Here’s the info for NEW applicants (not those admitted):
You are a freshman if you:
are a student without college credit or
earned college credit prior to high school graduation (dual credit/early college high school) and
are a U.S. citizen; have applied for permanent residency; or qualify for Texas residency based on Senate Bill 1528
@AggieMomhelp @agmomx2 @Thelma2 My son will be a Engineering Freshman starting in Fall 2018 at CS, what kind of summer class can he take at the community college?
Can I ask a silly question? I understand where the phrase “gig 'em” originates from, and we’ve gotten emails that close with “Thanks and Gig 'em.”
Do kids or parents use the phrase, and if so, when do you use it?
My kiddo commited to A&M! We are so excited and can’t wait to learn all the great traditions! Thanks to all the parents for posting such helpful information!
S18 is taking AP tests in May and the scores won’t be released until July 8. Should we schedule his NSC after July 8 so we know if he has to take Bio 111/112? Also, do they do academic advising before the student goes in to register?We have the program requirements for his degree printed out, but 2 of the recommended classes for Fall semester he will already have credit for. Thanks for the advice. Proud to be an Aggie Mom!
Everyone uses the phrase Gig’em. It is a multi-purpose phrase which can stand in for hello, goodbye, good cheer, general agreement, and school unity. “Whoop!” is similar.
Thanks @Debbie7452 - we are from out-of-state and just learning everything!
@S18D20mom My son was in the same position last year and kept his early NSC and was glad that he did. He was able to get his non-engineering core electives that he wanted; these fill up very fast. When his AP scores were received at A&M in the summer, the advisor he was assigned at his NSC, changed his schedule for him before open registration in August. All he had to do was call her after the scores were received and he was advised when to take his AP credit on the phone so that she could change his schedule. She got him into the courses he wanted and his schedule was finished. Make sure your son just gets his advisor’s contact information so that he can contact her in the summer.
@LilyWu he could take any university core curriculum class. Some UCC classes also count credit for the required ICD classes and many of them have Texas common course numbers, so they are available to transfer from other schools.
I’ll link the ucc/icd website and tccn site tomorrow. just too tuckered out right now
Gig 'em is a phrase, it is sort of like thumbs up as far as usage goes. You will hear all about the origination of it from the yell leaders at NSC as well as midnight yell usually showcases it at least once a year 
Thanks & gig’em is common to close a letter, also just “T & G” when shortened.
Once you are a parent, you’ll be decked out in TAMU maroon far more often than you’d imagine… and those with connections with TAMU will almost always give you a thumbs up and/or “gig em” when they walk by you. It is amazing - happens to us all the time - in airports, walking on trails, in stores, in other cities/countries, wherever you are! My kids have had people approach them because they see their rings - up to and including job offers, business cards exchanged & look me up if you need anything… it is crazy. We do not live in Texas, so we were more stunned. My son was recognized a few times in HS for different awards and all the aggies in respective audiences said ‘whoop’ when his name was announced with his future college selection. It’s funny because we knew what it meant, but the others in the audience were trying to figure it out since whoop isn’t ‘go aggies’ or anything like that, so other people were just puzzled as the whoops came from several areas of the audiences :))
Regarding summer courses - I would look to fulfill the Core Requirements vs. engineering specific. If they don’t have credit for English through AP/DE, that is a good one to knock off the list. PoliSci is another. Typically (don’t bite my head off) engineers are not big into writing papers, so they tend to take those courses elsewhere leaving them time to concentrate on engineering (math/science oriented classes). But there are some who love that stuff and use them to boost their overall GPA. Most students usually take a summer school course along the way - not necessarily right before they begin - I’d say vast majority take a breather before they dive in freshman year. If you take summer school at TAMU(vs. elsewhere) there are no restrictions on courses you can take regarding your major. Off campus housing is usually year round pay, so many take summer school on campus.
I appreciate the explanation @AGmomx2 - T & G!
This forum has been so helpful! My son was accepted this year to A&M. I have a daughter that is a year younger and would like to graduate a year early (so basically skip her senior year) because her grades and SAT scores will not get her into the Engineering program at A&M. My question is what are the pros and cons academically of graduating a year early? If she attends community college and does well, are her chances better getting into A&M (or UT) after having a year of community college under her belt? Does anyone have experience with this kind of situation?
So can we plan our classes in advance or do we have to wait until NSC? I know that’s when we actually register, but I’d like to choose morning/afternoon/night classes, research professors, and see what I need to take before I just blindly sign up for things. I feel like being prepared and knowing what I want will stop me from making too many mistakes. May be dorky but as a hs student I want a reason to finally use ratemyprofessors!!!
@GManmom123 if she takes college courses after HS graduation she will become a transfer student NOT an incoming freshman. You will need to look at requirements to apply to engineering as a transfer. They apply direct to major (not general engineering) your HS grades don’t count, nor your SAT. You can search the transfer thread on CC for stats/outcomes too. Some engineering majors admit very few transfers – they are basically at capacity, so it is really tough to transfer in. Others have more slots, it will depend on what field she wants.
It is easier to get into colleges as incoming freshman than transfers for the majority of people… but of course it depends on each individual. Is her rank below 25%? If not, might be an idea to get tutoring to raise scores?
