I got into the General Engineering Program when I applied for Electrical Engineering. The program means that if I have a 3.75 GPA or higher, I will get into my first-choice major in my sophomore year. Otherwise, it is a first-come-first serve basis. I wanted to know how difficult the classes are because I have heard that Gen Ed courses are made to be difficult to weed out students. I also wanted to know the competitive the Electrical Engineering program is to get into.
It’s not the weed out classes. It gives you 2 courses that introduce you to all areas of. Engineering. A 3.75 will guarantee you get your first choice major. If not a 3.75 you’ll be holistically reviewed. It is not first come… it’s based on classes, gpa and essays.
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@NandanU all incoming Engineering students enter as General Engineering, and go thru the ETAM process; no one gets direct entry.
@ChristiR93 gave great details about the program.
If you have taken rigorous math & science classes, that will help. A 3.75 won’t be easy, but can be done.
According to A&M 80% get 1st choice and 93% get 1st or 2nd. That said, a 3.75 in engineering is not easy anywhere.
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Agree. The engineering math courses tend to be the hardest. Most students, as the stats suggest, get their 1st or 2nd choice.
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General consensus is to start out taking 12-14 credit hours to lighten the load. Focus on the Calculus, Physics, and Chemistry classes. If you have a rock solid foundation in high school (review over the summer if necessary), then getting a 3.75 for ETAM should be attainable. Discussed here and throughout the threads.
My ds just found out about ETAM last week as he was deciding between Computational Media at Georgia Tech and CS at TAMU. It’s probably the only thing holding him back from accepting TAMU’s offer. Questions we hope kind folks here could help with:
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For ETAM, will gpa be based on only the classes listed here? General Engineering Class of 2025 Requirements | Texas A&M University Engineering
Doesn’t he need to take other classes? -
He scored A* in Maths, Further Maths and Physics in the Cambridge A Level? What are his chances of getting a 3.75? We’re in Asia n unfamiliar with the level of difficulty there.
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What actually happens if he doesn’t achieve 3.75 and what does he need to get to holistic review?(apply for an interview, submit essay?)
We were ecstatic when he received TAMU’s offer and are naturally bummed out on learning about ETAM.
@cool1bdp i will let @FriscoDad answer your questions. I’m a Mays/Business parent, and only know the basics about ETAM & Engineering.
If your son was admitted to Georgia Tech, I’d feel pretty certain he’ll do well at A&M tho…
He sounds like he’ll be just fine. No those aren’t the only courses he’ll take, those are just the required courses before applying to ETaM. As for not getting a 3.75, He’ll be holistically reviewed. 80% ish get their first choice major, however computer science is very popular these days. He’ll list 3-5 majors (ranked) and get one of those.
Thanks!
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Scoring A in A-Level is not easy.
First question, A-Level in Pure Math or Calculus/Applied Maths?
If your student has “A” in both math, Calculus I/II will be easy in TAMU.
Physics A-level is also far advanced. Both Physics in TAMU freshmen ETAM year (spring semester) is entry level Kinematics.
Another question is Chemistry, does your student have A-Level Chemistry? B or A grade will be good enough to handle ETAM.
What about your student programming experience? If your student have experience in Python then ETAM will be a plain sailing year.
For CS, aiming for 4.0 GPA is a must. Out of 2894 Freshmen in Fall 2021, 468 have 4.0 and 749 have 3.75 or higher. Most of these top students will likely choose Aerospace and Computer Science. ETAM guarantee GPA (of 3.75) only applies to current year and it can change any time.
ETAM year likely will need 26 to 27 (honor) credit hours. Holistic review will favor students having A in core classes (PHY/CHEM/MATH) and the major related essay.
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Thanks ChristiR93. Since my son’s strengths are in Math & Physics, can he only take, say, 2 Math & 2 Physics plus 1 other class to raise his chances (or 3 Math & 2 Physics)? Just afraid liberal arts classes will be harder to ace since they’re subjective.
Student can’t pick which course to take, for CS student the ETAM classes are here
https://catalog.tamu.edu/undergraduate/engineering/computer-science/bs/#programrequirementstext
The “core curriculum” is not necessarily Liberal Arts, most of these are easy.
Thanks FriscoDad.
No he has no A-level Chem. So for ETAM, he should opt for 2 physics classes.
I’ll let him fill in the other details.
Ah so Chem is required. Will his A* in IGCSE Chemistry help?
IGCSE Chemistry is enough to handle those three CHEM classes/Lab in ETAM year. These Chemistry classes are not curved, students finished most of the tasks and reasonably good test scores will get “A”.
The two Physic classes are PHY206 and ENGR216. Both are Kinematics but ENGR 216 is supposed to be tougher and ahead of PHY206.
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Topics covered in his
A-level Math 9709 pure 1 & 3:
Quadratics
Functions
Coordinate Geometry
Circular Measure
Trigo
Series
Differentiation
Integration
Algebra
Log and exp functions
Numerical solutions of equations
Vectors
Differential Equations
Complex Numbers
Mechanics:
Forces and equilibrium
Kinematics of motion in a straight line
Momentum
Newton’s laws of motion
Energy, work, power
Stats 1:
Representation of data
Permutations, combinations
Probability
Discrete random variables
Normal distribution
A-Level Further Math 9231 pure 1 & 2:
Roots of polynomial equations
Rational functions and graphs
Summation of series
Matrices
Eigenvalues & eigenvectors
Polar coordinates
Vectors
Proof by induction
Hyperbolic functions
Differentiation
Integration
Complex Numbers
Differential Equations
Mechanics:
Motion of a projectile
Equilibrium of a rigid body
Circular motion
Hooke’s law
Linear motion under variable force
Momentum
Stats:
Continuous random variables
Inference using normal and t-distributions
Chi-square tests
Non-parametric tests
Probability generating functions
Yes your student has both Pure and Applied Math. In the old days (90s and early 2000) TAMU allowed A-Level students claiming all 4 Math classes (CalculusI/II/III/DifferentialE) with grade “A” (counted towards 4.0, not just credit) if you get A in A-Level. So you can tell how strong your student is.
For Physics, PHY206 will be very easy, but your student still need to be careful on ENGR216. The other class to pay attention is ENGR102. Python coding towards the end of semester for some reason can be tough even for top students. In other colleges, that Python class is a junior year class I think TAMU recognizes that so making it only 2 credit hours to ease the impact on students’ GPA.
Georgia Tech is a top notch college. But note that Computational Media is not Computer Science. It is more theories than coding. Research the degree plan for Computational Media and check if there is a chance of transferring to Computer Science.
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Hi, @cool1bdp 's son here 
. If I choose to attend GT, the plan would be to transfer to a CS major in my second year, which I’ve heard is fairly simple.
I wonder if you could expand more on the chemistry classes? Do you know what exactly is taught in CHEM 107 and 117? Although I got an A* in chem IGCSE, I honestly struggled immensely and despised it. And I’m not looking forward having to attend chem classes again, should I choose A&M.
A second question: is it possible, and if so, advisable to carry over some classes from the first sem to second sem? Based on the table you linked earlier, (https://catalog.tamu.edu/undergraduate/engineering/computer-science/bs/#programrequirementstext) I’d be taking 16 hours in each sem by default but if I carry over a class to my second sem wouldn’t that be a heavier burden? What benefit is that then? I’m not too familiar with this credit hours system, so I’m not sure if I’m phrasing the question right.