FAQs

The application deadline for fall admission is December 1.

All admission materials required by the University of Texas and the additional documents required by Plan II Honors must be received by the application deadline.

If you have questions concerning the Plan II Program or the honors application process, please email Kerry Pasquale, Plan II Honors director of admissions and program coordinator. Parents, please note: How an applicant takes charge of his or her own application speaks volumes to us in Plan II about how he or she manages time, takes on responsibility and faces problems and challenges. Urge your student to email. 

Plan II does not offer interviews or individual information sessions. We do, however, offer regular information sessions several times a week during the fall and spring semesters. See details, maps and links to register for the sessions at Visit Plan II.  Applicants or parents with questions are always welcome to email questions.  

All application materials including essays and résumés should be submitted electronically through UT Admissions. Links for essay and résumé submission may be found in on the admissions process page.

If the applicant experienced difficulties and must send documents by mail, all mailed application materials go directly to the UT Office of Admission. Do NOT send any documents or materials directly to Plan II Honors.

Short answer:  No.  A letter of recommendation is not required to complete a Plan II Honors application.

An applicant should submit a letter of recommendation (or explanation) if he or she has a record of activity, leadership, internship or other experience that is unusual and outstanding for a high school student, or if there are unusual circumstances in the applicant’s family life, or at the school, with the applicant’s [or a family member’s] health or financial situation or if the applicant has accomplished, survived, instigated or sailed through experiences/activities/circumstances that are extremely unusual for a high school student.  Then by all means have someone write a letter addressing, detailing or explaining the circumstances.

Note an emphasis on outstanding and unusual experiences and circumstances.  A few examples:

• A summer internship assisting a university professor with research or conducting individual research;
• A position of leadership in a national organization;
• A summer internship with a Fortune 500 company;
• The student (or close family member) experiences life-threatening or chronic illness or injury;
• The student loses a close family member;
• The student's family experiences life-changing financial set-back.

These are by no means the only circumstances in which a letter of recommendation should be submitted.

Plan II will also have access to letters of recommendation submitted as supporting documents for other honor program applications or submitted to support a University of Texas application.  

Letters of recommendation may be submitted via the Document Upload System in MyStatus. See specific instructions on Texas Admissions.

Plan II receives around 1800 complete applications for the Fall admission cycle. Plan II tends to offer admission to 385-400 applicants to reach our ideal entering freshman class of about 175 students.

At Plan II, we have very few issues of retention. Of around 175 students who enter Plan II Honors each year, approximately 160-165 students will graduate with a major in Plan II Honors in 4 or 5 years. In an average year, 3-8 students may be dismissed for not maintaining the minimum GPA requirement (3.0) for several semesters (usually in the spring of their second year or fall of their third year). Each year a few Plan II students will leave the University for academic, family, financial, health, or other personal reasons; a very few students will complete another major at the University, but not the Plan II Honors major. A student who leaves Plan II for another major generally finds that he or she would rather go in depth in their particular field of interest and not meet the broad curriculum requirements of Plan II Honors.

The attrition rate in Plan II is quite low. A handful of students transfer to other colleges, and a few are dismissed from the program after two years for failing to maintain our minimum GPA of 3.0.

See application deadline above.

Applicants that meet the regular deadline of December 1 will be notified of a decision no later than March 1, 2025. Some decisions for Plan II Honors are made and delivered earlier than published decision dates.

All applicants will hear from Plan II Honors concerning Plan II admissions decision via the US mail and their My Status account.  If an applicant has not received notification from Plan II Honors by March 15, the application should email Plan II Admissions.

All applicants have until May 1 to make a final decision about attending the University of Texas and Plan II Honors. However, admitted applicants should be aware that the UT Division of Housing and Food Services will not offer a housing contract until the admitted applicant has paid the $200 UT enrollment fee. So, the sooner an admitted applicant pays the $200 enrollment fee, committing to Plan II Honors and UT Austin, the better the chance of being assigned to on-campus first-choice housing options, including honors housing options.

Please do NOT call the Plan II Honors Program office to ask about an admission decision. We will not discuss admission decisions over the phone.  You are, however, welcome to email the admissions director, Kerry Pasquale, with any questions or concerns.

Yes. The flexibility of the Plan II curriculum allows students to complete the equivalent of a second major -- or even a second degree in a particular subject area if they so choose. Over 75% of Plan II Honors majors complete the requirements for a second, third or fourth major.  Close to 35% complete a second degree, such as a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Business Administration, along with the Bachelor of Arts diploma.

Yes.  It’s possible to combine Plan II with most other UT Austin honors programs.   Plan II Honors majors often include the Canfield Business Honors Program, Engineering Honors, Dean's Scholars and Turing Scholars programs in combination with Plan II Honors.  Please see the full details at Other Honors Programs. There are also departmental honors programs available for most departments that Plan II students may apply to be a part of.

