What is CAP?CAP = Coordinated Admissions Program
This allows you to go to one of the UT system schools for your freshman year (ex. UTPB), do courses with us, and get an automatic transfer to UT Austin the next year. In order to do this, you must have received notice from your UT application portal that you have been accepted to do CAP. You cannot participate in this program without having received that CAP notice.
As another option, you can apply to our university your freshman year outside of this program and try to transfer into UT Austin for your sophomore year. However, this does not give you automatic admission.
What are the CAP requirements?Luckily for us, UT Austin is very transparent on the requirements.
You need to:
- Submit UT Austin application in the fall
- Complete CAP agreement
- To explore a unique pathway to become a future UT Austin student, you were given the option of doing CAP.
- Complete 30 credit hours at your CAP school
- Check course lists for CAP. If a course isn’t on that list, you CANNOT take it as a CAP student.
- Additionally, if you’ve taken loads of AP/Dual Credit courses, you may not be able to get to 30 credit hours with the courses on the CAP list. Again, check these lists on the CAP website.
- Complete a math course beyond college algebra
- Get a 3.2 cumulative GPA
- Submit your two major picks
- Submit transcript to UT Austin by June 1st
- You will be responsible for sending your own UTPB transcript. You are also responsible for sending all AP/Dual Credit transcripts to UT Austin by June 1st, no exceptions.
What do I need to do once I accept my CAP offer and select UTPB?
While UT Austin will send us your application, you will need to pay the $40 application fee with us. No additional application needs to be sent.
Can any student be a part of CAP?
No, you must first receive a CAP notice through your application portal from UT Austin in order to participate in CAP.
Do I have to sign up for Freshman Orientation?
Yes, it is highly encouraged to do one of these with us (preferably in person) during the summer. You are not permitted to enroll until you have completed this during the summer.
How do I sign up for Freshman orientation?
You will receive an email about this with instructions on how to register. We offer them in person and online and highly encourage you to attend an in-person orientation. Also, yes, you are required to stay overnight for an in-person orientation. Feel free to email orientation@utpb.edu for more information.
I have holds on my account, what do these mean?
- Meningitis Hold: Texas College Students who are new to an institution or returning after a long period away and are under the age of 22 must have this immunization with proper documentation submitted by the first-class day. This does not apply to students who are online students.
- TSI Hold: The Texas Success Initiative hold (TSI) is to ensure you are college ready. There are multiple ways to get this taken off your account but it is best to check with an advisor to see if this applies to you. If not, once you complete the remedial course, it will be taken off your account upon successful completion of your courses.
- Academic Advising Hold: Every student has this hold. It does not mean anything bad; it will just prevent you from adding or dropping a course. Stop by the advising office if this is the only hold you have on your account.
- The Office of Admissions Hold: This means, admissions are missing documents. You may contact the Admissions office to see what documents are needed to get the hold removed.
- Financial Agreement and Contact Verification Hold: This is a hold from our accounting office that must be done each semester. It will ask you routine questions and shouldn’t take longer than a couple of minutes to remove. Only the student can remove this.
Can I take summer courses?
No. We do not permit CAP students to do this since we still are waiting for a variety of things from you to be turned in such as but not limited to: AP scores, dual credit transcript, immunization record, TSI scores, attending a summer orientation.
What is UNIV 1101/1102 and do I have to take it?
The UNIV 1101 is a “First Year Seminar” while UNIV 1102 is a “First Year Seminar Roundtable” and both are half credit or 0.5 credit hours. They are also mandatory for all Freshmen students to take.
What if I want to major outside of COLA? Can I do that?
- Students who successfully complete the CAP requirements during their freshman year are guaranteed admission to the College of Liberal Arts.
- CAP students interested in applying to other majors at UT Austin, like Business, Natural Sciences, Engineering and Communication will need to compete for these majors as they are not part of the Liberal Arts.
- Students interested in Architecture or Interior Design should carefully consider their options before enrolling in CAP. Majors in the School of Architecture are not available for CAP students.
- CAP students can ask to be considered in the transfer applicant pool for a non-Liberal Arts major without jeopardizing their automatic admission to Liberal Arts, but admission to most majors is highly competitive.
If I choose to compete for another college at UT Austin, will I be advised for these majors?
- The participating CAP universities cannot guarantee that the courses you take as a freshman will help you to prepare for transfer into programs outside the College of Liberal Arts.
- The participating CAP university you select for your freshman year will provide courses that will transfer as part of the university’s core curriculum, but they may not all serve as prerequisite courses for some majors at UT Austin.
- If your goals clearly point to one of our most competitive majors, you should consider attending a college or university where your pathway to your desired major is more certain.
Will all my courses I take at UTPB be available online? Will they transfer to UT Austin even though they are online?
Yes and yes. All approve courses from the UT CAP list are available to take online with UTPB. They will transfer to UT Austin as long as you take courses off of the approve course list. Please do check that list when you can.
What if I want to stay at UTPB and opt out of my CAP agreement?
You definitely can! Just ask your advisor for the “opt out” form and we can process that. You will also need to decline the transition form through your UT Austin portal. Complete that declined form from January 15th to March 1st to complete the opt out process to stay with us.
