<p>My S is a rising junior at a public school in Texas, interested in studying engineering. In Junior year he is taking: </p>
<p>AP Chemistry
AP Computer Science II
AP US History
PreAP Pre Calculus
PreAP Physics
AP Biology
AP English Language. </p>
<p>His math scores are not great, but they have been improving. He took the PSAT as a sophomore and had an 88 percentile rank in math and 98 percentile in reading. His GPA reflects this weakness. He has a 4.0 weighted average. He loves reading books on mathematics, logic and philosophy. He also likes playing chess. My question is, if he continues to demonstrate improvement, makes National Merit Scholar this year, gets mostly As in the above courses, can he expect to get accepted into engineering? Also, what are the odds of getting a merit scholarship at TAMU? </p>
<p>First off, no worries if he is not a math genius. Based on my experience, test scores are not indicative of success in college contrary to what most people will tell you. If he has a general interest in engineering and is a good problem solver/thinker, then he will be just fine as long as he works hard. Working Hard trumps most other qualities at the end of the day. Just tell him to do well in his classes and keep a good gpa and he will be fine getting accepted.</p>
<p>Getting merit scholarships at TAMU is very difficult and is only becoming more difficult due to the economy we are in.</p>
<p>I think S should be able to finish in the top 25 percent of his class and get 1350 on the SAT. How difficult is it to get into engineering, after one has been automatically admitted into TAMU? What about the different departments of engineering? Are some more competitive than others? Thanks</p>
<p>Someone correct me if I am wrong about this but my understanding is that if a student applies early, like by the end of Sept and is an automatic admission they will get admitted to their choice of major. If they apply later the major may be filled up.</p>
<p>There is definitely a cap on some of the different engineering fields. So, if you’re auto admit, apply early anyway. Both of my kids are in engineering, aerospace and biomedical, and I believe there are limits of 100 (or somewhere close to that) in each field.</p>
<p>Thanks spectrum2 and TexaCo Mom for the insights. I was under the false impression that schools require a top 10 percent class rank to guarantee admission. Next, I guess we wait for him to take the PSAT in October.</p>
<p>S took the SAT Oct 1 to warmup for the PSAT on Oct 12 and scored M: 690, CR: 690. So, it looks like he has the M+CR to get him an auto admit. Thanks for all your help. We did not know this option was available. Again, thank you very much. CC is great.</p>
<p>As I wait for son’s PSAT results to arrive in December, I am getting really nervous.This year, the NMF cutoff in Texas was 219. I wish S were attending a school in MS (cut off 205). I am pretty comfortable he will be able get over 205. Good chance he will be over 210. However, 219 is a whole other ball game. So, I was wondering how many of this year’s Texas NMFs will attend A&M this year? With equivalent SAT scores of 2190 + they would all be very competitive at other top engineering schools like MIT, CalTech, Stanford etc too.</p>
<p>In regard to the school of Engineering, what is the best time of year for currently enrolled freshmen engineering students to request changing to a different type of engineering (from civil to mechanical or electrical)? Is it better to do that at the end of 1st semester coming up soon or to wait until end of spring semester? Both of those first 2 semesters in freshman year seem to be the same for all engineering majors, so for degree plan, it doesn’t make any difference this year, but we just wondered if chances are better after 1 semester or later after more coursework is completed.</p>
<p>Perazziman, since UT dropped the National Merit sponsorship, I wonder if A&M is getting more NMFs. We know NMFs who graduated in 2010 with my son and got nice scholarships from A&M but none from UT. My son chose A&M, and looks like son 2 is heading that way also, both NM.</p>
<p>If you’re trying to change from Civil to something else try to do it now just to get it done. Civil takes the exact same as Mechanical does the first and second semester, after that it does not. Try to get it switched at the end of first, but if not, do it at the second no sweat. </p>
<p>Also, Auto admits get in automatically to engineering. Petroleum and Aerospace fill quickly along with Mechanical. If he doesn’t get in to what he wants, he can still choose an engineering discipline on the same track and take the same intro classes. Then one can just transfer to whatever field you want.</p>
<p>The PSAT score came in, S has a 219. He could make NMF, if the cut off does not rise in TX this year. I assume NMFs are an auto admit and get an automatic scholarship package, am I right? How about the Honors Program, choice in classes, majors, rooms etc., do NMFs get any priority on these things?</p>