In many ways, Plan II Honors can be the perfect undergraduate major to lead to med-school. Year after year we see Plan II students admitted to the best medical schools, often ahead of or instead of graduates with science majors. It is rather straightforward to combine the pre-med requirements with the Plan II major requirements and easy to complete the Plan II major requirements and the pre-med recommended courses in four years.

The combination seems to be quite desirable as it leads to well-rounded, well-educated individuals with great communication and writing skills in addition to the science background needed for medical study. Most Plan II pre-med graduates tend to stay in Texas for medical school because, first, we have several of the most highly rated medical school programs here in Texas, and secondly, there is a substantial financial savings for staying in state for med school just as there is for undergraduate studies. With something as expensive as medical school, resident tuition savings is substantial. However, if you explore back over the years in the graduating class profiles, you see that we also have lots of Plan II pre-meds to go Washington University, Harvard Med, Johns Hopkins, Stanford and all the other well-known and highly ranked programs around the country. 

Some students do complete double-majors (with BA programs in Biology, Chemistry, Molecular Biology, etc), Plan II Honors and and the pre-med requirements, and even dual-degrees (a five-year program with a BA, Plan II major and a BS with a major in Biology, Chemistry, Molecular Biology, etc). If a student is really excited and deeply interested in one of the science disciplines, then by all means, he or she should incorporate that study into his or her degree plans.

Short answer: No, Plan II does not.

However, the University of Texas at Austin offers a guaranteed admission pre-medical program. The Joint Admission Medical Program (JAMP) is a special program created by the Texas Legislature to support and encourage highly qualified, economically disadvantaged students pursuing a medical education.

Plan II Honors admission and admission to and participation in JAMP are completely separate and independent of each other.

If you are admitted and Plan II is your only major, the Status Check will show that you are in the College of Liberal Arts, but it will list another major or "undeclared," not Plan II Honors.

If you have been admitted to another college (such as Engineering), that is the only college and major listed for you until after the 12th class day of the fall semester.

As a first-year student, you will be able to declare and be registered in two colleges or two majors at the same time but not until you attend summer orientation. When you arrive at orientation, you will have only one major and one college listed. If you plan to register in two different colleges, you are a dual degree student. At your Plan II orientation sessions, your Plan II advisors will help you complete the paperwork to be officially registered and coded in two majors or two colleges.

Yes. We certainly encourage you to do so, although it's important to keep in mind that college-level activities can be very demanding. Plan II students have their own organizations for theater, music, writing, and community service; they also frequently write for the Daily Texan, march in the Longhorn Band, help out in local schools, take leadership posts in Greek letter societies, run for office in student government, and play on varsity teams.

But since Plan II Honors majors usually do not take more class hours than non-Plan II students, there is no reason that you can't find the time for non-academic activities.  We want our students to have balanced lives, full of intellectual pursuits but never forgoing passions that enrich their lives.

On the contrary, the great majority of Plan II students finish the program with a flourish. About three quarters of our graduates receive university honors each year, and a portion of our students are elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi and walk at graduation with 4.0 GPAs. Plan II is a challenging but supportive community, if you are willing to rise to the challenge, your grades will reflect your effort.

Absolutely.  Many Plan II students spend a summer, a semester, or a year studying abroad. UT Austin sponsors programs and exchanges all over the world, and students are free to participate in other university programs or to apply directly to foreign institutions.

Plan II Honors supports students wishing to study abroad with a number of travel grants and scholarships. 

More than 3/4th of the Plan II students graduating each year have participated in at least one study abroad program.  In some years, as many as 80% of the graduates have studied abroad.  Please be sure to see the Study Abroad pages under the Current Students page.

We find our alumni active in virtually every profession. The only limits to what you can do with a Plan II degree are your own imagination, ambition, and determination. Many of our graduates (approximately 20-25% per year) go to law school or medical school, where they excel. Another 10-15% of Plan II graduates each year continue their studies in an advanced degree program or many others start directly on careers in fields such as business, teaching, software design, or journalism.

Yes, there are courses that can satisfy general university requirements, College of Liberal Arts requiremetns and, in some cases, Plan II specific requirements.

If you are not admitted to Plan II Honors, you will still be considered for any other programs or majors to which you applied. It is possible to be denied admission to Plan II Honors, but to be admitted to UT in the College of Liberal Arts or any of the other UT colleges. 

Plan II Honors Transfers

An original freshman application (from a first-time undergraduate student), submitted by the December 1 deadline, is the one shot for admission to Plan II Honors fall semesters' admissions. Neither current UT students nor students transferring to UT Austin from other academic institutions are eligible to apply to Plan II. 

Denial of Plan II Honors Admission Appeal Process

Plan II has an appeal process. Further details on the process can be found here.