@wewait , we did Tarleton last week and are headed to Commerce Tuesday. What were the tipping factors that made your son choose Tarleton? I expect ours will, as well, but interested to know for others.
@daleNchip It was just the feeling that he belonged at Tarleton. He could see himself there. I might add heās definitely not a ācowboyā and heās never owned a pair of boots in his life!.
@wewait did you find out when you have to put in a deposit for housing? Also, are PSA students eligible for schlorships from Tarleton?
Took the Commerce tour today. Statistics there are about 100 PSA students. 1/3 go on to CStat, 1/3 stay at Commerce, 1/3 do āsomething elseā. Interesting note: Commerce has a freshman course introducing them to campus resources and āadultingā topics, but PSA students are specifically excluded. Found that odd and disappointingāvery much the āyou are only here for a year so you are not our problemā vibe.
It was fine, but did not knock Tarleton out of our sonās top spot. Should he decide to stay at his PSA school for four years, he could see himself at Tarleton but not Commerce. So our kid has TSU orientation booked for 4/13, Duck Camp for 8/10 (he will be working in WV from June 2-August 6), and heās taking a break before attempting housing sign-ups later tonight.
For what itās worth, we had the same disappointing experience with a PSA advisor today at Commerce that we did at Tarleton. No events planned for PSA students to meet or get to know one another. Hubs and I talked about it on the ride home. Perhaps they donāt see the need to care for these ātemporaryā students, but they are missing the opportunity to recruit these students to stay. Maybe Iāve been in sales for too long, but it seems like successful PSA students would be good PR whether they go on to CStat or chose to stay at their PSA school.
Perhaps the parents on this forum could get their kids to start a group me and maybe yāall have a social or two over the summer and maybe one after move in but before school starts and see about posting flyers about the meet up. It could be at a park and just a meet and greet with Ice Cream/ or chips and soda. Just some way to connect. And maybe the students could take it from there. They can enlarge the PSA group me as more kids become known. Everyone wants to meet friends at school and all too often, those who are lonely donāt find all the other ones that are lonely too.
@daleNchip from what I read of the freshman course at Commerce itās more about learning to succeed in college. I canāt remember the wording from the website, but I remember discussing it with my daughter and telling her that she would be bored. I think it covered time management and budgeting. I hadnāt heard that PSA students arenāt required to take it. I think itās less about exclusion than the fact that as PSA/DC/AP students they are better prepared and the school doesnāt see the need to make those kids attend another hour class they feel isnāt necessary for them. For example, my daughter took a semester of Dollars and Sense. I am sure it was way more thorough than their 1-2 hour topic on it.
My daughter said they can start a FB group or Group Me. Neither are well used by kids ?but she said her and her roommate could set it up. Iāll have her look into it when she gets home from school.
They havenāt signed up for orientation or Duck Camp yet. I know they wonāt be there next weekend as itās their prom. They did get their housing submitted yesterday. Iāll let you know once they get assigned a dorm. I canāt believe itās April and we are still doing thisā¦arghā¦such a long process! Anyone else tired??
@alstro, Iām beat!
@alstro- thank you and yes- totally exhausted! Iām sure because the A&M admission decision was so long and draining! Iāll ask my son what mode or method they would like to use for communication for Tarleton PSA students. I like @Thelma2 's suggestion that we get them started communicating. We are taking our tour on Friday, meeting with Molly and Financial Aid. Right now heās saying he and his roommate want to apply for the honors dorm. So we will be asking about that process as well.
@Aggie1998 It is sounding like Group Me is the most common, but definitely let me know if he has a better idea. Iāll have her set it up and then I will pass it on to everyone on here with a Tarleton bound kid.
Hopefully you all enjoy your tour. It should be beautiful weather for it. It was COLD when we went. FYI, the website says they have a dorm tour after the regular tour, but this is no longer accurate. They have combined it all into one tour and they only show inside one dorm room, Heritage. We asked after the tour about seeing Legends or Legacy and they took us over on our own. I am pretty sure they said the Honors dorm is only for kidās in the Honors college and PSA students canāt do both. Iād be interested to know if you hear otherwise.
