So confused! My son recently got information about participating in a PSA system school. Not sure what’s best for him continue with the PSA for the year or have him register at Blinn and then apply to transfer to A&M. His goal is to ultimately get into A&M as fast as he can. What is the percentage of acceptance as a transfer student into A&M? Can a student transfer after a year at Blinn? He is interested in the nursing program. I am so confused. Not sure what to advise! Please help any advise is greatly appreciated.
@Thelma2 can definitely answer your question.
I’m just a mom, who has been reading this forum.
Surely there are other schools where your son has been accepted? If so, I’d go there. If not, I’d take the PSA route. If your son fulfills the gpa/Requirements set by TAMU at PSA, he gets in automatically at A&M. Personally (again, I’m not an expert, just a mom), I think Blinn CC is going to be over saturated with students, all trying to get in to A&M, and there simply won’t be enough space for everyone (once PSA kids start enrolling). Straight Blinn isn’t a sure thing at all, and I definitely think he’ll need a 3.9-4.0 to even be considered.
And at least at a PSA, he can live in a dorm, attend PSA athletic events, social activities, etc.
The statistics on this comparison are not very helpful because the straight transfer process is entirely departmentally dependent. The departmental majors select their transfers and each one has its own threshold for GPA’s and required classes. For what it’s worth, my son did this 2 years ago. He did not want to start at a different campus, but strongly wanted to be in College Station. He studied like crazy at Blinn/Bryan, took all the required classes and got a 4.0 and transferred into A&M after one year(Ag Eco major). Both of his other roommates studied less, got decent, but not top grades and also got into A&M after the first year(also various Ag majors). Business majors or Engineering will not have this result.
Just a word about A&Ms nursing school. My daughter was part of Blinn Team, did her two years of prerequisites and did not get accepted to the nursing program with a 3.79 GPA. She ultimately finished at UTMB and is now a nurse at Texas Children’s. It is extremely competitive and there are not many seats for nursing. My advice for nursing: study very hard and get a GPA as close as 4.0 to get in the top tier nursing schools. Good luck. (By the way, BLINN Team was great!)
@LookinfortheLight check out the PSA and the PTA admission page on the TAMU website and compare the two options. they are both guaranteed admission but the PTA requires 30 hours vs 24 and a 3.2 gpa vs 3.0. Pluses and minuses for both options depending on your priorities.
Nursing is very competitive for entry into upper levels before ruling out other schools, take a look at the nursing web page for being a competitive applicant. hundreds of students apply for 25-70 spots each cycle.
https://nursing.tamhsc.edu/traditional/index.html
PTA offers Allied Health but having her sciences done at a Jr College will put her at the bottom of consideration for the very few seats over students who completed them at A&M.
Our high school students in our city find this a problem when they take their sciences dual credit in high school and apply to UT Arlington. They may have a 4.0, but they are not competitive to other applicants who have considerations, like science hours at the uni as well as 30 minimum uni hours.
Here is the deal. Upper division nursing at any uni will give preference to students who complete the core sciences at their university, not at a Jr college and not at another 4 year uni.
A&M gives preference to those who take the courses in the Brazos Valley. So, even if she attends a 4 year uni elsewhere and has a 3.9, when she applies to upper division, she could be bumped by all those given preferences for so few seats.
Most nursing students apply to more than one upper level division school. If you don’t get in the first time, apply again. Make sure you know the required classes for each upper level school because they are not all the same. For instance, TWU in Dallas requires a nutrition class that UTA does not.
Also, all of the titers and vaccinations and any necessary repeats, like Hepatitis B, need to be complete before she ever applies to upper levels. Heb B takes 6 months to redo. This makes a lot of admits forfeit their seat after they are admitted.
If she wants A&M, I would not do PSA or PTA at all. I would attend a 4 year uni that has a nursing school or if she insists on A&M, follow the transfer course sheet for Allied Health to A&M that and apply to transfer to A&M ASAP. A&M will still give preference to those who complete their hours in Brazos Valley.
I just literally went through this process with my own daughter at UT Arlington and her acceptance to upper levels on March 8. It is uber competitive and a LOT of stress to make A’s in some very difficult classes.