As the 2016-17 school year draws to a close, junior Emma Aldred is fighting to maintain her spot at the top of her graduating class at Leander High School.

She jokes that the spot will earn her “bragging rights,” but Aldred is also ensuring she remains in the top 10 percent of her graduating class to gain automatic acceptance into The University of Texas through a state college admission law approved 20 years ago this May.

Aldred said the 10 percent college admissions rule—approved in an effort to increase diversity in Texas’ public universities—has advantages and disadvantages. She knows she will automatically be admitted to UT if she maintains her high rank, but she said the rule can be difficult for her classmates. The competition to be in the top 10 percent and the rigor of the advanced classes has some students fighting for a spot in the top 10 percent of the class—despite having a 4.0 GPA or higher.

According to 2013-15 LISD graduating class data, an average of 41 students out of 417 graduating LHS students make the 10 percent cut.

Aldred said her No. 1 spot gives her a bit of a buffer to remain in the top 10 percent of her graduating class, but she has not relented. She is a member of the LHS International Baccalaureate program, competes in varsity tennis and participates in clubs such as National Honor Society and student council.

“I really would like to graduate No. 1 in my class, just because I’ve worked really hard on my grades, but the difference between me and No. 2 is so small—it’s less than a tenth of a point,” she said. “That can be a stressful part of high school, trying to keep your class rank.”

Complications of the rule Some critics argue the college admissions rule hurts students from academically rigorous schools by limiting the admissions criteria to a single factor.

UT’s “holistic” admissions process looks at everything from extracurricular activities to community involvement and SAT scores, UT President Greg Fenves said in April during a Senate Higher Education Committee meeting.

In 2008, UT filled 81 percent of its class with top 10 percenters, a weighted figure that spurred legislative action the next year to alter UT’s admission policy. Today, only those in the top 7 percent of their graduating class are automatically admitted into UT based on class rank.

“This lone factor misses the richness and the educational and life experience that often get in the way of one’s class rank,” Fenves told state legislators.

In LISD, the district determines class rank by calculating each student’s GPA on a weighted scale, so regular courses are graded on a 5.0 scale, but some advanced classes, such as pre-Advanced Placement and AP courses, are calculated with an additional grade point.

Once semester grades are finalized, LISD calculates student GPAs and then class rank, Rouse High School counselor Brad Posey said. Class rank is calculated in the same manner throughout the district, but some districts opt to calculate rank using certain classes only, making district-to-district comparisons difficult.

Although rank is calculated in the same fashion in LISD, Aldred said the class rank can fluctuate between schools. Despite being the top-ranked LHS student, she would rank No. 10 at Vandegrift High School, she said.

“Even within the Leander district, I think it’s really competitive,” she said.

Posey said the automatic admissions law can create a stressful environment.

“I personally think it can, for some students, create too much focus on GPA and not enough on the learning needed to go with that, and the benefits and reasons behind that learning,” he said. 

He said counselors often have to make students aware that there are multiple options for automatic admission. Universities throughout the state also use automatic admission based on factors such as SAT and ACT scores, and some admission requirements are different based on majors.

“There’s so much focus on top 10, which is such a small percentage, that we as a school really have to educate below that and motivate below that to remind them that there are many great universities and programs and careers available, and it’s not solely just getting to this top 10 percent that becomes your key to success in life,” he said. 

According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, about 22,185 students who ranked between 11 and 25 percent of their class in 2016 went to a state public university. Almost 37,000 students who made up the other 75 percent of their classes also went to Texas public universities.

At UT, 27,215 Texas students applied for the 2016-17 freshman class, and 18,744 were accepted. Of those, 12,733 ranked in the top 10 percent of their graduating high school class, and 1,499 fell between the 11th and 25th percentiles.

Of those Texans who enrolled, 5,571 were in the top 10 percent, and 1,964 were outside the top 10 percent.

About 360 students admitted to UT outside the top 10 percent enrolled in a different Texas public university, according to the THECB. Another 3,278 students who were automatically admitted to UT chose to go to another public university.

“The landscape of higher education in the state of Texas is dramatically different now than [when] the first bill—the top 10 [percent] bill—was passed 20 years ago,” UT Provost Maurie McInnis said at the state committee meeting.

Future steps forward Although the admissions rule has critics, Posey said he likes the rule for increasing student diversity and opportunity.

“I think it would be naïve to assume we’ve met some sort of holy grail of diversity and opportunity where we no longer need to fight back against institutionalized racism,” he said.

Fenves said the rule forced UT to increase geographic diversity. Texas Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes said public universities have become more diverse, but he cannot be certain it is because of the admissions law or because the state’s population is increasingly more diverse.

“In recent years, with significant growth in the college-going population, [UT-Austin] felt particular pressure to increase class sizes in order to have any flexibility,” Fenves said.

In 2009, UT received 14,000 applications from non-top 10 percenters, but could only admit 3,300 students through holistic admissions, Fenves said. By 2016, UT had received 21,000 non-top 10 percent applications for the same number of slots.

Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, the Senate Higher Education Committee chairman, said the rule once served a purpose in improving higher education’s diversity but is no longer doing so. He proposed Senate Bill 2119, which would cap the number of automatic enrollees at 30 percent.

If passed in its current form, Seliger’s bill would free up 45 percent of the UT incoming class to be established through the holistic admissions process.

Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston, authored a bill that would investigate the current impact of the rule on universities’ admission and enrollment. Universities would be required to evaluate the rule annually.

Neither bill has progressed through the Texas Legislature, decreasing the chance that either will pass into law by the end of the session.

Even with further analysis, Seliger is not convinced the rule is necessary.

“It is not the role of government to set admission policies and procedures for universities absent some compelling reason, discrimination and things like that, which there is not right now,” he said.