@sbhubbell my ‘23 Aggie is Mays (Business Honors). Her 2 LOR were her FFA teacher and AP Psych. The both knew her very well, knew her work ethic, and were so happy to write.
I would definitely use the 2 that know him the best, are willing to write and you can count on them to be timely in submission.
A&M wants to see scores/gpa/rank first.
LOR show character, work ethic, etc.
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Definitely listen to what @FriscoDad said on all counts.
Sat/act score important
Gpa/rank important
Dedication to a thing (band in this case) shows good character and discipline and commitment. Important but not a deal breaker
2 LORs not high on the list unless it’s someone of “substance” from Tamu. It’s just that everyone will have a good LOR.
Most important… get your application in week 1!!!
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My D '23 is interested in applying to TAMU for Comp Sci. She is a strong student with ACT 36, PSAT 1500 (out of 1520), and very likely will be named a NMSF, UW GPA of 3.95, 9 AP classes (including the senior year). What bothers me is that she is not in the top 10% of her class, not even the top 20%! She goes to Westwood HS in Austin which is very competitive. Do you think the fact that she isn’t in the top 20% will significantly affect her chances of admission? Just want to manage my expectations 
Thanks.
First congratulations to your daughter public score achievement!
If you check earlier post in this thread, please make sure SRAR is recorded properly.
If not top 20% do you think your daughter is top quarter (25%)? Is there any major subject (Calculus/Chem/Phy) with a “C” or lower? If not, aiming for 1st quarter assignment (in AIS portal) is of utmost important. Along with the high public score the chance is very good.
For computer science, the major is under Engineering. Note that TAMU won’t admit student directly to major and there is a ETAM Freshmen year. ETAM year for computer science is very competitive, but if your daughter’s strength is maths/chemistry/physics/CS, the ETAM year is very achievable.
If computer science is a must, then applying backup good computer science schools will be a good idea.
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With a perfect score, she will get in. Hands down don’t care what anyone says. Now if she doesn’t apply in august she puts herself behind the eight ball. Don’t rest in that score, which it sounds like you aren’t, but rest easy that if she gets that app in super early and is math and science ready, she will get engineering and then she’ll compete for her specific major through ETaM at the end of freshman year.
Congrats to her for such an amazing score and accomplishment.
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She has never had a B in her entire life To be honest I never thought she wasn’t in top 10% until I saw her ranking about a year ago. I was very surprised. BTW, the school is non-ranking so it won’t be on her transcript.
Yes, TAMU will assign a ranking based on SRAR self-reported grade.
You mentioned 9 AP classes, it is pretty common many top 10% students taking 14-18 APs to boost their ranking. I mentioned Calculus/Chemistry/Phys/CS because in TAMU ETAM year, these are the required courses, to learn more visit Entry to a Major Process | Texas A&M University Engineering
The core classes in ETAM year have to be “A” to get to Computer Science in sophomore year.
Engineering has priority deadline of October 15. Like many other mentioned apply the first week when application open. Your daughter will also likely get accepted to Engineering Honor which is a separate application. Admission to Engineering Honors | Texas A&M University Engineering
Your daughter will also get merit scholarship https://scholarships.tamu.edu/scholarship-programs/national-scholars#0-NationalMeritScholars
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“2 LORs not high on the list unless it’s someone of “substance” from Tamu. It’s just that everyone will have a good LOR”
Please elaborate- this will help as whom to request LORs
LoRs are not heavily weighted. Everyone has a counselor or teacher or coach write one.
My point… not something to stress about. Focus on scores and rank.
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Yup. This is what we were told when we asked. So this is how we did it. Several of the outside scholarships were the same process though. So she had to ask several recommenders for an LOR PDF over the course of this year. One recently for the TILF scholarship. (UIL state meet competitors scholarship). Some ask for the email of the recommender and some ask the student to upload an LOR.
I had suggested my daughter ask her supervisor at work for an LOR but she didn’t believe me. 
Everyone talks about LORs from teachers.
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For top 10%, LORs may be nothing to worry about, but still be great for honors and in some cases for scholarships and grants.
For those outside top 10% at the borderline, LORs (and anything optional e.g. resume) will help.
“Borderline” depends on majors. If student is 11-15%, aiming for competitive schools like Mays, or Visualization in Architecture, BIMs, SAT/ACT are high (1350-1450/29-32) but not very top.
