Is UT Austin or Northwestern harder to get into?

Northwestern is harder to get into overall. It is one of the most selective private universities in the country, and for most applicants it is a tougher admissions hurdle than UT Austin. UT Austin is also very selective, but its process is shaped heavily by Texas residency and state admission policies in a way Northwestern’s is not.

One big differentiator is that UT Austin reserves much of its class for Texas students, including automatic admission pathways for top students at Texas high schools. That means in-state applicants, especially those who qualify for automatic admission, are in a very different position from out-of-state applicants. Northwestern does not have that kind of residency-based structure, so the applicant pool is competing in a more uniformly selective process.

Another difference is applicant type. Northwestern draws a national and international pool for a relatively small class, and it is often treated as a high-reach school even by students with extremely strong grades and scores. UT Austin can absolutely be a reach too, especially for competitive majors like business, engineering, and computer science, but the level of difficulty depends more on your residency status and intended major.

For building your list, it makes sense to think of Northwestern as the tougher admit in a head-to-head comparison. UT Austin may still belong in the reach category, especially if you are out of state or applying to a capped major, but Northwestern is the more selective school overall.