<p>As you know, he had a 33 on MPE and 5s on Calc BC & AB. In addition he is a National AP Scholar. However, his weighted GPA / class rank was shot because he took 9 HS courses in middle school at a district that encouraged it because it was not included in the HS GPA. Then he transferred …</p>
<p>Also, I am not sure but it could be that A&M treats National Merit Semifinalists as auto admits. I have also heard that A&M gave semifinalists their first choice in majors (even if they were closed, they opened it to them). So, we saw a very quick turnaround (2 weeks) and acceptance to his 1st choice. We were very surprised and son was very happy. So, he did not even apply to his #2 choice school.</p>
<p>“However, his weighted GPA / class rank was shot because he took 9 HS courses in middle school at a district that encouraged it because it was not included in the HS GPA. Then he transferred …”</p>
<p>Ah, I know kids that have had there gpa harmed by taking hs classes in middle school. I hadn’t thought of that.</p>
<p>How do you quote things on this site? I am sure it is obvious but I am missing it.</p>
<p>I was thinking of top schools such as TAMs & other magnets, charters & privates as well as competitive publics such as Highland Park, Westwood, Westlake and Clement HS that mint National AP scholars and Nat. Merit semifinalists. The competition can run deep at these places where standardized scores are no guarantee of top 10 percent finishes. Even at the Memorials, Plano Wests & Wooldlands etc class rank competition can be quite brutal for kids with high standardized test scores.</p>
<p>A&M appears to have resolved that by taking students with top test scores and are assigned the top 25% by TAMU. That helps the kids at these rigorous and brutal high schools get accepted.</p>
<p>So far UT has not followed A&M’s approach in allowing these quality students admission. UT is focused on class rank more than anything. So even kids that are outside the top 8% and still within the top 10-25% from these brutal high schools are left in limbo while the holistic review process moves along. And as we all know, many of these kids have better overall stats than many who get admitted from less competitive schools. And that leads to another lengthy and hotly debated issue for a different thread.</p>
<p>True, happened to me for Biomedical Engineering.
A&M is like the perfect college for NM Scholars who likes money and less application-cycle stress :)</p>
<p>It’s definitely perfect for me who is a Bio major (1.5 more yrs) and wants to go to the dental school in Houston (I have family there, and the OMFS residency there is top-notch).</p>
<p>^I agree. National Merit semis & finalists get treated like royalty at A&M at the university level. However, at the department level it is less so. For example, son did not get ENGR 111 & KINE. So, dept. is now suggesting doubling down on 111 & 112 next semester or taking 112 next year. He is not happy about doubling down on lab courses as he is trying to maintain a 3.5 GPA to keep his scholarships. He is also not happy about taking it next Fall, as there will be nothing else to take but math as he will be done with all his UCCs in freshman year & 112 is prerequisite for Engineering courses. However, he will still have to take 30 credits to keep his scholarships. So, it seems like a mess.</p>
<p>Does the Engineering Honors advisor help in situations such as these? I mean we appreciate the fact that they are paying for his schooling, but if they did not have the seat perhaps they should have told him no thank you and told him to go attend another school instead of wasting their money and his time.</p>
<p>It’s add/drop week - have him go talk to or email his advisor about his classes. Advisors have different ‘styles’. My son’s likes him to look for the openings he wants and email him the details and he tries to get him in. My D is totally on her own - keep checking online until the opening pops up and grab it. Students do change their minds about classes, mine have always managed to get in but it takes persistence. Odd he couldn’t find a KINE, unless he is trying for a certain sport (or avoiding others). There is nothing that you can do as a parent, it is up to the student & advisor. FYI students can change their schedules without going to advisors -they’re online.</p>
<p>If anyone knows, how about taking ENGR 112 before ENGR 111? Are there things one learns in ENGR 111 that he will need to know in ENGR 112? I see 111 is not a prerequisite, but is there a reason one should take 111 before 112?</p>
<p>For EE and computer engineering (not sure about the others) there’s basically no correlation between ENGR 111 and ENGR 112. Although I’m not sure if he can take ENGR 112 before ENGR 111, I’ve seen people taking them both at the same time.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about it… He could take both Engr 111 and 112 next semester with easy classes at 12 credits OR leave one/both for the summer (but you’d have to pay for them or use a semester of the scholarship).</p>
<p>Hillo - just to be clear, that’s only for TAMU scholarships (the AP credit). There are scholarships offered by the state of Texas that also require 30 hours completed each year (summers can count). I’m not sure AP credit works for those.</p>