Rank 12% (58/488), ACT 26, SAT 1190, UW GPA 3.9/4.0 (94.6), Weighted GPA 5.0/6.0, Will have 21 dual-enrollment hours (so far all A’s), 2 AP classes with A’s, around 500 volunteer hours, ECs include 4-year Varsity track (2-year co-captain), NHS, Student Council, PALS, Junior Leadership, Young Life, HOSA, Leadership Track at our church youth group. Will run for a leadership position in Stuco or NHS for senior year. She has also had part-time job for the past year along with babysitting. She is working really hard to try to sneak back into the Top 10% but it’s hard to get much movement at the top at this point. Mama told her she couldn’t stay in the Top 10% if she didn’t take all weighted classes, but she is my kid who is more concerned with her social life and athletics than academics. She was not about to take AP WH or AP Physics and I wasn’t going to force it. She has taken SAT and ACT twice. SAT score came up a little, ACT actually went down on second attempt. Brother is at A&M and Mays is definitely her first choice, but I know the stark reality of her chances. Does she even have a shot as a review candidate?
@S18D20mom if she had applied this year, most likely wouldn’t have gotten in at all, not being auto or academic admit. Even if she can get up to 10%, I don’t think Mays will be a sure thing, based on ACT/SAT. I’m just a mom, who has followed this thread most of the year, and my kid will be in Business Honors this fall. Mays filled up by end of October this year, so unless your daughter can get in early, chances of Mays are slim.
Hopefully she can retake ACT and bring it up to 30, or get class rank up to 10%.
For sure have several other schools lined up-so many kids this year only applied to A&M, which really shocked me.
Thanks @52AG82 for the reply. I do agree with you on her chances. I do think she can do better on her scores, but she has to put in the effort and I don’t see the motivation. She is a great student, just not a good standardized test taker. She hates the time pressure.
She wants to do marketing so is trying to decide on a second choice major at A&M and is considering either Economics, Recreation/Park/Tourism Sciences, or University Studies-Leadership, all with a business minor. Does anyone have any suggestions on which of those might be a good fit for marketing and maybe less competitive for admission?
She definitely will apply to other schools. She does not want to go to Tech, UTD, or North Texas. She is considering Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Texas State, and Stephen F. Austin. We are also going to Port A this summer and she is willing to check out TAMUCC. I would love opinions on these business schools if anyone knows.
@S18D20mom I understand about motivation…or lack of!
I’m not familiar with majors, other than Mays, but the Recreation/Parks/Tourism sounds great! I’d think a major like that could open a variety of doors, especially with a Business minor.
Arkansas, OU and OSU are super popular schools from kids in our area.
Best of luck to y’all!! And tell her to finish strong this year and apply early!
@S18D20mom : Not a Business mom here, but all of those alternate majors with a Business minor sound like a good plan to me. I would recommend any degree at TAMU if at all possible, whatever she feels best suits her interests/goals/abilities. Have her look at the degree plan for each of those majors and see which fits. And there is always a possibly that something else might catch her attention once she gets to college. I wish that colleges didn’t force kids onto a particular Major track so early.
Mays fills up very early with Auto and Academic admits, based on what we have seen on CC for the past few years. Trying to get into Mays beyond an entering Freshman is even more difficult. This past year was particularly brutal across the board for all majors. Makes me glad that I don’t have any more children, can’t imagine what it will be like when my future grand kids are applying to college!
If TAMU doesn’t work out for her, would your daughter consider adding the Bauer Business School at UH to her list instead of going out of state? It is a great business school and I would think that a degree from there would be more valuable than from TX State or SFA. I personally know of a highly paid CFO who graduated from UH in the 80’s. Lots of internship and job possibilities with UH.
@S18D20mom Major is irrelevant for admissions to A&M. They will go by her stats and if accepted, will place her in the desired major.
If she is not a top 10% admit or academic admit, being a review applicant, she has a very little chance of being admitted. Mays will be a no, unless she is from one of the targeted Century Scholars high schools. Typically, only academic admits and Auto admits get into Mays. This year, we saw a few review admits accepted in Mays but they were high scoring kids from the above high schools or unrepresented minorities/school districts. Mays for her should be considered a big reach, based on how difficult it is for any review applicant to secure a spot in any major.
I can vouch for TXST as my eldest will graduate from McCoy’s in May. It has been a great experience for him and he loves San Marcos. OK State is also a wonderful school and has a ton of school spirit and having a Big 12 team is a draw for many. It IS more expensive, even with a full out of state tuition waiver. The meal plans are a lot more expensive but they also allow you to buy groceries at designated convenience stores around campus. SFA is also a great school. My brother was a professor there for over 15 years. She needs to visit the campus and spend some time there. Some love it and it is too remote for others. It is beautiful but one must go to Lufkin for a lot that we take for granted where we live. It is totally doable, but it just depends on her willingness to acclimate to that.
