Thank you. I hope so. Fingers crossed!!!
I have a LLC question. My son will be in the Engineering Community and has not picked a roommate. If he does not pick one ahead of time, how does one get assigned to him? On room selection day, does he just choose a room with a single bed available? Also, will only the two Engineering dorms show up on his portal on his room selection day? It’s a bit confusing!
@pschwa1 you really need to join Aggie Parents Facebook page, and the Engineering Parents page. There will be many posts about dorm selection.
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TAMU has posted that they are delaying releasing classes for registration due to redoing the schedule to allow for “near normal offering of coursework for the fall. Students should plan to attend classes in person this fall.” YAY!!!
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Fantastic news! Hope NSC stays in person also.
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Great news!!
Hi there, I just found this thread. My student was accepted to TAMU back in the fall. She has strong grades and test scores and in the past would have been considered an “academic admit” (high SAT, top25%, etc). She applied to liberal arts and is now thinking of changing her major to visualization. Is this even possible? Any insight? Thank you,
@EagleMomma highly doubtful she can change to Viz at this point. Viz is a super small, very competitive major, fills quickly.
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OK thanks. That is what I expected to hear!
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I know it’s a little early, but my daughter’s NSC is in early June and I’d like to give the board plenty of time to ponder and respond before then.
For those who have BTDT with NSC, what are the “Don’t forget to’s…,” “I wish we had’s…,” and “Be sure you’s…” for NCS?
Also, my daughter is joining the Corps, so don’t forget to include that in the advice!
@95Aghopes425 make hotel reservations now, if you haven’t already. At least 1 parent needs to attend-there are separate Parent sessions, very helpful. Walk around MSC and grab freebies & handouts (assuming that’s done this summer).
Make sure each adult attending registers AND pays-meals are provided, they need a real headcount. Do not bring siblings.
Let your student take charge, ask the questions.
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I learned to prepare multiple schedules with my kids. I oversaw as they built a plan of which classes they wanted to take, needed to take, or if the floor caved in which they would patch the hole with to get enough hours. One of my kids created 12 different possible schedules (I got bored around number 4). If you don’t create your own schedule before sitting down, one will be created for you by the adult sitting at the table with your child, and I have seen/heard horror stories.
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@95Aghopes425 couple more thoughts.
Have your student get the information for Parent Howdy to be set up. Parents should NEVER be logging on to student Howdy (even now). They go over this during an NSC session.
Listen carefully to the info about setting up Heartland acct, and do that before August.
Corps stuff is very specific, can’t help you there. But definitely join the Quad Mom’s Facebook page-they’re a wealth of information.
Stay for the lunch and dinners held during NSC (assuming they do that), there were some good speakers, nice chance to meet other parents.
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Adding on to what @MackAg said, the degree plans for the students entering fall 2021 should be finalized by April. Search “tamu aerospace engineering degree plan” for example, to see what is required, especially core curriculum, cultural diversity and discourse. Then, look at the tables for AP/IB/Dual credit to determine what high school work will actually go towards the desired degree, by searching “tamu ap/ib”. Now, you know what classes are left to take and you can come up with alternatives in case the desired class is not available. I think this is an important exercise to complete before NSC because everyones situation is different, especially in regards to core curriculum.
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Would you mind to provide more detail the steps you did to do this? Our NSC is June 22. Would appreciate your advice!
The night before DS was to register at NSC two years ago, hardly any classes had available seats, and this was a tad alarming. But, right before registration the next day (and i’ve heard also a few hours into registration), spots in classes opened up. Wanted to let you know this so yall aren’t discouraged if you are trying to come up with a class schedule before NSC. Classes do open up.
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This is correct. Seats are held back in order to fill up the already opened class slots. More and more and more courses will be opened each and every NSC. But the later your NSC date could result in less likable time slots for some classes (8:00am / 8:00pm).
