Hope your Christmas was well!!
We’re starting to get down to the wire now, really hoping that my son gets a favorable admissions decision in January!!!
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When should we know if we got accepted or not? Applied to Forensic & Investigative Sciences in mid October. Feel like we are running out of time.
Howdy @becfoup most candidates in review don’t find out til January and into February. I promise you are not running out of time. I know the wait is hard but it’s worth it.
And Fivs is such a cool major. I wish we had that back in my day!
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@AggieMomhelp Do you know how long after acceptance TAMU offers scholarships? My D21 is OOS and was accepted to engineering October 29th.
I received a letter from TAMU’s Scholarship Office today, as I had been awarded the Maroon Merit Award for OOS applicants. It’s not actually a true scholarship… more of an incentive for OOS applicants, but they said that most students will get their scholarship offers in late January this year.
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Happy new year everyone. I was wondering the best resource for finding a roommate. My son has posted on a few instagram aggie sites. I’m sure he’s got it under control, lol. Mom’s just wondering if there is a place he may not think to look.
Scholarships are hard to come by at Tamu. But typically they roll out in late January. If you get outside sources of scholarships that total $4k then they wave oos tuition. I believe I’m stating that correctly. I really have very little knowledge on scholarships.
@coltcali on the housing portal they can go through a roommate finder. Answer questions to find similar living/study habits. They can then strike up convos to see how they fit. Tell him to be honest on filling out questions. There’s no right or wrong but you don’t want a messy person saying they are tidy when they aren’t for example. I think random roomies make the best roomies.
thank you. Actually he did fill this out. Didn’t realize they could strict up conversations as well.
@coltcali I believe the conversing to find a roommate is part of phase 3 to begin in March. DS will be doing the same, hopefully finding someone in Ag who has an early selection time in May
In the last two years, it appeared that students who selected early but did not have a roommate would put themselves in an empty room, which led to very few empty rooms for those who wanted to live together but had later selection times. Thankfully, room selection stays open through part of the summer and rooms open up as LLCs release rooms.
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My daughter always wanted to do BMEN at TAMU, she was accepted as an auto admit to general engineering. But the recent changes to the ETAM process are scaring her, especially BMEN being one of the most competitive majors at TAMU. She is a little disappointed and discouraged by this. She was hoping that she will get an invite to interview for the Brown Scholarship, she is an NMS Semifinalist. When she called the Fin Aid office they told her that they are giving priority to the students who applied to EnMed for the Brown scholarship. Now she is thinking she should perhaps go to a school that will give direct admission into her first choice major. Could anyone who has experience with the ETAM process please share your experiences? How hard will it be to get into your first choice major if they changed the auto admit GPA (ETAM) to 3.75? TIA
@Momof0ne I was also very concerned about ETAM two years ago when my son was an auto admit into engineering. Our HS is not considered competitive plus my son didn’t study much or do all his homework, and now he would be competing with kids from super competitive high schools who had great study habits! Oy!
Soo, he played it very safe freshman year, only taking 12-13 credits per semester and NOT taking AP credit for calculus, chemistry, or physics. Since he had coding experience, the year was essentially a review of HS and he made a 4.0 easily, with English almost being a B.
But I hear you, its a big unknown. Since your daughter is already extremely familiar with the ETAM process, she will hit the ground running. I think some kids can have a rough first semester, maybe even too hard of a schedule, w/o really understanding ETAM and then its hard to make up ground.
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Regarding ETaM… it is a process that has proven successful. Believe in your student and their ability. They are going to be competing against the best at every turn. As far as one engineering being more competitive, it’s irrelevant when it comes to 3.75 gpa Auto admit to their desired area of engineering. After that, it’s about space and popularity of that area. Our kids shouldn’t be afraid of competing nor should we worry about them succeeding. It’s a process for a reason and while there is uncertainty, I think it’s a good process to let the new student get a look at all aspects of engineering and not hone in on just one type when in reality, most don’t have enough experience to make that choice pre college. Look at it as a blessing. Tell your kiddo that the gloves are off and hit the ground running. Also, have them talk with 2nd and 3rd year students. I don’t hear anyone complaining after the first year. Most get what they want. Don’t change course (schools) because of fear.
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@AggieMomhelp My daughter checked the portal just now and the major on the page toggles between Mechanical Engineering and General Engineering what does this mean?
She does not have six tabs yet and every click to the page randomly changes the major to general engineering and then back to MechE.
If it shows gen eng then it seems that she was accepted. However it could be Galveston. You’ll have to wait to see what howdy portal says under manage applications. If it says gen eng and college station then it’s Tamu. If it says Galveston then it’s that. Then there’s academy.but this early, it should be cstat but they aren’t at work so I would be surprised for a decision so early this week.
Also regarding ETAM and the fear factor of the new 3.75 GPA…I think there is always something to be worried about for college. My 2025 son wants to go to UT for electrical engineering and I am having to push aside my worries of what if he flops in that major and can’t transfer into another engineering major? There is definitely a “system” that a lot of students game for ETAM. Retaking Calculus I and using the credit for Calculus II is a popular one. In fact, retaking a few classes that they already have Dual Credit/AP credit for in order to get those A’s. My Brown Scholar Class of 2023 daughter didn’t want to repeat anything and I was a little nervous about that bc she wasn’t from a “super competitive” high school. She did great though and got into her #1 pick major. Most of her Brown friends picked different majors than they first applied for and got what they wanted. I actually think it is probably good for a lot of kids to have to compete again for their major bc otherwise, they might think they can coast in and then have a rude wake up call.
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Any idea what the average freshman engineering GPA is?
I hear bad reports of people trying to get into Mays from Blinn or other majors but maybe it’s easier in engineering.
I don’t know the average GPA for Engineering but i believe one of the stats I saw was that 80% of engineering students get their first choice.
Also, please look into retaking Dual Credit. I’m not sure that’s allowed. You have to take any dual credit grades onto your transcript as credit towards your degree. AP credit is a take it or leave it scenario and you don’t have to do anything with it 'til senior year if you want.
As for Mays and Blinn Team route, if you hit the marks set forth by Mays (3.8 gpa, 45 Blinn Credit hours, 15 TAMU credt hours, and qualifying courses completed with a 3.8), then you are automatic into Mays. If you do not complete the team route and apply early as a straight transfer into Mays, you’ll need to know they only take 100 external transfers per year (academic year, not semester). It’s very competitive. They also only take 100 change of majors per year (internal transfers).
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Regarding retaking classes that one has AP credit for…in addition to helping with ETAM, we also felt that college level classes would teach more than HS classes. DS took 2 years of HS chemistry, yet within one semester of engineering chemistry, most everything was covered from HS and then the instructor went on to teach new topics. My son found the same with physics - more was taught in college than HS although there was a lot of review. Building a strong foundation in the basics of one’s intended major is important IMO because its only going to get harder.
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If you designated Mays 1st choice and Econ second, is it better to be offered Blinn Team for Mays or full A&M Econ?