Legislation recommended by the Admissions and Enrollment Committee of The University of Texas at Austin and approved by the Graduate Assembly, Executive Vice President and Provost Sheldon Ekland-Olson, and The University of Texas System Board of Regents, created the Graduate School Select Admission Program in November 1999. The purpose of the program is to encourage undergraduate students with top academic records to remain at the university for a graduate degree. This web page describes goals and procedures for this program.
The Graduate School Select Admission Program is designed to enable graduate programs to attract academically exceptional undergraduates by:
The Graduate School Select Admission Program may be of special benefit to graduate programs with no undergraduate degree offered on campus, or for those programs that recruit new students from different majors. This program may also be of benefit to those graduate programs engaged in proactive recruitment initiatives designed to increase the educational diversity of graduate programs at the university.
Graduate programs interested in participating in the Graduate School Select Admission Program are strongly encouraged to limit their nominations each year to a few outstanding undergraduates.
Nominations must be forwarded to the Graduate School by the prospective graduate program and include the following documents:
No other documentation is necessary for nomination.
Acceptance is not automatic, as all nomination materials will be reviewed to ensure that the student meets the program criteria. If the nomination is approved, the Graduate School will issue a letter accepting the student to the Graduate School Select Admission Program and providing instructions for the Graduate School admissions process. An abbreviated application form has been developed that will be used to process the Graduate School application of each student. This form must be submitted to the Graduate and International Admissions Center (GIAC) at least one month prior to the start of full-time graduate studies.
NOTE: Accepted students must complete their baccalaureate degree requirements before the start of their full-time graduate studies. A registration bar will be placed on each student by GIAC until graduate programs can verify that the student has completed all baccalaureate requirements.
The deadlines for nominating students to the Graduate School Select Admission Program are as follows:
December 1, 2008 for spring semester 2009
May 2, 2009 for summer semester 2009
August 4, 2009 for fall semester 2009
Nominations should be sent to Dr. Darlene Grant, Graduate School, MAI 101, G0400.
Questions about the Graduate School Select Admission Program should be directed to Dr. Darlene Grant, Associate Dean (471-7811, d.grant@mail.utexas.edu).