FYI @ TAMU, many majors now require a one credit class to be taken the first semester. My son had one for econ. It was for a grade. Other majors, even within LA college, had a one credit course as well but it wasnāt for a grade (however, if you missed 3 classes you failed). My sonās class met 7 times during the semester. He had attendance questions to answer for points. Then they had to meet with an advisor for 20 points and also meet with 3 types of resources at TAMU (could be study abroad program, writing center, etc.) and write a reflection on it.
They went over time management as well and had guest lecturers.
So if PSA schools offer this, donāt be surprised if the students have to take it. If not then, then they may need it at TAMU once there (depending on major of course).
@AggieMomhelp TAMU-CC and Tarleton both have mandatory one hour classes for incoming students that address first year college topics such as time management, etc. They are for a grade.
For what itās worth, the Success Coach with whom we met at Commerce (Angel Martinez) said that since the freshman course was not on the PSA sheets, it would not transfer and therefore it was not offered to the PSA students at Commerce. She said she had thought about putting together that class for PSA, but never did.
@alstro My daughter is PSA and Honors at Tarleton and assigned the Honors dorm. So it can be done. Just not sure if there are any Honors slots left. Should be easy to find out, all of the Honors Administrators we have met have been very helpful. She had applied to Tarleton and Honors direct in Fall 2018, so not sure of the Honors process this late, but they did say they had several PSA students in Honorsā¦ When she got PSA from A&M CS she just accepted and they added PSA to her Tarleton transcript. We did Honors Orientation (NSC) April 1st, she met with Honors Advisors and PSA Advisors to work out her schedule and it went very smooth.
Yes, my son said Snapchat group is preferable. Heās excited to join and meet others and help plan get togethers!
We discussed groups last night and they can certainly do snapchat too, but it is probably not ideal for get togethers since the info disappears. They need a way to post a time and place and allow people to rsvp. My daughter thought Group Me would be best since group members can add other group members (not as important to have one main contact approving people) and you can be a part of it without having to connect your other personal profiles to it. She said she would set it up soon. Iāll let you know once she has so you can DM me their phone # or emailā¦whichever one it uses. Any interest in a parent group?
@Aggie1998 My son did his deposit as soon as we returned home. Itās only $100 We also had to get the much larger deposit back from Tech by the 4/1 deadline. They told him he could absolutely qualify for merit scholarships if not for Fall than definitely spring.
Once they get to college, and for sure at A&M, a lot of classes,study groups, clubs/orgs, etc communicate via FB and group me besides email. My son is in a group me with students for nearly every class for his major, of which the profs are also part.
Kids need to be careful on group meās also. What seems to happen a couple of times a year is where talk will take place in a groupMe about a test/assignment and answers revealed or other inappropriate action and students who donāt leave the groupMe immediately after the first hint, can and often get caught up in the punishment, even if their only ācrimeā was not removing themselves. It doesnāt matter. If they stay in the groupMe where cheating is suspected of taking place, even if they never respond, take part, whatever, they are subject to failing the test/class. In addition,. These punishments usually are against the Aggie code of honor and the notation is permanently affixed to their transcript.
High School kids are typically not used to email communications as much as we adults are and to get ready for that, even over summer. Check your email daily. During school, daily to several times a day.
This is such good advice @Thelma2
āHigh School kids are typically not used to email communications as much as we adults are and to get ready for that, even over summer. Check your email daily. During school, daily to several times a day.ā
My daughter got a PSA offer but her choice major does not do PSA or PTA - so she is going outside the TAMU system. And every piece of communication is through her university account. They do not send anything to her personal email. In HS they were not forced to use the school email for everything.
There could be a thread on my question already, so an advance apology. What I want to know how much is the probability or possibility of a major change for a PSA kid. My daughter would like to do Animal Science, but the PSA in Corpus do not offer that. She plans on taking WildLife and Fisheries in TAMUCC, then would like to change her major to Animal Science if she gets admitted to College Station. I am aware a major change is not guaranteed, but is it possible