The only major I am considering for Texas A&M is Engineering. When I was denied, I pretty much made up my mind that I was not going to go. However, this last week a letter came offering me a presidential scholarship an OOS fee wavier that covered full tuition. From what I understand, getting that scholarship is extremely hard for an OOS. Because of this scholarship, my incentive to go to A&M is much greater than any other schools I’ve been accepted to, but I still want engineering or bust. A&M offered the Blinn program but I don’t really want to take that route either.
I have taken an all honors/AP curriculum, have a 3.91/4.54 GPA (unweighted/weighted) and a 35 ACT.
I found it really odd that I would be denied from engineering while simultaneously receiving a phenomenal scholarship.
I want to talk to the engineering admissions, but at the same time I don’t want to come across as arrogant and give off an “I deserve to get in” Any advice as to what I should say and who I should talk to? (engineering or general admissions)
It sounds like you have some awesome stats! It’s honestly probably just because they are too full and they need students to graduate and also either drop out or switch majors. The only thing I can think of is that you must have not applied early. I personally would take the scholarship and take the blinn team route. As long as you can keep your grades high you should be able to transfer in and wouldn’t be behind. Best of luck to you!
Your chances at getting into engineering are greatest if you go the Engineering at Blinn option. It easier to get in that route than to try and change your major from the main campus, its not easy at all, but your best bet is Blinn.
When did you submit your application? I believe we heard that engineering was full by early November, so if you applied closer to the 12/1 deadline, there was likely no more room, no matter how great your application was. Congrats on the scholarship, though!
85% of the COE is filled by automatic/academic admits, the remaining 15% are done through the review process. After the 85% fills, the remaining automatic/academic/review admits are put into engineering review for the last 15% spots.
It sounds like you were a automatic/academic admit, so I believe you must have turned your application in after the 85% of the COE was full.
As others have said it seems that you probably applied late. Considering your stats I can understand that the Blinn route is not that appealing. I would also guess that you have other great options but full tuition is pretty sweet. As long as you don’t present in an arrogant way I think that you should talk to engineering admissions. At least that way you will know you did all you could. Considering that scholarship offer I wonder if there is a sort of wait list that could put you in line if someone admitted withdrew. I would expect the likelihood that spaces will open is pretty strong but I don’t know if or how they get filled. No doubt you will do just fine taking the Blinn route but I think you ought to ask about your possibilities. You are obviously very qualified.
I’d try the COE directly, write a letter to the dean & state your credentials, other acceptances & your scholarship offer. If you ask anyone if this is possible, your answer will be no. Ignore that and ask a decision maker, we did that for another issue and clearly stated our case with a positive outcome although it is ‘never done’. I know our decision was a rare, but I thought we had exceptional circumstances. I believe the only reason you were not offered a direct admit was due to timing, being OOS it is not as obvious how admissions work here - guessing you (like us with our first child) had no idea you had to submit so early. You can try - FYI if you try at admissions you will get a no, go direct to COE because you are really asking for an override of the admissions process. Your scholarship came from a different set of decision makers (not admissions) which valued your application credentials differently. I’d say for that reason, try to see if you can get a direct admit- can’t hurt. Admissions builds in numbers of rejections into their offers, so you are not waiting for someone to notify them of their intentions - don’t worry about that portion of the equation. Be concise and factual, take a succinct persuasion paper approach to the letter - assuming you are student, have your parents read the letter before you send it or have them write it ( I did that as an OOS parent). Don’t call, just put it in writing (that was our successful approach). I think you have a shot, give it a try. Good luck!
^^^looks like great advice
My D applied a week before the application deadline (12/4?). She was top 10% in state so automatically accepted but as “engineering review” on 1/6 pending a “holistic review” of her application. About a week later she was accepted into “general engineering (chemical)”.