I’m a junior who’s in the top 25% of his class and I just made a 1290 on the new SAT and a 30 on act. I plan to retake them in june. I am involved in a lot of clubs: Academic Decathlon (6 years), my *church youth volunteer group (6 years - President), My *film making club (3 years - Officer / music composer), Book club (3 years - Founder/President / Writing Chair), Technology Student Association(2 years - Vice President / Music Composer), Color Guard (2 years - Officer / Music composer), *Young life( member 1 year), *National Honor Society (member 1 year) . I also got an engineering internship with the city of Garland.
My goal is to apply to A&M by Mid September to early October. My problem is that I don’t know if these stats I currently have are good enough to get me admitted into engineering with the holistic review. I plan to upload my new class rank (because I know it will improve a lot ) November 14th along with new test scores. but…
…could they have already rejected me before i update my records in November? Because i want to apply for early admissions. Or should I wait a little bit longer and apply after I get my new rank?
Because I do have a last ditch idea to improve my rank. I could take dual credit classes that improve my high school GPA and get an updated (and improved) rank by early September. It won’t improve a lot, but if i ace my classes I’ll land in roughly the top 20%. BUT I was hoping to take pre engineering classes that summer(like calc and physics) , but should i instead take dual credit for a better class ranking? Does A&M engineering care about ranking so much it could prevent my admissions? Because I’m not gonna jump to the top 10% so i don’t know if its worth the effort.
I looked online to see if I could find the academic admissions info regarding the new SAT but could not. Academic admit was a 30 for 16-17 school year as long as you earned a 27 in Math and English. How did you score and do you qualify for academic admit?
It is better to apply in as close to the first of August as possible. Even under engineering review, with rolling admissions, you may find out sooner, especially if you are auto academic admit. The sooner you receive your acceptance, the sooner you can complete your housing contract and likely to get dorm preference.
TAMU uses the final transcript from the end of your Jr year for admissions. A transcript sent during your senior year I do not think will be considered.
Have you taken any PLTW engineering classes in high school? Physics BC?
If you don’t get engineering College Station, you could be offered the Engineering Academy at Blinn or Enginnering at Galveston.
@thelma2
I am an auto admit and i will have better sat / act scores this 2nd time around. I’m afraid if I apply to early i may get rejected from engineering even if i get auto admission since my stats are below average. Or does the college of engineering not send rejections as early as november?
My plan was to upload a transcript with a new rank by admission deadline and hope that engineering reviews me with my new rank. If i do the dual credit when i order my transcript at the start of senior year, my new rank would be there instead of my end of year junior rank. My school gives seniors an early class rank update in mid November, that i can send in early.
My school doesn’t have any PLTW or Calculus based physics classes. I was hoping to take some calculus based and engineering classes at a CC over summer instead of dual credit originally. But i don’t know if i should when i have the chance to improve my rank.
They only look at end of junior year, they won’t even take a look at the first semester senior year. Your best bet is to apply as early as possible.
@anthonys621
only junior year? could someone explain why this is on admissions?
[quote]
** Can I send new information to help with the decision making process? **
Yes; Texas A&M will only consider documents that were received by the admission deadline. This includes updated transcripts reflecting a new class rank.
[/quote = Texas A&M Admissions Office]
http://admissions.tamu.edu/freshman/apply-engineering > under frequently asked questions
Does that not apply to my situation?
It does look like that is the case.
Let’s talk numbers, though. How many are in your class and where do you stand? X out of how many?
You scored 1290 on SAT. what is your math score and what is your critical reading score? That is equivalent to 1810 on the old SAT. That is pretty low for engineering. What were your individual scores on your ACT?
Also, make sure when and if you school re-ranks before the deadline of Dec. 1. Our independent school district only ranks in June and January. Here is what it says from our Admin website.
“New class rankings and GPA’s are generated after each semester and are available late January and late June. This means that GPA and class rank will change only after the completion of a semester.”
@thelma2
I’m 195 out of 797 (will improve, I’m one of the only students to make a’s this and last semester)
I got a 690 on math and a 600 on Cr (trying to improve)
i got 34m 28e(will improve) 28cr 30s(will improve)
my school gives us an updated rank before finals so we can apply to scholarships and stuff early.
i have been assured my class rank must increase this year (because everyone else is decreasing alot this year) Should i take the risk of apply early and getting rejected before i can update my information? Or should I take dual credit to improve my rank when I apply? (instead of using the summer to take engineering classes)
@lessonwitch2 They must have changed it, because when I went to an aggie land day earlier this year(like November) they said they are only considering class rank from the end of junior year they had it in the presentation and everything.
@anthonys621
Well this is under the engineering admissions page so maybe its just for admissions to engineering
But… with these facts now known:
- Should i take dual credit over summer and improve my rank and grades?
- Or instead should I take engineering prep classes (like calc and physics) over summer?
- Should I apply after I get my better rank in November?
- Or apply in September with a good chance of rejection
- Will the college of engineering reject me before i can update my class rank in November?
1290 m+cr is good. When you said 1290 was your score, I was thinking your total score, including writing. How much do you think your class rank will go up? to top 20% (154 of 797)? or higher? That is great your school will give you updated class rank before Dec 1 deadline.
