@Thelma2 and @MomHopesNxtGenAg Thank you both! I need to rethink our plans about DC. Maybe a second AP Calculus (BC) and AP Physics C (if available) instead.
@WTXMama I’m a mom to a current high school senior, who will be in Mays next year. We have several close friends who will be in Engineering at TAMU in the fall. None of them took all the courses you are mentioning. I’m trying to figure out how your son can possibly squeeze in all the courses you’re talking about, while still doing basics, 3 years of Language, Fine Arts, etc??
And have extra curricular activities and just be well rounded?
Bottom line, your child needs to be auto or academic admit-in my opinion-to be assured a spot, especially for Engineering. I’d focus on SAT/ACT prep, to ensure the highest score possible. Based on trends from this current admission cycle, most Engineering applicants that weren’t auto/academic admit, got overflow, academy, PSA or denial.
Again, I’m just a mom, with many friends who have TAMU Engineering students, and I know what classes they’ve taken…and their scores. Gaining admission early is the key.
I suspect that most engineering students at TAMU came in with AP Calculus BC already and many but fewer with AP Physics C, mechanics and/or electricity and magnetism. It is possible to have a good senior year even with all these and more, a sport, and working, as my son did it. I am grateful for the background he got. His current physics-mechanics professor is not well regarded by the students, but fortunately some of the material was familiar. While many of his fellow students failed Chem 107, he got a B after taking AP Chem. My son is not the absolute strongest student there, for sure–his scores were at the low end of the academic admit range. Perhaps he had to use his background this year more than some. He apears to be moving well into pretty solid academic strength at TAMU, and I predict his GPA will be in the 3.5 range at ETAM. That was his path this year, and I am still very glad for his difficult senior year classes. It will not be easier when they get into engineering school. As always, just my 2 cents.
I’m sorry, folks, but these students are going to have global competition in their lifetimes. We need to help them be as strong academically as reasonably possible. And yet not to the exclusion of everything else including enjoyment of life.
Given what happened with admissions this year, I totally agree with 52AG82: Please qualify for academic admission if at all possible…
Or auto admit, of course…
@52AG82 Thank you for your input! I am also concerned with balance in my son’s life, but I think a student who wants to study engineering at A&M must be prepared to put forth extra effort. He is a very hard-working student, but he is not quick on standardized tests.
I was originally considering the idea of having him take DC math and science next year, but others here have opened my eyes to the idea that it might be better for him take AP classes. I am now thinking of suggesting that he take AP Calc BC and AP Physics C. He will still take English, History, and two electives as regular high school courses.
He will finish his second year of Spanish this year, and I thought that the foreign language requirement would be satisfied with that. While I think it is ideal to study a second or third language for years, he won’t actually become fluent from a third year of study, and most schools (including A&M?) only require two years of the same language. He can take a third year, but if it isn’t required, I won’t push it.
He is enrolled in an SAT course right now and will re-take the SAT in June. We weren’t thrilled with his Verbal score, but he is diligently working to improve it. He has not yet met the academic admit threshold.
Best of luck to your son at Mays this coming year, and thank you again for your thoughts!
I know it seems redundant to take Calculus I again after AP Calculus BC, but unless the student gets a really high score, like a strong 4 or 5, I would go back and take it. Our older son had a number of 5’s on AP tests, took a bunch of credits and tried to start too high in computer science at UT. He was dismissed from the university after freshman year. Almost three years after he returned and now making essentially all A’s, he is still struggling to get to a decent gpa. He is a better student than our engineer at TAMU, and yet it happened. Unless your student is really strong, consider being conservative their freshman year. Having them gain confidence is worth a lot in the long term.
If your student is not as late blooming as mine have been, their experience will absolutely vary.
Taking Calc 1 again makes sense in this situation. @MomHopesNxtGenAg, thank you for explaining this strategy. Likely, it wouldn’t have occurred to me in time to offer him the AP options in preparation for maximizing freshman grades.
His senior year path will be up to him (though he needs to make choices pretty quickly). If he prefers to pursue DC, that is fine. If not, he can go the AP route. I hope it will be helpful to him to be aware of the lay of the land before deciding.
As another Mom of a current engineering student I thought I would add a few more comments to this thread. While I agree that auto/academic admit is very important for admission into tamu that is not the whole story for engineering majors because they will have to also go through a holistic review process for engineering. Just because they get admittance to tamu does not mean they will gain admission to engineering. The most important factors to successfully gain admittance to engineering are related to the rigor of their curriculum in high school as compared both to their high school peers and the other kids applying for tamu engineering and their readiness to complete the engineering freshman curriculum at tamu (i.e. their physics, calculus readiness).
