TAMU- 2024 After you've been accepted... questions and answers

https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/eh/admission.html#Eligibility

My daughter (engineering) has registered for NSC in mid-June. She is really wanting to do the on-campus housing to get a feel for what that is like. I would be staying with her (since I am also attending NSC). Am I going to regret staying in a dorm room? Has anyone here stayed in the dorm housing (not apartment/Whitecreek) with their student for NSC? I am imagining pulling a suitcase from far away parking all the way to the dorms and that does not sound fun.

Lol the visual is awesome! I’ve only talked to people that have stayed at white creek and then some who’s kiddo stays on campus and parental stays at hotel nearby.

Do you know what dorms are open for nsc? Then I can tell you about how far parking is.

My daughter has been admitted as an OOS student and NM semi-finalist (and has since made finalist.) She applied for LAUNCH and has yet to hear back. Having read through the thread, am I correct in thinking that there are no further scholarship opportunities for an OOS student despite the “National Merit scholars (semifinalists and finalists) admitted for fall will also compete for other freshman scholarship opportunities which are offered in early February” language? Also, I am feeling very uncomfortable with the 3.5 GPA retention policy. Does anyone know what percentage of NM students are able to retain the scholarship all four years?

@astrodreamsmom Last summer, DS and I chose on campus housing for mid June NSC and were given a southside modular. Our parking pass was good for many lots, including the southside garage, which was very close to the dorm. We had a few meals in Dunn Dining Hall that weren’t covered by NSC. Staying in the dorm was great for us since my son would be staying in a modular in the fall and this way he could check it out (and me too!). Hope this helps.

how do we register for nsc? also do we have to register for nsc before we apply for housing because the housing portal isn’t working for me. it keeps saying that i’m timed out?

Housing and NSC are independent, so you can do NSC whenever you can and housing whenever it’s working!

There should be a link for NSC from Howdy and AIS if I remember correctly… Anyone else know???

@grace1020 If you go under the Applicant Tab, in the middle there is a section that says “New Student Conference” and under that click on TAMU Conferences and Orientations then click on Undergraduate New Student Conference. It will take you to a page where you can register.

Also we registered a few weeks ago for NSC (engineering) and we were still able to get a late May date. I was really surprised all the dates were still available, so I think you will still be able to get a great date.

Anona_mom My son is a jr oos NMF. He is also a Brown Scholar. When deciding whether or not to go to A&M the 3.5 requirement scare me as well. He had gotten all A’s in a challenging high school but you never know what challenges freshman year is going to bring them. Going to A&M was a risk because if he didn’t keep his 3.5, he would either have to pay huge amounts to stay there or transfer to an instate school without the scholarships they would have initially given him there. But he decided it was still a great opportunity it’s to go to a good school and it has worked out very well. He has had no troubles keeping his grades up. The first few semesters were stressful from that perspective (at least for me) but he now has a really nice buffer so if he has a rough semester he will be fine. My recommendation would be to make sure to have some easier classes in her schedule freshman year to get a good solid start to her GPA. What is her major going to be?

@Eggscapgoats - thank you so much for the information! I feel better about the idea of staying on campus.

Rellis campus question:
DS will be a Blinn Team student in the fall. From what I understand, all Blinn classes for TEAM are at the Rellis campus. I checked out the Rellis bus route at TAMU. There is only 1 pickup location on campus. The stop is centrally located but still quite a haul from some dorms. I’m sure there is a way to take bus to bus to get there but doesn’t seem very convenient or time friendly (esp for 8:00am classes). I could be wrong- I hope so anyway. Does anyone have any experience with commuting to and from TAMU & Rellis? Maybe driving is a better option for DS as long as parking isn’t a big issue.

Does the Rellis campus have a cafeteria or places to eat on campus? I’m curious if students have several classes during the day at Rellis and take the bus what they do for lunch? Thank you for any feedback. These might seem ridiculous concerns but just trying to figure out how all this will work for DS.

My son works on Rellis campus for TTI. They have food trucks that come in at noon, but that’s it. The classroom building is further away from TTI so maybe there’s some kind of food option, but not to my knowledge just yet.

And I thought Team students could take classes at Bryan location (which is more of a community college feel vs. Rellis where it’s really just one building right now).

My son drives to Rellis. It’s about 10 minutes tops from parking lot to parking lot.

That would be great if Blinn TEAM has the option of taking classes at the Bryan location too. That would help give more options for classes and their a academic center seems larger than Rellis.

I just don’t know how all this works. My son needs to contact a TAMU transition advisor with these questions. I wonder if they would be willing to meet with him before he is a student?

So is it true that once you’ve completed Phase I of housing, Phase II is just for preferences and housing choices? Is it imperative that my DD complete Phase II the minute it opens up for her? Or can she do it within a day or so of the opening date? I understand that she won’t actually pick a room in Phase II, that won’t happen until late April or early May is what I’ve read. But is timing essential in Phase II? I’m only asking because she’s out of town tomorrow on a DECA State competition and won’t be able to fill out the Phase II till Saturday evening at the earliest when it says it’ll open up at 5am.

I have the same question as above, along with what are you actually selecting in phase 2, ie, what should we be researching before continuing?

I had the same concern because my daughter’s Phase 2 opened this morning. I called housing to see if it is time sensitive. They told me it is not time sensitive, and it is a very quick questionnaire that takes maybe 5 minutes. So rather than signing my daughter out of class this morning, she will complete it after school today!

@finsup Thanks for the info on housing! Am I the only parent who has a daughter who feels that housing is #1 priority!? lol I keep telling her the room really doesn’t matter. I’ve promised to help decorate it and make it feel very homey and all. Living on campus in cramped (yet cozy) quarters is just part of the college experience.

Correct… only Phase 1 is time sensitive for priority selection.

I am looking at the Undergraduate Tuition Rate Code Selection… What would be the downside to selected the fixed tuition rate vs the variable? No obvious downside to a fixed but maybe I am missing something.

Update: found a document that explains it better: https://sbs.tamu.edu/documents/Locked%20Rate%20and%20Variable%20Rate%20Tuition%20FAQs%20-%20handout%202019-2020.pdf