Transferring to UT Austin: your chances, deadlines and credits
Transfer acceptance rate: 22%
Transfer acceptance rate
Source: Official school data report, section D, 2025-2026
For fall 2025, UT Austin admitted 2,672 of 12,168 transfer applicants (22%).
Checked November 9, 2026. Selective
- Credits to apply
- At least 24 semester hoursSource, 2026-2027
UT Austin transfer acceptance rate
UT Austin's transfer acceptance rate for fall 2025 was 22%. 2,026 transfer students enrolled. The first-year rate the same year was 22.2%.
Source: Official school data report, section D, 2025-2026
The Common Data Set is the official data report colleges publish each year.
Transfer and first-year applicants are different groups. Use the first-year rate as context only.
This rate covers everyone who applied. Your major can move it a lot, and the report does not split it by major.
Our read: One number covers every college. UT Austin lists some programs as fall-only for transfers and some as closed to transfers, so your odds depend on the college you pick. Read the college rules below before you read the number.
Source: UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
Transfer requirements
UT Austin requires an essay and a minimum number of college credits.
Minimum credits before you applyRequired
You need at least 24 semester hours of transferable coursework.
Source, 2026-2027
You need 24 semester hours of required transferable coursework, earned or in progress. The application fee is $75 and fee waivers are available. Send official transcripts from every college you attended, even if those credits were transferred in. Transcripts cannot be sent by email.
Source: UT Austin transfer admission, undated page
McCombs wants proof of credit or work in progress for Calculus I and II, microeconomics, macroeconomics and a rhetoric and writing course.
Source: UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
Cockrell Engineering wants calculus at the level of MATH 408D, 408L or 408M, Physics 303K with its lab, and four technical courses in math, science, computer science or engineering. Geosystems Engineering transfers apply through Cockrell, not Jackson.
Source: UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
Natural Sciences requires MATH 408K, 408C or 408N and six credit hours of first-year math and science. Pre-Pharmacy, Statistics and Data Science and Undeclared are freshman-only.
Source: UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
Nursing must be your first-choice major. It requires an essay focused on becoming a nurse, transcripts showing CHEM 301, SDS 301 and BIO 311C, and meeting professional and technical standards.
Source: UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
Plan II Honors, the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Undeclared Liberal Arts option are not open to transfers. Social Work transfers enter as Pre-Social Work and apply to the BSW program after the prerequisites. Education transfers in Sport Management apply as Physical Culture and Sports majors, then apply to the program.
Source: UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
Transfer deadlines
- You send or do something
- The school answers
- January
- March
- June
Many colleges take transfers for fall only. McCombs, Cockrell Engineering, Moody Communication, Architecture, Fine Arts, Jackson Geosciences, Nursing and the School of Civic Leadership are fall-only. Computer Science, Informatics and Environmental Science (Biological Sciences) in Natural Sciences are fall-only too. Liberal Arts, Education, Social Work and most Natural Sciences majors also take summer and spring.
Source: UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
Coursework in progress is not accepted for spring applicants. For summer and fall you can count work in progress toward the 24 semester hours.
Source: UT Austin transfer admission, undated page
Butler School of Music applicants must apply by December 1 and complete an audition or interview.
Source: UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
Our read: The supplemental materials deadline falls a week after the application deadline, so the resume and letters have a short extra window. Do not rely on it. Finish the resume before you submit.
Other terms and dates
- Summer entry: decisions releasedMay 15Source, undated page
- Spring entry: application deadlineSeptember 1Source, undated page
- Spring entry: supplemental materials deadlineSeptember 8Source, undated page
- Spring entry: decisions releasedDecember 15Source, undated page
What GPA do you need?
UT Austin says it uses an individualized, holistic review. For transfers it looks at substantial coursework from a challenging academic institution, relevant coursework and experiences in your field, the required courses for your area of study, and a positive academic trend in your GPA.
Source: UT Austin review and decision process, undated page
The review page gives no minimum GPA for regular transfer admission. It says no class rank, test score or other qualification by itself secures admission, apart from automatic admission under Texas law.
Source: UT Austin review and decision process, undated page
Automatic Transfer Admission is for Texas high school graduates. You must have graduated in 2008 or later, qualify under Texas law for automatic freshman admission, have attended only a Texas community or junior college, finished the core curriculum at a Texas public junior college or other eligible Texas lower-division school, and have at least a 2.5 GPA. If you attended a four-year university, you are not eligible.
Source: UT Austin review and decision process, undated page
Architecture takes only students coming from architecture or interior design programs at other universities, with a minimum 3.25 transfer GPA. You also need two recommendation letters and a design portfolio.
Source: UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
Texas residents can use Academic Fresh Start starting Fall 2026. It lets you set aside academic records seven years old or older so a new transferable GPA can be built. The choice cannot be undone, can be used once within Texas, and excluded credits cannot count toward UT Austin degree requirements.
Source: UT Austin optional transfer considerations, undated page
A GPA that matches past admits is not a cutoff, and it does not mean you are in.
What UT Austin looks for
Our read: "Positive academic trend" is worth planning around. If your first semester was weak, a stronger second term is something the reader is told to look for.
Our read: If you are a four-year student coming from outside Texas, that route is closed to you. You are in the regular holistic pool, so your chosen major's course list matters more than anything else on this page.
