Hi!
I am currently a junior at a very large competitive high school in Houston. I have a 6.175/6.5 GPA currently (equivalent to about a 3.78/4.0) and I got a 1700 on my first SAT (taken in October with no studying just to see where I was) and just recently took it again in January but have not received my scores yet. I am taking both the ACT and the SAT in February, and plan on continuing taking the SAT until I get a 1300 (or close to it) on the math/CR. The only problem is I’m right on the edge of 1st/2nd quarter, but I’ve heard that A&M almost always bumps kids from my school up an entire quarter because of how competitive it is. I have taken all honors/PreAP/AP courses since freshman year, and am very involved in extracurriculars (volleyball for 3 years, charity league, lots of volunteer hours, and I started and now own a small jewelry business) I want to apply to Mays and plan on applying at least by August 3rd this summer. What do you think my chances are of getting in as of right now (I will continue to retake my SAT/ACT and my GPA should raise a bit), and what are other majors that don’t fill up as quickly that I should put as my backups?
Thanks!!!
I responded to your other comment on the other thread before I saw this thread.
First, go to your college guidance counselors at school because they will have the best information on your specific situation. Secondly, do whatever you have to do to be an academic admit. This means being in the top 25% of your class and making a 1300 CR + M on the SAT or a 30 on the ACT. Determine if you are better suited to ACT or SAT and then prep only for that test. There are lots of tips on CC about improving scores and if your school has Naviance you can get practice there if you can’t afford private tutoring. The reality is that TAMU had over 38,000 applications this year and over 14,000 were auto or academic admits. This means only a small percentage of review applicants will be admitted. They are projecting 2500 full admissions, 4000 Blinn TEAM and 780 Gateway. Lastly, visit the texags forum with the admissions representative, Jon. http://texags.com/forums/17/topics/2230552/0 The info from Jon is marked : TAMUAdmissions. Read all of the pagea and all the information he gives because it is actually based on fact. He clearly states that they can’t consider the competitiveness of your high school. Although, taking rigorous courses should be helpful. The good news is you still have time to make sure you are an academic admit. If it is your dream then make it happen!
Sadly, they don’t change your ranking depending on your school. People from competitive schools have been complaining on here for years but they don’t give you ‘bonus rank’ for difficulty of school, no matter what you ‘hear’. See the Texags site ^ for confirmation of that. Home schoolers & schools that don’t rank - those ranks are determined by admissions and may not reflect actual rank- they are assigned a quarter (1st, 2nd etc) based on school profile. The rank that counts is the one at the end of junior year.
Regarding major, Mays fills every year. Many top 10% and academic admits select Mays. If business is your intended major, put it as #1. You will not be able to transfer to Mays from another major until completing 30 specific units and then competing for admission to the college. Your admission is first to TAMU (major blind) then once admitted to TAMU, the open major of your choice. It is not ‘harder’ to be admitted based on your major, it is just a matter of timing as to whether your major is still available.
If you are not in top 25%, you will compete for your admission. Review admits are becoming a smaller percentage of the overall freshman class every year, competition is getting tougher. High test scores certainly help, but also all the other factors of your application count for 50% of the decision: essays, EC, leadership, volunteering, awards, recommendations, etc. Start working on those if you think it’ll be close.
Should you be in the top 25%, you can submit early and keep taking tests to raise your score to the academic admit levels (that results in quicker admission once you have updated scores sent- on rolling admissions days can make a difference). The only tests that count are the highest one day sitting - the others are ignored, so don’t worry. I think anyone that has been in the review category with a top 25% rank would agree that doing anything to raise that score would have been well worth it. If you take that approach, you’ll have no regrets come December. Good luck!
Thanks for y’alls advice!!
Also, apply early – as close to the August 1st opening of ApplyTexas as you possibly can. If you reach that academic admit threshold, an early application submission increases the chance that you will be admitted to the major of your choice exponentially. Good luck!!
I had another question, this may be common knowledge but are the applicants who aren’t automatically admitted (and have to be put through holistic review) saved till the end after all the automatic applicants are accepted and then they start doing the holistic reviews? What Im asking I guess is are all the holistic reviews looked over while still admitting automatic admits or are they saved till the end of the admission process?
@chief27 I am not an expert - just a mom that learned a lot going through this. The auto admits are slotted into the various colleges based on their major choices up to a certain level (I think it’s 85%). So (using round numbers), if Engineering (for example) has 1000 spots, 850 are filled with the automatic admits. An automatic admit who chooses engineering but applies after the 850 mark is met will be admitted to TAMU but put into review for Engineering. My understanding is that those applicants and the holistic review applicants are reviewed together for the remaining spots in that particular program.
@chief27 I agree with jebphd’s post above. The only thing that I would add is that if you are a review admit (outside top
25% or in top 25% with scores below the threshold) make certain that you submit quality essays. In this situation, from reading Jon in admissions’ comments on the blog referenced above, he mentioned that date of application was not considered for review applicants, but I would confirm this with admissions next year. If so,the quality of the essays will be far more important that applying during the first couple of weeks.
The other factor that might make a difference relates to interest shown. On the application there are various yes/no questions to check off: have you visited campus; have you attended a sporting event; have you visited with a prospective student center; and several others. I’m not certain how much these would matter, but if you end up in the review category, I would take the time to try to get as many checks in those boxes as possible. There is a prospective student center in Houston, so even though you are close to College Station, make the appointment with them as well.
Finally, you asked when the review applicants were admitted. IIRC some started getting admitted in November, with a few more in December. I believe most got their notices in January. I would recommend looking over the admissions blog referenced by jefphd. If nothing else, it will motivate you to get those scores up as several applicants were so close, yet ended up not getting full admission since they weren’t automatic.
My son was admitted this past year as a review admit, so I followed Jon’s (TAMUadmissions) comments closely. (and yes we had a lot of those boxes showing visits and interest checked).
Technically a review admit can be admitted at any time, they don’t HAVE to wait. Realistically VERY few applicants get a decision quickly that are review candidates, normally they are near the end of the process. The rolling 85% cap then review for last 15% has only applied to engineering( as of the last two years), both automatic & earlier review applicants can be in the first 85%. The other majors fill to 100% then they are full & you have to pick another open major.
Another question, fairly vague; but I’m struggling to find a topic for the essay that is about overcoming a obstacle or a struggle in your life. I’m struggling because when I see obstacle or struggle my mind goes to death, sickness, or divorce, etc. all of which I’ve been blessed enough to have absent from my life. I know that an obstacle doesn’t have to be negative but I am really having a hard time coming up with one. If anyone has any examples or what they did for their essays that would be super helpful! Thanks!!
@chief27 Any learning differences? Struggle in a particular class? Significant bullying experiences? Health issues? An experience that was especially challenging for you – such as a 50 mile hike or 75 mile canoe trip or another physical or mental challenge you were really scared to try but managed to do anyway and felt a sense of accomplishment about afterward?
Those suggestions are great thanks!