
• Offers of admission are valid only for the term indicated in the admittance letter.

How to Apply

Follow the steps below on how to apply to UTSA as a transfer.

• Transfer Cost & Aid
• Admitted Transfer
• Transfer Orientation
• Transfer Programs Transfer from Alamo Colleges TATE TAFT (Future Teachers)
• Explore UTSA Apply Now Check Status

1. Review Transfer Admission Requirements

Transfer admission requirements.

All transfer applicants must meet the minimum GPA listed below based on completed transferable credit hours (not including dual credit) and be eligible to return to their most recent institution. Certain majors have additional requirements to be admitted directly into the academic program. Review our major pages to see if there are any additional requirements. Students who are admitted to the university are not guaranteed admission to a specific academic program.

There is not a minimum number of credits you need before you transfer to UTSA. However, there is a maximum of credits from a community college that can transfer: our students cannot apply more than 66 transfer credit hours to their program to UTSA as per the UTSA policy .

Please Note: SAT or ACT test scores are not required for admission, but are considered if submitted. Neither score is preferred more than the other. Submit your SAT or ACT test scores directly from the testing agency. UTSA Institutional Test Code for ACT is 4239, and the test code for SAT is 6919.

• *Dual Credit & Work in Progress (WIP) : Dual credit and coursework in progress do not count toward a transfer student’s transferable credit hours. All attempted work is considered. Repeated courses are not excluded.
• *Freshmen Requirements : Transfer applicants who must meet freshmen requirements must submit an official high school transcript and SAT/ACT score from the testing agency. In addition, transfer applicants who must meet freshman requirements and undergo committee review are encouraged to submit an essay and letters of recommendation.
• *Foreign College Transcripts : Applicants must have a 2.5 GPA on all foreign college transcripts.

2. Submit Admission Application

Submit admission application.

Submit an application either through ApplyTexas or Common App . Please submit only one application per term. Students interested in a fully online degree program should apply through UTSA Online .

ApplyTexas is the Texas public university application platform that allows you to apply to multiple Texas public universities through one portal.

• Create an account on ApplyTexas. You will be assigned a login and password. Keep these for your records.
• Edit and complete your ApplyTexas Profile. Your profile responses help determine which application type(s) you should use. If you’ve already completed your profile, you can go to the next step.
• Start a new application to UTSA by clicking the “Start/Edit Application” button and “Start a New Application”. Then select “Four-year college/university” and then select “University of Texas at San Antonio – (San Antonio)”
• Select “Transfer” under application type.
• Select your semester
• Select your first choice major
• You’ll get redirected to your “My Application” page. Find the “University of Texas at San Antonio” box (it will be a blue box with orange borders) and click on “+ Admission Application” to find the additional questions you must answer. Click on each of the links and follow the prompts on the screen to answer the questions.
• Once UTSA receives your application, you will get an email from “UTSA One Stop”. Be sure to complete the rest of the steps in the admission process to have a “complete” admission file.

UTSA is also available on the Common App, a national application platform that allows students to apply to multiple participating universities across the United States through one portal.

• Create an account on Common App for “Transfer Students”. You will create your log–in and password. Keep these for your records.
• Add Program Tab: Once your account is created, go to the “Add Programs” tab, search and filter for “UTSA”, then under the header “The University of Texas at San Antonio – UTSA”, click on “+” next to the term you are seeking admission (ex: Undergraduate Fall 2022).
• My Application Tab: Complete all questions under each tile “Program Information”, “Academic History”, “Supporting Information”, and “Program Materials”. UTSA-specific questions will be found under “Program Materials”. Follow the prompts on the screen to answer the questions.
• Submit Application Tab: When you have completed all information, go to the “Submit Application” tab to submit your application to UTSA.

3. Pay Application Fee

Pay application fee.

The application fee for UTSA is $70. It is a non-refundable fee.

Pay Fee Online

You can pay your application fee via credit card when applying through ApplyTexas or after you submit your application through the myUTSA Account Classic View student portal. After we receive you application, you will get an email from UTSA to activate your myUTSA Account which will allow you to login to your myUTSA Account. Once logged in, click on the “Future Roadrunner” tab, then click “Check your Admission Status” and scroll to the bottom for the payment button.

