Chances of admission?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Texas A&M University
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Hi, I am an incoming high school senior (Class of 2023) apply soon to TAMU in the coming weeks. I have taken my SAT and do not have that high of a class rank. I was hoping holistic review could really help me in admission. I would like to major in marketing if I attend TAMU. What do you guys think are my chances?

Rank: 390 / 872 (44%)
GPA: 3.422 Weighted : 4.1
SAT: 1300 Eng. and Reading: 560 Math: 740
ACT: N/A
AP: U.S. History - 3

EC: 4 Years of Student Council, Student Council Officer ( Secretary ), School District “Be Kind” Kindness Ambassador 2 Years Boy’s Varsity Volleyball, 40+ Hours of Community Service, 1 Year of Jets ( Engineering Club), Amazon Business Startup (+1k Monthly Revenue), and a couple more that don’t really matter, I honestly don’t know if any of these even matter.

I have taken AP level courses and will soon be taking AP Calc AB/BC, AP Gov., AP Micro Econ.

Sidenote / Things I may want to talk about in my essay.

  • Son of two immigrant parents
  • Sibling graduating TAMU Class of 2020
  • Grew up in a very nice area! (middle to upper middle class)
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@Andrewnovedu900 How do your stats compare to your siblings? You will not get into Mays for marketing as a freshman, but that doesn’t mean you can’t change major later if your grades are good! Honestly, your ranking is killing you. Good chance you could get Blinn Team which is an amazing option!!! Best of luck!

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@Andrewnovedu900 I think your chances of even receiving a Blinn Team offer are not in your favor. My son was a review candidate with top 38%and a 1280 and was offered the PSA route. He ended up going to the Engineering Academy in Brenham and is co-enrolled that way. If you like engineering it is a great way to gain full time entrance to TAMU after your freshman year. He is returning from Fish Camp this evening. I would work on getting the SAT up to at least 1360 for a shot. However, if your goal is to be an Aggie and you do not gain admittance, check out the Program for Transfer Admission (PTA). I don’t believe they offer that for Mays but they do for many other majors. Best wishes.

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I would think if you really want to go to TAMU you then your best shot would be Regular Blinn. This option is open to everyone but if you really want to be in College Station for your freshman year that would be the way to go. JMO. They offer the PTA program and you can then meet with TAMU advisors during the year to figure out the best way to transfer.

You can also consider doing the PTA route at a local CC as you can do it from anywhere in Texas unless you really want to go away for your first year.

I am not sure what city in Texas that you live in but if you are close to a Regional Prospective Student Center you might also want to talk to them. Good luck.

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@trinley Question was your son involved in EC because I was really hoping my EC might help my application a little more for balancing out my disgusting rank/GPA

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Prepscholar has you at 60% based on your stats. Good chances. I don’t know about the business school, but apply early. If you carry a 3.5 GPA at A&M, you’re allowed to change your major to anything. You need to make sure you put down some good safety schools because there’s still a decent chance of getting rejected. I would suggest U of H, UTSA, and Texas State. All of these have excellent business programs.

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Coolguy40 I don’t think you can transfer to any major with a 3.5. The big thing with a 3.5 is that is you are an engineering major you are guaranteed your first choice of majors. But I have heard that it is very hard to transfer into Mays and I’m guessing a 3.5 wouldn’t be high enough for that.

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@Andrewnovedu900 my son did have ECs. Everyone does. Admission to TAMU is highly competitive. Do all three essays. As for transferring to Mays, it is very difficult. My son’s friend was admitted to Blinn Team. I believe he needs a 3.8 to get into Mays.

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Prepare yourself for having to take an alternate path to get into Mays. I have heard that they only accept 1000 Freshman and all of those spots are taken by Top 10% and Top 25% Academic Admits, and the spots are filled extremely quickly by people who apply early. There just isn’t enough room for everyone who wants to go to TAMU and Mays Business School. Usually there are around 40,000 applications for Freshmen at TAMU. It just gets more competative every year.

You might be one of the rare ones in the second quarter who receive full admit to TAMU, but when the spots are filled in Mays, that’s it, they offer a different major and then maybe you will be able to transfer into May later. Probably some of the students who are initially admitted discover that they really don’t want to be a Business Major after all, and a few slots open up.

