Hello Guys,
I am currently a high school Sophomore interested in going to Texas A&M for undergrad Engineering. Can anyone give me some tips on how to get admitted. What kind of resume should I pack, what should I aim for on my SAT( the new one), and ACT , and What kind of extracurricular’s do the admission committee like to see.
All information is very much appreciated.
Thank you.
SuperSumedh
Can any one also tell me what my GPA should be around to be ensured a slot in the program?
Thanks!
Be in the top quarter and have a 1300 math and reading SAT, or just a top 10 rank and you’re in automatically, all though not to your major.
^^ This and apply as early as you can. A&M is rolling admission for auto admit applicants…once your major is filled, your chances for that major drop dramatically because your application goes into the holistic review pile. ApplyTexas opens on August 1st – the sooner you apply, the better your chances to get engineering. We were told at a college night that engineering sometimes fills by mid-September, but it seemed more like early November this year, from what we saw on this board. If you submit your app in August and you’re an auto or academic admit, you should be in great shape! Good luck!
Thanks Loganator and Fuffy24,
My graduating class is very small (<130 Kids), so it is extremely difficult to be in the top 10% or even top 25%, can some one out of this range still manage to get accepted?
Unfortunately, unless your are top 10% or top 25% with a high SAT score, its difficult to even get into A&M. You would be considered a Review Admit. You need to spend a great deal of time working on your essays and also make sure you have a solid list of extracurricular activities. I’ve read about several students who attend very competitive high schools and cannot get into A&M with SAT scores near 2300. The state requires all state supported schools to offer automatic admission to all top 10% no matter what school they attended. There just aren’t enough seats to allow for many review candidates.
Do your very best to get into the top 25%. That is your best option.
^^What @whciv01 said.
Yes, they can but it is extremely competitive. There are three pathways of full admission: top 10% TX resident, top 25% w/ 1300 SAT or 30 ACT, or review admit. Review admits are 50% rank & scores, 50% everything else on your application. You are first admitted to the university (major blind) then for engineering, you will most likely be in the engineering review pool that competes for the last 15% of the available engineering slots. Very few review admits make it in directly to engineering major without competing in the review pool as well, but it is possible. Since you are only 3 grading periods in, you have 3 grading periods to get into the top 25%. If you can do that then you only need to score well on the SAT or ACT & apply early. If not, you’ll need to stand out to overcome not top 25% - scores, leadership, essays, recs, awards,jobs, activities, etc. It is the most difficult path, but it is possible -good luck!
Agmomx2, thanks for some good info. S16 OOS meets the criteria for automatic academic admit. From what you say above, does that mean that the first 85% of in-state autoadmits that apply for engineering get in, then everyone from out of state/international/in-state non autoadmits competes for the last 15% of the engineering spots?
At first glance, A & M seems to have more than UT that would attract OOS students when you look at non-resident scholarships offered and UT’s stated 90% in state rule, but when you look at their stats A&M only has around 4% of their undergrads come from outside TX, even lower than UT. Makes me wonder if it is even worth looking at for anyone OOS not a NM scholar (we await NHRP results in Sept). We have a campus visit scheduled next month for A & M and UT, am considering cancelling it and using our travel points to check out AZ & ASU instead.
No, OOS and instate applicants are equal in admission order, rolling admissions as you apply to the university. If your S is an auto admit (check the rest of the criteria to include course requirements and score minimums here http://admissions.tamu.edu/freshman/admitted ) then just have him apply as close to Aug 1 as possible and he will be in engineering. The advantage instate has is their transcripts are sent on the internet, OOS can’t use their system- other than that, you are equal - so applying as early as possible is your best bet to get your application complete & in the queue to be approved. FYI - UT does not work the same way although both public state schools. The atmosphere of the two schools are also completely different.
@Agmomx2, that is good news. We will double-check the course prerequisites, maybe bring his transcript to date and next years classes to our campus visit to have admissions review it.
Both schools sure have a lot of positives, though as you say, each quite different from the other. We have family currently attending or who graduated from both schools now living in Houston and Corpus, and I lived in Austin a long time ago and loved it. Should be an interesting road trip seeing each school one after the other. We will note that hot August 1 application date when the race is on.
Thank you again for great advice.
Shoot for automatic admission, after 85% of the COE is full, they start going into engineering review.
Some students with 2200+ SATS were turned away from the COE in engineering review.
Thanks everyone!