Pay Fee by Check or Money Order

If you prefer to pay via check or money order, you can make it out to “The University of Texas at San Antonio”. Please include applicant’s full name and date of birth so the payment matches the correct application. It can be mailed to the following address: The University of Texas at San Antonio Office of Undergraduate Admissions One UTSA Circle San Antonio, Texas 7824

Fee Waivers

Fee waivers are not available for transfer applicants.

4. Request & Submit Transcripts

Request & submit transcripts.

Transfer applicants must request transcripts from each of the colleges the student has attended. These should match the same colleges you listed on the admission application. Please note each institution will have its own transcript request process.

Faxed, scanned or photocopied transcripts will not be accepted or acknowledged. All transcripts must be received by the UTSA Office of Undergraduate Admissions by the application deadline (not postmarked). You can check your admission checklist when you receive your myUTSA ID to see what items we require to complete your admission file.

Electronic Transcripts

UTSA prefers transcripts to be received electronically through SPEEDE. Electronic Parchment, E-Script PDF, and Naviance transcripts can be sent to [email protected] from the electronic delivery service or institution. Please note emails with transcripts received directly from students will not be accepted.

Transfer applicants who must also meet freshman requirements will be required to have their final high school transcript sent to UTSA. UTSA can receive electronic high school transcripts sent via TREx and Naviance via Parchment delivery.

Sealed Paper Transcripts

If your institution prefers mailing transcripts, seal copies of your official transcript can be mailed to: The University of Texas at San Antonio Office of Undergraduate Admissions One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249.

Evaluation of Foreign Credentials

Any applicants, including non-U.S. citizens (International), U.S. Citizens, and permanent residents, who have earned university-level credit from foreign institutions are required to submit transcripts along with a mandatory evaluation of the transcripts from Foreign Credential Services of America (FCSA) , but you can submit a credential evaluation from any evaluators on the  NACES website . UTSA accepts credit only from recognized accredited academic institutions. An approved evaluation requires a detailed course-by-course evaluation. Foreign credential evaluations must be received by the application deadline for your application to be processed.

Foreign Transcripts

International transcripts must be recorded in English or officially translated to English. Transcripts in the original language must accompany all translated documents.

Military Transcripts

Submission of military transcripts is not required for admission. However, applicants can submit their military transcripts to review for UTSA elective credit eligibility. As a Serviceman’s Opportunity College (SOC) institution, UTSA awards credit on a limited basis for military coursework.

In order for credit to be awarded, a student should submit an official Army/American Council on Education Registry Transcript System (AARTS) or an official Sailor/Marine/Ace Registry Transcript (SMART) listing all military coursework completed to UTSA. Official Joint Services Transcripts can be requested online at https://jst.doded.mil/ .

5. Submit Additional Documentation

Submit additional documentation.

Once you have your myUTSA ID, you can Check your admission status by logging into your myUTSA Account student portal to see all the remaining items, documents, or forms that are required to complete your admissions file. All documentation must be submitted by the admission deadline (not postmarked).

Test Scores

Transfers who must also meet freshmen requirements (earned 29 or less credit hours) can submit your SAT or ACT test scores directly from the testing agency. SAT or ACT tests are not required for admission, but are considered if submitted. Neither score is preferred more than the other. UTSA Institutional Test Code for ACT is 4239, and the test score for SAT is 6919.

International students who need to submit an  English language proficiency  test score can submit any of the following: TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic, Cambridge C1 Advanced, iTEP Academic.

International Documents

For international students, each country requires specific documentation when applying to UTSA and all submitted documents must be translated into English: North America , South America , Asia , Europe , Africa , Oceania .

When to Apply

Admissions application opens.

We encourage students to apply as soon as the admissions application for the term they are interested in opens up. Applications open a year prior to the deadline. Please note open dates are subject to change.