“Borderline” also applies to small majors (acceptance fewer than 100) when most applicants have similar academic achievement.
LORs can be supervisors of paid jobs, pastors from church, coaches or even student’s music instruments trainer.
Essays and short answers are still MORE important than LORs. Of course, for non-auto admit, essays/short answers allow students to explain their challenges (aka why they are not top 10%).
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As a mom of 4 Aggie sons, three at main campus and one in Galveston, my advice is to apply IMMEDIATELY when the applications open. Do NOT wait. Also do NOT apply test optional…send your score in. The kids who applied test optional last year seemed to be in a holding pattern and many ended up with PSA. Last week at my oldest son’s graduation ceremony for his master’s from Mays, President Banks spoke. She said for the class entering Fall of 2022 (class of 2026), Texas A&M had over 79,000 applications for approximately 10,000 spots. Most of those spots will go to top 10% kids who apply early. I had twins that were not top 10% who both got in…one full admit to CS campus and one full admit to Galveston (who plans on staying there for his major all 4 years). My oldest two were not top 10%either and they both had full admit. They all applied the first day applications opened. They all had strong stats (Eagle Scouts, grades, jobs, tons of service hours, activities etc). DO NOT WAIT TO APPLY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. If you are wanting to take the SAT again, you can send it in later but do not wait to apply, even if you are top 10%. There were top 10% kids who didn’t get their major because it was already full. Once engineering or Mays is full, you are looking at having to pick another major that has space or getting PSA/Blinn etc. Good luck!
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I was at that same graduation. Congrats!!! Master from Mays is outstanding.
When prez banks said that, i immediately cringed because she didn’t share the whole truth. While we yield a class of 10k they offer about 30-35k admissions. Only 10k accept typically. 10-12k.
But all of your advice on applying, 100% accurate and so important. Hopefully those reading this thread will heed the warning of those that have gone before them. But literally every year, I have students and parents coming to me saying… we had no idea you should apply so early before the deadline. Or… they said it wouldn’t hurt us to hold back our scores.
So Class of 2027… get to work and be ready on August 1st!!!
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A few questions re: SAT. My son has taken it twice and will take it again in August. His first score was his best and was autosubmitted to A&M. The second SAT was taken at school and he got a slightly lower score. I only recently realized that score was not sent anywhere, including A&M.
So, here are my questions:
- Does A&M still have a “submit all scores” policy? or has that changed with test optional?
- When he sends his August score, I think it sends all SAT scores, which would include his March score. Is that correct?
- When he applies on August 1, will it be held against him if he hasn’t submitted the March score? Or do I need to go ahead and pay to send it? (I hate to pay to send a lower score but don’t want to violate any policies which might move my son down on the list for admittance.)
- When the August scores sent to A&M, will it be automatically linked to his existing application or do I need to contact someone to make that happen? Or maybe I should phrase that as “who do we contact to make sure this was done” or can you see it on the portal?
My son will also be a holistic review student if that matters.
Thank you in advance.
@ChristiR93 when Pres Banks said 79k applied, is that all A&M system schools, or just College Station? Do you know?
Congrats to your boy, btw! 
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She didn’t say but I’m assuming since she followed it with 10k admitted, she was referring to cstat campus. But of course she’s not thinking that there are those of us that know things lol. I don’t think we received 79k apps. But maybe Qatar and Galveston and cstat did (but they would never included system schools outside of those I listed).
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I don’t think ALL test scores have to be submitted. I know there’s a website out there that claims this, but nowhere on tamus site says it. It’s not all or nothing. Optional and not optional.
I did send that question to a friend in admissions to double check that though. I’ll let you know if I hear back. But I’m just saying logically, that makes no sense since we are test optional and there’s no super scoring AND there’s no academic admit any more.
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- No “submit all scores” policy. TAMU will look at a single sitting score (will not super score)
- You can wait until score comes out, then submit by signing to collegeboard web site. The default in collegeboard is sending all scores, there is a link where you can choose which score to send.
- August test will have the scores on September 9th, still considered early. Sending both August and March scores are ok.
- Normally will work, but occasionally fail. If college board confirm a sent date but your student don’t see in AIS after a week, contact TAMU via AIS, they will fix it within 2 business days.
Good Luck!
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New pathway to College Station for engineering students via partnership with TCC:
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The other thing happening now is students that went test optional are having to take the TSI to register for courses. With a good SAT/ACT score, that is waived.
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