Engineering @ Galveston Fall 2016 Program

Colleges and Universities A-Z Texas A&M University
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No problem. Your questions and concern are valid. I was able to go to the Engineer Preview Day a the Gavleston Campus. The faculty and advisers were wonderful at answering all questions. I do feel that some of the parents were griping and venting about why their kids were having to spend their first year at Galveston vs College Station but I knew why before the event.

Texas A&M is trying to expand their engineering program to let me qualified students in vs shutting them out. They have a hefty goal of 25,000 engineers by 2025 for enrollment. The Engineering @ Galveston is part of that initiative and I’m thankful that they are giving my daughter an opportunity to be part of this program. They are building a pretty huge engineering center that will have a lot more room to accommodate more engineering students because of this projected growth.

College Station can only accommodate so many freshman and because of the top 10 percent and academic admits filling up a majority of the engineering spots, left very little space for holistic review freshman applicants. Your child just happens to be just as qualified if not more so than his peers at College Station, space limitations and timing play a role in not being able to get them at College Station Campus for their freshman year. If he is serious about becoming an engineer through Texas A&M, then use this opportunity given to him and enjoy a smaller setting on a really cool little island for his first year. I know my daughter will be. You never know, he might wind up liking it there and majoring in Ocean or Marine Technology. Both of those engineering fields are highly lucrative and very sought after in the industry.

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Also here is the link for the Texas A&M 25 by 25 initiative if anyone wants to see more about how it will effect possible future applicants looking to go for engineering. https://engineering.tamu.edu/25by25

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@aggiedaughterENG do you know if the cost to attend galveston for 1 year is the same as college station?

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@aggiedaughterENG My daughter is signed up for those dates as well and we are also wondering where it is going to be. I did get the move in date for the dorms though today (Fri, 26th at noon) so I could book a hotel that night because we are traveling to drop her off.

I think the program sounds fantastic and I am happy that she got into Dwight Look because it was her #1 she was waiting on. Spending her first year at the branch campus on an island sounded just fine to her and she is excited to get started.

We went to the preview day and I was disappointed that the faculty had to spend so much time (during the short time we had for the Q&A) defending the program and, to be completely honest, soothing some parents egos. It seemed like some were just being rude and argumentative just for the sake of being so. My daughter told me that the students she spoke with were the exact opposite though. Very respectful to the faculty and advisers and excited about the program so that was nice to hear.

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@aggiedaughterENG, thank you so much. You are so nice and helpful. We feel much better with this offer now.
Wish the students who are going to study in Galveston campus will enjoy there studying there and have very promising future.

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My son was also offered a seat at the Engineering at Galveston program. As many of you, I did not have much information about this program, and was a little bit skeptical at the beginning. So after sending some emails to our HS TAMU advisor, it is clear that:

a) The applicant has been admitted to the Look College of Engineering, but has to spend the first year at Galveston campus
b) Main reason for the above is space limitations in College Station. This makes sense to me. If you see the stats, freshmen enrollment is huge compared to the next years. This is even valid for other top Universities. Also, the top 10% rule quickly fills the seats of most top colleges in Texas.
c) The Galveston student will have to follow the same Entry to Major process as any College Station student. I understand that the same rules will apply to College Station/Galveston applicants, therefore there is no disadvantage (quota, location preference, etc) for the students in Galveston. Getting to your first-choice major, that is a different story (GPA, achievements, statement of purpose, etc). At least, it will be a fair game for all.

On the other hand, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to join the Preview day, so I still have some questions that maybe you all can help me to understand:

a) Does anybody know if this program has been in place before? If so, what would be the best way to contact former students who took this path? I would like to have some references. I did some research, but apparently this is a brand new program

b) Do you know if the FAFSA should be sent to College Station or Galveston?

c) Do you know the size of the program for Engineering at Galveston? What will be the size of the class?

d) Will the students in Galveston have same professors from College Station? I know it will be difficult (distance), but I just wondering about this.

e) After the first year, if the student wants to pursue a major taught in College station, then he/she will just follow the ETM process. It is not the case that student is transferring from TAMUG to TAMU CS through an “external transfer” process. Is this correct?

f) Is there a similar program in the other Texas A&M universities such as in Corpus Chirsti, San Antonio, etc? I read that Galveston is a branch campus of College Station, as opposed to the others in the TAMU system. So, not sure.

