Questions
(1) Is their much of a difference between starting your application August 1st and ending it mid September? Instead of finishing on August first? I took some summer classes and my school won’t give me my updated rank until then. (and I was hoping to take the September ACT before I finish my application)
(2) Does the engineering department give scholarships to continuing students solely based on GPA? How hard is it to get one as a sophomore or junior with a 3.5+ gpa?
(3) Any advice for the rising seniors applying to the class of 2021?
Also, anyone else with questions, feel free to ask
How fast does dorm availability disappear? I know it is first come first serve, and that Hullaballoo fills especially fast. I’m primarily concerned about the honors dorms - McFadden and Lechner.
@nutmeg_shippy it goes pretty fast, can’t talk for the honors dorms but I got my bottom of the list choice and I got accepted and applied for housing in early January
Hullabaloo was filled as by Oct.1. That includes the single rooms at $5100 per semester. It is highly sought after.
Your application is the online Apply Texas Application. Your essays are uploaded through Apply Texas. You do not have to send your essays at the same time you submit your application. Complete the online app and get it submitted. You can send your transcript later. That is a supporting document to your application to TMAU but not part of the Apply Texas Application.
You must have your essays in before you can be accepted and you cannot do your housing app until you are accepted. You do not have to accept the admissions in order to do the housing application and contract.
From the Apply Texas Website:
How do I save and submit an essay?
You can access the essays portion of ApplyTexas in one of two ways:
If you are on the Essay Requirements/Essay Information page of any admissions application that requires essays, you will see a list of your required essays. Each essay type is a link that will open a new window that will contain the appropriate section of the essay submission page. You may save essays via this window in the application itself as well as by the My Essays tab.
Beginning with applications for Summer and Fall 2009, you can only SAVE essays prior to submitting your admissions application. At the time you submit your application, you will have the choice to SUBMIT all saved essays with your application, or to submit each essay individually later via the My Essays tab.
If you are on the My Account page, you can click on the My Essays tab to access a list of the institutions that require essays and which essays you’ve saved, submitted or still need to submit to each. You can also readily access the essay submission system from this tab.
As far as scholarships for engineering, there are too many variables that go into them depending on major in engineering. You should do research on scholarships on the major you are wanting.
@Thelma2 So, you must submit your essays before you get accepted, and you must get accepted before you can apply for housing. So, what would be the advantage of submit your application and then submitting your essays later? I don’t understand. 
@micgeaux There is not an advantage to submitting your essays later. It is just an option if you are not ready to do so on Aug. 1.
Everything does not have to submitted at once if you are not ready to do so all at once.
Let me double check if submitting Apply Texas app time stamps your application.
With rolling admissions, especially if you are an academic or auto admit, you get your acceptance really fast.
Happy August 1st! I remember both my engineering students applying around midnight, just a few years ago! Take a picture so you can remember hitting “submit!” One daughter ended up in McFadden and the other in Hullabaloo – they both were happy with those dorms and were glad they applied early.
@micgeaux
Your application for admission to Texas A&M University must be complete (application submission, essays, and transcript) before you can be accepted. After acceptance is granted, immediately go to Residence Life’s myHousing to submit your housing application, application fee, and housing deposit as that determines your housing priority date for assignment. (The application fee is $50 and the housing deposit is $300).
Housing applications become available in September. You must be admitted to the Texas A&M University - College Station or the Texas A&M Blinn TEAM Program to apply for on-campus housing.
So, for Hullabaloo housing for fall 2016, when housing apps became available in September, there were that many people already accepted and ready to fill out the housing app, for it to be full by Oct. 1.
That said, my son began his app in August but did not submit it complete until mid Oct. He was auto admit and was admitted Nov. 6. He completed the housing app same day. He did not accept his admissions until mid February however, as he was waiting on admissions decisions from other Uni’s. As soon as you accept your admissions, you can sign up for your NSC as soon as it becomes available. Housing assignments came out June 1 and he got his first choice, Mosher LLC. A classmate of his did not get admitted until the last wave of admissions (3rd Friday in Feb) and could not apply for housing until then and he was assigned Aston.
Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it. My kids’ AP English teacher told them to wait to submit essays as they would be working on this at the beginning of the school year.
So, if they could submit the rest of their app and get accepted, I would tell them to do that. They are auto admit.
But, it sounds like a student can not even be accepted until he submits his essays, which makes sense.
Thanks for the housing information. I went to a meeting at A&M, and they discussed how quickly the most sought after housing goes. If my kids end up at A&M, I am really trying for it to be the best experience!
Honors dorms, Lechner and McFadden for university honors, are the exception to all the rules about housing that people have talked about. Freshman accepted to university honors are required to live there except for Core of Cadets and maybe a few others. Both my kids were McFadden. My DD applied late for housing by mistake and still got in. That sort of thing won’t happen for regular housing assignments.
My son was accepted quicker because I made him apply August 3rd. The first week is important because most schools will notify you earlier. It is nice when you get that first acceptance.
I’m trying to decide if I am “smart enough” to give them feedback on their essays. I realize they are important, but seriously, how hard can it be?
Yes, I’m frustrated that the school advised them to wait. I want all of this done before school starts so that they can enjoy their senior year, not to mention my daughter starts tennis for school today. I also want them to have time to apply for outside scholarships.
I might have to “pull rank”. lol Thanks again! I’m rooting for A&M because anytime I go there, the students are so polite.