@omgdontblink DS got his acceptance too. Are you applying for housing yet or waiting until next week? They did say incentives like app fee waived happened around Islander day so I am contemplating waiting until next week. When are y’all going? We are going back for Islander day too.
Attended a PSA event in Coppell (DFW) tonight. The Transfer Advisor from the TAMU DFW Prospective Student Center, Justin Permenter, said the applicant pool for Fall 2019 was 50,000 students. FIFTY THOUSAND.
He might be incorrect, but I’d say he’s in a better position than most to give an accurate estimate.
(cross-posted to 2023 Admissions thread)
So what did we learn at the PSA program? Aside from the 50k applications (holy smokes!), I learned. . .
- Checking boxes on the PSA college options screen (the one with the system colleges) gives the selected colleges access to view the file you submitted to CStat. No harm in checking more than one. He said if it was him, he'd check them all and then start researching.
- Your 24 credit hours for PSA must be AFTER high school graduation but be completed by the end of Spring of the following year (so for high school Class of 2019, that means Spring 2020).
- The GPA requirement (3.0 for everything but engineering) is calculated twice--once for your system school grades only and again as a cumulative including all your dual credit grades. BOTH must meet the 3.0 minimum.
- PSA students will submit a TRANSFER application next Spring. On the transfer application will be a box to check to indicate you're a PSA student. Checking this box waives both the transfer application fee as well as the transfer essay requirement. This application is how they know to check the requirements are met (24h, >=3.0 GPA, courses taken, etc.)
- TAMU CStat admission notification does not happen until JUNE. Read that again: You won't find out you are admitted until JUNE of 2020. So, basically, you gotta make damn sure your T's are crossed and your I's are dotted and you got all your s*** straight and you go on faith from mid-May until decisions are released 2-6 weeks later.
- Because that admission notification does not happen until JUNE, you can't attend a New Student Conference until June/July/August. That's gonna suck hard for my kid, who will be at work across the country June 1-August 15.
- Similar to Fish Camp, transfer students (including PSA) have Aggie Transition Camp. https://atc.tamu.edu/ Registration for those will start March 31--at least 2 months before PSA students would have an admission.
- Because admission does not come until JUNE, the chances of on-campus housing are somewhere between none and negative. That also means you'll have to commit to off-campus housing months before knowing about an assured admission. Our kids will have to commit to housing before we know whether or not they'll tank the second semester. Just pointing out the risk.
- If your kid wants to sit out of classes until January, there is a SIGNIFICANTLY SMALLER applicant pool for Spring admission. He estimated ~500 applicants. So about 1% of the Fall number. The hitch: NO CLASSES AFTER GRADUATION. Taking classes at a CC or another college makes you a transfer.
- Registration for the PSA event was a joke. Don't fret if you don't register for the event. There's no one "checking you in". Sign-in was a sheet of notebook paper. Not kidding.
After attending tonight, my son is 100% certain PSA is the right route for him. First visit is Tarleton tomorrow, then Commerce next week. Meeting with PSA admissions people at both campuses. I’m ready for this to be DONE!
@daleNchip Thx so much for sharing all you’ve gleamed from this PSA event. Really appreciate the info. Can I ask how you found out about this specific event for PSA and do you know if they have other similar sessions around the state? Is it like a roadshow kinda idea? If one was coming to our area I’d def be interested.
We are visiting TAMUCC on Islander Day then continuing onto Tarleton for a campus visit that Mon. We had already happened to take a Commerce campus tour last summer. Then I guess it’s decision time!
Re. #9 on your list - Spring Admission - I understand the NO classes at CC… but did your advisor ‘hint’ that reapplying for Jan 2020 was a sensible option to consider as an alternative full admission pathway? Guess you’d have to submit another application/new essay etc but have the hindsight of how to ‘up’ one’s application.
Thank you @daleNchip for that very detailed recap, especially since not all of us got the invite! I hope you enjoy your visit to Tarleton and Commerce. We are STILL waiting on Tarleton to get the paperwork processed. Impatiently since she now knows that is where she wants to go. I just hope housing isn’t going to be an issue if they wait longer. Poor kid needs something to go right for school.
For anyone who may be interested …Just found out there’s a PSA Informational Session being held in Houston on 4th April '19 @ 6.30pm. It’s being offered by the Houston Prospective Student Center Regional Advisors but is NOT being held at their Center address - but an off campus venue. Here’s the link
https://recruiter.tamu.edu/portal/houston_psc_list?id=cb78ce98-bf22-4c25-af67-98e32b0fceaa
@daleNchip Wow, thanks for all of that information. I was not aware that they would not get acceptance until June! That does pose a housing issue.
@JaceyK We tried to fill out the on-line housing application but kept getting an error message. We are going on Friday and might fill out the forms on Friday. DS will be roommates with a friend from high school also PSA. We are registered for Island Day but I might cancel if we get the information that we need on Friday.
@Scotsfi Thanks for the heads up on the PSA Session
@omgdontblink we are going to Rockport first (my parents have a house there) and then doing the Islander Day thing. I was surprised that my son still wanted to do it even after doing the tour last Friday. I wonder if it will be a lot of redundant information. I will see if we can get the itinerary just to see what the sessions are. Also asking for a more specific date on incentives for the dorms (already emailed about this and some other questions).
@daleNchip thank you for this! I think he will be doing apartment for sure - but still poses a problem with available housing. I guess we will need to see where he is before he submits transfer application before we apply for apartment housing. Hopefully whoever his roommate is at CC will be interested in sharing apartment in Cstat! We will see.