Thanks a lot!

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I don’t know about the cost at Galveston vs College Station. If there is a difference it won’t be by much because it’s the same classes being taught at College Station campus. I’m hoping it’s less. LoL. Housing will be about the same I’m sure but if you like to go fishing, there is a deep sea fishing expedition on their charter boat every Friday at no cost to the students. You can store your canoe,row and surfboards on campus as well.

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I agree with you on the Engineer Preview day experience as well about the other parent’s attitude and questioning the program. I’m just happy that the faculty that was doing the presentation were so professional and didn’t let that deter them from answering and thoroughly explaining the program and opportunity presented. That made a believer out of me and hope that parents like myself weren’t deterred as well.

I look at this as an alternative path to my child’s education goals and am fortunate that this program was put in place during this application year.

I don’t know about the NSC conference date location as of yet, but should know by today. My feeling is that it will be at Galveston Campus but will program specific kids only because our kids admitted to this program are considered " College Station Engineering students" and will be following a specific curriculum and will be registering for specific classes for that purpose. I show an incoming freshman conference for early July but again, that doesn’t apply to this particular group. I will post more specific information as it becomes available to me. If you guys hear anything let me know as well.

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Deeply appreciate all your information. Because we really need to get as much as information before making the decision if we should take the offer. Because my son is an international student , and English is our second language. For him to study at Galveston will be a big challenge, he not only needs to learn how to adapt a new country but also needs to work extra hard to keep up with local students’ English standard. So it will be too harsh if really he needs to get 3.5 GPA in the freshman year in order to be admitted a major at College station. But since some of the majors have lower requirement, we don’t have to worry that much, right?

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Is it possible to accept the offer admission at Galveston right now but register for classes in the spring of 2017? Anyone knows?

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I’m joining the army so can’t take classes in the fall but I’ll be back after training in January

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To answer your question about this program, its new. This is a pilot program used to admit qualified students into Dwight Look due to space limitations at College Station. My feeling is that each student was selected through the holistic review process and more than hold their own with their College Station peers. My hope is that our children will be successful and they expand this program further from here on out. If they don’t, well at least my daughter is already in the program and will use it to her advantage. This is a marathon and not a sprint. It is not where you start but where you finish and we are fortunate that our children have a good head start on their journey to becoming an Aggie Engineer as they are already part of Dwight Look College.

My understanding is that financial aid awards still go through College Station. They will process it and send out the awards to Engineering at Galveston students. I still have questions about FAFSA being sent to Galveston as well so i’ll ask someone else today to confirm. Will post more on my findings and if you hear anything about it, let us know as well.

Were told that some 175 kids were admitted to this new program. Class size will be relatively small. The conference room we were in was the biggest class on campus and i say that we were at full capacity with about 300 people total there. Even had to get some extra folding seats to put at end of the row. Kids will get a smaller more personal class setting than at College Station. Our tour guide during our visit at the engineering building was a student whom stated that he spent his first year and half at College Station before transferring to Galveston for Ocean Engineering. He told us that he went to a pretty good size school and it didn’t prepare him for class size at College Station. His first year were mostly general math,English and subjects you would normally take your first year had in the neighborhood of 500 students in one class room. He definitely like the smaller setting and personal touch of Galveston campus classes.

Students at Galveston will have the same professor as College Station and that was part of this program being approved. Now, they have this new technology that spent over 100,000.00 on that will allow them to have a huge screen in one of the class rooms and will be live during class during teaching at College Station. We didn’t get a chance to see that room though. I heard it is state of the art and not all classes will be taught this way and won’t be used all the time either.

