@Beaudreau That would make sense and be a smart move on the university’s part. Thank you!
@FenderFan54 Good fortune to you!
I am frankly a bit concerned. Son is an admitted freshman with a strong preference for Mechanical. He is a strong student, but better test scores than gpa. (smart but not driven?) I worry that the combination of adjusting to college on top of the pressure to be competitive for his major may be a challenge. The thought that there is no room to screw up, even a bit, is intimidating. Which is funny, since he picked A&M over UT (where he has a ME spot) because he disliked the highly competitive feel of UT engineering. He’s a more laid back kinda kid.
Question for those who have spoken to A&M directly - I understand that you have until the end of the second year to make it into a major. But don’t major-specific course start 3rd semester? What do you take if you have not been able to declare yet? Would they let my S enroll in the initial ME courses if he has not been accepted into that major yet?
Also, if you apply to say MEEN after one semester and are turned down, does that mean you can’t/shouldn’t apply again? Look elsewhere?
One other comment: I am not surprised by the unexpectedly smaller number of PETE apps. It is probably a rapid reaction to the current downturn in Oil & Gas.
@tshusker…So out of the 1,000 freshman, approx. 75% chose between 2 disciplines as their 1st choice out of 17 options? Wow, that seems high, I think. But, this is all new this year. It would be nice if they publish statistics online at some point.
According to TAMU, 2932 Freshman Engineering students entered in Fall of 2014, not 1000.
http://dars.tamu.edu/dars/files/76/76188a4c-b830-47a6-ad8f-ca5e2bef21be.pdf
It will be interesting to learn how many of that 2932 applied for a major after the first semester. A little digging on TAMUs site led me to this information which indicates they will post statistical information from this first batch of ‘entry to a major’ applications on April 7.
http://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/advisors-procedures/entry-to-a-major/resources.
Good stuff @beyondtx! At page 28 of your linked data, they show 10,556 undergraduates enrolled in engineering. The 2014 ASEE report showed that TAMU was third in the country for 2013 for engineering enrollment, with 8390 undergraduates. https://www.asee.org/papers-and-publications/publications/14_11-47.pdf (page 18). At that time, Penn State was number one with 10,201.
@beyondtx All good questions! My son also has a spot in Mech Eng at UT but prefers to attend A&M next fall. He was accepted to Engineering at Univ of Mich as well, and as long as you hold a 2.0, you simply declare Mech Eng. So this does make one question if it’s the right route. Again, for anyone who has info, since Mech Eng courses start first semester of Sophomore year, what do you take if you have not been admitted to Mech Eng by that time? Can you reapply to Mech Eng if you are first not accepted?
My freshman daughter was just accepted to Mech Engineering (and Civil.) She worked hard freshman year but certainly found it doable to obtain the grades necessary to be admitted. I am guessing if your kids were accepted into engineering at A&M and UT and Michigan, they have the ability to do just fine. And, yes, it is my understanding that if you didn’t get accepted to Mech Eng you can apply again the next semester.
I like the Mich policy of acceptance to an engineering major as long as you have a certain GPA. I hope A&M will consider this route.
It’s a concern if they admit 2900+ into Engineering and then require everyone to compete all over again for a major (highest GPA wins). It’s definitely a concern for more laid back kids who don’t like the competition, or who test very high but have a comparatively lower GPA.
Once admitted with an engineering preference, knowing that they can get that major with a minimum GPA will make the decision of going to A&M easy. Otherwise A&M will lose kids to other schools than guarantee a major with a minimum GPA.
At UT even if one has a spot in an engineering major, one has to keep a certain GPA in the major sequence to stay in that major. For ECE it was just a 2.5. Seems like Mich is similar (low GPA) with the advantage of getting a feel for all majors first. Guess we’ll have to wait and see what A&M decides to do (by sophomore year)- similar to Mich or continued competition for a major.
The “approx. 1000” is what the advisor told my son. Perhaps it wasn’t “1000 freshman” but “1000 invited” to apply to a field/discipline. ??
@tshusker, You have to be invited to apply? What is the determination/cut-off for that?
As long as they had 1 science, 1 engineering, and one math class they would be eligible to apply. There are a few engineering students, for example, who don’t take all three of these classes first semester, or maybe they got a D, so they would not be “invited” to apply. It will be interesting to see how this policy plays out. I was listening to an admission officer the other day state that another change for this year is to cap the automatic admits at 75% (from 85%) and then holistically review the remaining 25%. If you ever want to read about a brutal admission policy for engineering, look at University of Washington’s process. Not only engineering, but practically all majors are competitively sought during sophomore year.
Does anyone know how advising works for Freshmen now? The advisors are listed by major, but who do they see initially? Can they be assigned someone from their indicated interest?
@tshusker Maybe the 1000 were the number offered a major out of the approximate 3000 engineering students? Obviously not all of the 2932 engineering students applied. It would be interesting to know how many actually applied to a major. We know a few that did not apply and several others that dropped engineering.
@beyondtx We called and asked for an appointment with a MEEN advisor and they told us no. Said would get general engineering advisor at NSC and I’ve heard that discussion is very rushed. Said to address any questions to Engineering Academic & Student Affairs, easa@tamu.edu or 979.845.7200.
@lee6666, @EventHorizon32 my daughter attends Michigan Engineering School and loves it - if you haven’t already committed to TAMU or UT and have questions regarding Michigan feel free to ask me.
For what its worth, I also have a senior Mechanical engineering student at A&M and I have learned competition never ends, no matter what the system. She was admitted under the old system (which sounds similar to U of Michigan or UT.) Technically, once she was admitted to her major, she only had to maintain a GPA in the 2.-something range to graduate but, as a practical matter, she felt she needed a higher GPA to get job interviews, coveted internships and eventually permanent employment. Competition has been tough for both my senior and my freshman.
@marfalights We visited Michigan and my son was accepted. The problem is that it is so darn expensive - $42,000/year for out-of-state tuition. It is the most expensive OOS tuition of any public university. Stanford and M.I.T. charge $45,000! Purdue is $29,000 and Illinois is $31,000.
I’m an alum; my son was a NMF, National AP Scholar, had a 2320 SAT score, and earned a 3.83/4.0 GPA from the number two ranked high school in the U.S. Even with all this going for us, Michigan still only offered a $10,000 merit scholarship. TAMU was a no brainer, and he didn’t have to endure one of the worst winters in history. Michigan is a great engineering school, but not worth it to us.
@marfalights, Congrats to your daughter! I’m a U of M alum, so I’m not surprised she loves it there! Although my son was accepted U of M and to U of Illinois, he was born and raised in the South, so hard to sell him on the cold winters! @Beaudreau, Yes, hard to justify U of M’s OOS cost.
Has anyone received a department scholarship from Engineering since accepting their major? I wasn’t sure when those went out.