Admissions Deadline

All required documents, transcripts, fees, and test scores must be on file by 5:00 p.m. on the date of the deadline. Deadlines that fall on a weekend or UTSA holiday will be extended until 5:00 p.m. the following business day. Applicants whose files are not completed by the final deadline will not be considered for admission to UTSA for the semester to which they applied. Students interested in fully online programs should follow UTSA Online deadlines .

Applicants have the right to appeal decisions of the Undergraduate Admissions Office. Students requesting an appeal must do so by submitting the Appeal for Undergraduate Admission form and any other requested documents as outlined on the form. The appeal must be received by the Appeal Deadline for the term of the application. Deadlines which fall on a weekend or UTSA holiday will be extended until 5:00 p.m. the following business day.

Deferred Admission Deadlines

The deferred deadlines table is for transfer applicants who were notified that a decision concerning their admission was being deferred pending receipt of their grades for current coursework in progress. As soon as you complete your courses, please request an official transcript to be sent to this office. To expedite processing, you may mail or bring a copy of your grade report to our office to be forwarded to the evaluation staff. Scanned or faxed grade reports will not be accepted or acknowledged.

After you Apply

• 1. Check Email
• 2. Claim myUTSA ID
• 3. Check Status
• 4. Apply for Scholarships

Check Your Email

Once you submit your application, you will receive a thank you email from ApplyTexas or Common App, not UTSA. It can take up to two business days for the application to be received by UTSA once it is submitted.

Once UTSA receives your application, you will receive an e-mail from our One Stop Enrollment Center (UTSA One Stop) confirming the receipt of your application. Shortly after, you will also receive a second email from “UTSA Accounts” to claim your myUTSA ID.

Claim Your myUTSA ID

You will be issued your “myUTSA ID” once UTSA receives your admission application. Your myUTSA ID consists of 3 letters and 3 numbers (example: abc123), which will provide you access to your myUTSA Account student portal where you can check your admission status.

Your myUTSA ID must be activated and a passphrase created by the applicant before they will be able to access any UTSA systems. If you run into any issues claiming your myUTSA ID, please contact UTSA Tech Cafe at 210-458-5555.

Check Your Admission Status

Once you have your myUTSA ID, you can log into your myUTSA Account student portal to check your admission status . Most information is conveniently organized under the “Future Roadrunner” tab. You’ll be able to review your admission status, see your missing application item, and if you’re admitted to UTSA, you’ll see additional information such as your Rowdy Ready Checklist and your Academic Standing.

Apply for Scholarhips & Financial Aid

With your myUTSA ID and passphrase, you can now access the UTSA Scholarship HUB , which is a single-source platform for students to find various scholarship opportunities available to apply to, including the Scholarship Hub’s General Application . The general application will instantly put you in the pool of scholarships that are managed by the UTSA Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. After you submit the Scholarship Hub’s General Application, we encourage you to continuously return back to the Scholarship Hub to check for additional scholarship opportunities provided by other UTSA offices.

Also, don’t forget Financial Aid! Even if you don’t think you will qualify for federal aid, we recommend all students submit a FAFSA . If you are not a US citizen, but eligible for Texas aid, submit the TASFA . Both FAFSA/TASFA are free, fairly quick to complete, and can help factor into additional items like grants and scholarship opportunities. If you need any help, reach out to your admission counselor!

Mind the Deadlines

The priority financial aid deadline is January 15 for Fall and November 1 for Spring. Transfer applicants who apply and get admitted to UTSA by May 1 for Fall or Oct 15 for Spring will be given automatic consideration for the Distinguished Transfer Scholarship (DTS) valued at up to $6,000 for up to two years if renewal eligibility is maintained. Don’t miss out!

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• Apply Texas College Essay Prompts for Class of 2023

January 17, 2022 By Jolyn Brand

The Apply Texas application is a common application form for most Texas public universities. It allows students to input their information for several different colleges at once. ApplyTexas college essay prompts for class of 2022 are:

• Essay A:   Tell us your story. What unique opportunities or challenges have you experienced throughout your high school career that have shaped who you are today?
• Essay B:  Some students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. If you are one of these students, then tell us about yourself.
• Essay C:  You’ve got a ticket in your hand – Where will you go? What will you do? What will happen when you get there?

