My high school senior received notice on Friday, Jan. 31st that in “recognition of academic and personal achievements” that he was being considered for admission to Engineering Pathway either at Galveston, McAllen, or Blinn and to make selection by 4/1/2020.
He made a choice quickly for Blinn-Bryan but now it is sitting with a status reading “You are being considered for the Engineering Academy at Blinn-Bryan.” I thought I read somewhere that this was just a temporary status for a few days while the admissions piece was also finalized with Blinn but starting to wonder after sitting in this status for a week.
Is there a chance that he won’t be accepted into Blinn because spots are already filled? So confused! Thank you!
Hi @txgirle I don’t think anyone can answer that question definitively just yet, but your son is in good company. The “Admissions/Discussion” thread has had a lot of posts about this very issue since 1/31.
I actually called the admissions office in CS as well as in Houston about it and was basically told that it is a “wait list”. They told me personally that we may not hear anything until early April! So make sure your student is working on their back up plan B school just in case.
I truly think that A&M is trying to make sure that every seat is filled in the admissions process, but unfortunately it is taking them a lot longer to do. And yes, you did read correctly on the other forum that we were told by a few people that our kids that were offered the options on 1/31 were “accepted”, but A&M threw in a twist without really explaining what they were doing. So now we all wait…
Thank you both WTXMama and YankeeTexan33 for your responses. Greatly appreciate you sharing your insights!
Really the most disappointing part is that the “status” was not well conveyed in the notice sent out on Jan. 31st asking for students to choose from one of the three Engineering dual campus programs or decline. No where did it state that this meant that they were now thrown back in the applicant pool for another cycle of review.
And yes, now more waiting and looking at other options more closely.
I recently got the option to be able to participate in the Blinn Engineering Academy at Bryan, and I’m debating wether or not I should do it. My concern is that I’ve only ever done one engineering class and am worried that I won’t be able to keep up with all the new information. I’ve been told by many people that the curriculum with A&M and Blinn are quite hard so I just wanted to see if anyone had an opinion with the work required for the major
@JayMarch If you received this Engineering Academy offer then I’m guessing you had to have applied to TAMU for Engineering?..is your uncertainty mainly over lack of knowledge about the Academy itself or are you now having 2nd thoughts about engineering in general? Think of this from a different perspective …If you had received a full admit to CStat for engineering do you think you’d be having the same concerns / asking this question?
Also can you share if you got this Academy offer directly or was it a waitlist option you selected and then got an update off the waitlist …just sure others would love to know
@Scotsfi Yes, I applied to Chemical Engineering directly through TAMU, and they were not able to offer me full admission but instead gave the three following options: Engineering at Galveston, Engineering at McAllen, and the Blinn Academy. Blinn to me felt like the best option, but to answer your question my concern is with engineering as a whole (including if I were a straight admit) I’ve never gone above on level classes for Math, Chemistry, or Physics but they were my favorite classes throughout high school and I’m just curious because I’m worried that without any extensive knowledge on these subjects that Engineering would be quite challenging
@JayMarch Engineering is a difficult major, but the level of difficulty is subjective. Have you taken Calculus, AP Physics or AP Chemistry? If so, how you did in those will help give you an idea of how you might perform at the college level. The other class to watch out for is Engr 102. It’s all programming in Python. If you don’t have experience in programming you can start teaching yourself now.
@TexasAggie No I have not done any of those classes just all on level but I’ve done some programming in my Principles of Engineering class my junior year. Do you think that without those AP it would still be manageable, considering the fact that Blinn requires a 3.5 GPA to transfer
@JayMarch A lot of it depends on how dedicated you are to succeeding. If you are struggling you must have the initiative to seek out resources to help you succeed. Not knowing you personally makes this a difficult question to answer.
@JayMarch So you’re in Pre-Cal now? How’s that going this year? Have you taken or was taking Honors or Pre AP in any math /physics/Chem class an opportunity available to you?
