New thread for those exploring or attending any of the engineering academies. We are headed to Brenham for the Blinn Preview Day and a session on the academy. My son has already applied and been accepted by Blinn (he received PSA from TAMU). He must now apply to A&M through a web portal that Blinn gives you once they have accepted you. I have been told by a Blinn conselor that TAMU engineering looks primarily for math readiness. My son scored a 30 on the math portion of his ACT and we where told that he would have a 99.99999% chance of getting accepted. Only 45 minutes form CS and you are co-enrolled and have access to sport passes and can even play intramural sports at TAMU if you want to make the drive. They cap enrollment at 100 and are opening a new dorm for the fall that all the academy students will be assigned. About to hit the road. Look forward to more discussions!
@trinley I expect we will swing by Blinn Brenham during spring break.
This thread will be a great service because of extremely low exposure so far for the academies. Please report back!
Just got back home from Brenham. I had done quite a bit of research but so glad we went for the Preview Day as it provided a great deal of reassurance. My son was denied acceptance to A&M and offered PSA last night. As a backup we applied to the Engineering Academy in Brenham. It is a separate process from Academy in Bryan. Brenham caps enrollment at 100 and there are already about 75 applicants. Once Blinn approves you (decisions come out every Tuesday) you are given an ID and a web portal to submit an application to A&M Engineering. If Blinn approves you it is about a 96-97% acceptance rate by A&M. And A&M rep was also at the Preview Day.
Blinn is constructing a brand new dorm on campus that all engineering academy students must live in. The dorm is an apartment style and is a living-learning community. The ground floor of the dorm contains the engineering class room. This facility will have the same state of the art equipment as the new Zachary complex has for the freshman engineering class at TAMU. You are co-enrolled at both institutions which means you get access to TAMU facilities in CS, Sport Passes, Res Center and Intramural if you want to drive 45 minutes. There are also scheduled trips to A&M campus so students feel a connection. You even get an A&M student ID.
The Entry to a Major is the exact same as those attending A&M full time. The primary advantage of the Academy approach as apposed to PSA or just applying as a transfer is that you are already and A&M engineering student and you are kind placed ahead of other applicants from outside the university including the system PAS schools. You really don’t transfer, you transition.
Class sizes are about 25. You are blocked scheduled so you and 24 other students take calculus, science and engineering together. You create instant relationships. There is also free tutoring. The engineering class you build a robot just like the CS students.
Blinn has a nice Rec Center and student center. The campus does not feel like a junior college. It felt like a small 4 year institution.
The A&M representative and another Blinn representative stated that the engineering academies are the preferred feeder systems for engineering students, even above the PSA schools. At the PSA schools you are NOT and A&M student. At the academies you are and that gives you a leg up. We where told that last year mechanical engineering only expected 2 transfer students. Preferences are given to academy students over transfers even if the transfer has a higher GPA because the academies use A&M approved curriculum and the students have already been approved by the Engineering department.
There is also scholarship opportunities that can reduce cost by several thousand dollars below an already good deal offered by Blinn. Feel free to ask questions and I will answer as a can.
@MomHopesNxtGenAg Blinn will be closed during Spring Break so I would suggest calling Ashley Hermes at Blinn. She is the Engineering Academy program director and prequalified applicants. She is very helpful and friendly. 979-830-4777.
This Blinn engineering academy program is going to be amazing.
So I was trying to read up on the program (my husband is now listening, lol) and I am a little confused. In one space it say they have to have a 3.5 to transition after their first year, then somewhere else it says they need a 2.5 at the end of the program, so the end of 2 years. Which is it? If you have the 3.5 you can transition after 1 year, but if you only pull a 2.5 can you still transition at the end of two years?
My son has put in his application, but hasn’t sent his transcript yet, so his app isn’t complete.
@trinley This information you shared is wonderful. What a great program. Thank You.
@txnjenn you can and A&M encourages to transition after first year. the 3.5 gpa is what you need to guarantee the major of your choice. About 80% of applicants to a major receive their first choice. You can transition with a lower gpa. Since you are competing with all freshman engineering majors the higher the gpa the more likely you will get what you want. This link is an analysis of last years freshman class gpa for each engineering major. https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/advisors-procedures/entry-to-a-major/resources/analysis-spring-2017-admission-cycle.html
Hello, I am a high school senior, I got PSA from TAMU. I actually even applied to Blinn-Brenham after reading your post. I applied on March 12 and I was just wondering how long they take to get back to you? Because I still have not recieved any response from Blinn-Brenham, I only got the message that ApplyTexas will be sending my application to them. Did I do something wrong?
