UT Austin GPA Requirements: Undergrad and Grad School (2027)

For graduate school, the University of Texas at Austin requires a GPA of at least 3.00 in your upper-division (junior and senior) coursework and in any graduate work you have already completed. For undergraduate admission there is no published minimum GPA: Texas residents in the top 5% of their high school class are admitted automatically, and everyone else goes through holistic review. In practice, graduate applicants admitted to UT Austin in the last three cycles reported a median GPA of 3.86 to The GradCafe.

The 3.0 is a floor, not a target. This guide explains both undergraduate and graduate admission, with each rule traced to an official UT Austin source. Most of it covers graduate school, where departments add their own expectations on top of the university minimum.

What GPA do you need for UT Austin?

For graduate admission (master’s and PhD): UT Austin’s Graduate School requires a grade point average of at least 3.00 in upper-division coursework, meaning your junior- and senior-level courses, and in any graduate work already completed. You also need a bachelor’s degree from an accredited U.S. institution or a comparable degree from another country. Departments can expect more, and many do.

Notice what is not in that rule: your first two years. If your early grades were weak and your later grades were strong, the GPA UT Austin uses may be noticeably higher than your overall GPA. Work out your upper-division GPA before you decide where to apply.

For first-year undergraduate admission: UT Austin does not publish a minimum GPA. Admission works in two ways:

• Automatic admission. Texas residents who graduate in the top 5% of their high school class are automatically admitted for summer/fall 2026, spring 2027, summer/fall 2027 and spring 2028 entry. Automatic admission gets you into the university, but not necessarily your first-choice major.
• Holistic review. All other applicants are reviewed on class rank, strength of academic background, test scores, essays, achievements, activities, optional recommendations and the competitiveness of their chosen major. UT Austin states that no single class rank or test score guarantees admission outside the automatic route.

Two more undergraduate facts worth knowing:

• SAT or ACT scores are required again for first-year applicants, starting with Fall 2025 entry. For automatically admitted students, scores don’t change the admission decision; UT uses them to help place students into majors.
• Demand is very high. UT Austin received 90,690 first-year applications for Fall 2025 and enrolled about 9,900 new freshmen. In the most recent Common Data Set year available to us (Fall 2024), it admitted about 26.6% of applicants.

If you are a high school student, those are the rules that apply to you, and UT’s review and decision process page explains them in full. The rest of this guide is about graduate admission, which is what The GradCafe’s data covers.

UT Austin graduate GPA requirements by department

The Graduate School’s 3.0 rule applies to every program. Here is what some of the most popular departments add, checked on official pages in October 2026:

What stands out:

The GPA that counts is your upper-division GPA. The Graduate School, CS and Mechanical Engineering all say so. This works in your favor if you improved over time, and against you if your final two years were weaker.

CS is the only department here that names a “competitive” number. Its FAQ says a strong applicant might have a 3.5 or more. That doesn’t make 3.5 a cutoff, but it tells you where the realistic range starts.

Below 3.0 is not automatically the end in CS. The CS FAQ invites applicants below the minimum, or whose GPA doesn’t reflect their ability, to explain this in their statement of purpose. It is a narrow opening, not a promise.

What GPA do admitted UT Austin applicants actually report?

Published minimums tell you who is eligible. Reported outcomes show who got in.

GradCafe users have reported 14,454 UT Austin graduate admissions results, of which 5,491 were acceptances. We looked closely at the three most recent cycles (Fall 2024, Fall 2025 and Fall 2026), which together hold about a thousand reports. Among accepted applicants in those cycles who shared a GPA on a 4.0 scale (253 reports):

Self-reported GradCafe results for “University of Texas at Austin,” Fall 2024 to Fall 2026, collected October 29, 2026. Only GPAs on a 4.0 scale are included.

Three things to take from this:

1. The typical admit is far above 3.0. Half of admitted applicants who reported a GPA had 3.86 or higher.
2. Lower GPAs do get in. About 1 in 10 admitted applicants (24 of 253) reported a GPA below 3.5, and a couple reported one below 3.0.
3. GPA barely separates admits from rejections. Rejected applicants reported a median of 3.80, almost the same as admits. At UT Austin, most applicants have strong grades, so the decision usually turns on research, letters, statement and fit.

You can see recent decisions on the UT Austin admissions results page.

An important caveat. These figures come from applicants who chose to report their result. They are not UT Austin’s official statistics and not a representative sample. People who report tend to be highly engaged, many reports leave GPA blank, and some programs have only a handful of reports. Treat these numbers as a realistic benchmark, never as a requirement.

Does UT Austin require the GRE?

There is no university-wide GRE policy. Each program decides, and the rules differ a lot.

Mechanical Engineering and Operations Research catch people out. They sit in the same department, yet one does not require the GRE and the other does.