I believe they want to see the kids successfully completing the AP sciences that correspond to their engineering interest and physics. They also want to see that they can do well in calculus. Having said that the best candidate would have AP Physics C both mechanics and e/m tests, calculus BC and AP chemistry behind him. The kids in my son’s high school had all of these so it can definitely be done. My son was expecting to do Biomedical so in addition he also completed AP Biology.
My son ended up taking almost all of his AP credit however there are as many kids who retook all those courses and did not take the AP credit. My son understood that it would be easier to repeat calc 1 and calc 2 and physics and chemistry but felt comfortable in his understanding of the subjects and wanted to get on with the more advanced coursework. That is a big risk for ETAM, it worked out for him but was definitely a big risk. He had to take calc 3 and differential equations for ETAM. Now he has very light semesters in his upper years because he did not retake all those courses. The advisor may or may not suggest he repeat the courses but that decision is entirely up to the student.
Spanish: I believe you need 3 years of high school foreign language in order to not have to take it again at tamu, you might want to check on that.
@WTXMom The best way to increase speed and accuracy working standardized tests is extensive preparation using online or printed review materials specific to that test. Many students don’t have the patience or motivation to really prepare on their own, and there are a variety of more structured ways to get good review. All other things equal, their highest score would tend to be the attempt when they are oldest.
My recollection is that TAMU doesn’t require more than two years of foreign language, not for engineering.
My younger son took two semesters of DC English, then took the last AP English offered afterwards. The DC English, although helpful, was a little too easy in my opinion. Unless it’s an unusual two-year school, like Blinn, then DC math and science might very well be less demanding and less preparatory than AP classes taught right at the high school. Credits are one thing, solid knowledge might well be another.
@pbleigh’s son was a way more mature student out of high school than my younger son. Maybe the right way to look at this is to simply ask whether the student really and truly knows the material before being tempted to take credit. If they don’t, it will only be a problem later, so let’s spend more time with the material now.
Every baccalaureate degree at TAMU requires either two years of the same foreign language in high school, two college semesters of the same language, or proficiency demonstrated via test.
@pbleigh Thank you for your perspective through your son. I don’t really know what I think about either approach, so I will leave it to my son after discussing it with my husband and me. (Truth be told, I’m no longer sure I have the nerves of steel required to help my boy get into A&M. How I long for the eighties when everyone I knew who wanted to go there got in – perhaps after attending summer school in College Station before the fall semester of freshman year!)
We visited A&M just last week and the admissions session speaker told us that students need two years of the same foreign language in high school. I hope he would have added the point that they may need more in college if that was the case. I can’t find a foreign language requirement on the Chem Eng degree plan, but I will keep looking. I don’t trust the admissions people on the phone anymore to give me the right information.
I don’t think he can fit two AP sciences into his senior year, but he can do one – probably Physics C.
@MomHopesNxtGenAg He is enrolled in a class, but he did study using an online program. I should have enrolled him in a class earlier. He is working hard, but he may not accomplish an academic admit score. We shall see. Thank you for your advice!
We all accept the worries now, as all our kids are worth it.
@MomHopesNxtGenAg They are so worth it! I guess I wish, as I prepare to explain all of this to him, that it didn’t seem so complicated or feel like we are gambling. Whether he goes to A&M or chooses another school (or if A&M simply doesn’t choose him), I know it will all work out just fine.
I appreciate all of the input and differing points of view. Thank you to everyone who has posted a reply!
Please let us know how he does in June, @WTXMama. There will still be time afterwards.
@WTXMama I found it on the tamu website and @MomHopesNxtGenAg is correct, only two years is required of foreign language. I was confused because my son’s high school required 3 years but tamu only requires 2.
If he can only pick one AP science then I believe physics may help him the most. Another important factor is that your student can attain auto admission into the engineering major of his choice by being an auto admit for ETAM. To do that now you need to have taken physics 206. So even though two semesters of chemistry fulfills the science requirement for ETAM, and even if your student has a 3.5 it will no longer be enough if one of the sciences is not physics 206 unless they have AP credit for it.
Engineering is competitive no matter where they go, but if they have an aptitude for physics and math they should do well wherever they land including A&M.
TAMU won’t accept AP credit for Phys 206, no matter what the AP Physics C-Mechanics score. (The “C” denotes calculus-based physics rather than algebra based.) They just don’t want engineering students bypassing some courses anymore.