Howdy, I’m currently a senior in civil engineering at A&M taking a 5th year. I graduated HS in 2012 and transferred in during 2014.
Feel free to ask me any questions yall may have. I know finding info online can be difficult so I may be able to help answer questions about anything you may be wondering.
Hope this helps, thanks!
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Anyone is free to ask or answer questions in this thread.
What can I expect as an upcoming engineering freshmen during the first couple of weeks of class? Do they start off fast paced and difficult or do they settle you in at first and then start to increase the difficulty? Will there be a lot of assignments at first? And would you recommend making friends in class to form study groups(I work better with study groups)?
Things will start off fast. Even on the 1st day of class most professors will start on the material so be prepared to start taking notes. Most students dont buy the books until after the 1st day so typically no homework will be due for a week to 2 weeks. But if there is they usually post what you need online on ecampus. Be prepared to start off fast, the 1st exam is typically about a month after school starts. The first 3 weeks are somewhat easier but then from late September till mid November it gets pretty hectic. I almost always bomb the 1st exam which really hurts my chances at an A so my best advice is try your best to over study for the 1st exam in each class. The bad part it usually the exams for each class all fall within the same week so its just difficult to prioritize.
Definitely nake friends and form study groups. Typically I end up friends with the people I sit by and we group message a lot to work through homework and study for exams.
Hope this helps.
How difficult was it getting a continuing student scholarship?
Do you advise engineering honors?
Do you recommend studying abroad over summer with a professor?
How difficult was it to get a Co Op or internship?
Would you advise joining a club freshman yea?
Well I got a smaller scholarship my first year but my gpa isn’t the best so if I had made better grades I may have gotten more.
I wouldn’t advice it unless you are really trying to set yourself apart. The main advantage I see is early class registration. Companies will typically care more about work experience and how you present yourself.
If you can afford it and if taking the classes would help shave of a semester of school then yes I would recommend it. For me, the classes offered wouldn’t have helped me finish early because I had already taken them during the fall and spring.
The aggie network is awesome and this is when being a top tier engineering school really helps a ton. There are 2 career fairs a year and you can meet more companies than you have time to even talk to. Its not uncommon to get 5+ call backs out of 15 resumes handed out to your premium picks for employers. Also, we constantly get emails form our professors who have leads for job offers and internships because they often communicate with the employers. Finding a coop or internship is not a problem after sophomore year (I was able to land one with the help of connections).
I would defineately recommend joining clubs right off the bat. Join the american engineering society for the major you would like to get into if you’re in general. Everyone there also joining will be new and nervous so its a great chance to make new friends early on. You don’t even have to go to all the meetings especially if its test week. I’m in 3 clubs (2 engr and 1 non engr) and I go to the meetings when I can (also great for a free dinner). It looks good that you stay involved and also you sometimes get internship opportunities from guest speakers.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
What if you are not in the top 25% of your class but top 30?
Hi ilovemath987,
My son just got his housing assignment and he’s been assigned Eppright. That seems awfully far from the Engineering buildings. Do you know about how long of a walk that is?
You will just have to do your best on the SAT and ACT and be sure to apply asap.
That’s not that far away, it’s probably a 10 minute walk max. I live at the U centre apartments on the other side of Harrys and its right at a 10 minute walk to my classes. Hope this helps and good luck to your son!
@ilovemath987, How do you like U Centre? My son is living there next year (sophomore, Engineering).
If I was assigned to Mosher (which is Southside?), which parking permit would you recommend. Price is a factor but exceptions can be made.
Its amazing honestly, super close to classes, clean, great staff, a little high but the location makes up for it. I’ll be living there for the 3rd year coming up.
Honestly, I’m not really that familiar with parking permits. I know lot 50 is closest to the engr buildings but the wait list is extremely long. I would just park where ever is the cheapest and walk to class. I only use my car to go shopping and grab dinner every once in awhile.
Awesome, thank you.
Howdy. Most of what I read about TAMU is incredibly positive. My son will likely apply this fall. Some of the negative stuff is centered around the sheer size of the school both in number of students and size of the campus. How do you feel about this? Do you ever feel lost in the crowd? Do any professors know your name? What grade would you give the administration on handling so many students with regard to course registration, housing, financial aid, etc?
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions!
I’m glad to hear that! Be sure to try and apply the day registration opens which is August 1st.
The school is huge but you get use to it pretty fast and will start making your own groups of friends. Freshman and sophomore can be a little rough just because of the size of the classes and getting to know everyone. Planning out your class schedule is extremely important to help cut down on running back and forth all over the place. Honestly now after being at A&M for this long I think going to a smaller school would seem a little confining. The size of this school is great due to the resources and almost endless opportunities but it no doubt can get crowded and certain places and you are more of just a number.
In your freshman year, your classes will usually be huge and the professor will have no idea who you are. The further into your curriculum you go though, the smaller the class sizes get and most of my classes now are anywhere from 25-60 students. If you participate in class the professor will usually know your name and also I usually talk to then after class or in office hours which helps you stand out.
Honestly the administration does a pretty good job with everything you listed. They have the staff to handle the volume and they do try to take care of everyone. Sometimes registration for classes can get tight when they don’t have enough seats open but if you get a good advisor they can help push you into the classes you need to get into which is a huge help.
You have probably also heard of the 25x25 plan…I think its one of the worst ideas they have ever thought of. I understand that we must grow some to help accommodate the increasing number of students trying to get into engineering but setting an unrealistic goal just to have bragging rights is stupid. What’s going to happen is they will be letting a ton of new students in and weed a good portion of them out , causing them to either switch majors and or transfer schools. They claim to be providing the space as well to accommodate the plan but as of yet the changes they are making are not anywhere near enough to support the size. They are renovating and expanding a large engineering building named Zachary but some of the building will be for administration and all of my majors classes that use to be in there are now being crammed into smaller classrooms. So while the renovation is taking place over 2-3 years we have been having classes with more students than there are working seats in the classroom.
I hope that this 25x25 plan does not happen because it will certainly make A&M a degree mill and I would still like my degree to hold its value and reputation 20 years down the road.
I hope this helps!
Thank you - very helpful. I agree that the 25x25 initiative sounds like a poor idea that really wont benefit anyone but the administration.
Can you elaborate on the importance of applying as soon as registration opens? Is there truly a benefit of applying August 1 vs. September 1?
Yes you are definitely correct about that.
Its a rolling admissions process so basically the earlier you apply, the better the chances are for you to get into your desired major. Because usually by late October-November the engr department is full and your son will have to go a different route if he still wants to get into engineering. There are a lot of threads on here about that so my best advice is just to have all of your eggs in order and apply August 1st.
Thats a great heads up! Thank you. His application will be submitted on or about Aug 1, but most supporting docs will have to wait until he’s back at school in September. Also, he is taking the ACT for the first time on Sept 10, do you think this will put him to the back of the line even if the rest of his application is in?
The application process has changed, here’s the link http://engineering.tamu.edu/easa/areas/recruitment/admissions