The uncertain is how is it going to play out with now with holistic review. I wonder if engineering with now be admissions in waves rather than rolling, as it had been. In that case, no applicant will be looked at before the deadline, so it would behoove you to apply as early as possible with everything that you have and then update with your new scores, transcripts, etc before the deadline. With review, you app may not even be looked at prior to Dec. 1
@Thelma2
on the new SAT I got a 2 6s and a 7(if you mean Essay)
I can’t guess an exact number, but yeah at the end of this semester I should be around the top 18-20%. But I can’t calculate how much my rank will improve if i do summer school until the end of this semester. And I know i can do better then what i’ve done this year next year so my senior rank will go up way more.
Do you know when A&M sends rejection notices to students? Is it by november? or mid december? or…
What do you advise about trying to improve my rank over summer?
Here is the thing. You can also be offered Blinn Engineering Academy or engineering at Galveston. Galveston is not to be sneezed at. Some look at it as “but it is not College Station” but it shouldn’t be looked down on. It is the only branch of TAMU where you can still earn your Aggie ring. It is a pilot program for qualified students they hope to grow. I would not be disappointed had my son been offered Galveston.
@thelma2
Well I’d prefer to start at A&M becuase I have all my core curriculum done w/ ap / dc / ib So I’d only spend about a year there if my goal was to transfer back to A&M. And I don’t wanna get attached to a campus that I will only be at for a year. so i’d be a bit sad
Because Engineering is going to holistic review for engineering, it is impossible to say how everything will play out. Will they still have rolling admissions for engineering or institute wave admissions like UT. With UT holistic review, no application is looked at before Dec. 1. Will TAMU do the same? Probably, but until they post written info on it, who knows what they will do exactly and how they will do it.
I am not sure if there are any outright rejections. I have heard of being offered other pathways to TAMU but not of rejection from everything TAMU. Maybe being offered other pathways is considered a rejection by some.
would venture to guess that if you did not make College Station engineering, you will be offered one of the other pathways. Having no upper level physics or engineering classes may hurt you more than your ranking. A friend’s son was offered Blinn Team (not Blinn Engineering Academy) for fall 2016 who was in top 15% of his class, scored 1790 on Sat and had no engineering or upper level physics. It is just impossible to say what effect taking some of these things in summer school/senior year will have on your admissions as you will be competing against a lot of candidates.
The way it worked this past season, final admissions and “rejections” came the mid=late February, I believe. I wasn’t on the TAMU board as much, as my son was hoping for admit to UT and already has his engineering admissions to TAMU.
With UT wave admissions, it worked in waves. Different schools within a college found out in waves. Then there was one last wave mid-late Feb where many were accepted into their majors and everyone else who had not heard, was offered some other pathway. Some were offered multiple pathways, some just one pathway. My son was offered multiple pathways but they came with a liberal arts major guarantee (he could have easily been accepted to UT had he wanted any major other than business or engineering).
I would talk to your school counselor about what you can take to improve your GPA. Let them know what your goals are and what you want to achieve. Depends on the school what classes are count towards GPA. However, rank and GPA are one thing. Preparation is another animal entirely. If you don’t have physics A/B yet under your belt, or Calculus, and no way to take physics B/C, I am not sure summer school is going to help. Those are not GPA boosting classes.
@lessonwitch2 I haven’t seen any denials go out until February, so I would still say apply early and upload an updated rank if you get one. Me personally, I would take dual credit over the summer because you would still want to take physics and Calc when you get to A&M. Plus the improved rank will help you get in easier
@thelma2
I was hoping the summer classes would provide an edge for me to admissions. I have completed physics A this year (and surprisingly it was a GPA booster because I knew all the stuff from Decathlon) and I’m taking AP Chem, Calc AB, Environmental Science with IB Comp Sci 2.its not much prep for Calc based physics and stuff but… but at least it is something.
@anthonys621
I guess I will have to do dual credit. At least if I do dual credit I won’t miss out on learning If worse comes to worse I can just take it over next summer.
I agree with other posters and apply early and if ACT gets you in as auto admit, you can send updated information for the engineering review. You can then get your housing application in early. My D was auto admit and she acceptance by September.
Do all that you can to boost your GPA. Your hook is that you are an instate auto academic admit. They have to find a place for you somewhere.
Apply early. August 1. Send them everything you have and send them your updated class rank before the deadline. Being completely holistic review, applications won’t be looked at until all applications are in after Dec. 1. Applying earlier lets you apply for housing earlier. At least it used to.
If I apply august first my school will send my sophomore /early junior grades and I don’t want those to go because I’m in the bottom quarter and last year no one was admitted from the bottom quarter. 
so I definitely need to wait till school starts (August 22nd I think) and knowing my slow counselors I think mid September is most convenient. Plus I need letters of recommendation and my essays proof read.
BTW I’m not to worried about housing because I don’t know if I’ll be staying in the ramp halls for financial reasons or if I’m living off campus or whatnot.
They wouldn’t even accept sophomore transcripts you can apply and submit transcripts later, letters of rec can also be uploaded or mailed at a later date