I need advice; my daughter is about to start freshman year at Tarleton. Since they don’t have forensics science, we chose environmental Science as her declared major there, since by doing tons of research I figured out that lots of the basic classes for that program matched what TAMU requires for their FS degree. Turns out Tarleton tells you false information; they’ll tell you that TAMU won’t let you change your major when you get there! Thank God we found out that that was false, but now they won’t let her take the course that she needs to take; they are insisting she take courses that won’t even give her the credits she needs at A&M. Tarleton is impressive on many levels, but it’s apalling to see them actively campaign to get the PSA students to opt out of PSA so that they’ll stay TSU, even giving false information that I’ve heard more than once about not being able to change majors once you get to TAMU. I’M NOT MAKING THIS UP. There’s only one counselor for all PSA students, and she is one of those spreading this inaccurate info. I had to call TAMU to make sure this wasn’t true, and to get instructions on what courses to take, but now this counselor denied my daughter’s request to change her schedule so that she can take the right courses. So now I have to butt in and see if she’ll work with me. I’m shocked that an institution as amazing as A&M doesn’t provide the necessary info and support to facilitate it all. It’s been an incredibly challenging process.
Please let me know if you know anything that can help.
@Izasm0m Wow, very frustrating. It is true in the sense that TAMU does not want someone doing PSA route only to change major once they get into TAMU Cstat. I’ve never been a big fan of PSA. I’d rather take control over the degree plan and follow the route the student needs to take to transfer vs. having laid out plans. Yes, I know it’s a guarantee, but honestly, if the student fulfills the prereqs and recommended coursework for transfer with a solid GPA (Not including Mays or Eng in this general statement), the student will most likely be admitted. Some majors are harder than others, of course, even outside of Business and Engineering, but if you look on the transfer threads on this site, the majority get in.
Here are the change of major requirements to FIVS once at TAMU:
3.00 GPA Forensics & Investigative Science - Science (FIVS-SCE) and Law (FIVSLWE)
If 0-45 hours
o At least 1 completed semester at TAMU
o CHEM 101/111 and 102/112
o Min 2 other science from CBK’s
o Min 2 other CBK’s
o Courses must be completed at the time of application
o 3.00 on CBK’s and Core Curriculum
If 45-65 hours
o At least 1 completed semester at TAMU
o All CBK’s must be completed at the time of application
o 3.0 GPA on CBK’s
o 3.00 on ALL coursework with no grade of ”D’ or “F”
o No students will be considered who have above 65 total credit
hours
CBK’s: MATH 141 & 142; BIOL 111 & 112; CHEM 101/111, 102/112,
227/237, & 228/238 (222 for pre-law); PHYS 201 & 202; ENGL/COMM
elective (see TAMU Catalog for appropriate courses); and FIVS 205
At my son’s A&M NSC, as the PSA and transfer students were working out which classes they would be registering for, one of the PSA students sitting next to my son told the advisor that he was going to change his major. The advisor said “you can not change your major. A&M told you that before you agreed to the PSA program. You can only take classes that apply to your original major and degree plan.” His class schedule for the fall had to be okayed by the advisor and it had to match his original plan. It is possible that after he has been at A&M for at least 1 semester, he might be able to change his major but until then, A&M is very serious about the students taking classes that they agreed to for their PSA. I believe that after 1 semester at A&M, they can try to change their major but for that first A&M semester, they seem to be unwilling to even discuss it.
Correct @2xAggieMom everyone, even regular admits have to wait one semester and meet the requirements set forth by the intended major before applying to change major.
@Izasm0m
We have experience with the FIVS program and PSA. My daughter is at A&M now after going through PSA at Corpus Christi. The FIVS advisor was adamant that my daughter will not be able to transfer into FIVS, even though she came in through the Entomology Department. It is my understanding that even Entomology has dropped out of the PSA program specifically for this reason (folks going PSA with Entomology and then attempting to change majors into FIVS).
My daughter is staying the route of taking a couple of ENTO courses this semester, joining the Forensics clubs and taking the Intro to Forensics course, so that she can still attempt to change majors after her first full semester. She wants to go to medical school and be a medical examiner so feels that Entomology could still prepare her, but she is still going to try and change majors later.
Good luck to your daughter, but if she has her heart set on Forensics it may actually be easier to apply as a regular transfer after her first year. During our NSC there were 4 students that were transfers that wanted FIVS, but were in Entomology and they flat out told the students they would not let PSA students change major from Entomology into Forensics. It’s even more of a problem if your student is like mine and has DC hours that are transferred in, because they will not consider students with >65 hours.
