National Merit Scholars

<p>Anyone out there a semifinalist and considering
Texas A & M outside of Texas?</p>

<p>Yep; I'm from Baton Rouge. The money is very enticing, but I'm not so sure about College Station for 4 years...</p>

<p>Are you going to visit?</p>

<p>Yep, over the Mardi Gras holidays (I'm off of school for a week). The visit will definitely make or break it.</p>

<p>I'm a finalist admitted to A&M and am from Texas, but I'm definitely not a cowgirl, and College Station is no cowtown. Please be sure to look into Lechner, the freshman Honors dorm, and McFadden, the bottom two floors of which will be freshman Honors next year (My sister will be the Junior Advisor of McFadden.) A&M was ranked in the top ten last year for the number of freshman NMSes who attended, so we won't be alone.</p>

<p>Janyastory,</p>

<p>Do you know how the honors program differs academically from the regular program? Is it a lot more difficult academically? Son majoring in engineering.
Is it hard to maintain the 3.5 gpa being in honors?
Thanks
Sun25</p>

<p>the honros classes just offer smaller classses and the average gpas tend to be higher. Its good to do honors though because you get to register early. and i thought i couldnt stand college station for four years. but its amazing i know i made the right choice.</p>

<p>CantTouchThis--
Are you from out of state? Are you in the honors program? Is it difficult to keep a 3.5 GPA in order to keep
scholarships?<br>
As I understand it, you may elect to take one honors course and then add more
later on, is that right?</p>

<p>beside the classes are smaller and picking classes early, how are you qualify to join? are the classes harder or easier? do you have to get 3.5 or more first then able to join?</p>

<p>IM not in honors. but wish i was so i could register early. and most people only take one honors class a semester. most of my friends in honors though didn't really have trouble with a 3.5. Im not from out of state but I have a few friends who are. The classes are smaller, and their are certain requirements on your SAT to be in honors your freshmen year.</p>

<p>Anybody know if it's difficult to keep 3.5 GPA in engineering,
honors? Any stats on how many actually keep 3.5?<br>
You lose scholarship if can't keep GPA at 3.5</p>

<p>Seems high, most schools allow 3.0 gpa</p>

<p>^ It's very difficult. At my school (state flagship with excellent engineering program, not unlike A&M) a 3.7 is required to maintain freshman recruitment scholarships and there are almost no engineers that keep it for longer than a year. Of course, your requirements are lower, but it will be very, very difficult to keep your scholarship in engineering. If you're really concerned you could call up the dean and ask him/her your question.</p>

<p>^^^ Very right it is very difficult to keep a three five in engineering. But i did have two friends who pulled a four O in engineering first semester but they never slept ever.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info.
At least we know upfront the iunlikelyhood of keeping scholarships –</p>

<p>It also depends on how prepared you are for college. My S’s friend made a 4.0 as an engineering major but he came from a competitive HS and was on the high end on the SAT and ACT. He didn’t study 24/7. It actually was fairly easy for him.</p>

<p>I firmly believe that you need to go to a school (if you care about high grades) where you are on the upper end of standardized test scores. If you are mid-range then be prepared to have mid-range grades (unless you study 24.7). If you come from a competitive and challenging HS where you learned good study habits and had to apply yourself, I really don’t think you would have a problem.</p>