@hello1107 Last week was spring break, and they may get back to you soon now that they’re back in the office.
If you don’t hear anything fairly soon, you might contact ashley.hermes@blinn.edu.
Have you already been pre-cleared? If not, they will look at your math subscores to do this. Please make sure Blinn will be getting a copy of your test scores. @trinley may also weigh in on your post. Please keep pressing to submit everything Blinn asked for soon. This should be a priority for you. Good luck!
@MomHopesNxtGenAg No I have not been pre-cleared yet, Blinn has not emailed me asking for any of my information yet. It worries me becuase I know there is limited space in the academy and if they do not get back to me soon , I may not even get an opportunity to even be considered for the academy. Should I just go ahead and contact Ashley Hermès?
@hello1107 So we are trying to understand where you are in the application process. Help us out here.
You appear to have applied to Blinn College (right?) and specified Engineering major at Brenham location in that application (right?). You need to contact your standardized test agency and have your scores submitted to Blinn College. If you haven’t done this already, you could go online now and request your scores. Blinn receives scores electronically. Submitting scores is something YOU do without request from Blinn. It’s just part of the initial Blinn application.
Once Blinn sees your major as engineering and location as Brenham, then they understand that you want to be part of the Engineering Academy there. If you have sent your scores, Blinn will pre-clear you for further application to the Academy. Once pre-cleared, then Blinn will send you further application material via email link.
Please request your scores be sent to Blinn now, @hello1107. After that, Blinn will reach out to you. I know, it’s confusing. They want to pre-clear people by checking their math scores before they let them apply to the academy itself after they apply to Blinn.
If you need help at any point, please contact Blinn admissions, and if that doesn’t clear things up, contact Ms. Hermes. One of those folks will be able to help you.
@trinley will also be able to help you navigate this. Don’t give up! Send your scores! Just write again if you need to. We are monitoring.
@hello1107 Ashley Hermes reviews applications every Tuesday. Blinn was closed all of last week. A friend of my son who we go to church with applied just before spring break and his dad called and spoke with Ashley today. Blinn has Approved 75 applications so they have 25 open spots. TAMU approves 96%of the applicants that Blinn approves. They mostly look at your math scores. My son scored a 30 on the act math and we were told it was a 99.99999% chance TAMU would admit him. This program is much better than PSA. I would definitely contact Ashley to make sure she has all she needs. If you scored a 27 on the act math or the equivalent SAT you should be in good shape. The minimum score is 25 for consideration.
@MomHopesNxtGenAg Yes , when I did apply to Blinn, I checked Brenham as the location I wanted to attend and I chose engineering as my major. I just sent my scores to Blinn a couple minutes ago. Thank you for helping me, I was really lost and confused.
@trinley I will definitely contact Ashley and ask if she has everything . Thank You for the advice I really appreciate it . I hope your son gets into the academy.
@hello1107 Agree that you should contact Ms. Hermes at least by email. Let her know your scores are on the way.
Today I called Fish Camp and Blinn Brenham and they both confirmed that freshman at the engineering Academies can go to Fish Camp. Registration for Fish Camp begins May 21st.
I have a question about the living situation for the Eng. Academy students - we couldn’t make it to the preview day in March so we took a tour last week and were told that the engineering students will live in the College Park Apartments. I think I read somewhere here that they will be in the new dorm. Does anyone know the final answer? Ashley wasn’t on campus to ask so I wanted to ask here before going back to her. Also, has anyone’s student been accepted into the program yet? We are still waiting to hear.
@sdp3199 The Academy students will be in the new dorm that is under construction. The current students are in the College Park Apartments. The Engineering class room is on the ground floor of the new dorm. Acceptance should start rolling out around the 15th of April or a little after. 96% of the students that are Pre-qualified by Blinn are accepted by A&M. TAMU mainly looks at your math scores, SAT or ACT.
Anyone been admitted to the Brenham Academy yet? Just trying to make a final decision and have until May 1st to get dorm deposit back from another school.
@2018engmom checked this morning and no decision yet.