Hey everyone,
I am applying to TAMU for Mechanical Engineering, and attended the admissions meeting a few weeks ago. At the beginning of the application they ask what your first and second choice majors are. In the admissions meeting, they suggested putting engineering as both choice majors, however, TAMU is my 1st choice by far and I would be willing to major in physics just to be able to attend the university. Should I list physics as my 2nd choice? Or list another engineering field (which i would still prefer over physics) and risk not being accepted for either major? Outside of engineering, i feel confident about being accepted (higher than the averages and lots of extracurriculars), however my engineering chances are a bit more iffy.
Thanks for the help!
It’s really not that hard to get into the engineering program at TAMU, what are your stats?
3.85ish gpa, 31 ACT, top 30% at a competitive silicon valley high school, most if not all AP’s i had the ability to take, I took, 60-70 hours of community service, Eagle scout (almost, paperwork is in processing), two varsity sports all 4 years, etc. So I don’t get that Academic Admission status because of my class rank, but I still feel confident in making it into the university.
Call & ask - a little history- in the past (not this year) for the engineering department when it was competitive review for just the last 15% they only considered those who had both majors listed as engineering (when it got down to the last 15%). The theory being that it showed more interest, those that listed only one of them were not in the running no matter their statistics.
How the system works: you are first admitted to the university then are put into ‘engineering review’. When you are admitted to the university you can pick any open major. Traditionally physics does not fill to capacity. When you get your engineering review decision, you CAN pick any open major or accept the engineering decision which will specify campus program. I would probably put two engineering majors down & keep your plan B (Physics - transferring in to physics isn’t as tough, should it be full) for the post result option.
Not being an academic admit does put you at a disadvantage, having a 31 ACT score is helpful as is Eagle scout (which is recognized here) but I would make sure you have a back up school - the competition just for the university admission is pretty stiff once you are in the review category. The posted online info in college sites is for all types of admissions, not just full admits to the College Station campus. So if you’re thinking 60+% piece of cake, you’re not in that category - over 80% of the admits are in the automatic categories of top 10% TX or academic admits, leaving less than 20% of the slots for review admits.