Also, send us by postal mail a copy of your high school transcript that is most recent. This should at least include eleventh grade. This must be an official transcript, stamped and signed by a school official. The transcript must include class rank even if it may be an estimate, unless it is the policy of your school not to reveal class rank.
Finally, ask two teachers, at least one of whom is a science or mathematics teacher, to complete the Faculty Reference forms. The forms, as well as your transcript, should be sent directly to:
Dean's Scholars Program College of Natural Sciences The University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas 78712-1199
Email Address:
Social Security Number:
Date of Birth:
Postal Address: City, State, and Zip:
Phone:
High School:
Most Recent Class Rank: out of
Date of Ranking:
SAT scores: Highest total at single testing: Verbal score (for that testing): Mathematical score (for that testing):
Expected major(s):
1. List each school or community activity in which you have been involved during the last three years in order of their importance to you. Include your period of involvement and any positions you have held. Please list no more than ten.
2. List part-time or summer jobs, volunteer positions, or internships you have held during the last three years in order of their importance to you. Include your position, period of involvement, and hours per week. Please list no more than four.
3. List in order of their importance to you any significant honors and scholarships received during the last three years. Include the award sponsor, basis for the award (e.g. leadership, scholarship, need, etc.), and date received.
4. Identify your educational and career goals.
Topic D - Critical Thinking Explain a belief you accepted at some time in your life but recently rejected on the basis of a rational process. You might choose your former belief in the existence of Santa Claus, for example, but you should remember that the rejection you discuss must have been made on a rational basis. Perhaps you changed your mind because of something you have heard, or because of some experience you have had; but for this essay you must go beyond reporting what you heard or describing what happened to you; you must display the process of reasoning that carried you to your new belief. In your essay, explain the belief itself, your former reasons for holding it, and, most important, the rational process that led you to reject it.
You may interpret "rejection" in a weak sense, such that you do not need to show that your former belief was false. For example, if you rejected "eating spinach makes me strong," you need not have come to the conclusion "eating spinach does not make me strong." All you need for this example is good reason for thinking that your information is not sufficient to support any conclusion as to whether or not spinach makes you strong. Please consider your topic carefully. We mentioned "Santa Claus" by way of illustration only. A good essay will use a serious belief that you have rejected recently.
Topic E - Critical Thinking Belief systems, be they scientific, cultural, religious, political, ethical, or otherwise, are built upon premises and historical experience (as perceived at the time). When current evidence is in opposition with an existing belief system, conflict may arise. For example, suppose that two communities both experience a severe drought. One community has a belief system that says that some combination of dancing, sacrifice, and prayer will lead to rain; the other community does not have this belief. The first community performs its dances, prayers, and sacrifices; the second does none of these. Both communities receive the same response, be it rain or continued drought. If the citizens of the first community come to realize that the weather is consistently identical in both places, what should happen to their belief in the power of dancing, sacrifice, and prayer on the production of rain? One answer is that beliefs must give way to incontrovertible evidence. Discuss (using your own examples) to what extent you think that this approach should apply in such conflicts between belief systems and evidence.
