Chiming in to say that quite a few “close” academic/auto admits did not hear back until February/March (my son included - he got PSA - he was top 12.4% and was .25 of a point away from 30 ACT - even had the required minimums for ELA and Math). Just had to put that out there so as to not get hopes up. His major also was not a PSA major so he had to change his major for PSA.
Are there any applicants who were not auto admits that have heard their status-BIMS majors in particular?
@jnlaggie98 I believe that BIMS is as a competitive a major as Mays or Engineering - and regardless of what we’ve been told, I do think that they screen majors. My son (see my last recent post re: stats- I think #1120) also applied for BIMS but was denied in March. Could be different this year though! On the flip side, I have read that BIMS is very hard and there have been reports of students changing majors. So in hindsight, it might be a blessing in disguise for my son. Who knows? 
A&M offers residual ACT??
Thank you! I agree, it is very likely that they screen majors. Waiting until March is crazy, though! Our daughter applied in July and is still “under review.” Other universities have already accepted her and offered 4 year scholarships. As an Aggie myself (w/ BIMS degree) they need to look at the candidates who applied early and not have them wait in the same pool as those who applied in November.
Good luck to your son on his university adventures as well 
!
@jnlaggie98 My daughter was a review applicant for Animal Science has got full admit. Below are her stats. She looked at the BIMS but is 100% sure she wants to be a vet and prefers the hands on exposure of the Animal Science degree so went that route.
When did you apply: 8/5/2019
Class Rank: 379/1365 - 27.8%
GPA: 3.85 UW 3.99 W
ACT (with Sub Scores) 32 (27 English, 31 Math, 34 Science, 34 Reading)
When did you receive your admission decision: 10/29/19-Full Admit
Are you an Auto-admit or Academic Admit or Review Admit: Review Admit
Major/College of Choice: Animal Science - Pre-Vet
Wow, thank you. Then I may have my daughter look at switching the top major choice. She is going into nursing and has Public Health as her second choice.
When did you apply: 7/23/2019
Class Rank: 18%
GPA: 102.8
SAT- 1320
When did you receive your admission decision: Pending review
Are you an Auto-admit or Academic Admit or Review Admit: Review Admit
Major/College of Choice: BIMS or Public Health
Applied on October 26
Accepted on November 14
Class Rank: No rank, school is very competitive, mostly A minuses
ACT: 36 Reading, 35 Math, 36 English, 35 Science, 11 Writing
Academic Admit
Accepted to College of Engineering
I’m with you about majors, at least in part, being a factor. These is just no way to reconcile the way the PSAs come out at the end, in waves by major, if it doesn’t. They are obviously grouped.
Here are my thoughts about major not mattering.
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If you are an auto or academic admit (other than engineering) major not does not matter. Unlike UT - you will get your major of choice if there is room. I think this is a HUGE part of saying major does not matter.
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There are a ton of engineering spaces on campus and at bunch of full admit pathways Decisions that are considered full admits to the university. (According to DARS - 84% in 2018 got CC or a full admit engineering pathway).
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We see a pattern of some review students that have engineering listed as one of their majors get accepted (and then offered one of the alternative pathways) that have lower stats other review students that list Mays, Viz and other more limited programs (and eventually get offered PSA). We are talking solid students. The stats clearly show your chance of getting into some majors is significantly better than others.
Looking at http://dars.tamu.edu/Student/files/Apply-Admit-Enroll-Sum-All-Fa18-incl-Galveston.aspx I have run the numbers (Percent admitted).
Ag 53%
Arch 46%
Business Admin 48%
Education 48%
Engineering 85%
Geo 67%
Gen Studies 100% (Not a major you choose it’s Gateway etc who have completed requirement and have a semester to apply for a major)
Liberal Arts 56%
Science 62%
Vet 72%
Public Health 57%
- So when certain majors (Viz in ARCH, Mays and probably BIMS too) have such limited space - the number of review candidates admitted is statistically insignificant. So major does matter, because it is filled before review candidates are even considered.
