Chance me for full-admission to the Liberal Arts school?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Texas A&M University
1

White male, Texas resident. I’ll be applying to as a Economics major. App sent in September 17.

Academics
• GPA: UW- 3.53/4.0, W- 4.06/4.0 (upwards trend)
• SAT: 1880 (750 CR, 570 M, 560 W) (retaking because of funky disparity between section scores/low math)
• ACT: 29 (30 E, 27 M, 31 R, 28 S) (also retaking just because I can do better)
• Rank: 230/809, 27% (weak point of my app)
• APs:
Junior Year
• Psychology (4) *
• Physics I (Didn’t take)
• English III Lang/Comp (4)
Senior Year (No scores yet obviously)
• Calculus I AB
• Government
• Macroeconomics
• Environmental Science
• English IV Lit/Comp

Activities
• (school name) Speech and Debate – Executive Council Member (2014-2016), Co-President (2015-2016), Lincoln Douglas Debate Captain (2015-2016); competitor, leader, researcher, fundraising, social events, banquets; 2013 – present
• (local middle school) Speech and Debate – Founder, President; writing curriculum, scheduling tournaments, scheduling and leading tutoring sessions, talking with administration, participating/heading debate club at elective fairs/club days, advising debaters on out-of-school resources like camps, tutors, boosters, etc.; 2015-present

Community Service
• (school name) Debate – Debate tournaments, judging debate rounds, Elective Fairs, tutored first-year students and monitored practice rounds after school; 2013 – present; Hours: 110 hrs
• (local middle school) Debate - lots of stuff, I’ll fluff up later; 2015 - present; Hours: 25
• Veterinary Hospital - vet tech stuff; March 2015 -September 2015; Hours: 34
• (charity organization) – mentor to underprivileged and maltreated children; 2015-present; Hours: 6
• Organized a food drive program at my high school to relieve the victims of the floods in Houston; 2015 - present; Hours (so far): 12

Awards
• (school name) Novice Debater of the Year, 2014
• Qualification for the Texas Forensic Association State Championship in Lincoln Douglas Debate, 2015, 2016
• Top-125 Ranked Debater of the 1,612 debaters in the Space City Debate District, 2015
• Elimination round competitor for Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate:
o Magnolia High School’s Bulldog Bonanza (Semifinalist - 2015)
o Hendrickson High School Speech and Debate Tournament (Octafinalist - 2014)
o Cinco Ranch High School TFA Tournament (Octafinalist - 2015)
o Cypress Creek/Westfield Swing (Octafinalist - 2014)
o Klein High School Speech and Debate Tournament (Double Octafinalist – 2015)
• Participated in UNT’s Mean Green LD Workshops, 2014
• Varsity Letter winner – Speech and Debate, 2015
• A/B Honor all throughout high school
• Nomination to the National Society of High School Scholars, 2015

Employment
• (barbeque joint), (town name) – interacting with customers, managing cooking times and meat rotations on the smoking pits, training new employees (all positions taught), keeping inventory, general food service duties; August 2014 – July 2015; 10-20 hrs per week, 20-30 hrs per week during the summer
• (local vet hospital) – Veterinary Technician/Assistant understudy; shadowing Dr. Y and Dr. X, as well as certified veterinary technicians/assistants; March 2015 – September 2015

Other
• Great rec letters from my old debate coach, former employer, and sophomore English teacher
• I feel very confident about my essays. I sent in Topic C as well as the required ones.
• I’ve talked with reps a couple times now, but I’m not sure if that’s kept track of.

2

I’d say you’d probably be one of those on the fence between BT and full admit. Your score although not the right proportion, is 1320 and you’re close with a 27% rank, you have lots of EC’s and a work history too. So I’d give you a pretty good chance, depending on the volume of applicants they get this year. good luck to you!

3

Just wanted to point out that Economics gets quite math intensive, especially in graduate school.

4

What I’m trying to say is that considering your outstanding SAT CR score, ECs (Forensic team) and desire for community service etc, your credentials seem to scream, good fit for Political Science -> Law / Senate / Secretary of State etc. Your record (low SAT Math) doesn’t say, math wonk, future PhD in Economics. You have to remember that decent graduate programs in Economics usually needs enough math to minor in it. In addition, PhD programs in Economics don’t care about CR scores (Verbal on the GRE).

BTW, I don’t know if adcoms at TAMU look at fit or not. Also, I’m not saying give up your dream of becoming a vet or economist or financial analyst etc. Take courses in those fields in college and if you like them and do well in them, change majors.

5

@perazziman: No, admission committees for incoming freshmen do not look at fit within a major. Students are admitted to just the university as freshmen, since the policy is that once admitted you may pick any open major. Transfers however have different rules, as they are conditionally admitted by the university, then the committee for their major only has the final say as to whether they are granted admission. The switching of majors by transfers is far more monitored and becoming very difficult to switch after admission for that group. Freshman however can just click a drop box and switch majors prior to enrolling.