How does UT Austin admissions difficulty compare to University of Michigan for out-of-state students?

For an out-of-state applicant, UT Austin is typically harder to crack than the University of Michigan. The biggest reason is that Texas law requires UT Austin to admit a very large share of its class from in-state students, which leaves relatively limited room for students from outside Texas. Michigan enrolls many out-of-state students every year, so even though it is still highly selective, it usually has more capacity and a more established admissions pipeline for nonresidents.

Another concrete difference is how the schools structure access to popular majors. At UT Austin, some programs, especially business, engineering, and computer science, are extremely competitive on top of already tough university admission, and major choice can matter a lot. At Michigan, admission is also competitive and some colleges or programs are harder than others, but the out-of-state path is often less squeezed by state residency constraints than at UT.

Application volume and applicant behavior also make UT Austin feel especially unpredictable for non-Texas students. Many strong students see UT as a selective public flagship with limited out-of-state spots and apply to a small number of highly sought-after majors, which raises the pressure. Michigan is not easy by any means, but for a well-qualified out-of-state student, it is more often a realistic high target than UT Austin is.

For college list building, I would treat Michigan as very selective but somewhat more attainable, while UT Austin should lean closer to a reach for most out-of-state applicants, especially in the most in-demand majors.