US Trends

when does ut austin release decisions

UT Austin now uses an Early Action + “all decisions by mid‑February” model for freshman summer/fall applicants.

Quick scoop

  • For Summer/Fall freshman applicants, UT Austin states that Early Action decisions are released on January 15.
  • The university also states that all remaining decisions (including deferred Early Action and Regular Decision) are released by February 15.
  • In practice, for recent cycles, many applicants saw an initial wave around January 15 and then a big wave of final admits/CAP/denials in early–mid February.

So if you’re watching your portal: expect a major update around January 15, and then plan for the final answer to show up any time up to mid‑February.

Recent cycle timing (Fall 2025 & 2026 vibes)

From recent public commentary and blog coverage:

  • Fall 2025 was the first cycle with a formal Early Action deadline (October 15), and UT deferred almost everyone in January , then released almost all decisions around the first Friday of February.
  • For Fall 2026, UT again sent a big wave of deferrals and a smaller group of decisions around 5 p.m. on January 15 , with the rest of the decisions expected by February 15.
  • Some applicants also reported emails saying decisions would “drop Friday evening” on a specific February date, confirming that UT sometimes bunches decisions on a single evening.

Official policy vs. reality

Here’s the core difference between the official line and what tends to happen:

  • Official wording:
    • Early Action decisions (admit or defer) by January 15.
* Final decision for everyone (including deferred and Regular) **by February 15**.
  • On-the-ground experience (recent years):
    • Big portal update around January 15 (lots of deferrals, some admits).
* A large batch of final decisions clustered in **early February** , with everything wrapped up by **mid‑February at the latest**.

Think of January 15 as “round 1” (EA results + mass deferrals) and early–mid February as “round 2,” where most people finally see admit/CAP/deny.

If you’re waiting right now

A few practical notes if you’re currently in limbo:

  1. Don’t panic if you’re deferred on January 15.
    • For the last two cycles, deferral has been extremely common and not an automatic “no.”
  1. Expect evening drops.
    • Recent decision waves have hit portals in the late afternoon or evening , often on Fridays.
  1. Know the outer limit.
    • UT explicitly promises that all decisions will be out by February 15 , so if it’s after that date and you don’t see anything, that’s when it’s reasonable to contact admissions.

TL;DR: For freshman summer/fall, UT Austin releases Early Action decisions (or deferrals) January 15 , then rolls out the rest of the decisions in big waves, with everything finalized no later than February 15.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.