<p>I'm from Southern California and I've been accepted to TAMU on nearly-full ride due to academic scholarships and NMF. I'm still deciding whether I should go as I haven't gotten all my acceptances yet.</p>
<p>Anyone in the same boat?</p>
<p>what are your other choices?</p>
<p>My son is in his sophomore year at A&M and he was born and raised in Southern California. What questions do you have about it?</p>
<p>S2, S-CA-OC Asian and Junior EE with similar situation 3 years ago. TAMU if policy has not change will pay stipend to visit the campus Spring Semester for Honor recruitment. Accept it and visit with your parents if you can afford it. Fly into Austin (I think it is the cheapest) or Houston then drive there. Houston IAH has shuttle to TAMU, not other airports in that area including Dallas. However, you need car to go around in TAMU, buses do go from off campus to on campus, but not very convenient if you are visiting the area. It is a small town but people are very friendly and do NOT believe all those HYPE of race/ ethnicity / diversity bad reputation. It is non-issue. There are some thing you have to be beware like maintaining that cGPR=3.5 is not easy. You also have to beware if you fall below how to pay for it (out of state) and get back in.<br>
In general comparison to UC-System, Berkeley=UT-Austin, UCLA=TAMU. Some engineering field actually better then UC, some similar. Don’t close that option, I am glad we did for him. You can write private message to us. Best Wishes.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information everyone. really appreciate it :)</p>
<p>i have some questions:</p>
<p>how much benefit have your S/D gotten from the Honors program, from undergraduate research, and from any additional opportunities? (I’m especially curious as to ucla011’s answer because I plan on majoring in Computer Science, which isn’t too far from EE)</p>
<p>how competitive is it there in general? how competitive is it to be accepted into undergraduate research? (especially in Computer Science/Engineering department)</p>
<p>Is it hard to maintain a 3.0 or above GPA? I’m pretty hardworking, am ranked 11/650, National Merit Semi-Finalist, 3.9 GPA in high school, and might be valedictorian.</p>
<p>have your S/D made lots of good close friends? i’m looking for slightly liberal, intelligent, similar-minded people, which I hope to find in the Honors housing; however, I’m really open to anyone and would love to make friends with any Texan.</p>
<p>how much of a texan has your S/D become? as in, how much culture have they been immersed in, do they feel that it is very different from california (in a good way)?</p>
<p>Other colleges I’m considering is: Berkeley, UCLA, USC (applying for full-ride, which, if I get, I’d have to really think about whether i’ll go to TAMU), and have just applied to Brown, Cornell, and Carnegie Mellon (I doubt i’ll get any scholarship from these 3).</p>
<p>Also, I’m going to be Computer Science major planning on going to graduate school.</p>
<p>Lots of good questions.</p>
<p>Academically, 60% of the student body are Top 10% or automatic admits, so there is a large portion of very intelligent students and the rigor of classes reflects that (especially in engineering, business, etc.). My son is a liberal arts major and not a part of the honors or research programs. UCLA011 would be a much better person to answer those questions with her son’s experience.</p>
<p>The student body at A&M is, overall, very conservative politically. But in any school the size of A&M (50,000), there are political viewpoints in all ranges. The faculty, as is common nationwide, is more liberal. From what I experienced and have heard, you will have no problem finding your niche, and there is a lot of tolerance for different viewpoints. Frankly, I have experienced a lot more intolerance from my liberal friends here in California toward my conservative views than the other way around in Texas.</p>
<p>My son has made great friends at A&M. However, he is in the Corps, and that is a real bonding experience in and of itself. But A&M is known to be a very friendly campus and you should have no trouble making friends as long as you put some effort into it as well.</p>
<p>As far as Texas culture, my son laughs about how he is definitely a California boy when it comes to some of the things his friends do without thinking about it. He went country dancing once wearing a polo shirt and sneakers. He said he will not be buying a cowboy hat and cowboy boots just to match his friends. He has nothing against it, and my whole side of the family lives in Texas, it’s just not him. He still loves A&M and Texas and wouldn’t mind settling there someday. His corps buddies accept him just fine as a west coaster.</p>
<p>As an aside, my other son attends USC. From your description, you would be very happy there as a California native. I love A&M with all my heart, but know it is not for everybody. It is very important for each student to find the fit that is best for them. Definitely go to A&M and visit before you make your decision.</p>
<p>CSE has an EE track, originally my son is on that. He changed fully into EE Spring 2nd year. Don’t change too late or else you will not be able to graduate in 4 yr even with many AP credits. Absolutely do not repeat any AP classes. It is not guarantee you will do well. Use those extra time / credit for higher electives instead. Accept as many you are allow for equivalent credit and knock those GE out. Then you can adjust your course load later on. If you are out of Syn like other student, it actually is an advantage of registration for classes. !st year in Eng almost all track are similar. </p>
<p>You must have the require GPA from TAMU to transfer within DL-School of engineering and with any open slot. Usually EE and CSE-EE track has many opening so that is not a problem.</p>