Students will do an entry to a major after their 2nd semester. They will list 3 majors from 1st to 3rd but can list actually 5 maximum. They are guaranteed their first major with a 3.5 GPA or better. They can still get their first major if they don’t get a 3.5 but depending on what major they try to get into, will be competing with College Station students as well for that spot. Each major has a minimum GPA requirement so would make sure you child at least meets that if applying to one at College Station. They will work closely with an engineering adviser to help them select and get their desired major. This is a highly competitive program and your kid wouldn’t be in this program if they didn’t think they had the ability to be admitted to an engineering major at College Station or Galveston. No external transfer process because they are fully admitted students for Texas A&M Dwight Look College of Engineering. They either choose to stay at Galveston or go to College Station to finish their degree. Even if they decide they don’t want to do engineering for whatever reason and they just want to do a major not taught at Galveston, they can do a change of curriculum and choose a major at College Station. As long there is space and they meet the minimum requirements of that dept and major, they are in. No extra paper work or process needed other than just going through their HOWDY portal to do that.

No similar program exist at this time as Engineering @ Galveston is the first of its kind. I was under the impression if this is a success they will expand it further at Galveston and they are expanding the campus as well with new student center and academic center. I know they will have Engineering Academies like the one at Blinn/Bryan, but that is a different program. Your correct in that Galveston being a branch campus and if they choose to stay at Galveston, their degree will be issued from College Station and will get an Aggie Ring. System schools like TAMU Corpus Christi or Commerce, you can’t get that.

I can’t stress enough the opportunity that your child has been offered. If they want to get an engineering degree from a flagship university like Texas A&M, take it. They will get the college experience at Galveston. It will be a smaller scale but alot of Aggie Spirit. It was really apparent when we were touring the campus and during the conference as well. The kids go to the games and they due the “yell”. They are big with intramural sports and have clubs, etc. They don’t have any varsity sports because they are part of College Station, so that is who our kids will be cheering for on game day!! Congrats to your son and Gig Em!!

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Yes, the 3.5 will be difficult but Texas A&M believes all admitted students are capable of it. That is the reason why they were admitted in the first place. Your child will be placed in an engineering major regardless from what I was told at the preview day. Even if they don’t have a 3.5 GPA by end of second semester, just will be competing for that particular major with his peers. Like I said earlier, some majors or more competitive than others. I know that the engineering advisers will be working closely with each student to help them determine their best path based on their strengths and weaknesses. Galveston is a nice campus and the island itself if beautiful. A lot to do with activities and the beach. They have a huge support system at Texas A&M so i’m sure he will do just fine as long as he take advantage of all available resources.

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That question unfortunately wasn’t brought up during our visit. I would suggest asking and adviser at Galveston or College Station for registering in spring 2017 since I only know about Fall 2016.

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Thanks @aggiedaughterENG for your information! We have already asked the TAMU advisor regarding the FAFSA (TAMU or TAMUG). I will share his answer as soon as I receive it. By the way, after thinking a lot and gathering the most information we could, we decided to accept this offer. So, a couple of days ago, we submitted our response in the AIS system. It still shows “in process”, so I hope that by the end of the week, we will get the final confirmation. Not sure if you had similar experience from processing time perspective. Thanks,

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I asked about the fafsa before and tamu and tamug have the same code ,so we don’t need to add Galveston on fafsa application, it’s not even possible to add because you won’t find it

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I submitted a deferral to admission to ask to delay my admission until the spring on AIS, hopefully it works out

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No problem. I’m glad I could help provide information to help your family make decision for your child’s college education. It helps to have as much information as possible especially when it comes to investing into your child’s future. You definitely can’t go wrong with an opportunity get an engineering degree from Texas A&M.

I didn’t run into that problem when we accepted the offer through AIS. It just prompted me to confirm and pay the 105.00 NSC fee then after that got the congrats on registering for NSC and had the checklist of things to do before the NSC. I did have a problem when we tried to go into Howdy portal under the application to accept the offer. It kept kicking us out and having to log into AIS. We gave up on that because we already knew we were good to go.

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Thanks for that information as that would make sense for the financial aid codes being the same for FAFSA. Good luck on your deferred admission and hope you will be in Galveston in the spring. As always, let us know anything that comes about with your process for admission, financial aid, NSC etc.

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Do you know how much is the tuition at Galveston? The same at college station?