Thanks so much to everyone for your response and the information provided. Question for AggieMomhelp: can you clarify what you meant about “not including Mays or English in this general statement”?
Today I spoke at length with the Tarleton counselor who introduced herself as the new PSA counselor.
She helped me understand that A&M requires the courses that Tarleton is having her take because A&M is going to treat her like a bio environmental major, so now I see why she’s been enrolled in the classes they’ve put her in. While I’m in agreement that it’s better to take the courses my daughter really needs instead of staying in PSA, my husband disagrees and she probably will too. At least the math they’re requiring is the Part 1 of the math TAMU’s FS major requires, so it will be an excellent foundation to build on.
The new PSA counselor did tell me I can see if A&M will make an exception and allow her to deviate toward the courses she really needs, so perhaps we will do that. Does anyone know if this ever happens? In the meantime, another challenge is that Tarleton is not open to letting my daughter take 2 science courses this semester: biology and chemistry. They think that’s too much, so they have her only in 4 courses plus the one hour chem lab. One is an elective because they agreed to let her skip the English course they required since it’s not needed at TAMU. We were going to let her not work a part time job this first semester while she gets acclimated, but given that her History class is an accelerated one and thus only lasts eight weeks, this leaves her with only a three course workload for the second half of her semester. It just seems too light! This kid is extremely responsible, thank God; she often gets up at 4 or 5 in the morning to study. Her four years at a private college prep high school was filled with seven courses and two or three sports a year , (including being captain), plus an extracurricular Bible study that also had homework of its own, and making mostly As. Since the curricula for the first semester Forsensic Science majors TAMU has them taking 3 science classes: biology, chemistry AND an intro to forensic science all at the same time, it seems quite doable for her to be able to handle a pair of science classes at the same time. Am I unrealistic to think she can pull it off? I’ve heard from more than one parent and graduate of her high school that college was relatively easy because of the constant focus this school places on being ready for it.
This is what doesn’t seem clear regarding whether TAMU works with students like mine who applied as a FISV majors and then are offered PSA; these are actually excerpts from the FAQs section of their website:
QUESTION: “What if I’m not interested in one of the participating majors (i.e., Business)?”
ANSWER:”The PSA was designed for students who are interested in a participating major. We never recommend using the PSA to be admitted to TAMU with the intention of switching to the major you really want.”
Then why do they offer it to people who apply to TAMU under other, non PSA majors?
And then the same page also says this:
QUESTION:” What if the system school doesn’t have my intended major?”
ANSWER:”The major choice at the system school does not matter. All that matters is that the system school will allow you to take the courses you need for your intended major at Texas A&M.”
Maybe I’m too tired, but I can reconcile in my mind now these two answers are consistent with each other.
Thanks in advance for y’all’s responses and wisdom…
@Izasm0m My daughter took both Biology and Chemistry her PSA year at Corpus Christi, I don’t see why they are telling you it is too much. She took 15 hours both semesters and had a 3.73 (1 B each semester), and made the Dean’s List. At Corpus, all PSA students were “placed” in the Liberal Arts College under General University Studies. The major at the PSA school really does not matter, as you are only there to take the general 1st year courses. Everyone that my daughter new that was in a Science major for PSA took both Bio and Chem, and in my experience it is quite normal to take both at the same time.
I believe they still offer PSA even if your first choice major is not participating in PSA, because it is still a guaranteed path into the Texas A&M, which is desirable to some students. PSA is for entry into the University in the major you choose when accepting PSA, and based on our conversations with the Department of Entomology, in which Forensics resides, they are doing everything they can to make it next to impossible to get in through PSA in a different major and then changing to Forensics. I am not sure if she can apply directly as a transfer into Forensics from Tarleton since she is already in the system as accepting PSA, but that might be a question to ask.
@Izasm0m I too thought those two statements didn’t work together. You’re not alone. As for clarification on what I meant… Engineering and Mays… extremely hard to transfer into. I was just saying that a solid GPA wouldn’t be enough for those two majors. Generally though for “most” other majors, it transfer is a better option than PSA. And you can apply in January with 24 credits and required courses either complete or in progress. You could be deferred for spring grades, but at least you’ve applied early… even saying you want to start Summer 2020 vs Fall 2020 may help.