Each school requires a different combination of these three college essays-some require all three, some just one or two, or others make certain ones recommended or optional. Some schools even use these essays for both admissions decisions AND scholarships so it’s important to put time and effort into each one!

UT Short Answer Question Requirements

As part of ApplyTexas, all freshman applicants will also respond to  short-answer questions .

Fall 2022 Prompts-Required Short Answers (250-300 words each):

1.     Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?

2.     Describe how your experiences, perspectives, talents, and/or your involvement in leadership activities (at your school, job, community, or within your family) will help you to make an impact both in and out of the classroom while enrolled at UT.

3.     The core purpose of The University of Texas at Austin is, “To Transform Lives for the Benefit of Society.” Please share how you believe your experience at UT-Austin will prepare you to “Change the World” after you graduate.

4.     Please share background on events or special circumstances that you feel may have impacted your high school academic performance, including the possible effects of COVID-19.

Texas A&M University-  3 Short Answer Questions for all applicants

• Texas A&M University believes that diversity is an important part of academic excellence and that it is essential to living our core values (loyalty, integrity, excellence, leadership, respect, and selfless service). Describe the benefits of diversity and inclusion for you personally and for the Texas A&M campus community. (250-300 words)
• Tell us about the person who has most impacted your life and why.
• Describe a life event which you feel has prepared you to be successful in college.

Texas A&M University- Short answer question for Engineering majors (Priority deadline- October 15)

Engineering Essay : Describe your academic and career goals in the broad field of engineering (including computer science, industrial distribution, and engineering technology). What and/or who has influenced you either inside or outside the classroom that contributed to these goals?

The Apply Texas application has moved to https://goapplytexas.org/

Applying to colleges with the common app, be sure to check out the common app essay prompts here., share this:.

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ApplyTexas 

Submit multiple applications from one site.

What is ApplyTexas? 

ApplyTexas is like the Common App , but specifically for Texas schools. It makes it easy for students in Texas to apply to more than one college with one application process. On ApplyTexas, you can complete the following tasks: 

• Apply for admission to any Texas public university or participating community and private colleges 
• Apply for undergraduate, international, and graduate admission 
• Submit application essays online 
• Apply for scholarships from participating schools 

How to complete your ApplyTexas application

Step one: create your account.

Create an account on ApplyTexas . Then, write down the username and password that comes in your confirmation email. 

Step Two: Create your profile

Enter your personal demographic information, as well as your educational history. Include the high school and any colleges you’ve attended (if applicable). 

Step Three: Begin your application

Select either “4-year university undergraduate admissions application” or “2-year college admissions application.”

After choosing the type of application, select your target university or college (the school you are applying to). Also choose between a freshman or transfer application. If you already have college credits, check with the school you’re applying to for their transfer requirements. 

Complete this step for each Texas school you want to apply to. Thankfully, you can use your earlier application so that you don’t have to re-enter every piece of information. 

Step Four: Enter extracurricular and employment information

Some universities will have a section to enter extracurricular and employment information. Remember, be very thorough in this section and include all activities. 

Step Five: Answer supplementary questions from the college

At the end of the application, there may be a section for you to answer college-specific questions. 

If you are applying to a university, you may need letters of recommendation and an essay and entrance exams , like the SAT or ACT, to go along with your application. 

Applying for scholarships with ApplyTexas

You can use ApplyTexas to submit scholarship applications from participating colleges.  

After applying, you'll see a separate scholarship application, if available. Scholarship application deadlines often occur before admission application deadlines. Be sure to look those up on the college website.  

Letters of recommendation and essays

Entrance exams.

The 3 Steps To Submitting Your Transfer Application to the University of Texas at Austin

Students decide to transfer colleges for a number of reasons. Whether your student aspires to transfer from a four year institution or community college, if they have their eye on UT-Austin , here are a 3 things to keep in mind:  

1. Establish/Confirm your Eligibility Requirements

Prospective students are classified as transfers for admissions purposes if they’ve both: 

• Graduated from high school or completed a GED 
• Earned or will have earned 24 semester hours of required transferable coursework at another college or university (this includes 2 year and community colleges)

Transfer applicants typically have a few college coursework credits under their belt. Before beginning an application, take stock of the transferable credits your student has completed. You can verify if completed coursework credits can be transferred here.  