If at all possible, I recommend Pre-conference day before NSC. LOTS of photo opps at the Memorial Student Center. Try on the Aggie Ring (and hold up your sign that you are trying it on).
Fall 2018 is not listed yet. Get familiar with this link. http://core.tamu.edu/ It will become your friend in selecting UCC (university core curriculum) and ICD (international and Cultural Diversity) classes.
Click which campus you will be at (College Station or Galveston).
In some cases, a class can satisfy two of the requirements. Example: History of Rock. It satisfies both creative Arts and an ICD requirement. In the case for some majors, your required classes can satisfy UCC requirements as will AP classes. (Have your AP scores sent to A&M but wait until NSC and group advising before claiming any AP credits)
Students need to get familiar with how to look up courses and CRN numbers and making mock schedules using the HOWDY schedule builder or Free College Schedule Maker, to see what the actual day will look like when they select courses. https://www.freecollegeschedulemaker.com/
Look at the profs and look them up on http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ Another great resource is https://profpicker.com/. You may have to pay $1 per subject to see all profs grade distributions (meaning all Math profs not profs for just one math class or type of math). Here is the free distro report from tamu
http://web-as.tamu.edu/gradereport/
It can balance out some of the prof ratings, which anyone can do and some need to be taken with a grain of salt. Sometimes you will get lucky and get the profs you want and sometimes you will not.
Practicing this before NSC will help a lot before actual registration. The schedules you make now from the CNR numbers you have access to WILL NOT be the schedule you will take to NSC. The sections you will actually use to register will open during your NSC.
In HOWDY, student needs to practice looking up CRN numbers.
In HOWDY, on the left side of the page (hope it is still set up like this), are several “blocks” of information.
Look under REGISTRATION.
Click on SEARCH CLASS SCHEUDLE
Select the term (Fall 2018 College Station or Galveston) and click SUBMIT
Select SUBJECT to search for a course
Find the course number and click VIEW SECTIONS
All sections for this course are displayed. Select the section with the day, time, and/or professor preference. Pay attention to column details.
Clicking the CRN number expands the explanation of the class
• The first column is the *Course Registration Number (CRN) This is the number you will enter into the computer at registration.
• The next columns are the subject, course and section. * Section number – 2XX are for honors students only
• Under Title, it may list *Restrictions/Details – check for major specific sections of PHYS and some UCCs
• *Remaining Seats: Capacity is how many seats are offered. Then ACT is how many are taken and REM is how many are remaining open. Sometimes they will expand capacity in a class rather than open more sections.
• Date and time and professor are listed. Sometimes TBA is listed. R means Thursday. So Tues/Thursday will be listed as T/R (not T/TH)
• Common Exam Times – Math and Physics have common exams – student will know at registration the date and time of all semester exams (except finals).
On day 2 of NSC, you will have your have your group advising session, where they will present how to register. You will then break for lunch. It is during this time that many will be figuring it out for the first time while they eat. It is a short 1.5 hours. Be flexible and have a few back ups for classes to plug into your schedule.
Know that there are labs associated with some classes and you must sign up for those along with the lecture. Also, like for engineering, Math 151 & 152 (and the physics classes) have a lab time, who make sure you take note of the time of the lab. While you may like the time of the lecture and recitation, the lab time could be at 7:30pm.
Having a nighttime lab is not that big of a deal. Most will cry about it first semester because they are not used to it just coming out of high school. They may go to class for an hour or two in the morning and have all day to do their chores/study/etc and they will not be the only ones. It is not uncommon and there will be hundreds of others on campus at that time. It’s college life.
Tips for registering:
• Check for registration holds under your My Record tab
• Search for classes before your registration time to find alternatives Be flexible – especially with Social and Behavioral Sciences, Creative Arts and International & Cultural Diversity Electives
• Check “Restrictions/Details” when searching classes to make sure a course is not restricted to specific majors or to specific classifications
• You must have the Honors designation to register for course sections with 200 section numbers
• Accept the Lab Safety Acknowledgement. Be sure to scroll down inside the box to accept
• • Register for CHEM lecture and CHEM lab at the same time
Here is another free grade distribution website
http://www.jippylong12.xyz/tamuFGD/
It gives all the teachers for a given class over 18 semesters and their grade distributions.
@Thelma2 thank you for the detailed response, it was very helpful!!
Ok y’all what is a TAMU Belles, Blossoms, Gems, Ryllie, Sweethearts, Maggies, Legacies? What are they? Is it basically non-greek sororities?
Also if your kiddo participates in greek rush do they move into the dorms early? Does rush interfere with Howdy week activities? Are there organized freshman howdy week activities or is howdy week open to the entire campus/all classes?I
The typical college thing is for freshman to arrive on campus anywhere from 1werk to a few days before upperclassmen and do bonding stuff and get acclimated to campus, does that happen at TAMU or is that the purpose of NSC and fish camp?
I had some of the same questions about rush & howdy week. Hopefully this link will work. It shows rush starting on Saturday, 9/18. Originally we were thinking about moving my daughter into the dorm on 8/18 (requesting early move-in) but may back it up another day. Also she is scheduled for the last Impact and may move that up so she has some down time between that & rush. If I can just get everyone to sit down around the table to make some decisions!
http://cpc.tamu.edu/?page_id=1186