Since Apply Texas is open, I figured I would start this year’s thread.
Good Luck everyone applying to Texas A&M University.
This thread on the TAMU forum is for the high school students applying for Fall 2021 admissions.
When did you apply:
Class Rank:
SAT (with Sub Scores)
ACT (with Sub Scores)
When did you receive your admission decision:
Are you an Auto-admit or Review Admit:
Major/College of Choice:
Am I missing something?? To my knowledge, application doesn’t open until August 1.
Thanks for any info you may have!
You are correct. I’m sorry - I jumped the gun on this. Apply Texas is open for a bunch of schools but not UT and TAMU.
We were actually prepared to apply July 1 and were surprised with the delay. I went through this with my older son 2 years ago…it seems like yesterday, though! Time flies!!
I am surprised too. My older daughter went through two years ago and it was July. My younger is going though now - but TAMU does not have what she wants to study. She was applying to schools and just assumed TAMU was the same as the past few years.
My son, TAMU Class 2020 (applying summer 2015 for fall 2016) and years prior, was August 1. After that, it has been July 1. Until this year, back to August 1.
TAMU class 2021 not only had a July 1 application date but their supporting documents had an extension date to January (forget exact date) due to Hurricane Harvey that descended upon the Gulf Coast.
This year, we have the added cessation of the Academic Admit. So it shall be an interesting cycle.
Thank you for starting this discussion!
My son will be applying to TAMU next month. His plan is to eventually go to dental school, so his first choice for major would be BIMS (439 graduates last year), but he is open to Biology (170 graduates last year),or similar majors. My understanding is that he would first need to be accepted into the university, then into the BIMS major. My question is whether choosing a less-popular major would increase his chances of being accepted to the university?
Thanks!
@psalms7510 They say major doesn’t matter at tamu because yes you are admitted to university first, but you will list the first and second choice major in application. We have seen over the past 2 cycles that BIMS is one of the last to find out and is competitive. If it were my child, I’d say go Biology as first choice. Then once accepted and complete certain coursework for BIMS, he could apply to change majors. I’ve seen that done once or twice with my friends kiddos. I’ve also seen many transfer out of BIMS after the first semester, lol.
@AggieMomhelp , thank you for your insight! My husband and I both graduated from TAMU with BIMS degrees, but oh how things have changed.
My son will also be applying next month. This applications cycle is going to be like none other…my son has had 5 canceled test dates between the SAT & ACT. He supposed to take the SAT Aug 29th, we don’t know if that will happen. He may be applying test optional…we’re hoping his strong EC’s, 1Q rank and a strong essay will be enough…we shall see! I’m looking forward to riding his out with you all!!
A question about applications to other A&M campuses…
Would applying directly to a PSA school (such as TAMU Corpus Christi) while also applying to TAMU College Station possibly hurt the applicant’s chances of being offered the PSA program from TAMU College Station?
(from what I understand, there would be an advantage to being in the PSA program vs just transferring to TAMU College Station)
@psalms7510 My daughter applied to TAMU-CC directly as her fall back school, and was still offered PSA at all 8 available campuses. I don’t think it has any direct impact, nor do I believe that TAMU would know if your child applied to TAMU-CC directly.
She is transitioned with no problem and completed her first year at College Station in 2019-2020, and is doing just fine.
I do not believe applying to a system school will have any impact on a College Station admission decision.
Some people regard PSA as a “soft rejection.” It is really an assured transfer program from a system school. In the past few years, more non-engineering review candidates get PSA than admission to TAMU. It is a great opportunity if the student’s major participates and the student could be happy at the system school. My daughter’s major did not participate - so it was a non-issue.
There is also a PTA program which is an assured transfer program from a community college. So just like PSA - but community college.
Then you have regular transfer applications.
Some of the PTA and PSA requirements are pretty strict, depending on the major and some major’s don’t participate in either. There are some cases where rolling the dice with a regular transfer might work out better.
It’s a lot to consider. My advice is have a “safety” school that the student likes and where they could be happy.
I’m glad she transitioned well!
Son will also be applying For Fall 2021, No ACT or SAT score to report yet, really wondering what will happen for these kids with no Auto Admit and no scores to help them…Our daughter just finished her freshman year and LOVED it, was Blinn Team out of private college prep high school in Fort Worth (most of her Blinn Teammates were from private schools as they do not rank.) She already changed her major into Full time TAMU and was admitted to their honors program! Blinn Team was awesome! Hoping for same for son!
That’s awesome. Happy for your daughter. And I’m sure your son will be just fine. Definitely different times but they will have the best story to tell!!!
@Momof4teens It will be interesting to see what happens with this class. The combination of test optional and change to academic admits at A&M will be interesting to watch!
FYI: new required second essay prompt for TAMU this year!! It’s not on the website but it’s live on Apply Texas:
The Prompt: Texas A&M University believes that diversity is an important part of academic excellence and that it is essential to living our core values. Describe the benefits of diversity and inclusion for your personality and for the Texas A&M campus community.
S21 had pretty much finished his Essay A for Apply Texas, I guess now he’ll get started on this one! He’ll be submitting his apps starting end of August/first week of September, and is applying Test Optional ??
5 cancelled SAT/ACT tests since March and just found out his Aug 29th test date is cancelled as well ?
Ugh…not excited about another essay being added. Should we expect that it needs to be as long as Essay A?
Not sure, I just found out about it through a college advisor I follow on Facebook. S21 hasn’t made his Apply Texas account yet, he’s going to do it today. Apparently this will be on Page 9 Custom Questions, along with the Engineering prompt and Covid questions.