2. Prepare your Application Materials

In addition to completing an online application for admission through ApplyTexas or the Coalition for College, prospective transfer students must also submit the following application materials: 

• College Transcripts
• An Expanded Resume
• Letter(s) of recommendation 
• Two Essays 

3. UT-Austin Transfer Essay Topic A

All Transfer Applicants must submit two application essays to UT Austin. 

The first essay, Topic A, is required by all applicants, regardless of major. 

Topic A, also known as a Statement of Purpose should in 500-650 words, address the following prompt: 

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 admissions committee directly and to let us know more about you as an individual, in a manner that your transcripts and other information cannot convey. 

As your student drafts their Statement of Purpose for Topic A, be sure to address the following: 

• Your previous academic experiences and development
• Your current studies
• Your future academic and professional goals 
• How a UT education can help you achieve your goals in specific and concrete ways 
• Any special or extenuating circumstances 

For students transferring from four year colleges: Be sure to stay tasteful and respectful when sharing your reasons for transferring from your current institution! 

Additional Application Essays

In addition to a Statement of Purpose, prospective transfer students are required to submit at least one additional essay addressing Topic C, D or E . Unless applying to a a special program like Architecture or Fine Arts, the majority of transfer applicants’ second essay responds to 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. 

Students should approach Topic E as an opportunity to demonstrate how they think, write, and communicate ideas that are important to them. Pick an issue that is meaningful to you, not something you think an admissions reader wants to hear. You can use Topic E to highlight your fit-to-major experiences that you touched on in Topic A or use this space to showcase a different side of yourself! 

Click here for more information about UT’s Transfer process.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, tamu transfer essays.

Hi folks! I'm applying for the Engineering Transfer Admit at Texas A&M University and I know the essays play a huge role in the application process. Any firsthand advice or tips to help make my essays stand out? Thanks in advance!

Hi there! It's excellent that you're putting thought into your essays for the transfer application at Texas A&M University. Here are some tips to make your essays stand out:

1. Focus on your passion for engineering: Use your personal experiences, interests, and future goals to showcase your genuine passion for the field. Explain what initially sparked your interest in engineering, how you have pursued that interest, and the impact it has had on you.

2. Showcase your problem-solving skills: Engineering is all about solving problems. Describe specific instances where you applied your problem-solving skills, whether it was through your academic studies, personal projects, or extracurricular activities. This helps demonstrate your aptitude for engineering.

3. Highlight teamwork and collaboration: Engineers often work in teams and collaboration is a crucial skill. Mention experiences where you've played a significant role in group projects or worked effectively in teams, showing your ability to communicate and collaborate with others.

4. Emphasize your unique qualities and experiences: Don't be afraid to share personal stories that set you apart from other applicants. Admissions officers read numerous essays, and being able to provide a unique perspective will help you stand out.

5. Keep it clear and concise: While sharing your experiences, make sure to keep your essay well organized and easy to follow. Use clear language to effectively communicate your ideas. Break your essay into paragraphs, each focusing on a specific point or example.

6. Tailor your essay to TAMU: Specifically mention aspects of Texas A&M University's engineering program that appeal to you, such as courses, professors, research opportunities, or resources. This helps show that you've done your research and are excited about joining their engineering community.

7. Revise and proofread: After writing your essay, take the time to revise it multiple times, focusing on improving the clarity, organization, and flow. Make sure to proofread for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors as well.

8. Seek feedback: It's always beneficial to get feedback from others, whether it's a school counselor, teacher, or family member. They can provide valuable insight and help you polish your essay further.

By following these tips, you can craft an engaging and impactful essay that showcases your passion, experience, and potential as a future engineer at Texas A&M University. Good luck with your application!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

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We Know Transfers  

For generations Texas State has been a top destination in Texas for transfer students because we’re great at helping people find their next steps, academically and professionally.