UT Austin’s ETS code for the GRE and TOEFL is 6882. If you’re deciding whether a score will help your application, see what counts as a good GRE score.

Can you get into UT Austin grad school with a 3.0 GPA?

A 3.0 in your upper-division coursework makes you eligible everywhere at UT Austin. Whether it makes you competitive depends on the program. In the reports above, a 3.0 sits well below the typical admit, but admits below 3.5 are not rare.

What committees weigh alongside your transcript:

• Your upper-division GPA, stated clearly. If it is higher than your overall GPA, make sure that comes through in your application.
• Grades in your field. CS says admitted applicants usually have above-average grades in their CS courses. Strong major grades can offset a weaker overall record.
• Research and work experience. For PhD programs, sustained research, a publication or a strong letter from a research supervisor carries real weight.
• Test scores, where they count. In programs that still use the GRE, such as Economics and Operations Research, a strong Quant score can help a lower GPA. The CS FAQ also says scores can help an otherwise weaker application.
• A short explanation. CS explicitly invites applicants whose GPA doesn’t reflect their ability to explain why in the statement of purpose. Keep it brief and factual, then move on to your strengths.
• Recent coursework. Graduate-level classes taken as a non-degree student show a committee what you can do now.

For a full plan, read how to get into grad school with a low GPA. None of this guarantees an outcome, but it is how many applicants with lower GPAs are admitted.

International applicants: GPA and English requirements

Your degree must be comparable to a U.S. bachelor’s. UT Austin’s Office of Graduate Admissions decides eligibility for international degrees together with the program you’re applying to. If your university uses a different grading scale, follow your program’s application instructions for reporting it rather than converting it yourself.

English test minimums (Graduate School):

The TOEFL ITP and IELTS General Training are not accepted. Scores must come directly from the testing agency; self-reported scores don’t count.

You’re exempt if you’re from one of UT Austin’s listed qualifying countries, or if you hold a bachelor’s degree from a U.S. institution or an institution in a qualifying country. A master’s degree alone does not waive the requirement. Programs can also set higher minimums, so check your department’s page.

How UT Austin compares with other GradCafe GPA guides

GPA expectations at strong public universities look similar on paper and very different in practice. If you’re building a list, compare UT Austin with our guides to UCLA GPA requirements, NYU GPA requirements and Duke GPA requirements. Like UT Austin, UCLA publishes a 3.0 graduate minimum, and like UT Austin, its admitted applicants report GPAs far above it.

You can also browse results for other strong engineering and CS schools, such as Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon and Rice.

FAQ

What are the GPA requirements for the University of Texas at Austin?

For graduate school, UT Austin requires at least a 3.00 GPA in upper-division (junior- and senior-level) coursework and in any graduate work completed. For first-year undergraduate admission, there is no published minimum GPA: Texas residents in the top 5% of their high school class are admitted automatically, and other applicants are reviewed holistically.

What GPA do you need for UT Austin grad school?

The minimum is a 3.0 in upper-division coursework. In practice, applicants admitted in the last three cycles reported a median GPA of 3.86 to The GradCafe, with the middle half between 3.69 and 3.95. Some departments add guidance: Computer Science says a strong applicant might have a 3.5 or higher.

Can I get into UT Austin with a 3.0 GPA?

For graduate school, a 3.0 in your junior and senior courses makes you eligible, but it sits below the typical admit. Strong research, letters, major grades and (where required) GRE scores can make a difference. About 1 in 10 admitted applicants who reported a GPA in recent cycles had below a 3.5.

What is the top 5% rule at UT Austin?

Texas residents who graduate in the top 5% of their high school class are automatically admitted to UT Austin for summer/fall 2026 through spring 2028 entry. It does not guarantee your first-choice major.

Does UT Austin require the GRE for graduate school?

It depends on the program. Electrical and Computer Engineering does not consider it, and Mechanical Engineering doesn’t require it. Economics (PhD) and Operations Research & Industrial Engineering do. Computer Science’s policy should be confirmed on its admissions page for your cycle.

What TOEFL score does UT Austin require?

The Graduate School minimum is 79 on the TOEFL iBT (or 4 on the new 6-point scale), 6.5 on IELTS Academic, or 115 on the Duolingo English Test. Some programs set higher minimums.

Before you apply

UT Austin gives you a clear floor: a 3.0 in your upper-division courses. It doesn’t tell you the middle. GradCafe reports do, and they show that most admits land well above the floor, while plenty of rejected applicants have strong GPAs too.

Look up recent UT Austin admissions results, confirm your program’s GRE and English rules on its own page, and start your grad school application checklist early. If you’ve already heard back from UT Austin, submit your result. It takes two minutes and makes this data more useful for the next applicant.

GradCafe figures are self-reported by applicants and are not UT Austin’s official statistics. Requirements change: always confirm GPA, test and English policies on your program’s official admissions page.

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