@Scotsfi Yes, I’m in Pre-Cal this year and much like my other math classes, I feel like I could definitely go up another level, but never pushed myself to do it. Same with Physics and Chemistry all on level but all were my favorite classes and I enjoyed doing them. The only AP I’ve done for science is Environmental Science which I’m currently taking this year
Precalculus, physics, and chemistry are the minimum preparation for studying engineering in college.
However, Texas A&M has secondary admission to major after being in college for a few semesters, with 3.5 GPA or competitive admission. So you need to have a backup plan to transfer to a less selective college with your major in case Texas A&M denies you for your major.
@JayMarch My initial reaction is that for you to receive an Engineering Academy offer (or the Galveston/McAllen options given to you) the admissions team have reviewed your application & must feel you’re a good fit for/capable of engineering with the classes you’ve taken/Grades attained. It’s encouraging that you’re having this realization now when there’s still time to take positive action prior to starting in the Fall.
Do you know anyone who is just completing their freshman year in Engineering that you could sit down with & just chat thru your concerns /get a better insight as to what they’ve gone thru and any recommendations etc. Others on here will be able to assist for sure.
@Scotsfi I know a few people who are towards the end of their college career and all have told me that the curriculum is quite challenging hopefully though once I go down and visit I will be able to talk to a few more people in person
@JayMarch Do check out other themed threads on this forum. Right now on ‘TAMU Class of 2024 Admissions Decisions/Discussions’ @MomHopesNxtGenAg response # 3846 offers a reflective insight on her son’s engineering experience at Galveston -worth a read.
Talked with Admissions today and they confirmed that those offered Engineering options (later known as waitlist) on 1/31/2020 are most likely not going to receive updates until around the first week of April or so. We considered changing majors to 2nd choice but no guarantees on that either so will probably stay put.
Biggest disappointment is the lack of transparency in the “waitlist” status - would have seemed easy enough to put a brief sentence about “this does not guarantee admission” in the 1/31/2020 HOWDY notification.
@JayMarch. There have been other students in this forum who weren’t 100% sure they wanted to be in engineering. No problem! This is a completely valid situation, and you would be taking courses next year that could apply to other majors as well, including core curriculum courses. Many STEM careers are satisfying, solid careers. A STEM major might be worth trying out if you have some interest when it comes time to speak with your advisor to register for classes. If the science and tech courses you might take first ultimately do not appeal to you, then you would have gained good information and could find a field that seems like a better fit. You would use the credits that would apply toward a different major. Many if not the majority of students will change their focus of interest at least some as they go through early college courses. Students generally try to narrow things down as soon as they can, meanwhile taking courses that might apply to various majors if still exploring. It is good that you are honestly trying to figure it all out. We along with school personnel are here to help you with information as you move forward.
My daughter was offered the 3 choices in late January as well (Galveston, McAllen, Blinn). Chose Blinn/Bryan. She took the 1st 2 years of high school OOS, so, even though she was top 2%, she was placed in the 1Q. The communication had the same wording (“In recognition of your outstanding academic and personal achievements bla bla bla”), but with a caveat directly underneath, in bold letters, that this did not constitute an offer of admission, and that if TAMU were unable to accommodate her into her choice, she would be offered “admissions through PSA.” Maybe the first round of status updates went out without this warning, and then TAMU reversed course after getting flooded with inquiries/complaints. I contacted admissions at CStat a couple of times (once via phone, once through email) to try to figure out what to make of this status, and I got 2 entirely different responses, which leads me to believe this system is being tested this year, and not everybody knows its intricacies as of yet. Verbally, I was told that my daughter’s status would update in a “couple of weeks” implying that her offer of admission was right around the corner. However, in writing, I was told to expect an update, “realistically” between mid-March and mid-April (so nobody knows for sure even in admissions). Frankly, I think these kids deserve to know before then. Getting a confirmation by mid-April would hurt their chances of finding housing at alternative locations, including any PSA options, were they to go that route. I am assuming getting these 3 options means that TAMU really sees potential in them and wants to make room for them, rather than let them go.