Bottom line - they are not going to tell us the “secret sauce” in terms of their admission decisions. But you can look at the trend of the review candidates reported here (And you never know if they are true reporting) that got into MAYS - for the past two years at least, it has been people who applied very early and were so very, very close to being academic or auto admits. It’s almost like they pick an arbitrary date, like the engineering consideration deadline, and look at the applications for Mays and bring in a select few that rise to the very top of the list.
my daughter (OOS) applied Nov. 3rd with her first choice being Viz (we were not aware that it fills up that fast) and second choice Journalism (liberal arts). She was admitted by the end of the same week but of course in liberal arts. Advisor at school of Architecture suggested ENDS and transferring into Viz. Would it change the admissions decision if she did a change of major to ENDS? Also, how fast could she possibly transfer? She is a great student, 34 ACT, top 2% of her class of 390 etc.
Sorry that your daughter did not get her first choice of major. When going through all the possibilities last year (my daughter ended up PSA) we considered what transferring from another major to visualization would look like.
The info I have is two years old, but I would check if the Arch advisor and see about the possibility of Environmental Design as a major.
The way the now retired director of the Viz undergrad program explained it to us - is Viz has these studio classes that are sequenced and start your freshman year. Vist 105, Vist 106, Vist 205 and Vist 206 must be taken in order beginning the fall of your freshman year. So transferring into the program from another major puts you, at minimum, a year behind.
But - there may be the possibility of starting out as another major in the Arch school (I think it is Environmental design) where their studio design class that sequences beginning freshman year is similar enough they allow the substitution.
I would check on that.
Here is the viz curriculum link https://viz.arch.tamu.edu/_common/docs/bs-viz-curriculum/vistCurriculum141.pdf
@atxmom67 When did your son apply? and was he auto or academic admit?
@JaceyK what did your son change his major to?
My daughter is a senior and loves A&M, she is really hoping to get in. She is extremely smart and has taken many dual credit courses throughout high school but she has very bad test anxiety and just isn’t a great tester which has made her SAT scores pretty low. However, she loves science and helping people and with all of her honors and dual credit courses, she is very well rounded and a very good student.
Applied - 8/5/19
Other documents were received by 9/23/19 and SRAR was completed on 10/02/19
Rank - 217/728 - 30%
GPA - weighted 3.9, not sure UW
SAT - 1090 (reading 580 math 510)
Review Admit
No decision yet - application is in review
1st choice major is Public Health, 2nd is Biology
She recently got her letter confirming her acceptance into Texas State, but she really wants to be an Aggie. Any opinions on if you think she will get in?
So, my son saw all 6 tabs on Thursday morning, Howdy & AIS both updated to say “You have been admitted” by Friday and we can view his acceptance letter online, but he still hasn’t received an email. When should we expect the official email and letter in the mail? I think he feels its more official once you get the actual email. Just curious.
@kreed23 in sure your daughter is a great candidate and will make a great Aggie! I think the route she will get will be PSA if her major offers it. With 2nd quarter ranking and low sat, I’m not sure the rest of her application will pull her through. So many last year had great scores but just below the 1360 or 30 mark and got psa. It was crazy. This year could be different. Won’t really know until we see some holistic reviews go through. Blinn is a great option for the first year. Many students do this then apply as a transfer their sophomore year. It’s a great transition and. She’ll be around all things Aggie. Great environment.
@AggieMomhelp thank you for your input! What is PSA?
My daughter got accepted as a review applicant. She’ll be an Education major though, maybe that’s easier? ACT 28, top quarter of her class. She applied on 7/1 and got her response on 10/28.
Thank you for sharing! We hope to hear something soon 
.
Thank you, and good luck! We were surprised she got an answer already. Most of her friends who are review are still waiting, and it’s so hard!
@kreed23 go to the Tamu website for admissions. Then look at alternative pathways. It will give you everything you’ll want to know about psa, pta, And blinn team. Then of course there’s just going straight blinn. So many options for these students.