Which Texas High Schools Send the Most Students to UT Austin?
State data on fall 2024 freshmen shows Westlake, Allen, and Westwood sent the most students to UT Austin. But even at the top feeder schools, only a small share of graduates end up there.
UT Austin is one of the hardest public universities in Texas to get into, and some high schools send far more students there than others. Texas tracks where every public high school’s graduates enroll the following fall, so we can see which schools sent the most freshmen to UT Austin in fall 2024.
Where the numbers come from
The data comes from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which matches 2024 graduates of Texas public high schools to their fall 2024 enrollment at Texas public colleges. It has a few limits:
- It counts students who enrolled, not everyone who was admitted.
- A school shows up only if at least five of its graduates enrolled at UT, and only schools with more than 25 graduates are included.
- Private schools aren’t included.
The top 10 feeder schools
| Rank | High school | District | UT Austin freshmen | Share of graduates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westlake | Eanes ISD | 69 | 10.0% |
| 2 | Allen | Allen ISD | 66 | 3.8% |
| 3 | Westwood | Round Rock ISD | 65 | 10.0% |
| 4 | Plano West | Plano ISD | 58 | 4.6% |
| 5 | Lake Travis | Lake Travis ISD | 56 | 6.5% |
| 6 | Vandegrift | Leander ISD | 53 | 7.9% |
| 7 | Coppell | Coppell ISD | 52 | 5.3% |
| 8 | Veterans Memorial Early College | Brownsville ISD | 44 | 8.4% |
| 9 | Plano East | Plano ISD | 42 | 3.4% |
| 10 | Centennial | Frisco ISD | 41 | 8.6% |
Raw numbers vs. share of graduates
Allen ranks second by headcount, but it’s also a huge school, with 1,753 graduates. Only 3.8% of them went to UT. Westlake and Westwood, with fewer than 700 graduates each, sent 10% of their classes. That’s the highest share of any Texas high school with at least 200 graduates.
Patterns worth noticing
- Being close to Austin helps. Eight of the top 25 schools are in Travis and Williamson counties, around Austin. Round Rock ISD alone has three.
- Suburban Dallas and Houston are next. Collin County (Plano, Frisco, Allen) has five schools in the top 25, and Fort Bend County has three.
- One school stands out. Veterans Memorial Early College in Brownsville, near the Mexican border in the Rio Grande Valley, is in the top 10 even though it’s far from Austin and from the suburbs that make up most of the list.
- Freshmen come from many high schools. The data counts 4,950 freshmen from 366 different high schools. The top 25 schools sent 1,056 of them, about 21%.
Why class rank matters so much
Texas’s automatic admission rule is based on a student’s rank within their own high school, not against students statewide. So the best students at a smaller or less well-known high school can still qualify for UT. That helps explain why schools from all over the state make the list. UT Austin’s cutoff has gotten stricter almost every year, so students should check the current number.
Key takeaways
- The top feeders are mostly suburban schools near Austin, Dallas, and Houston. Westlake, Allen, and Westwood led in fall 2024.
- Most graduates of feeder schools go elsewhere. Even the strongest feeders send about one in ten graduates to UT Austin.
- Your class rank matters more than which school you attend. Automatic admission depends on where you rank in your own class.
- Treat this as a minimum. Small counts are hidden and private schools aren’t included, so UT’s real freshman class is larger.
For the top 25 list with district, county, and class size for each school, read CollegeIntel’s breakdown of UT Austin’s top feeder high schools. If you’re a Texas student aiming for UT, it helps to see how your school compares.