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(PART 1) These are instructions on how to create your own schedule before meeting with your advisor. Your goal is to be prepared for the unexpected, but you can’t always outguess the system, or being last in line as a Freshman. Everything will work out, we’re just trying to cut down on surprises or getting a worthless course. (Note: Some people don’t want to do this, which is okay because the advisors do their best for you and you will be good to go).
(1) As @Eggscapgoats shares, you want to go find your Degree Plan. 2021 might not be out yet and that’s okay, just print out the most recent. It most likely is located on the department’s Academic page. And/or open Program Requirements for your degree. Using @Eggscapgoats example, here is Aerospace Program Requirements: Aerospace
(2) Get a list of your incoming credits that will be applied to your degree. This will be Dual Credit, AP, IB. You will use this to fill in the slots of your degree plan where it says Core, Life Science, Creative Arts, Lang/Phil/Cult, History, English, and so on. Here is University AP credits (VERY IMPORTANT - some departments have their own Credit lists, go find them): AP Credit
With this information alone, you might see the following for Aerospace (keep in mind every degree is different and Engineering has very little wiggle room unlike other degrees such as Sociology with it’s 7 General Electives)…Aerospace example:
First Year - Fall
CHEM 107 (3 credits)
CHEM 117 (1)
ENGL 103 (3)
ENGR 102 (2)
MATH 151 (4)
UNIV CORE (3)
Let’s pretend you have DC or AP credit for English 103, well that class is now eliminated as an option your first semester. You need to go find a replacement, if you want. DEPENDING ON YOUR DEGREE PLAN, you might be able to use a Sophomore class with no prerequisites. Or perhaps you really want to get rid of that Communications course or whatever. You can plug in for yourself an idea of what you might want to take, or need, create that list of plug-in courses, and be ready when your advisor says, “sorry, that class is not available”.
Small piece of advice, don’t try to complete your International and Cultural diversity (ICD) requirements this semester, or even your Freshman year. Nothing good will be available as all the Seniors and Juniors, or Honor students, take them. You are trying to avoid taking something like History and Theory of Modern and Contemporary Architecture as a Freshman (no offense to Arch majors).
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(PART 2 -ADVANCED) You can use these steps if you are a nerd like me, assuming the information is updated prior to NSC, but these are really helpful for every single semester remaining in your college career.
(3) Aggie Scheduler website: Aggie Scheduler. If you sign in with Google it will save your information, but you can also use it without signing in. You will “Select Term” , “+” Add New Course, then pick a Section to add to your calendar (you’ll understand when you see it). 2021 Fall is not available yet, but you can still play around for fun for past Terms. These courses are linked up with the University. They update as new Course Sections are added, etc. My opinion, it’s about 98% accurate.
(3a) When you use the “+” sign to Add New Course, then pick a Section, you will notice a rainbow colored bar adjacent to the Professor’s name. If you hover over this bar it will indicate the percentages of grades given by this professor for this historical course in that historical term. Very advantageous when trying to pick which course you want down the road.
(4) Rate My Prof website: Rate My Prof. You can research professors, read reviews, would you take again, level of difficulty, etc. Also worth using for future semesters.
(5) TAMU Core & ICD/CD Core ICD/CD. This will allow you to easily find courses for specific categories. It shows if a class qualifies for ICD. It shows Cross Listings, Texas common Course Number, etc. Again, another helpful site.
(6) HOWDY Portal also has lots of ways to mess with your personal degree plan. Take advantage of all the things hidden within the portal.
I know that was long and a lot of information. I tried to shrink it down as much as possible. Good luck to everyone.
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@MackAg wow! You went to a lot of work.
I guess it depends on the major. My kid is Mays (Business Honors specifically), and we didn’t do any of that prior to NSC. My kid and the Advisor do it all, every semester.
But I do know Engineering & a couple other majors are known for not so stellar advising.
I have seen many prefer Grade Distribution over Rate My Professor.
And you are correct-seats do open up for every NSC…but if you take the very last August NSC, you won’t have many options.