<p>If you maintain that high cGPR=3.5 or higher, you will received graduate school information end of Sorph year. Your adviser will also tell you fast track plus graduate early etc. In general in any Universities, TAMU included, many engineering student change major out of engineering then going into it. Transfer do not count, no information and cannot comment. Engineering in any field is difficult. It is tenacity and sustainability 2nd and 3rd year.</p>
<p>Your Junior year, you can talk to your adviser about undergraduate research for Senior year. But you must know what you want to do with clear vision. S2 still try to figure it out. I guess it is common for most students. Those always know what they want are exception. Perhaps you are one of those genius then pardon me.</p>
<p>HS academic successes do not guarantee college performance. 1st year is an adjustment, 2nd year is find your way. 3rd year is sustainability and maintain interest in studies. 4th year for us is TBD. Many students in this forum brag about high cGPR in Fresh and even some in Sorph year. However you will notice overall it drop off substantially. Less then 20% of the entire University graduate with Latin Honor which is greater or equal to cGPR-3.5. I am not sure how many come engineering school. I still cannot find the information yet.</p>
<p>Honor dorm (now 3 of them) tends to have more OOS so it is a mix of more different views including the TEXAN. For S2, which is not very political. It is more Christian value then vs the so call liberals / conservative. I believe many students in this forum brought up this issue just for talking point. They don’t read the propositions and not even bother to vote. I am proud my S2 did cast the absentee ballot and vote, as he requested and I mail to him. Incidentally I think CA is so screw up because we have so many liberals in Sacramento. We wants all the social feel good program but never figure how to pay for it. Run your household like this, you will end up in the ditch. </p>
<p>DO not pick school by name sake only. ABSOLUTE DO NOT accumulate huge amount of debt for undergraduate. It is not wise and you will be sorry later in life. You however need to beware, if you maintain $1K per annual (if policy not change) of any scholarship, you will be able to pay in State. As for if you drop below what happen read the Honor handbook carefully. Too much to discuss here. Some is gone forever, some can be reinstated if your grade go back up. Then your family have to put aside rainy day fund just in case. If you got full ride in UC either you are the cream of the crop or smart + very poor. The Reagent scholarship is not much. No comments on which school, it is personal and family choice. One thing to remember is funding available in any universities make a different for your future</p>
<p>Best Wishes.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m a Texan and loved visting southern Cal! Awesome weather out there, y’all! </p>
<p>Texans are friendly and A&M is extremely friendly. When we visited and were standing at a corner looking at a map, a student walking by stopped to ask us if we needed directions and then shared the shortcut. Texas is on whole a conservative state and A&M is our conservative flagship university and is STEEPED in tradition (might want to read up on the 12th man, yell practice, not walking on the grass, etc).</p>
<p>My S is accepted to A&M (mathematics) and waiting to hear from UT Austin. He will likely be at A&M. </p>
<p>If your S/D is looking for a liberal experience, UT Austin is perhaps a better fit. Austin’s slogan is “keep Austin weird”. It is the San Francisco of Texas and as liberal as TX gets.</p>
<p>Happy college decision making!</p>
<p>Deng, I’m a non-native Texan that recently finished my undergrad at UT-Austin. Only a Texan would refer to Austin as liberal.</p>
<p>I’m the son of a service academy graduate. Before going to college, I enlisted in the Army and served a couple of combat tours. However, most of the alumni/students at TAMU would you believe that they invented military science.</p>
<p>My advice: stay away from College Station. It’s a small town full of xenophobic ultra-conservatives. TAMU is a decent college, but there is nothing to do in Bryan-College Station.</p>
<p>in reference to title of the thread “Is Anyone from California going to TAMU” - I plan on attending and I’m from the central valley. </p>
<p>I have yet to hear from all the colleges I applied to (such as Cal Poly SLO which I won’t hear from until February) but I chose Texas A&M because the times I’ve been fortunate to go there (Whoopin’ Weekend and the Women Explore Engineering Camp) I’ve felt very accepted despite the fact I was one of the only people who was out of state. To me, I find it amazing how huge A&M is and yet somehow it has this small-town feeling (maybe that’s just me but I was definitely surprised how random people walking by say “howdy” out of nowhere)</p>
<p>But I definitely think that what helped me out the most was visiting and engaging in camps or promotion days. Getting a glimpse of what things are like, even for a short amount of time, helps in my opinion.</p>
<p>@Deng; I noticed one question was about maintaining a 3.0. Are you starting as a freshman with few or no credits, or do you have a lot of credits for college already? If you are bypassing many of the freshman classes by placing out you will be starting with harder classes. If you have a full ride, that depends on GPA, take it easy on yourself. Don’t bypass classes just because you can. Lets say you have credit for AB Calculus. Take the calculus class at A&M. In other words, sandbag the first semester of your freshman year. You might not learn a lot of new material, but you will be learning about living on your own in a new state and time management, etc. and that can be harder for some than others (no way to know until you are there).</p>