Hi! I’m a rising senior from TN, and I’m very interested in the Business Honors Program at TAMU. However, I know that it’s super competitive. I have a 35 ACT/ 1540 SAT and expect to be a National Merit Finalist. My class rank is somewhere between top 10-5% with an unweighted GPA of 4.0, weighted ~4.6, and roughly 12 AP classes. I think my weakness is in extracurriculars; I do have student government, a few honors societies, and a biochemistry internship/research project at UTK (no longer interested in field), but the only thing I have related to business is a paid internship at a large local company this summer. I’m worried that this combined with my OOS status will make acceptance into this highly competitive program unlikely. What are my chances and does anyone have any advice?
Thank you so much!!!
Since Academic Admit takes in OOS, you are guaranteed May’s if you apply early (so that’s out of the way).
As for Honors, you have a very good chance, but nothing is for sure.
@RMNiMiTz Thanks so much for your answer! Do you know if Mays alone would provide enough interaction with professors and internships to make TAMU worthwhile?
Sorry, I honestly don’t know that much about Mays, but hopefully, someone on here will know more about it.
I had two kids in Mays, one was in the regular program & the other in BHP. We are OOS. Yes, it is tough to get into BHP, they tend to select those with a ‘wow factor’ since all are academic admits who apply (the minimums required to apply are basically academic admit). There were a range of students - academics, athletes,national award winners, entrepreneurs, leaders,etc. There is no one mold, they seem to go for variety. The selection process does include current BHP students as evaluators to select the next group along with professors & administrators. It isn’t a matter of just GPA & scores, it is the whole person that is evaluated. There are only two opportunities to join BHP - as an incoming freshman and after your first semester at TAMU. There isn’t a disadvantage/advantage when it comes to instate or OOS. Pick your recommendation writer carefully & let them know that you’re trying to obtain admission into a very select program.
My oldest did not even apply to BHP (nor Univ honors) also an academic admit but opted to excel in other areas after a lifetime of “talented & gifted”/honors programs. She did get asked (by a professor) to apply to join a select group within her major, which she did join. There are several of those within Mays, they are highly regarded so it isn’t “BHP or bust” there are other programs particularly when upper division students . When she was interviewing for her first position - she had professors stop her in the hall and wish her luck. She had recommendations offered by several professors too, without her asking. She found the staff to be very personal although it is a big school, within your major it becomes smaller. You do have to do the work though and create your own ‘spotlight’. Most Mays students are very involved with university groups( of their choice) often in the management position. The plus of a large school is that there are several to choose from and many have large memberships. There are over 800 clubs/organizations.
Both of mine did internships - the non-BHP requested and received help with her internships (the BHP one pursued his own). Vast majority of students tend to find their own internships, but there is help if needed. Many degree programs require internships. The oldest did hers during the school year, the youngest did summer internships in our city. There are many Aggies around the world - they will help you just because you are an Aggie too. Texas A&M is a school with a very good reputation in the business world, neither of my kids have had issues getting jobs outside the state of Texas. Hope that helps answer your questions! Good luck!
Oh one other item: do apply early, it is rolling admissions to Mays and it fills quickly every year. This year’s opening date is July 1st ( a month earlier than last year) and there will be many ready to push submit on that day. You can wait a few weeks, but submit ASAP if you wait too long it will have consequences. Your admission date also affects housing selection here, so applying early is a goal of all applicants who research the school. Vast majority of Mays are automatic admits but they reserve a few spots for review candidates, and it is very popular. You need to sign up for housing within 30 days of acceptance to get priority, or you go to the bottom of the list. The decisions for BHP are later and NOT given with the acceptance to Mays. They wait until all candidates have been admitted before evaluating and usually send out acceptances on a rolling basis (not all in one day). If do a visit, you can also visit with BHP (we did). Once you’re selected, they also hold a seminar (prior to decisions) to go over the program in detail and have a Q&A panel with current students. This program in the past has had 100% placement rate after graduation, pretty impressive group.
My oldest applied for BHP but did not get in. She ended up having a stellar experience in Mays in spite of that. She pursued the Professional Program in Accounting and got her Masters, Undergrad degree, and CPA license in 4 years(with some summers). She joined PBK the Business Fraternity which offered a lot of special opportunities. She was highly recruited for her internship semester and had her pick of offers. She ended up with a firm permanent job offer after that internship in her Junior year! She graduated in 2014 and is in management already at her current firm.
So, the opportunities are out there. You just have to make the most of them. She credits Mays with a lot of her success.
The freshman admissions advisor for TAMU told me that a person who submits the first day gets the same evaluation as the person who submits the day before the early deadline because they don’t evaluate early applications before then (they accept the applications, but don’t look at them).
Yes, you should still submit early (before October 15th I believe) in order to get the spot in the first come, first serve, but submitting it on July 1st vs September 1st will still make no difference (at least that’s what the TAMU advisor told me).
You are mixing advice for engineering applicants vs. those for other majors. The process is different for other majors.
Wow- there are so many amazingly well-thought out answers to this question! I am so grateful for all of you! Thank you so much for taking the time to help me!
@AGmomx2 , when you say the application opens July 1st, do you mean the coalition application? Or is it separate?
There is NO early deadline for other majors that is ONLY for engineering college. Others are admitted to their major on a rolling basis, there is only an opening date & an ending date. When Mays is full, it is full — there is no date that guarantees availability.
Yes, I assume that is the new application since it is listed --sorry that’s all I know about it 
As far as BHP, you just check a box on the application now ( it use to be a separate application) do take the time to read about BHP – they will look at your essays & recommendations to determine your status make sure you write them highlighting the characteristics they are looking for within your essays/recs. http://mays.tamu.edu/bba-business-honors/application-requirements/ We gave a copy of the requirements to the teacher writing our son’s rec & a copy of his resume + some interesting achievements/facts about him so they could pull from that information too.
After thinking about it, you are probably right. I was asking him a lot of questions about engineering and business, so I must’ve mixed the two up.