^ Oh, I see. What a mess. And you’ve had several navigating each new version! Yikes.
Oh. There’s THIS on the Engineering Honors webpage:
Did the application change? Some received a more basic application, and now it’s more detailed? I’m just trying to figure all this out. It did NOT used to be this confusing!
So, everybody who’s applying has to complete this online application, which includes one’s academic record, resume, and essay, at a minimum, but if you meet the previously stated Eligibility criteria, you are in?
Is that the case? Or are some people who are “eligible” turned away?
In the year that my son applied, if you met the criteria, you were in, but you still had to complete the application.
Are they actually turning away “eligible” applicants now?
So, @SimpleLife, what happened with my current HS senior is that he was sent an email inviting him to apply for engineering honors and including the link to the application. It was the simple application, asking him to check if he is top 10% (yes) with the required SAT (yes), National Merit (yes), or goes to a HS that does not rank (no). That was about it. He sent that in then never heard anything. Then just recently he got an email saying that in order for them to continue evaluating him, he had to do the online app. The email included a link, but it was to a different more involved application. So we went back to his older email and clicked the link and … guess what! The easy app is replaced now by the more involved one. Also, as of yesterday the website clearly said that IF you are at a HS that does not rank, you have to do the online app that asks about academic record, a resume, an essay and optional letter of reference. Not sure what the website says now, but from your post it sounds like maybe now the website no longer limits it to kids from HSs that don’t rank. The times they are achangin’.
@Barfly & @SimpleLife - Thanks for clearing this up.
Oh, Ha Ha @Beaudreau! We’re only muddying the water!
Hahaa! Sorry, folks, if I’ve been a little too pedantic for you here. When there’s this much confusion, I have an unappealing habit of trying to “solve the puzzle!” 
I kind of yearn for the good ol’ days pre-Honors colleges. Personally, I like to believe that when I went to college, it was all “honors”.
Interesting. It makes sense that they would be making the change to Honors at the same time they are implementing competitive admission to a major. It would be a flag to the major admissions reviewer that speaks to the relative quality of a candidate, beyond what can be learned in the first semester (or two) of college. And if the honors app is detailed, including essay and references, it is the chance for the student to be holistically reviewed based on their HS record - the same record that direct admit colleges are using to admit them to a major. I do wish they were more clear in releasing information about all of these changes. It seems odd to do it in the middle of an application cycle.
Yes, my Barfly friend, the website now says what I quoted above in post #21. It now reads like EVERYBODY who’s interested in engineering honors must submit the online application, which “requests some information about the applicant and their academic record, a resume, an essay, and an optional letter of reference.”
(And, yeah, I understood, from your previous posts, what happened to your son, specifically. But I did not know for sure that the online application had changed. Sheesh. How cumbersome for those students involved!)
I will wait with bated breath to see if things are as they used to be: all interested students apply, but no “eligible” students are turned away, regardless of the details of their applications. (well, within reason)
@SimpleLife No need to apologize. I appreciate all your contributions. I’m teasing because I do the same thing. I will even chime in on other college forums concerning questions that I really know nothing about. But I feel bad thinking about some kid not having his/her question answered, so I do the research and try to come up with at least some kind of informative answer.
For example, I’m not Jewish and I’ve been in San Antonio exactly one day in my entire life, but I couldn’t stay out of this thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/trinity-university/1720959-jewish-life.html#latest (I don’t randomly check forums, just the ones for colleges that one of my sons is attending or still considering.)
I DO feel sorry for our current freshmen and those who will be freshmen in the fall. There are so many changes and so much resultant confusion! It’s really unfortunate for those who just happen to be applying to A&M at this time.
^^ @Beaudreau, Hahaa!! Okay, thanks for your sweetness. And your post is hilarious! Haha! It sounds like you can relate! So funny.
@Beaudreau, I hear you. I have to bite my knuckles to stay out of some threads.
Okay. I really am trying to bite my pedantic tongue, but I have two more comments …
One, @beyondtx (post#27), I totally agree. Especially the part about wishing they were more clear in their communications about all the various changes, and about all of this happening in mid-cycle. What a mess!
Two, in case it hasn’t been clear to some of the aggie newbies on this forum, I THINK we’ve all been talking about two different application requirements and going back and forth between the two different topics in our posts.
From what I can tell, there are two different complications for people who are applying to Engineering Honors.
(Complication #1)
If you’re NOT top 10% but you meet all other eligibility criteria, it appears to me, by reading the website, that you have to “discuss [your] case with Nancy Amato, the Senior Director for Engineering Honors Programs.”
AND, if you’re in that NOT-top-10% category because your school doesn’t rank, you have to "email a brief essay to Nancy Amato: (a) explaining why you’re interested in being part of the Honors program, and (b) describing your high school to include: how many students are in your class, number or % in Honors/AP courses, and a statement that your high school does not provide class ranks if applicable.
And then,
(Complication #2)
For ALL interested students who have not yet been fully accepted into the Engineering Honors program, it sounds to me, from this discussion and by reading the website, that ALL interested applicants must now complete the more detailed online application, which will include “information about the applicant and their academic record, a resume, an essay, and an optional letter of reference.”
FWIW. That’s how it sounds to me. There are two different complications at hand.
I looked at the letter my son received accepting him to Engineering Honors – it was dated Jan. 30. He only completed the simple app with 10% rank and necessary test scores checked. Anyone else accepted that way?
My son didn’t apply until March and by then the procedure had changed.
My son applied (simple app) late Feb and did not hear back until recently. The letter provided a new link with a new detailed application just like Barfly mentioned.
Not sure if he will re-apply as he has University Honors.
Same here, @EventHorizon32. DId your son apply for Honors dorms? Mine just switched his pref from Hullaballoo.
Do you have to submit a preference for the honors dorms if you’re accepted into the University Honors program? My S registered for housing back in September when his university acceptance arrived, but he never entered any dorm preferences at all…I was figuring we’d do another visit this spring to check out dorms and he could submit info after that, but once he accepted the Honors program, we didn’t bother since the choice was eliminated.
@Loganator, I assume they still have to pref the Honors Dorm, since the Housing Office and Honors Office are separate. Plus,it’s good to be safe. Also, I think my son did get an email saying he needed to switch to the Honors dorm.
Your son can always put the Honors dorm as his preference, and then change it all the way up to whatever the deadline is for changing dorm pref, and he will not lose his housing priority. In other words, the priority is set by the day he did his housing app. He can change his #1,2 and 3 dorm preferences as many times as he wants to and it will not affect his housing priority.