Interesting re: too much to handle comment. My son is at TAMUCC and is taking Chemistry, Biology and Calculus-all three have labs as well. He isn’t taking anything else because of the labs. Because TAMU very explicitly outlines the required courses for the chosen PSA major, he is following it to a T so that he is guaranteed admission to TAMU for sophomore year. He chose a PSA major (biochemistry) that closely aligns with his original intended major (biomedical science). In the end, he may not even request to change to intended major after learning more. Like your daughter, he also has plans to go to medical school (his interests in medicine lie with infectious diseases as well as cancer). Also he may go to summer school to take some required courses to “catch up” to his peers at TAMU. We will see.
@JaceyK Stick to the outlined courses and it all works out fine. Just a heads up because it drove us crazy. You will likely be among the last to be formally accepted to TAMU, out AIS portal did not update on 06/21. The process is really slow, but it does eventually come through. Best of luck to your son and he will be in College Station before you know it.
My daughter started classes today and participated in a few Howdy week activities last week, goes to her first Aggie football game Thursday. Exciting times.
I will try to clear up your questions regarding the FAQ page for PSA.
FAQs section of their website:
QUESTION: “What if I’m not interested in one of the participating majors (i.e., Business)?”
ANSWER:”The PSA was designed for students who are interested in a participating major. We never recommend using the PSA to be admitted to TAMU with the intention of switching to the major you really want.”
A&M really needs to replace “Business” with another major that actually participated in PSA. This is pretty self explanatory. Don’t agree to a PSA participating major with the intent to change to another major once you’re at TAMU. That’s not what the PSA program is about or intended for. Can students change their major? Yes, some do if they can meet the requirements for the major and if the department accepts them but it’s up to the department and it’s more than just filling out the paperwork that less competitive schools can allow.
QUESTION:” What if the system school doesn’t have my intended major?”
ANSWER:”The major choice at the system school does not matter. All that matters is that the system school will allow you to take the courses you need for your intended major at Texas A&M.”
It does not matter if the PSA system school has the major that a student has agreed to under PSA. The major your daughter wanted at A&M is irrelevant. She chose Environmental Science as her A&M major and contracted that major through PSA. What the above question means is that it doesn’t matter if Tarleton offers an Environmental Science major though it’s her PSA contracted major. As long as Tarleton offers the classes needed that are required in the PSA course sheet.
Tarleton is right not to let her change her classes to what she wants to take vs the classes she needs for the major she signed a contract for. If your D wanted FIVS, she should not have signed a contract for a different major that guarantees her acceptance and should have chosen to attend and school of her liking and followed the Transfer Course Sheet for FIVS and tried to get in as a transfer student.
At this point, if she wants to get to A&M, she needs to follow the course sheet for the major she agreed to through accepting PSA. Once she gets to A&M, she will have to complete one semester in that agreed to major and may have to then go to university studies to take any required classes to get to FIVS, if possible.
Please help clarify?
My D just received PSA offer but her 1sr and 2nd choices for majors are 1)Vizualization & 2) University Studies Architecture. Neither of these appear to be eligible for PSA.
What does this mean? Also, since her application, she now has dual credit including Engineering Physics with a 4.0.
Could we appeal this decision to help her get into a Cstat?
My daughter was Visualization and Environmental Design and got PSA last year. Viz has stopped participating in PSA and PTA.
Viz - like Mays fills up almost exclusively with auto and academic admits.
It’s a difficult reality - but Visualization does not have many transfer opportunities. There is someone from a couple years ago who has talked about her daughter successfully transferring into visualization. But when we met with the director of the undergraduate program the Spring 2018 - he made it clear that you had a slim chance of say going Blinn TEAM, PSA and eventually getting in. Viz does not participate in PSA because they do not want to.
Visualization is a completely sequenced program beginning your freshman year. There is really no flexibility with the top light blue classes shown in the spreadsheet.
The strength of the portfolio is a factor in the transfer and change of major paths.
The uncertainty was not something we wanted. As everyone has stated - TAMU does NOT want people accepting PSA with the intention to change major once you get there.
I would STRONGLY encourage your daughter to be open to UTD. In the rankings like Animation Career Review - Of public colleges for Animation TAMU is #9 and top 9% and UTD #12 and Top 15%. UTD has been climbing slightly. They are really pretty close if national reputation is a factor in your decision. And for Game Design UTD actually a little better ranked than TAMU.
@BlueBayouAZ Thank you for taking the time & all the great info.
My D has decided to work in her portfolio & the ACT.
She took SAT only before applying.
Her math classes have been very challenging since and she has done well.
She is also looking at some precollege art/viz summer programs to work on her portfolio, check out other schools, & see if she really likes this field.