A resume is required. It should cover the past five years of academic, extracurricular, community and work activities, with hours per week and weeks per year for each. Two recommendation letters are allowed but not required, and UT Austin suggests choosing writers relevant to your intended major.
Source: UT Austin transfer admission, undated page; UT Austin review and decision process, undated page
Transfer essays and supplements
Transfer Topic A, required for all transfer applicants, 500 to 650 words
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/college 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 the other application information cannot convey.
Source: UT Austin essays and short answers, undated page
Transfer Topic D, School of Architecture applicants only, in addition to Topic A
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, 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?
Source: UT Austin essays and short answers, undated page
The page asks for 500 to 650 words, about 3,000 characters with spaces. It lists no separate length for Topic D and no optional short answers for transfers.
Source: UT Austin essays and short answers, undated page
Our read: This prompt does not ask why you are leaving. It asks what your transcript and activity list cannot show. Write about your field and what you have done in it, not your complaints about your current school.
Our read: The prompt says it is not a list of accomplishments, and the resume already holds that list. Pick one or two experiences and explain what they changed in how you think about your major.
Nursing applicants must focus Topic A on becoming a nurse or a nursing career.
Source: UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
The essay page states no AI policy for transfer essays. Check it again when your application opens.
Source: UT Austin essays and short answers, undated page
The essay is where you explain why you are leaving and why this school. Get a free review before you send it.
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Will your credits transfer?
Lowest grade that transfers
Courses with a grade of D+, D, D-, or F do not earn transfer credit.
Source, 2026-2027What you must finish there
You must complete at least 60 semester hours in residence at UT Austin.
Source, 2026-2027
Admissions makes the first transcript review. Decisions on individual courses come only after you are admitted. Then your academic program decides if and how each course applies to your degree.
Source: UT Austin transfer credit resources, undated page
The Automated Transfer Equivalency database has more than 300,000 evaluations for Texas university and community college courses, and UT Austin says these show the exact credit you will be awarded. Admissions does not evaluate individual out-of-state courses by phone, in person or by email.
Source: UT Austin transfer credit resources, undated page
Courses graded below C- do not transfer, and transfer grades stay out of your UT Austin GPA. Every program requires at least 60 semester hours in residence, and some programs limit the transfer credit they accept.
Source: UT Austin transfer credit resources, undated page
Austin Community College and other Texas community colleges have course guides organized by school and college. UT Austin says to use the guide for the academic year you started at your community college.
Source: UT Austin transfer credit resources, undated page
Our read: Texas community college students can look up courses before applying. Out-of-state students cannot get an answer until after admission, so keep a syllabus for every course that matters to your major and expect to petition for re-evaluation.
If it does not work out
Our read: Rank your majors with the fall-only list in mind. A student who needs a college that only takes fall transfers should treat March 1 as the one shot for the year.
Applicants who were not offered admission, or who were offered admission but want a different major, are told to join the waitlist. UT Austin says reversing a decision is unlikely. Appeals are considered case by case.
Source: UT Austin review and decision process, undated page
Our read: If you do not get in, a Texas community college is a way to build the 24 hours and a new record, and its courses are the ones UT Austin has already evaluated.
- Emory UniversitySimilar odds
- University of California, Los AngelesSimilar odds
- Georgia Institute of TechnologySimilar odds
- University of MichiganTakes more transfers
Questions students ask
What is the Coordinated Admission Program, and is it for me?
It is for Texas high school graduates who applied as freshmen and were not offered regular admission. They spend a year at a participating UT System school and then move to UT Austin. If you are already in college elsewhere, it does not apply.
Source: UT Austin Coordinated Admission Program, undated page
UT Austin tells students with many dual credit, AP or IB credits to attend college elsewhere as regular freshmen and apply as transfers after 24 college credits.
Source: UT Austin Coordinated Admission Program, undated page
Do I need test scores?
The transfer application page lists no test score requirement. It also gives no minimum GPA, so ask admissions if you need that confirmed.
Source: UT Austin transfer admission, undated page
Do I need recommendation letters?
No. Up to two are allowed. Letters are encouraged but not required, except Architecture, which requires two. They go in through Common App, MyStatus or Parchment or Scoir, not by email.
Source: UT Austin transfer admission, undated page; UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
Is spring entry possible?
Yes for some colleges, such as Liberal Arts, Education and Social Work. The deadline is September 1 and work in progress is not accepted.
Source: UT Austin transfer admission, undated page; UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
Can I transfer between UT Austin colleges later?
Our read: UT Austin has a separate internal transfer page. We did not open it, so check it before you count on switching colleges after you arrive.
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Sources
- Official school data report, 2025-2026
- UT Austin transfer admission, undated page
- UT Austin review and decision process, undated page
- UT Austin essays and short answers, undated page
- UT Austin colleges and degrees, transfer requirements, undated page
- UT Austin transfer credit resources, undated page
- UT Austin optional transfer considerations, undated page
- UT Austin Coordinated Admission Program, undated page
- The University of Texas at Austin transfer information, 2026-2027
Numbers come from official reports, read by our tools and checked. Notes were drafted with AI tools from the official pages linked beside them. A person has not reviewed this guide yet. Admission decisions belong to each college, and no one can promise one.