@S18D20mom from our experience this year, I would say don’t get your hopes up. My daughter is 16% class rank at a pretty competitive school. SAT is 1330 (she also is not a great standardized test taker, and worked her butt off to get it up to that). 4 year varsity letterman, team captain. National Honor Society. Spanish Honor Society with a Certificate of Excellence received for an essay competition. Best Buddies, Young Life, active in our church, other clubs at school etc and held leadership positions. Community service. Has worked as a lifeguard and nanny, and babysits.
She was not accepted to A&M. Did not even get Blinn-Team. She got offered PSA, which didn’t offer any business options. There were lots and lots of tears. But she brushed herself off and has moved on to another choice and is feeling content with that choice. She’s a believer in things happen for a reason.
What we all tried to keep in mind is, that while A&M is a great school, it is not the ONLY great school!
Best of luck to you!
Agree with @AggieMomAgain about UH, as well as SFA and TX State. Both UH Bauer and Hilton majors are phenomenal! My son is hoping to get into the Hilton Hospitality/Management program. A collaboration of those 2 majors would be outstanding! Great things going on at UH currently-NCAA Sweet 16, brand new basketball arena, successful football season, lots of money being poured into the campus.
Thank you all so much for the great input! @Mommydoodle , your post is confirmation to what I was thinking she would be up against. I am really surprised that your daughter didn’t get in at all with that score! Do you mind sharing where she has decided to go? @Thelma2 I knew there were a handful of review applicants that got into Mays in October. I didn’t realize they were URM or Century Scholars. That makes sense to me now.
I am a Texas State alum and she was not expecting to like Texas State at all, but she was pleasantly surprised. She really loved the SFA campus. She grew up going to Pine Cove summer camp in Tyler and it reminded her a lot of that. It sounds like a visit to U of H is in order! Her grandma went to OSU and they give a $5000/yr scholarship to alumni children/grandchildren. That along with OOS academic scholarship would bring it down to comparable to A&M cost.
I think her only hope is that she get into the top 10% She is only 10 spots away which honestly just makes it hurt worse and makes me hate the Top 10% rule but it is what it is! I guess we need some people to move 
Even if she prepared a lot for the retests, I realistically don’t see her getting a high enough score for academic auto admit.
I am totally prepared for Plan B and just want to find one that she can be happy with. She is naively optimistic and says that she knows people who got into A&M with lower scores and rank so she is overly confident that it will work out. Of course, she doesn’t look at the statistics or read College Confidential. Ignorance is bliss. I have tried to explain how competitive it has gotten but it has fallen on deaf ears.
@S18D20mom Look into the legacy scholarship and the OOS tuition scholarship again. My parents both graduated from OSU (dad played football there 55-57). My middle child went to OSU her freshman year and had to choose between the legacy and OOS tuition waiver. The legacy and the OSU do not stack. It was one or the other, for fall 2015.
@S18D20mom my daughter had that same optimism so be prepared. And everyone she knows with stats similar to hers in our district (many schools) got PSA. Everyone she knows who got Blinn-TEAM offers were at least 10% lower in rank & 80-100 points lower on SAT. She doesn’t understand it & was extremely disappointed but has moved on!
She was accepted to Univ of Alabama, Texas State & University of Houston. She has decided to go to UH because she was really impressed with their Business College.
@Mommydoodle we saw the same thing at our school-the students with very high gpa & test scores, were offered PSA. Only 1 friend, from a class of 800, was offered TEAM; and her stats weren’t even close to those offered PSA. Truly makes no sense??
Great things happening at UH! I hope your daughter does well!
@S18D20mom Another option (on top of everything all these awesome people posted) is to take the ACT at TAMU. It’s called the residual ACT. it’s last years exam. The score will only apply to TAMU and it’s graded within 24 hours. Not sure it’ll get her to a 30, but it does show extreme interest in the school. And FYI, if she chooses to do this, know that they cannot write on the test at all… no markings at all. That’s different than regular testing. Threw my son for a loop on the English section so I’m just throwing it out there.
If y’all haven’t visited… OSU and Arkansas were my favorites (even before TAMU). Beautiful campus, Aggie feel and great students. The Business program at least at Arkansas is amazing and if she qualifies, could get the honors college which offers so many perks.
As for other majors. My son is Econ with business minor and my daughter graduated with RPTS (no minor). But RPTS is no joke and focusing on the tourism part of it will give her some marketing experience.