@JaceyK love Rockport! I know I will not be able to get my son or husband back for Islander Day. It will probably interfere with sports anyway. Let me know what you hear back about incentives, I am all for incentives.
There was a comment earlier in this thread about the large number of PSA students who do not end up going to A&M. My son just talked to one of his friends from high school that is doing the PSA and he evidently will be one of those that doesn’t make the switch. He sent a request for the community college to send his dual credit hours transcript to A&M before the March 1 deadline. Evidently, he never checked his Howdy file and the CC never sent the transcript. I’m assuming that he can apply and compete as a pure transfer student but that deadline has past for Fall 2019 also. He was already considering staying at Tarleton but I guess this mix-up has made his decision for him. I am very thankful that I am a little obsessive and made my son check his file! (Maybe more than once…?)
@omgdontblink I just got an email back: We will be running a special during the weekend of Island Day, April 5th – 8th. We will be waiving the $150 Security Deposit and the $100 application fee, so it will be $0 down to apply.
And they did say once your application is processed, your son will be able to pick/choose where he wants his room.
@JaceyK @OMGdontblink If you are considering the Miramar apartments, I will give you a little advice. My oldest was there 2013-14 and they had an abnormally hard rain storm. The parking lot in the middle of the complex (near the office area) flooded… like up on the doors of the cars parked there. The apartments are elevated on the grassy areas and they didn’t have many with damage. The edges of the complex did not have near as much water but my son sent me pictures of some residents kayaking in the parking lot and tow trucks hauling small cars away. I don’t think that that is a common occurrence but I was grateful that he had a tall truck and lived on the edge of the complex.
@JaceyK Thanks!
@JaceyK thanks for the information. There is a an unofficial schedule posted. http://islandday.tamucc.edu/schedule.html
@OMGdontblink @JaceyK @tisulli @daleNchip and many more! Just to share that I emailed Bill Coari, the PSA advisor at TAMUCC. He will have a table at the Student Engagement Fair part of the Island Day schedule which starts at 11.30am. Perhaps y’all have touched base with him already during your campus tours/visits.
@2xAggieMom thanks for the information. He is planning on staying in the dorms. @Scotsfi we will be visiting on Friday and have an appointment with him. I will let you guys know how it goes.
Tarleton
I was trying to coordinate a campus visit and an appointment with their PSA adviser today. The adviser stated that an appointment was not necessary. I could swear I’ve seen it noted somewhere that it is a requirement. Did I imagine it?
@tisulli , I would prefer having an appointment. Maybe it’s not necessary but as a working professional, I am an appointment maker.
We did the Tarleton tour today. Had a 1pm appointment with Molly Stewart, but she was out sick today, so we spoke with Tanya Elston in Admissions. She was great and helpful. She hooked us up to speak to Mary Peters, the PSA Advisor (and Mathematics instructor). She was not helpful. I led the entire conversation based on my knowledge. She didn’t offer up anything I didn’t ask specifically about. If my kid ends up at Tarleton (and it’s likely he will) I will have little expectation of assistance from her. (Apparently, it’s me. I have the WORST luck with counselors and advisors!)
We asked how PSA students got to know other PSA students. Her answer was (paraphrasing) “There is a group chat, I think. Since the turnover is so high, it’s hard to carry on as a student organization. Molly Stewart and I tried to put something together, but it didn’t work out.” That was a big disappointment to us. We felt like it was up to the PSA staff to put together events for the students. Freshman don’t have the resources to do that–they are the newbies to campus–and by definition, there is no way for upperclassmen to take leadership roles. It’s not a student organization. There’s no recruitment. Just getting them together a couple of times a semester would be nice.
One other interesting note: Tarleton has no blue light safety call boxes on campus. I happened on an article in the school newspaper about them or I would have never noticed. I’m not terribly concerned about safety on campus, but I do find the fact they had them then removed them a few years back a little strange. AT&T cell coverage on campus sucks, too. We’d have to change the kid’s cell phone carrier. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning.
@Scotsfi , my kid got an email about the PSA event in DFW. I’d call your regional Prospective Student Center https://admissions.tamu.edu/psc RE your Spring 2020 application question. . . the regional guy said it was a little risky, but it was an option. If your kid has something meaningful to do between graduation and Jan 2020, that could make sense. For my family, it’s just not a good plan. My kid would suffer academically getting out of the groove for seven months.
@alstro , we learned while visiting with Admissions today that my kid’s paperwork had cleared and he’s been accepted. His acceptance went in today’s mail so we should have it by the end of the week. So keep checking the Tarleton portal!
@2xAggieMom , according to the regional guy at our PSA meeting, yes, the friend from HS can do the transfer application instead of PSA. He’ll have to pay the fee and write the essay, but he’s not completely out of luck. Talk about a lesson in trust but verify! I’d be steaming mad at the CC and myself for missing that. (Also making a note to remind my kid to check that next year!)
@daleNchip The PSA advisor, Mary Peters, at Tarleton only started in that position in January. The previous advisor suddenly took a job in Amarillo at the end of the last semester. The kids got an email from her that basically said “ Bye. I’m gone. Mary Peters will be your go-to person now” right before finals. Mrs. Peters is also my son’s math teacher and he thinks she’s great. I don’t know how much time or training she got before she was “awarded” the job. Molly is the one they deal with for scheduling and at the new student conference and she’s been there for at least a year. Another note- Mrs. Peters will not be available for a meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays from approximately 9-11. She’s in class with my son. ?