As students in the Class of 2025 applying early action for University of Texas (UT) at Austin eagerly awaited their admissions decision on Thursday, Jan. 15, many were shocked by the vast number of widespread deferrals that numerous applicants received. One of the largest and most in-demand public universities in Texas, UT Austin saw a staggering increase in admissions numbers this year. This immense, unprecedented growth resulted in an approximate 95% of early admission applicants being told that they would have to wait for their updated admission status until Saturday, Feb. 15th, the same day regular admissions decisions are scheduled to be released.
This year was UT Austin’s peak in applicants, with an increase from 60,000 to over 90,000 freshman applicants. It is speculated that the UT Office of Admissions was not equipped to process all of the early admission applications in time for the initially set early admission decision release date. While most applications were pushed back to Saturday, Feb. 15th, students initially showed confusion in regards to the message displayed on UT Austin’s application portal which at first did not specify if applicants were deferred or simply did not have their application reviewed yet, a phenomenon that has never been seen from any office of admissions before.
“When I initially applied to UT [back in my senior year,] there were students that got deferred but not to the extent that of this year’s deferrals,” current UT student Adisri Mohapatra, said. “It’s definitely frustrating that seniors still have to wait to hear their decision despite applying for early admission.”
After being informed of the issue, admission officials at UT posted a new message later on Thursday, Jan. 16th, aiming to clarify the situation to the students whose admissions were pushed back to Feb. 15th. These students received a new message on UT Austin’s application portal notifying them that their applications had been reviewed and were officially deferred, clarifying the confusion around the state of their applications. While a small portion of students received admission during this cycle, most students have shown frustration in regards to this situation due to the fact that despite putting in the necessary work to meet the early admission deadline, they are expected to receive their decision later than they were told.
“I would have appreciated some transparency about the admissions situation before January 15th so that I wouldn’t have expected my decision that day,” Mikhail Kliachenkov ‘25 said. “I’m surprised there wasn’t any communication from UT before this happened.”
While most freshman early action applicants were deferred to Saturday, Feb. 15th, the 5% that did receive their decision were all acceptances, with little to none denials or alternate admissions pathways. Students expecting their applications remain hopeful as they wait for admissions decisions.
“Having a deferral rather than being offered the CAP program this admissions cycle has kept me hopeful,” Kliachenkov said. “There’s nothing seniors can do except wait and see what happens.”
