One reminder: check out the map online so when you register you have the TIME needed to get between classrooms. This is particularly important freshman year when you are taking courses that might be in other areas of the university. IF you are trying to go from say Poli Sci course (often in the building near Bush Library)to a Science course(near the Evans library) you will need LOTS of time to cross the campus between classes. All of this is online. For the most part each building is dedicated to a type of course ( English, math, science, engineering, business, poli science, psych, etc). Many use bikes & skateboards to get between courses/dorms/MSC etc. There are also bike racks near/in parking garages for off campus students.
If your Blinn Engineering, does this all apply? How do they work scheduling between A&M and Blinn?
@TexasMustang @chercheur State law prohibits students from having more than six dropped courses from all state institutions attended during their undergraduate career if they entered higher education as a first-time enrolled freshman beginning the 2007 fall semester or after. Texas A&M allows for only 4 of those drops at the University.
Thanks @Thelma2 ! I appreciate your time and willingness to answer these questions!
@GManmom123 For Blinn Engineering they will have to chose between readymade tracks which will have Math and science classes at Blinn and Engineering at A&m. Like my daughter chose a track where she had Math and Chem at Blinn on Monday and Wednesday and Engr at Tamu on Tues and Thur. The tracks usually have doable schedules. But You can chose your core classes as you wish.
@TexasMustang My son was in the first NSC for engineering and was not able to get all of his classes because his AP scores had not come in yet. He talked with his advisor at the NSC and was told that he could email her after A&M received his AP scores and she would change his schedule for him to drop the classes he had to add at the NSC (Math 151, Phys 218) and add Math 251 and Chem 102. So you do not have to necessarily wait until the August add/drop period to get your schedule ironed out. Also my son was very glad he got the earliest NSC because the non-engineering core elective classes fill up very fast and he was still able to get spots in the ones he wanted. A few weeks later after his NSC and there were not any seats left in those classes. During Add/Drop in August some do reappear if you are diligent enough to keep rechecking for them. A big advantage for scheduling going forward is being part of any of the honors programs because then you get to preregister for all your classes on the first day of preregistration.
As has been said in here already, if your son/daughter is well prepared with schedules going into the NSC preregistration it will go very quickly. My son was in and out in 5 minutes. The big reason they do not allow parents in with the kids is because they are split up around campus in computer labs which are not very big. There are rows of desks with computers and no room for a parent to stand behind are nearby.
Thank you pbleigh. Very helpful information.
Just stumbled on this treasure trove of info on the Aggie parent FB page. It is the grade distribution reports. So you are able to search by school and lookup class/section/prof and see the grades given and number of drops. If you are a fan of Rate my Professor. This is actually fact based info…
@labegg we live by this at TAMU!! great resource
I have a question that maybe parents can answer, my kids are seniors now and we are relocating to Houston in june for DHs job, the plan is a gap year to apply to A&M for '19. I spoke with A&M admissions today and they state that the application process will look at them as OOS applicants until they are otherwise readjusted (fulfill the 12 months), but that OOS auto admit is top 25% and exceeding tests reqs. (DDs have A 32 AND 33 ACT, 3.8 and 3.97 gpa. exceed english and math reqs in ACT and will be top 10% and top 20% ish). Is that solid? 33/top 10% kid is planning on engineering, is that going to be auto admit too? I had no idea this was a thing for OOS kids. Scholarships? I assume they would have to be lower value if the OOS status is strictly applied?
As they are in limbo in application even though we will live in Texas (will own a home), they would still be looked at as OOS in the entire application process, is there anything we do on the application to indicate we will be instate well before matriculation? Kids will be dependents, of course. Obviously all high school course work etc is from our current state, but all our address details will be in Texas. We will get apps in ASAP in July.
Are they other schools I should consider? We would have them do U of H as a safety, but should I consider any privates that would give great merit? Higher score kid would want a solid research school for biomed eng (not pre med, but will want to do a doctorate). Kid 2 is undecided, business/sciences/eng as a possibility. Needs to be cost equiv of A&M or thereabouts.
Any advice appreciated. This is a bit of a risk, they do have admission to our instate at the U of Utah. Costs assuming instate rates are similar, but they do have some scholarship money here, but the GPA for keeping the scholarships are onerous at 3.6 so literally we count on one year (plus regents should be 2 yrs at 2500 a year). Texas offers a change of scenery, different opportunities and dorming on campus (we wouldn't pay for dorms in Utah but get them an apartment). We are full pay, would not get FA at any public with 3 kids in college.
@Sybylla Baylor is a private school in Waco, TX that gives great merit
@Sybylla At A&M, engineering majors go through holistic review, even top 10% auto admits. Although, I don’t think your kiddo will have a problem - the scores are great! You just might want to check on it and the entry to major process for engineering students. There is a lot of information here about engineering programs you might find helpful:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/texas-m-university/2023076-tamu-class-of-2022-engineering-admission-decisions.html#latest
Regarding other schools in Texas, UT Dallas has a wonderful engineering program and they are very generous with merit scholarships. @mikeinsugarland gave some solid info about UT Dallas in this thread, post #123 - it is worth checking out. His son was deciding between TAMUG engineering and UT Dallas and they did a lot of research on the two programs - http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/texas-m-university/2057244-a-m-engineering-galveston.html#latest
Word of caution: to remain eligible for academic admit admission students must NOT take any college courses after HS graduation-- if they do, they will become transfers and NOT incoming freshmen. Merit scholarships at TAMU are highly competitive, keep in mind well over 80% of the students admitted are academic or top 10% students that are admitted directly to College Station campus (the online stats are for all types of admits - which include several thousand NOT going direct to CS).
Does anyone know if Dual Enrollment classes taken in high school affect college GPA? GC at our HS told us yes, but when I called A&M they said if it was a DE class taken in high school, the course credit transfers but the GPA does not carryover.
@AGmomx2 just to clarify…my D is an academic admit and accepted to honors engineering. She graduates in June 2018. Does it mess up here status to take a class at community college this summer? Even tho she is already admitted? Thx
That’s a good question, @seniormom1823 . We have the same question.
@AGmomx2 @chercheur - I called Engineering Academics and Student Affairs and the Office of Admissions Prospective Student center and asked if taking a community college class over the summer (in my D’s case it will be a required govt class) would change her status as an incoming freshman. I was told by both people that it would not change her status, and she would still be entering as a freshman.
@AGmomx2 Maybe if you take a certain number of hours your status changes…?
Still considered a freshman if take summer classes. Anything starting in the Fall changes the status. So those that didn’t get into TAMU for Fall but take CC classes in the fall will apply as transfer in the Spring. Taking summer classes is irrelevant!
@seniormom1823 @AggieMomhelp Thanks for clarifying!
Sorry I’m not on here that often anymore, admitted students vs. those who have not yet applied have different rules. Admitted students can take summer school the sessions before the fall freshman year begins.
The status change is for those taking gap years and waiting to apply for the later semesters. We have known a few people who just ‘kept their feet wet’ by taking a course during that gap year and were denied freshman admission pathways ( top 10% & academic admits). They had to apply as transfers with some majors requiring many more units. Your final ranking counts for the class rank if you go that pathway vs. the 6 semester one. For some, that may squeeze them into an automatic admit category so it is an attractive pathway to wait a gap year… I just mentioned it since the one poster was doing a gap year & asking about academic admit status.
Always a good idea to check information out that may affect your student – rules to do change and you never want to do something based just on what you read here. Those of us who post do our best to help, but since I’ve witnessed changes over the years to various policies, verifying is the best route.