<p>Chance me please? I live in Texas, and for all this time I qualified for auto admit for aTm, which is where I wanted to go. However, upon going up to the school to get my transcript, I found out I dropped to 27%, pushing me into the holistic review candidate. I'm a rising senior at Westwood, which is one of the really rigorous schools in Texas. We're #5 in TX, and #1 public, open admission in TX (or so that's what we're told). Hoping to major in Aerospace Engineering. I'm a girl, if that'll change anything. Here are my stats:</p>
<p>GPA: above 4.0 weighted (not sure of exact numbers, my school has the database shut down)
SAT: 2080 (planning to retake in November) Math:740 W:680 CR:660
SAT Subject Scores --> Planning to take in October (Math II and Physics)</p>
<p>ACT: 32 eng: 32 math 30 reading 33 science 34 (should I retake?)
AP: 4 on Calculus AB and 4 on English Lang and Comp; I'm taking a lot more next year.
IB: 5 on IB SL French, I'll take physics HL, math SL, WAS HL, English HL and Bio SL next year.</p>
<p>Extra Curricular:
SkillsUSA --> 1st place at District, 2nd place at State, 2nd place at District, 3rd place at State (all for Web Design for 2 different years)
AFJROTC --> all 4 years, I'll graduate as the Group Commander. Started out at the bottom, a jobless freshman, and I worked my way up to the top. An active member of the Color Guard Team, meaning many service hours.
Orchestra --> Violinist
Jobs --> I've applied for a job at a nearby coffee shop. Hopefully things will go well
Honor Clubs --> NHS, NFHS, Tri-M</p>
<p>I won’t lie, its very difficult if you are not auto admit or academic admit. Your Math and CR are a very solid 1400 which does help, but you really need to knock some socks off with your essays and application. I’m not sure retaking your SAT will help and you really don’t have much time. Engineering is by far the most competitive and they will only have limited seats for non-auto admits. Good luck and work hard on your essays and application. Also, don’t waste time and get your application in as soon as possible. Are you thinking about going into the core? If so, you might have a better chance.</p>
<p>Thank you! I’m working on those essays pretty hard! aTm is my dream school. I kinda slipped up after freshman year, my grades started dropping. However each second semester is better than its respective first sem. Hope things go well</p>
<ol>
<li>Apply for the Corps</li>
<li>Be sure to visit the campus.</li>
<li>Write great essays.</li>
</ol>
<p>Engineering slots filled really early last year (October??) at A&M so even mild procrastinators among the autoadmits from my son’s high school had a scare (although slots opened up later).</p>
<p>If you like ROTC there are a lot of private schools that would be affordable and would look favorably on a Westwood grad. AF academy is pretty cool for aerospace engineering too. Have you looked at Illinois and Georgia Tech among the out of state publics for aerospace?</p>
<p>Realistically, about 10% of those that enrolled last year were from the 2nd quarter class rank, and only 5% in engineering. Your SAT scores are competitive, and will help you. I agree on needing great essays and early application. Certainly apply to the Corps of Cadets if it’s the type of program you thrive in, but it won’t help you get into A&M. It may provide scholarship opportunities for you (<a href=“http://corps.tamu.edu/portfolio-items/junior-cadet-accessions-program/”>http://corps.tamu.edu/portfolio-items/junior-cadet-accessions-program/</a>) and they can certainly give you advice. Get to know the folks in the central Texas Prospective Student Center (<a href=“http://admissions.tamu.edu/psc/CentralTexas”>http://admissions.tamu.edu/psc/CentralTexas</a>) as they do have some influence in the acceptance process. Good luck!</p>
<p>When you visit the campus, be sure to sign in the prospective student center . Go to talk to someone in the Corps about membership. The more recorded contacts, the better. Double check your grades from last semester that they are correct, and check with the registrar to see if any changes occur periodically while your application is in process at TAMU (if someone ahead of you transfers schools, you could move up or alternatively someone registers below you). Regarding alternate schools - forget the USAFA- it is almost a 1 1/2 year process for admission and a reach school for all applicants. SAT subject scores are not used here for admission. One thing to remember as a review candidate your scores/rank go from counting 100% of admission decision (academic admits) to 50%. You should concentrate on the ‘other 50%’ essays, recs, interest, EC, awards, etc. Good luck!</p>
<p>Definitely go talk to someone in Admissions. TAMU takes rigor of curriculum into account for admission. Son goes to a selective, college prep HS. A few years ago 40% of the grads were accepted to either TAMU or UT. That’s a lot of kids outside the top 25%. I’m no expert but I think your chance of admission to the University in general are good but Engineering much tougher. One main reason to talk to someone actually in admissions is to find out about general admissions (but not to Engineering) vs. Engineering Academy at Blinn. It’s a newer program so not much in the way of stats yet but IF you don’t get direct admit to Engineering, the TEAM might be a better fit than going undecided and trying to transfer to Dwight Look.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the responses! However, I’m hesitant on joining the Corps of Cadets, mainly for the required commitment afterwards. Update --> weighted GPA is 4.7455 and unweighted GPA is 3.5714</p>
