hey guys I’m a senior is a Texas HS.
Top 15% (4.36 GPA)
30 ACT with a 27 a stem subscore (27 math and 26
Science) 
So I qualify for auto admit.
Should I apply with this ACT score and make the early
action engineering deadline for TAMU or take the ACT again and study for the math / science ACT
parts more…
Thank u!!
Also if I apply in the early deadline I would probs not have both my rec letters so I feel like I have a good chance of getting rejected lol.
Send in the App with the scores you have now. More important is what is the highest math you will have by graduation and any physics classes?
The early decision deadline is arbitrary. Many that apply by Oct still get defferred til January anyway. Most review applicants are January-March, over the last three admission cycles. Yea, it’s nice to get a decision by Dec something but not all do who are auto/academic admit.
Depending on your classes, you will likely be accepted to College Station campus. Getting in isn’t the hard part. Getting the major you want and staying is the hard part. Getting the major you want comes with applying to it in April of freshman year and it is competitive process, so your grades need to be great.
Rec letters are nice but they don’t get you in and they don’t get you rejection. They are optional.
You’ll find a lot of info here
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/texas-m-university/2148948-tamu-class-of-2024-admission-decisions-discussion-p1.html
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/texas-m-university/2132365-tamu-etam-statistics.html#latest
@Thelma2
Ok thank u so much!!
I’m talking AB Calculus, ap chem and ap bio this year. Took ap physics last year and got 88s both semesters but I didn’t take the ap test. So if the early decision is arbitrary, you don’t think my act score is too low for admission? I’m just not really sure how competitive TAMU engineering is to get in…
@eeeeeek123 I would get your app in asap. You are an academic admit, not auto (just saying for clarity for others). Your math and science ready and they do fill up cstat campus seats with auto and academic admits but not first come first serve basis. So if I were you, I’d get my app in quickly and funnel in the req letters when you get them. Again, unless it’s someone super fancy (Chancellor, Board of Regents, etc.), they are not going to help you too much.
Any engineering degree at TAMU would be considered competitive. Don’t forget you don’t actually get accepted into the actual College of Engineering until after you have had completed 2 years and have the right grades.
TAMU is a fabulous school with such great school spirit and alumni connections worldwide. It’s amazing.
@Junebug100 moat apply ETaM during spring of freshman year. Not as sophomores although some don’t have all the required courses or grades to apply at the end of freshman year.
Then it’s changed in the few decade 
My dad used to be Head of EE. But is it still correct that just because you get accepted into A&M doesn’t mean you’ll be accepted into whichever engineering school.
correct, you don’t always get the engineering major you want. You apply to the major and list your top 3 or 5 choices. If you have a 3.5 you are guaranteed to get top choice. If not, then it just depends on where you fall among the other students. But ETAM (entry to a major) is meant to be done end of freshman year. But again, not everyone has all of the required courses or credits complete at that time.
But yes, you are accepted into general engineering for the first year so yes it has changed. Not to mention there is Blinn academy, Galveston and other academies that have the same ability for ETaM. It’s not just those at Tamu main campus.
The facts above are important enough to repeat again. Just because you have been admitted to A&M and the College of Engineering does NOT indicate you have been accepted into the desired major of your choice. Even if you are passing the classes and paying your bills. With the Entry to a Major (ETAM) process currently being thrust upon all engineering and computer science students at TAMU, you will not know if you will get to pursue the major of your choice until after you have been racked and stacked against your peer college students at A&M, transfer students from their 5 feeder schools, transfers within the university into engineering, and transfer students from other colleges. This occurs after you have committed yourself to A&M and began what should be 4 years of college. If you know what engineering or computer science field you want to study, TAMU is a risk unless you are perfectly okay to accept a degree plan that isn’t one of the most popular 7 or so degrees (aerospace eng., mechanical eng., petroleum eng., chemical eng., biomedical eng., computer eng., computer science, and possibly others). If you barely made the top 10% in high school chances are you won’t be scoring high enough at TAMU to get your pick. Hundreds of intended engineering/computer science students are getting talked out of their intended degree paths. It is devastating to begin searching for a new university mid semester or mid college career. Many students have been beat down enough, they accept whatever less desirable degree TAMU offers just to remain at that university to save face and graduate as an Aggie. Most (probably over 99%) of other undergrad universities do NOT do it this way. Be informed and know the risk. TAMU began the ETAM sham with the class of 2018 and I believe the intentions were good but the kinks have not been worked out. They have taken on too many students, too fast. There are not enough seats in the required classes in the top degree programs mentioned above so students who are making passing grades and simply turned away. It also makes it much more difficult to complete an engineering degree in 4 years. (This is a fact that contradicts the University’s stated goal of desiring students to finish in four years by offering a rebate scholarship for those that do. It sounds good on paper but…) For the sake of the University’s reputation, I pray they cancel the ETAM board ASAP and return to the traditional undergraduate method of allowing students to continue their desired degree paths as long as the student passes the classes. Put their resources into adding class sections instead of hocking lesser degree plans to keep the students at their university.
