Is it harder to get into UT Austin engineering or Texas A&M engineering?

They're hard at different moments. UT Austin decides your engineering major at admission, so the competition is up front, and UT doesn't publish a Cockrell School admit rate. Texas A&M admits engineering freshmen to General Engineering and decides majors later through Entry to a Major (ETAM), where every eligible applicant was offered a major and 72.9% got their first choice in Spring 2026.

Does top 5% automatic admission get you into UT Austin engineering?

No. Automatic admission gets you into UT Austin, but the catalog says it doesn't guarantee your requested major. Automatic admits are reviewed to determine majors, and to be considered for the Cockrell School you must meet the calculus readiness requirement.

Can you transfer into engineering at UT Austin after starting in another major?

Only through a competitive internal transfer. Non-engineering UT students apply for fall by May 1 after 24 to 60 in-residence hours and no more than four long semesters, with at least a 3.0 cumulative and technical GPA, required calculus and physics, four technical courses, and a 500-word essay. You get at most two attempts. Cockrell says admitted students' GPAs vary by semester and major.

UT Austin vs. Texas A&M Engineering Admission for Fall 2027: Direct-to-Major vs. Entry to a Major

Q: Is computer science part of engineering at UT Austin and Texas A&M?

At Texas A&M, computer science is an engineering major you enter through ETAM. At UT Austin, the BS in computer science is in the College of Natural Sciences, not the Cockrell School; Electrical and Computer Engineering is the Cockrell option.

UT Austin vs. Texas A&M engineering comes down to when you compete for your major. At UT Austin, the Cockrell School of Engineering admits freshmen directly into a major, so the hard decision happens in admissions, and switching in later is a competitive internal transfer. At Texas A&M, engineering freshmen are admitted to General Engineering and earn a major through Entry to a Major (ETAM) after at least two semesters, so the hard part comes during your first year of college.

For every route into Texas A&M engineering, see how to get into Texas A&M engineering.

UT Austin vs. Texas A&M engineering at a glance

	UT Austin	Texas A&M
Freshmen admitted to	An engineering major	General Engineering
Major decided	At admission	ETAM, after 2+ semesters
Automatic admission	Top 5%	Top 10%
Auto-admit gets engineering?	No	No
Calculus readiness	Required by Dec 1	Not listed
SAT/ACT, fall 2027	Required	Not required
Deadline	Oct 15 EA / Dec 1	Dec 1
Decisions	Jan 15 / Feb 15	Sept 1 to late March
Engineering data	No Cockrell admit rate	ETAM placement by major
Computer science	Natural Sciences	Engineering (ETAM)

How UT Austin admits engineering freshmen

You apply through the Common App or ApplyTexas and pick an engineering major as your first choice, plus a second choice from UT's other majors. A holistic review decides both whether you're admitted and which major you get. "Competitiveness of the major to which the student applies" is one of the factors UT lists.

Cockrell has no spring admission, and you must meet its calculus readiness requirement by December 1 with one of the following:

SAT Math 620+ or ACT Math 26+;
AP Calculus AB or BC score of 3+, or IB HL Mathematics 4+;
a B or better in Calculus I, in high school or college.

Automatic admission: UT's top 5% vs. Texas A&M's top 10%

Both schools follow Texas's automatic admission law, with different cutoffs. UT Austin admits the top 5% of Texas high school graduating classes for summer/fall 2027, under a 2009 change that requires it to fill 75% of Texas-resident spaces through automatic admission. Texas A&M still uses the original top 10%. For background, see Texas guaranteed admission.

At both schools, automatic admission gets you into the university, not into engineering:

UT Austin: the catalog says state law "does not guarantee admission to an applicant's requested major." Applications from automatic admits "are reviewed to determine majors," and they must meet calculus readiness to be considered for Cockrell.
Texas A&M: the catalog says "choice of major is not guaranteed." But a top-10% student who lists engineering starts in General Engineering and competes for a major in ETAM, with everyone else.

Getting your major: placement vs. internal transfer

This is the biggest practical difference.

At Texas A&M, ETAM places every eligible General Engineering student into some engineering major. In Spring 2026, 100% of the 3,130 eligible applicants were offered a major, 72.9% got their first choice, and 86.3% got their first or second. A 3.75 GPA or National Merit semifinalist status guarantees your first choice. The full rules are in Texas A&M ETAM explained, and the competition by major is in Texas A&M ETAM placement rates by major.

At UT Austin, if you weren't admitted to Cockrell, the way in is an internal transfer, which the school calls "competitive and based on space availability." Per UT's 2026-27 catalog, students in other UT colleges need:

fall transfer only, applying February 1 to May 1;
24 to 60 in-residence hours, with no more than four long semesters at UT;
at least a 3.0 cumulative in-residence GPA and a 3.0 in required technical courses;
credit for M 408D or M 408M and PHY 303K with its lab, plus at least four technical courses toward the major;
a 500-word essay;
no more than two attempts; a third application isn't allowed.

Cockrell is explicit that 3.0 is a floor, not a target: it "does not have a standard GPA requirement for internal transfer admission," and admitted students' GPAs "vary by semester and requested major, as does the number of seats offered." UT doesn't publish internal transfer admit rates. Switching between engineering majors at UT also goes through internal transfer. And once you accept a new engineering major, you can't apply to another one for two long semesters.

For more on the risks of starting in an easier major, see should you apply to an easy major and switch?

Computer science: a different college at UT

At Texas A&M, computer science is an engineering major, and it placed all 221 students who ranked it first in Spring 2026 ETAM. At UT Austin, the BS in computer science is in the College of Natural Sciences, not the Cockrell School. The engineering-side alternative at UT is Electrical and Computer Engineering. With 1,506 undergraduates in fall 2025, it's Cockrell's largest program.

What each school publishes

UT Austin doesn't publish a Cockrell School freshman admit rate or internal transfer admit rate on its official pages. It does report that entering Cockrell freshmen average over 1400 on the SAT (or equivalent), that most graduated in the top 10% of their class, and that 6,097 undergraduates were enrolled in fall 2025. Mechanical engineering had 1,261 of them.
Texas A&M publishes ETAM placement outcomes for every cycle, by major.

For an informal look at how UT engineering and CS applicants fared, see UT Austin accepted vs. rejected applicants. It's a small, self-reported sample, not official data.

What this means for you

Apply to both if you're a strong Texas applicant. They test you at different times: UT at admission, Texas A&M in your first year.
Meet UT's calculus readiness by December 1, and send official SAT/ACT scores. UT requires them for fall 2027; Texas A&M doesn't.
Don't count on switching into UT engineering later. The 3.0 minimum isn't a target, and you get two tries.
At Texas A&M, aim for a 3.75 to guarantee your first-choice major.
Want CS? At UT, apply to computer science in Natural Sciences or to ECE in Cockrell. At Texas A&M, CS comes through ETAM.
Compare costs. Texas families may qualify for Aggie Assurance at Texas A&M or Texas Advance Commitment at UT.