When applying to Texas State, your overall academic record is the most important part of your application, but we'll also look at what you've done outside the classroom. Look at our TRANSFER ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS to learn what it takes to become a Bobcat.

Application Deadlines

Spring: November 15

Summer: May 1

Fall Priority: February 15

Fall Final: July 15

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Ideal for students completing a degree or professionals wanting to boost their careers, the Round Rock Campus offers undergraduate and graduate programs in nursing and healthcare, computer science, education and more.

• New facilities include state-of-the-art training labs in healthcare
• Centrally located for the Austin, Round Rock and Georgetown communities
• Teaching clinics on campus give students hands-on, practical experience

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For International Transfer Students

Committed to your success.

Our commitment to you as a transfer student has never been stronger as evidenced by our recent naming to the Transfer Honor Roll by the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. What this means is that we are recognized for excellence in developing pathways for you that ensure a smooth transition to Texas Tech. We have a wide range of academic programs for you to explore. Texas Tech is a place where great things are happening inside the classroom and out – where you can play as hard as you study. Whoever you want to become, from here, it's possible.

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Transcripts

• Create an RaiderConnect account for uploading unofficial documentation and checking application status. Unofficial documentation can be used for evaluation and admission purposes only. For enrollment, students are required to submit official documentation before the start of their first semester to avoid a registration hold.
• Provide official college transcript(s) in original language and certified English translations from all institutions in which the applicant has been or is currently enrolled. Official documentation may be submitted by your institution's counselor directly to the TTU Counselor Portal. School officials can contact our office at [email protected] to request access to the portal.
• Submit documentation showing completion of high school (secondary school) through transcripts, diploma, exit examinations, etc. Official documentation may be submitted by your institution's counselor directly to the TTU Counselor Portal. School officials can contact our office at [email protected] to request access to the portal.
• If your transcripts or diplomas are not in English, you are required to submit an official English translation in addition to your documents in the original language. Notary-signed copies are not considered official translations. The translator must be a currently active member of the American Translators Association and complete a word-for-word translation of your document.
• We will only consider coursework in progress for the long term prior to your term of entry (summer not considered) in order to provide a decision on your application for admission.
• If you are applying for a fall term, we must have final grades for all coursework taken the previous fall and prior;
• If you are applying for a spring term, we must have final grades for all coursework taken the previous spring and prior.
• If you are admitted with work in progress, your decision will be conditional.
• You can attend orientation and register for classes for one term with a conditional decision
• When we receive your final transcript, if it has grades that bring your GPA below our minimum, your decision can be revoked.
• If we are still missing a final transcript for the prior term on the 12th class day, a registration hold for the following term will be placed on your account and all final grades must be submitted to resolve that hold.

I-20 Documentation

• If admitted, students will receive additional information concerning I-2o documentation requirements.

Application Deadlines

Summer/Fall Priority Scholarship Deadline January 01

Summer/Fall Priority Application Deadline May 01

Spring Priority Scholarship Deadline November 01

Spring Priority Application Deadline November 01

Are you uncertain if you should apply as a domestic or international student? Click here to determine which application you need to submit.

Requirements  

Texas Tech issues decisions on an assured basis along with a holistic evaluation of your credentials. Both of these processes are outlined below.

Assured Admission

If you present the required combination of transferable hours and GPA below, you are assured admission. GPA is cumulative for all transferable courses (including dual credit) from all schools attended. Courses taken for grade replacement are used for GPA calculation only if the same course is repeated at the same institution where it was originally taken.

Note: Some academic colleges and departments at Texas Tech University only accept students who meet assured admission criteria or meet specified requirements. Review the special requirements by college here .

Admission Review

If you do not meet assured admission requirements but have at least a 2.00 cumulative GPA, an admission committee will evaluate your potential based on other criteria.

• Academics  – types of courses taken and pattern of progress, as well as coursework taken leading toward major
• Student-submitted essay – explanation of the decision to transfer to Texas Tech, reasons for past academic performance and plans to ensure future academic success
• Extracurricular activities/employment – leadership and work experience, special talents or awards, other information relevant to the admission decision
• Students with a cumulative GPA or transferable credit hours below requirements or who haven't taken college coursework in the past two or more semesters are encouraged to explain circumstances that have impacted their past academic performance and to submit an essay.

