[mattpratt]

I'd point out that this only guarantees you admission into the general studies / undeclared school. It can still be difficult and competitive to get into the engineering or business school for example.

A law was passed in 2009 for the University of Texas specifically, that stated "the university must automatically admit enough students to fill 75 percent of available Texas resident spaces" [1]. That 10% number has dwindled down to the top 6%.

As a past automatic admission, I'm horrified hearing stories from coworkers. The process was never stressful for me -- I sent in one application, heard back before the holidays and was done.

[1] https://admissions.utexas.edu/apply/decisions#fndtn-freshman...

[mcguire]

At the time I entered UT Austin, in 1986, they had that 10% policy---it's how I got in. Some programs (nursing and business are the two I remember) had competitive admissions, though, but that was for sophomores or juniors.

The University had 50,000 students at that time. During my time there, they were constantly trying to find a way to reduce that number and succeeded at some point, so the 2009 law may have been a result.