Is UT Austin or Northeastern harder to get into for an out-of-state applicant?

For an out-of-state applicant, UT Austin is often the more difficult admission to predict and can be at least as hard to enter as Northeastern, especially for high-demand majors. UT Austin is a public university that gives strong priority to Texas residents. Northeastern is private, so out-of-state status itself is not a disadvantage there.

UT Austin’s Texas Top automatic-admission system also shapes the process. Many Texas residents are admitted through that route, while nonresidents compete for a comparatively limited share of places and do not receive automatic admission. Admission to majors such as computer science, business, engineering, and certain natural-science programs can be particularly constrained, so an applicant’s intended program matters substantially.

Northeastern is highly selective for applicants from every state, with a very large national and international applicant pool. Its process can be especially unpredictable in Regular Decision because many seats may be filled through Early Decision, and the university also considers institutional priorities such as program capacity and campus options.

In practical terms, a strong nonresident applicant should treat both as reaches. UT Austin may be the tougher target when the applicant is seeking a capped or unusually popular major, while Northeastern can be comparably difficult in Regular Decision because of its national selectivity. The most meaningful comparison is not simply OOS versus OOS: it is UT Austin plus the intended major versus Northeastern plus the chosen application plan.