Thanks!
I have a question. My son’s NSC is on 6/16/20. I’m curious, do you think he will have any issues to register for his engineering classes if he attends his NSC that late? He didn’t register earlier because of other obligations and pretty hectic time. Should we try to reschedule his NSC? What do you think?
Thank you
@MomOfTeens77 I’d say June 16 is relatively early, but I believe anytime before early August is good (when upperclassmen can also start to register).
For registration, they open a few classes at a time, and as classes fill, others are made available. Its not like the first kids to register have access to ALL the classes. Hope that makes sense! My engineering son registered mid June last year also, and we were thankful to get it out of the way!
Most importantly, take the MPE (math placement exam) seriously and practice for it. At NSC, a passing grade will allow the student to register for chemistry and Calc 1.
Thank you very much for your response. 
That’s extremely early so you’ll be good. But honestly, everyone will get a solid schedule. Upperclassmen register is April and then can move their schedule around again in August but they won’t be going for the same classes as a fish.
Thank you, AggieMomhelp. As always, you are very helpful.
@AggieMomhelp , We are OOS, accepted in Engineering recently. My son just completed the Phase 1 and can access Phase 2 on 2/11/20. Does this mean he can put in choices/preferences for roommate, etc but room selection doesnt happen until March ? Thanks for you help…
@mumboyz phase 2 is preferences and I think you will complete roommate finder stuff but not sure when you select roommates. It’s different this year with the 2 phases. We haven’t seen that before. Room selection has been done end of April or May in the past. So this whole system is new this year. Basically, you have time lol. And whatever room preference you put down is irrelevant. It’s whatever is available is what you’ll get when it’s your time. Hullabaloo and modulate fill up quickly. If you’re a single person(meaning no linked roommate) it’s easier to find an empty bed vs an empty room (if that makes sense).
Does signing up for a NSC mean you are accepting A&M’s offer? I thought I read that wasn’t the case this year but I don’t see any other way to accept. Also, when do you have to do any of the other steps except for housing (like submitting vaccination and final transcripts) once you have signed up for a NSC?
I have been lurking and reading for a while now, and I appreciate all the information I’ve learned here. I have been reading the Facebook groups as well, and I had a couple questions (to start with). (My son was accepted early admission in November to engineering.)
Piggybacking on the vaccination question above, when I printed the form out, it makes it look like I will also have to take him for a physical and have that filled out too? He just had the vaccination last year for CC and I submitted the form to them. Then we changed pediatricians, so I would need to have the vaccination form signed by his old pediatrician and take the physical form to his new family doc… Is there some way I can just submit that same form? It’s too bad it doesn’t show up on the transcript when he transfers credit from dual enrollment.
I’m kind of worried about NSC too because I heard that he meets with the advisor and makes the schedule alone while the parents go to a meeting. He has quite a few DE credits for Chem 1 &2, Physics 1, and Calculus 1&2 and other classes. I’m concerned about how that works out for ETAM. I spoke with the engineering recruiter, but I have heard horror stories about the engineering advisors and their bad advice.
Per the Engineering Session at TAMU visit last week, if you receive Calculus credit by examination (i.e. AP) you will have the choice to take the credit or not. Your placement exam at NSC will recommend whether you are ready to move to the next course or not, but you still have the option. I believe that dual credit courses are automatically accepted, but you still have the option to repeat.
Many students who were placed into Calculus 2 or 3, still took 1 and/or 2 their first year to maintain a GPA and thus make it easier to hit 3.5 for automatic guarantee of major.
Not sure about Chem or Physics. I suspect that if your curriculum meets TAMU standards, you can take the credits, but don’t quote me on that.
Has anyone in this thread been notified of interviews for the Terry Scholarship? Any insight into how their process/timeline works would be wonderful.
@Lalibela What did the engineering recruiter tell you about ETAM for a student with math and science dual credit classes?
I have been told time and again (on this forum, at TAMU, at Blinn Engineering) that students cannot retake classes for which they have actual college credit. They can choose not to accept AP credits, but taking college classes through an accredited college means they must accept the credit.
My plan had been to have my son take Calc 1 and 2 his senior year, but he is doing AP Calc BC instead.
I don’t know how the math placement exam figures into this. If a student has taken Calc 1 and 2 at the community college and doesn’t score well enough for Calc 3… who knows?
Interesting. Now that I think about it, he didn’t mention not taking the credit. He just said there was no problem taking Calculus 3 and Diff Equations for his math classes if he chooses to. I believe he said he can get a waiver for the second science class since Chem 1,2 and Physics 1 would already transfer. My son heard from other A&M engineering students that some of them don’t take the credit and retake the classes, but it’s possible they were talking about AP vs DE. I will have to investigate further about that…
From what my son looked at of the MPE practice that you can print out, he said it mostly looks like algebraic stuff. So maybe it doesn’t go into Calculus at all.
@Lalibela That is what I’ve heard as well. A student who has previously taken Calc 1 and 2 would just take the next two maths – I guess the next two required for his particular major(?). It’s always nice to hear the same thing a few times in a row from the people at TAMU, if you know what I mean.
You make a good point about the MPE not including much in the way of higher math.
@WTXMama @Lalibela My son said that the MPE was mainly algebra and trig, no calculus. My son had Math AP BC credit and took it for both Calc 1 and 2 went straight into Calc 3 and Diff Eq his freshman year. I will say though that many kids have trouble with Diff Eq and q drop it the first time which would be risky to do your freshman year because it will make you skip your first and only opportunity for auto-admit ETAM at your first opportunity. Many kids take the credit just for Calc2 freshman year because that class is a bear and retake Calc1 and then go into Calc3 freshman year.
As for the sciences for ETAM, if you have credit for all of them on the ETAM list you do not have to take them for ETAM. Similarly if you have credit for some of them, you just take the ones you do not have yet. If that ends up being less then 2 sciences for your freshman year they give you a waiver because between the credit and what you have taken at tamu, you have all the sciences on their ETAM list. My son did this, he had credit for AP Chem 1, AP Physics C: Physics 1 and 2 so just took chem 2 and got waivers for the rest.
I can tell you that I was a math major at UTA and DiffEQ was my toughest math class the entire time. I took it 2nd Semester Freshman Year and never had a more difficult math class the rest of the way.
We’re looking at meal plans. I see that one is allowed to DECREASE the meal plan early in the semester, but is it possible to INCREASE the meal plan? My d is Blinn TEAM, does anyone have advice/experience on meal plans for this situation?
Yes you can always increase. Think of it as they will always take your money lol. There may be a deadline but to increase it’s not gonna be hard. Not to mention you can add just dining dollars not meal trades.
Depending on your kid… dining dollars way more important than meals. Unless you have a strapping young man that can eat his weight. Dining dollars roll over. Meals do not. Look deeper into that for time frames so that you familiarize yourself.
Will a student that was offered the Engineering Team or other alternative pathway be able to apply for Engineering Honors or University Honors at TAMU?