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And to reiterate… how amazing is it that these students who are 18 and probably have no sure fire idea on what area of engineering excites them the most or where the knack is, to get exposure to all areas of engineering to help them decide or confirm their original choice. If you’re not on of the 88% that gets first choice major, then maybe it’s better to find out as a freshman vs midlife crisis.
My friends daughter wanted MEEN. She was top 3% of high school graduating class. She realized that first year that it really wasn’t for her. She just graduated with iDIS and enjoying her job in Dallas. If she went straight into MEEN then she would have wasted a year of classes that may or may not have applied to her final degree choice.
You’ve stated your opinion over and over. We get it. You’re not a fan of ETaM. But try looking at other perspectives and not just black and white.
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@GenPatton, why not tell YOUR story? Stats, admission, progress? Contextualize your position.
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@GenPatton I’m just confused why you come on here and post in every thread NOT to go to Texas A&M. If you don’t want to go there because of ETAM, that’s cool. But I can’t understand why you are trying to convince anyone else. I am sure that everyone who frequents this board is familiar with the ETAM process. You aren’t convincing anyone, you’re just bashing the program. It’s not productive and, frankly, it’s a bad look.
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Go to UT. They allow you to be admitted straight to your major.
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My son started at A&M with extensive hands-on mechanical know-how and absolutely dead set on MEEN. But he started to branch out into automotive and computer electrical interests his first year in college, maybe because he had already mastered mechanical hobbies to his satisfaction. We told him when he started that he would probably have a chance to double specialize or more because of hands-on engineering inclination and exposure. I am just trying to say that some students with high engineering inclination can surprisingly start another area of interest in their early college years and may find themselves choosing something unexpected at ETAM time. Your engineering student may be similar. He and his friends are still really terrible about cleaning up the garage after their car projects, however, and I’m not sure whether they will grow out of that.
Everyone has his/her own opinion. I hope @GenPatton will find a right path for him/her. I posted the below a while back.
Plus, graduating with a low/average GPA is almost the same as a guarantee for no job offer.
Ok, I have a question outside of ETAM. 
Can anyone speak about which of the BYOD choices is the best or most reliable or most liked by engineering students? The TAMU BYOD website offers HP, Microsoft, Lenovo, and Dell PC’s. Is there any specific one the professors or students prefer over the others?
To piggyback on that, are Macs running Bootcamp really bad? My daughter has never used a non-Apple computer and I was just wondering if she would be at a disadvantage.
@TexasMTDad I have heard from multiple people that Macs are working fine for Engineering software. For the first year the students are not running software that require anywhere near the spec listed for BYOD. If she already has a Mac I would postpone any purchases until closer to the end of the Freshman year.
@YankeeTexan33 I purchased the Dell one for my son back in 2018. There were complaints about battery issues and they were right. Battery gave out after about 18 months and was not covered by extra warrant coverage I purchased. That would not prevent me from buying again. If your kid is a gamer the Dell graphics card is slightly better than the graphics card in the Lenovo. If your kid already has a decent laptop there is a good chance you can delay this purchase until they start getting into upper level classes.
So… I suppose I have an engineering advice question, but off topic to the other posts in this forum. : )
I am trying to plan my son’s senior high school year (starting in the fall). We homeschool, so I am always researching the best path. At this point, he is really interested in aerospace engineering. Has been for years. For college, he is thinking he wants to pursue a major in mechanical and minor in aerospace (to keep job options open).
As for some background, my kids don’t take tons of dual credit (by choice). He will have about 6 - 7 classes at graduation. I wanted just enough to give him college class experience, and to show the colleges that my homeschooler can handle it. His academic stats are pretty good… His PSAT/NMSQT this year was 1370, so I suspect his SAT will be around 1450-1475. His GPA is 4.0/4.0 across the board with co-op classes, dual credit classes. etc. He will likely receive College Board National Hispanic recognition, is an Eagle Scout, etc.
So my question is in regards to both math and science for his senior year. I know (very little!) about the placement test and that a non-passing score will delay acceptance into an Engineering major due to classes needed. He is currently taking Pre-Calc (high school level). I was thinking his senior year would likely be dual credit College Algebra and then something else… I have heard that College Algebra is going to be very similar to what he has taken with this Alg 2 and Pre-Calc class, but I’m weary of him testing of out it because he needs to have a very solid foundation if he wants to pursue engineering.
Thoughts on skipping College Algebra?
What about 2nd semester senior year? Dual credit Pre-Calc? It looks like our community college offers a Pre-Calc class that should transfer for “MATH 150 Functions, Trig”. Will this get him prepared enough for the placement exam?
As for science, he is currently taking Physics. My thought is dual credit Chemistry for his senior year. Is that best? I have heard there is a science class that Engineering majors should definitely take at a community college - but I can’t find anywhere which class that is!
Thank you for your help!