TAMU looks primarily at Class Rank and SAT/ACT scores. Your rank in the second quarter is what is hurting you the most. You can improve your chances if you can bring your SAT score above the Academic Admit required score. Also take the ACT, you might score higher. TAMU offers the ACT, take it there, it shows high interest in TAMU and is only sent to TAMU.

Take an official visit to TAMU on a regular school day. Schedule a meeting with an adviser in Mays and also with a Blinn-TEAM adviser. Get as much info as possible.

Make sure that your essays are reviewed by an educated adult, preferably one of your HS English teachers. Include info that shows your unique individuality. The voice needs to be your own, but remember that an adult is reviewing your essays for admission to TAMU.

Get Letters of Recommendation from teachers or other adults who know you and can address how you have overcome any hardships (health/family/moving etc.), can show how ready you are for college, etc, and it wouldn’t hurt to have at least one LOR from an Aggie.

If you are offered less than what you hope for, you can appeal the decision. The decisions are only rarely reversed, but it has happened. For Freshman Fall 2017, a fantastic home schooled student who had a ton of Dual Credit classes and started her own business was offered PSA. She appealed and won full admission.

Dual Credit has to be accepted, AP credit does not. Entering college with a lot of credit earned in HS can squeeze you out of Blinn-TEAM.

Blinn-TEAM is a fantastic option, it allows you to be an Aggie in Aggieland. One of my daughters was full admit in 2012 and one is currently about to start her second year on Blinn-TEAM. There is no downside to Blinn-TEAM, the only thing that you can’t do is play a sport for TAMU, in everything else you are a full Aggie. But to get into Mays from Blinn-TEAM, I think it requires a 3.8 average. There are contract pathways for some majors from Blinn-TEAM. Go to the TAMU website and look over the Blinn-TEAM pages to get all of the correct current info.

If you want to be a Business Major at TAMU, then hopefully that will work out for you. It just might not be easy, but if that is what you truly want, keep working toward it. It doesn’t matter if you don’t get there on the first try. Keep focused on the goal. Anything worth having is worth putting in the extra effort.

Good luck. Keep us posted on your journey.

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FYI… YOU will only do ONE essay. They do not want students doing the 3 essays like previous years (lucky ducks). They will not look at them. This is coming from an admissions counselor directly plus others being told the same thing by advisors. Just FYI.

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@coolguy40 Prepscholar isn’t a realistic gauge for A&M full admissions. Holistic review admissions is around 13%. And no, you cannot transfer to any major you want with a 3.5. One can apply for a change of curriculum for Mays but cannot have more than 60 hours.

As others have stated, @Andrewnovedu900 getting in as a review applicant is difficult for full admissions. You won’t get into Mays freshman year. There is no EC you can be involved in that will make up for what you lack in scores/rank. Mays only takes 1000 freshmen https://mays.tamu.edu/undergraduate-enrollment-plan-2016-2018/ and those spots are filled by Dec with top 10% and academic admits.

Being below 40% really puts you at a disadvantage unless you are an under represented minority or had a major life event that you overcame and how you did so, and explained in your essays for why your rank is so low. Then still, it is not a guarantee. Most applicants we saw on this forum last year, who were below 40%, were offered PSA.

Go ahead and apply and do so soon. Apps have been open a month. Chose another major that isn’t as competitive. With your math score, the new major of Statistics may be up your ally. https://www.stat.tamu.edu/academics/major/. You could minor in business.

Another option would be to apply to Blinn Community College if you want to be near CStat and consider the Program for Transfer Admissions. https://admissions.tamu.edu/PTA. It is limited on majors so, be sure to check it out first.

Also, Tx State might be a consideration if you are wanting a business school. Their football isn’t competitive but still enjoyable.

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Very low chances…They play the threshold (automatic admit) card very hard here.

Mays and Dwight Look are bottlenecked; pretty much requiring you to be in the top 25% for your class to be an automatic admit; otherwise it’s pretty guaranteed you’ll be automatically Blinn team’d.

The system sucks for those who went to highly competitive academic schools; but that just means it’ll be rather easy to get placed by going through an alternative route to your major.

For an example, I have several friends who tried to apply to Mays from my highschool (which was rather highly competitive academically) and they all got automatically Blinn team’d. Of those people, one of them was an Eagle Scout with a 3.8 GPA and worked for 4 years…needless to say; he got a full ride elsewhere. If you don’t get in, don’t feel bad. Like I said - plenty of ways to get in after your freshman year.