<p>Does 32 ACT give her likely entry into one of the 3 honors program (in her major or college or university) if she is admitted? Apparently the priority registration that Honors give students is crucial at A&M or UT for some popular majors in order to more easily graduate on time.</p>
<p>Check again with the Corps. It is a huge time commitment during school, BUT you do not have to serve in the military afterwards.</p>
<p>See this website: <a href=“http://corps.tamu.edu/leadership/”>http://corps.tamu.edu/leadership/</a></p>
<p>"The Corps of Cadets may be best known for preparing students for commissions in the military, but more than 60 percent of cadets enroll in the Academic Certificate in Leadership Studies program instead of pursuing a military career.</p>
<p>Cadets who want to pursue non-military careers — whether in the private sector or in public service — declare themselves Leadership Certificate candidates after their second year in the Corps. "</p>
<p>Regarding honors programs <a href=“http://honorsprograms.tamu.edu/Home”>http://honorsprograms.tamu.edu/Home</a> I believe they all have a HS rank component to freshman admits, which she would not meet unless she is a NMF (which I am assuming she is not or would have stated in her bio). </p>
<p>You do not have to be in honors to have a good chance of graduating on time, it is more about course load than obtaining courses themselves. Most students at this university (and many others) enroll in summer school at least once to allow themselves the schedules that they can manage to graduate on time. I actually don’t know of a recent student has not taken either a class, internship or study abroad summer program at some point during their 4 years.</p>
<p>@AGmomx2 nope, I’m not a NMF. High school rank is 171/617 </p>
<p>I had very similar stats to you and ended up getting Engineering Academy at Blinn which is a joke. For comparison’s sake, I had a 32 ACT, 2060 SAT, 3.8 UW, 4.9 W, top 29% (formerly top 5% but had to move to a different state). It’ll be tough, but there is hope.</p>
<p>@lilelmo they let you transfer from Blinn to aTm in your soph year, right?</p>
<p>If I remember right, you do 45 hrs. at Blinn and 15 at A&M which makes you a full-time student beginning junior year. You can apply to transfer early but I’m not exactly sure how that works. My biggest beef with the program is that even after completing your first two years of engineering classes, you’re not guaranteed admission into the College of Engineering. </p>
<p>I think for the new Engineering Academy there are some rules that you can get in after a semester or two if you have a high GPA (3.5?).</p>
<p>Westwood? Dang y’all are good. I agree with people here who say that auto-admit is hard but that doesn’t mean you should worry so much.</p>
<p>Have you talked to your counselor about Westwood’s A&M admission stats? I went to a school in Houston that’s a notch below Westwood so I was surrounded by people with the same worries as you. What I found out, though, is that it’s not as tough to get into A&M or UT as a holistic review candidate if your school is respectable. Think of it this way: we already know UT and A&M resent admitting, even through the top 10% rule, kids from low-quality schools because those kids tend to be part of the reason why half the kids in Cockrell ECE disappear in the first two years. Auto-admit isn’t the best policy for these schools- at good high schools, it lowers their yield rate; at bad ones, it makes them put up with underprepared students they wouldn’t have otherwise accepted. That’s why UT and A&M seem to accept non-auto-admit students from high-quality high schools at a higher rate- because that gives them a higher shot of having students who will succeed.</p>
<p>If Westwood uses Naviance, go there and see what the acceptance rate for A&M is. Check what sort of stats the kids who got in have- there’s going to be a lot more forgiveness for a lower GPA if you went to Westwood. Talk to c/o 2014 (or '13 or '12) kids you know and ask them about getting into A&M. I’m betting you it’s not as tough for a Westwood kid as it is for [random school in El Paso] students.</p>
<p>You probably have a very serious shot because third-quarter kids from my school got in (McCombs and Cockrell only went through second quarter, though; I didn’t apply to A&M so I don’t know how that worked out specifically) and we’re definitely not on the same level as Westwood. Good luck!</p>
<p>I’m giving you a 55% chance just due to the sheer volume of applications. Yes, I know only 25% of spots are reserved for non-auto-admits, but if you performed so well and went to Westwood, you’ve got a really good shot.</p>
<p>Just a minor correction to the auto-admit policy- UT pressed for the ability to limit auto-admits to 75% of their anticipated class and have selectively limited (last year at least) auto-admit to top 7% HS graduates. Texas A&M has no such restriction. For the class of 2018 A&M admitted all the top 10% applicants (10830) as well as 3446 academic admits (based on admissions test scores and top 25% class rank). That left 2800 offers of full admission to the University for non-auto admits, or about 17%. In addition they have TEAM Blinn and Gateway admissions processes that are provisional so that students can demonstrate college readiness and gain full admission. A&M is actually more selective for non-auto admit students.</p>
<p>@dividerofzero Thank you! That came as a relief to know! @Whoop86 Do you think I’ll stand a chance given my stats?</p>