UT Austin Acceptance Rates (2026): In-State, Out-of-State & Transfer

Updated on October 22, 2026.

Quick answer:

UT Austin's acceptance rate is 22.2% for fall 2025. UT Austin admitted 20,154 of 90,690 first-year applicants, according to its 2025–2026 Common Data Set (CDS).Texas residents have nearly 5x the odds of out-of-state applicants: 35.9% vs. 7.5%. UT Austin's acceptance rate fell 4.4 points, from 26.6% in fall 2024 to 22.2% in fall 2025, the lowest rate since at least 2020. Applications jumped 24% to 90,690, while UT admitted only 737 more students than the year before. Out-of-state students made up 39% of applicants but just 13% of admits. Fall 2026 set another record: UT reported 98,841 first-year applications.

Below, we break down UT Austin's acceptance rate by residency (in-state, out-of-state, and international) and transfer status, and explain why the rate keeps falling.

UT Austin's acceptance rates (general)

UT Austin's overall first-year acceptance rate is 22.2% for fall 2025, down from 26.6% in fall 2024. Applications also grew by nearly 18,000, while admits stayed near 20,000. The college also welcomed its largest class of students in history, with 9,900 students enrolling on campus. 

Last year, UT Austin reported record highs in applications, admits, and enrolled students, reflecting student demand and performance. UT News reported another record being broken, with 98,841 applications submitted for this year's 2026-2027 application cycle. 

Will the university admit more students to match the increase in student demand this year, or will it become more selective? We'll be here to report on the numbers once this cycle's complete!

For more insights on acceptance rates at various colleges, consider our NYU acceptance rate, Harvard acceptance rate, and UC system acceptance rates (UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego), and more. 

UT Austin acceptance rate by residency (Fall 2025)

Texas residents had by far the highest first-year acceptance rate at UT Austin in fall 2025: 35.9%. Out-of-state U.S. applicants were admitted at 7.5% and international applicants at 7.9%.

Even though non-residents made up nearly half of UT Austin's applicant pool (48%) in 2025, only about one in six of those applicants were admitted. 

What is UT Austin's in-state acceptance rate?

UT Austin's in-state acceptance rate is 35.9% for fall 2025: 16,828 admits from 46,879 Texas applicants. That is more than four times the rate for out-of-state applicants.

The gap widens further when we look at enrollment statistics. About 53% of admitted Texans enrolled, compared to roughly 28% of admitted non-residents. 

Why? UT Austin's auto-admit policy means resident students in the top 5% of their high school class gain admission. This, coupled with Texas law requiring the UT system to keep 90% of its incoming class Texas residents and its Texas Advance Commitment (TAC) program that meets full need for Texas families earning up to $100,000, makes it more appealing for students to apply and enroll at UT Austin. 

What is UT Austin's out-of-state acceptance rate?

UT Austin's out-of-state acceptance rate is 7.5% for fall 2025: 2,653 admits from 35,268 U.S. applicants outside Texas. That is down from about 10% in fall 2024.

Out-of-state demand is surging. Out-of-state applications rose from 23,015 in fall 2024 to 35,268 in fall 2025, a 53% jump, while out-of-state admits held near 2,500. Only 758 out-of-state first-years enrolled, 7.7% of the class.

What is UT Austin's transfer acceptance rate?

UT Austin's transfer acceptance rate is 22.0% for fall 2025, admitting 2,672 of the 12,168 students who applied. That is nearly identical to the first-year rate, and down slightly from 22.5% in fall 2024.

Is UT Austin becoming more selective?

Yes. UT Austin's acceptance rate has fallen three years in a row, from 31.4% to 22.2% in fall 2025. This indicates that it is difficult for Texas residents to gain admission and substantially harder for out-of-state and international applicants to be admitted. 

Four clear factors are driving the drop:

1. Increased application volume

2. UT Austin moving to the Common App

3. Automatic admission threshold is tighter

4. Texas affordability and overall ranking

Increase in Applications Submitted

Demand for UT Austin is rising far faster than the number of seats available. In fall 2025, UT Austin received more applications than it has in history. While this is something to celebrate, it's clear that there is a supply-and-demand mismatch occurring; one that follows closely to highly selective colleges such as UCLA or UC Berkeley.

UT Austin on the Common App

The Common App is a centralized college application platform used by over 1,000 colleges and universities across the country. Until recently, students could only apply to UT Austin through ApplyTexas. Since UT joined the Common App, adding UT Austin to a college list is easier than ever before. 

Automatic Admissions Threshold Tightening

As mentioned, Texas law requires that the majority of UT's in-state seats go to students admitted automatically based on class rank reporting. UT has since tightened that threshold from the top 7% in 2019 to the top 5%, which remains the cutoff for students applying this year (2027). This causes two issues:

1. Increasing the academic standard and baseline to 5% means there is now an increase in competition for in-state students trying to meet the requirement. This not only increases competition among in-state students, but also among non-resident applicants. 

2. With so many seats reserved for Texas residents, fewer seats remain for holistic review. This means that non-residents aren't fighting for approximately 20,000 seats; they're competing for about 10% of that number.

Affordability and Rankings

UT's TAC initiative covers tuition for Texas families (up to $100,00), reducing the total cost of attendance and drawing more in-state applicants. 

Additionally, UT has been climbing college rankings for years now. As of 2026, UT Austin is considered the #1 public university in Texas and among the top 10 public universities nationally, according to U.S. News & World Report. 

The Bottom Line

UT Austin remains one of the most sought-after public universities in the United States. With skyrocketing application numbers and acceptance rates below 30%, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for students to set themselves apart from other qualified applicants. While Texas residents hold an advantage, out-of-state candidates can still set themselves up for success with a strong college admissions strategy. 

Looking to boost your chances of acceptance at UT Austin? Collegewise's UT Austin acceptance rate is 48.1%, nearly 2x higher than the general admit rate.

Book a free consultation with Collegewise to work with former UT admissions officers and Texas admissions experts.