All international students are required to have health insurance. Learn more here .

• Architecture - 3.0 GPA
• Biology, Cell & Molecular Biology, Microbiology - 2.5 GPA
• Business - 2.75 GPA, 15+ hours, Students should also have a C or better in Math 1331 (TCCN Math 1325) or Math 1451 (TCCN Math 2413).
• Counseling & Addiction Sciences - 2.5 GPA
• Engineering - 3.0 GPA, 24+ hours
• Honors College - 3.5 GPA
• Human Development & Family Science - 2.5 GPA
• Interior Design - 2.7 GPA
• Kinesiology - 2.75 GPA
• Physics - 2.5 GPA
• Sports Management - 2.75 GPA

Already applied?

Admission applications are accepted beginning July 1 for Fall admission and June 1 for Spring admission. Decisions usually take 2-4 weeks. If you have any questions regarding the application or enrollment processes, contact your admissions counselor here.

Transfer Resources

• Transfer Scholarships

Scholarships are offered to transfer students who meet the GPA and credit hour requirements. To learn more about the Transfer Merit Scholarship Program, visit scholarships.ttu.edu . 

Pre-Transfer Advising

Start working with our pre-transfer advisors even before you get here! We'll help you research your academic options and guide you through a variety of decisions while you attend your current institution. Whether you plan to transfer from a two-year or four-year institution, we'll help make your transition to Texas Tech a success.

Find your degree plan .

See how transfer credits apply .

• FERPA Policy (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974)
• Summer Scholarship Program
• Withdraw Application
• Red Raider Bound - Planning to transfer at a later time? Let us know!

Have questions?

We have a dedicated team of admission and financial aid experts ready to answer your questions!

Contact TTU

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Transfer Student

Whether you’re transferring from another Texas-based college or coming here from an out-of-state institution, there’s a place for you here. If you’re a transfer student, here’s what you need to know about enrolling at San Jac.

How to Transfer to San Jac

To apply, visit the ApplyTexas website to create an account and complete a two-year application. Make sure to choose San Jacinto College as the college you would like to attend.  The application is free and there is no deadline. You will receive an email confirmation once you submit your application. You will receive an acceptance letter via email within 24-48 hours.

Claim Your SOS Network Access

When you apply to San Jac, an SOS account is created for you to claim your login credentials and activate your account. This is how you securely gain access to the College’s platforms.

Submit Proof of Meningitis Vaccination

If you’re under the age of 22, you will be required to receive a vaccination or booster against bacterial meningitis within the last five years before you register for classes. This is a legal requirement for all Texas college students. Men B does not meet the state requirement, so please be sure request the MCV4 vaccine at least 10 days before the semester begins.

Send Your Transcript

Next, you’ll need to submit official transcript(s) from each college or university you’ve attended. These records help us determine which courses you’ve completed and will also be needed if you are applying for financial aid. Official transcripts can be submitted in person, electronically, or via US mail. Transcripts emailed to the College are not accepted.

Complete Orientation

If you’re transferring into San Jac with fewer than 12 credit hours earned, you’ll need to complete new student orientation prior to registering for classes. This course will show you everything you need to know about attending San Jac.  Orientation can be completed online or in person. Log into My San Jac and click on the “SOS Login” to sign up for an orientation session.

Meet With a Program Advisor

While all transfer students are encouraged to meet with a Program Advisor before registering for classes, only those with fewer than 12 credit hours earned are required to do so. Please note that all steps listed above must be completed prior to meeting with a Program Advisor. Appointments are offered virtually and in person.

Welcome to San Jac!

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Central campus admissions.

Phone: 281-998-6150

Summer Hours: Monday - Thursday: 7:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. Friday: 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.

North Campus Admissions

Summer Hours: Monday - Thursday: 7:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. Friday: 8 a.m. - 12 p.m

South Campus Admissions

Generation park campus admissions.

Phone: 281-998-6150 

Summer Hours: Monday - Wednesday: 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Thursday: 7:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Friday: 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.

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