The rising population of high school students in the Lone Star State has led the University of Texas in Austin to further restrict its admission policy.
As The Dallas Morning News reports, students hoping for automatic admission to UT-Austin will now need to be in the top 6 percent of their graduating class.
The change will begin in the summer of 2019. As it stands now, students must be in the top 7 percent to qualify for automatic admission. With the move, UT-Austin further cements its status as one of the most elite higher-education institutions in the state.
Other Texas public universities grant automatic admission to students who finish in the top 10 percent of their class. A university news release noted that applications to the university have risen from 38,000 to 51,000 in the past four years.
The number of high school graduates in Texas rose by 14,000 during that same period.