@pbleigh I really appreciate your thorough answer and wise advice. Since I really want to go to computer science, is it possible that I transfer to another university(like UT Arlington) after freshman year if they don’t give me admission to computer science in ETAM?
@sasanlotfi It is always an open option to apply to other schools and transfer. There is also an option at A&M to get a BA in Computer Science which is outside the engineering school (requires a change of major outside of engineering school; no ETAM applies here). Keep in mind that you haven’t started yet, and a 3.5 is doable for Auto Admit, just keep focused on your goal and make sure your freshman year schedule has some easy A core courses in it.
@pbleigh thank you so much for your help. your information is more helpful and exact than their own website! Take care and stay safe.
@sasanlotfi As @pbleigh mentioned the BA in Computing is a change of major. Getting into this major is just as competitive as Computer Science. If this major does interest you I would talk to admissions ASAP and see if you can change prior to NSC and avoid ETAM all together.
is it true that some majors aren’t accepting people who don’t have the major as their first choice?
@currenteagle There are some very popular majors that fill up or almost fill up in the first round, so they tell students that if you want their major to select it as your first choice.
@pbleigh has it always been like that or are they just now doing it as a way to make more space for certain majors? I know computer science is doing it
@currenteagle I can’t speak for how it was before my son started in 2017, but since he has been at A&M there definitely have been majors that said if you want them you need to pick them in the first round. Those majors have changed though, back in 2017 computer science was not that popular but BMEN was for example. The issue really comes down to there being many more kids going through ETAM each year with all the academies and Galveston included and growing in size, and the department sizes not changing that much.
@pbleigh
Do you remember what the external admission percentages were? I trying to transfer to Computer engineering
@sebastian281172 I am assuming when you say external admission with a transfer you mean that you are trying to transfer into TAMU from outside the TAMU system. Based on that, here is the numbers of students that were admitted for an external transfer for both Computer Engineering CS track and EE track by semester.
CECN:
Spring 2020 (data still preliminary) - 1 transfer
Fall - 2019 - 2
Spring 19 - 1
Fall 18 - 2
Spring 18 - 2
Fall 17 - 5
Spring 17 - 3
Fall 16 - 2
CEEN:
Spring 2020 ( data is still preliminary) - 8 transfers
Fall 2019 - 11
Spring 19 - 0
Fall 18 - 18
Spring 18 - 12
Fall 17 - 13
Spring 17 - 7
Fall 16 - 15
Spring 16 - 5
do you guys think that covid-19 will impact ETAM especially if the pandemic is still around during fall 2020?
From a Texas Public Information Act Request the ETAM Data from 2018-2020 is finally public.
A quick glance at the data shows how bad this data looks for TAMU.
From the fall 2020 chart, admission rates for those not meeting the auto-entry college GPA:
0.0% Computer Engineering CECN
0.0% Computer Engineering CEEN
4.7% Computer Science
8.7% Biomedical Engineering
18.1% Mechanical Engineering
34.0% Civil Engineering
35.6% Aerospace Engineering
50.0% Interdisciplinary Engineering
60.0% Environmental Engineering
81.8% Architectural Engineering
86.7% Electrical Engineering
100.0% Biological / Agricultural Engineering
100.0% Chemical Engineering
100.0% Electronic Systems Engineering Technology
100.0% Industrial and Systems Engineering
100.0% Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology
100.0% Multidisciplinary Engineering Technology
100.0% Material Science and Engineering
100.0% Nuclear Engineering
100.0% Petroleum Engineering
So the %'s you have listed are Third Semester ETAM for entering Freshmen of Fall 2019.
Fall 2019 - First Semester
Spring 2020 - Second Semester
Fall 2020 - Third Semester
The Fall 2020 (Sophomores at this point) students did not qualify for acceptance in their Second Semester ETAM. Do we assume this “delay” placed them at an extraordinary disadvantage to enter their major in comparison to Second Semester ETAM students?
Spring 2020 could be either second semester (fall 2019 frosh) or fourth semester (fall 2018 frosh).
Combining the spring 2020 and fall 2020 percentage selected non-automatically to first choice majors:
| Major | Spring 2020 | Fall 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| CECN | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| BMEN | 0.0% | 8.7% |
| CPSC | 7.4% | 4.7% |
| CEEN | 69.2% | 0.0% |
| MEEN | 30.2% | 18.1% |
| AERO | 56.0% | 35.6% |
| CVEN | 66.7% | 34.0% |
| EVEN | 84.6% | 60.0% |
| AREN | 62.5% | 81.8% |
| ELEN | 82.9% | 86.7% |
| CHEN | 80.6% | 100.0% |
| PETE | 88.9% | 100.0% |
| INEN | 95.0% | 95.0% |
| IDIS | 98.7% | 100.0% |
| ITDE | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| BAEN | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| ESET | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| MMET | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| MXET | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| MSEN | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| NUEN | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| OCEN | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Good point on 2nd, 3rd, 4th semesters. I’d love to sit and have somebody from A&M explain what they see in all this.
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@pbleigh said “A quick glance at the data shows how bad this data looks for Tamu”
Are you referring to Computer Engineering/Science data, whereby if someone is not an auto admit, they will not get in? Appreciate your insight…
@Eggscapgoats There seems to be a lot of disappointing updates in this data set. TAMU claims that 91% were place in their first or second choice major in Spring 2020 and 85% their first choice. I haven’t run the numbers to see how they arrived at that but it seems that many of the majors that few kids select in the first round are propping up the majors where very low percentages gain admittance. For example, both BMEN and CECN took zero kids in the first round holistic; CPSC 7%, MEEN 30%. So if your kid went to TAMU to study one of those majors and did not get 3.5 (soon to be 3.75) they would be placed in something else or have to wait to the Fall where the chances are worse. There are several majors that have been filling up with auto entry and having very little if any other admits after that. Those same majors seem to take no one past the first holistic rounds, so if you have your heart set on BMEN for example you best make that auto admit GPA. It also looks like the sizes of the popular departments have expanded in the last few years but not enough to satisfy student demand. It seems that the least popular departments get little to no admits until the later rounds which means that TAMU is forcing some kids through ETAM into departments they do not necessarily want to keep them funded. My guess is that if they did not do that they would have to remove some. It also shows that the most ETAM slots are available in the Spring and if they had a big auto admit pool in the spring they have much less spots available for the following Fall ETAM.
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Thank-you for your insight. Curious to know the definition of the footnote by number eligible?
In looking at AREN Spring 2020…
Automatic Entry 1st choice major - 24 eligible (there is a footnote by number eligible, but I can’t find the definition), but only 15 selected. Why not 24 selected if they are automatic entry to their first choice major?
I too am curious about the footnote. Also, I wonder how the pass/fail due to Covid impacted the Spring 2020 numbers, and perhaps Fall 2020.