@CollegeMom789 @carachel2 Have you ever reached out to Dean Banks to express your concerns? This is a great forum and a highly important discussion topic. Just wondering how to engage those who can impact your situations. I know during my son’s freshman year I was frustrated with the ENGR 111 course, for a number of reasons, but here’s just one example: My son’s team went to one of the standard evenings where TAs offered programming help, etc. and were actually turned away. The TA said he had “no clue” how to do the assignment. The students never again went to seek help. This is just wrong. I called around to find out what programming resources were available and who actually headed up ENGR 111/112. That same day I received a call from Dr. Tony Cahill who heads up the program and we had an in-depth, 20-minute conversation about the framework of those classes, what worked and what didn’t. He was very honest and admitted to its pitfalls and what the department was doing to improve the way these classes are taught. More important, he wanted to hear from me and my son about what wasn’t working. He suggested my son register for his 112 class the following semester and it was run much better. I know with this large of a university, personal dialog and exchange is difficult. While my son seems to navigate things fine on his own, as a parent, I have felt his frustration and stepped in once or twice, simply wanting those at the helm to know what is really going on. I saw an entry somewhere (perhaps this forum or on Aggie Reddit or the Aggie parent FB page) where people contacted the dean of the Vet school this week sharing their frustration about the lack of open seats for required biology classes. Evidently, that individual had no idea there was a problem and seats were immediately added. My problem with calling the Engineering advisors is they often point you to the respective departments for help (i.e., Math, Physics, etc.). Maybe reaching out to Dean Banks with some of this discussion is warranted – by each of us. Again, thanks for the good discussion. It’s insightful to hear what other parents are experiencing (good and bad) during this process. (On a sidenote @CollegeMom789, my son is on his third advisor in as many semesters. He sent an email to his current advisor Sunday night and has still not received a reply back, so I feel your pain.)
@lee6666 --I’m just a prospective parent. Honestly, A&M is my kids last choice and she has many choices thank goodness!
As a Former Student it makes me sad to read this about my school. The focus on being big BIG BIG without giving thought to the quality of the program makes me even sadder. And as a parent who would potentially be paying $25K a year, I just don’t find it much of a bargain. I would pay a bit more per year for her to go OOS if it means she will get quality advising and the school actually provides the classes we are PAYING them to provide.
I don’t have a little snowflake who needs to be in classes of 50 or less, but dangit–that’s a LOT of $$ and the school is supposed to be providing a quality education in exchange for that and my student’s hard work.
@lee6666 it was the Aggie parent FB page where the parents had contacted the Vet School Dean. My kid too, navigates life pretty well and takes care of his stuff but he does ask for help or advice, and occasionally a situation arises and he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, he thinks he is handling it but we as parents know there is more to it, so we guide him so he learns that issues and problems sometimes have more than one component and solution. I totally shared with him last night about the need that it is never too early to start working every angle to get into a class. He texted me back within half an hour that he had emailed 3 Math 152 profs he wanted, who had a section that would fit the classes he already had, to ask to be forced in. They actually all emailed him back! Unfortunately, they themselves could not force him in. He did email his advisor, who couldn’t give a direct answer at NSC but talked all around the question, so I am not holding out hope he will get a quick response. I told him to email her every day, 24 hours apart.
I have found the FB forum and this one to be so helpful in learning what we do not know. I could do without the sanctimonious posts on FB parent page some feel the need to make when parents are venting or asking about things, but it’s fine. It is also nice to get to vent frustrations here because I so don’t want to vent to him my frustrations and make his worse. I am trying to guide him in how to handle the frustration, preserver and do what he has to do. This is just part of it and do not assign more emotion to it than it deserves, as irritating, inconvenient, and frustrating as it is. His roommate could not register at all until yesterday (open) likely due to having dropped 2 classes and is down to the 3 core classes. He had all day to sit in front of his computer. Within 3 hours, he got everything he needed. Grrrrrr.
I do think it would be beneficial to reach out to Dean Banks. Indeed I do expect there to be seats enough to accommodate the students they have admitted. That students must spend hours and hours refreshing their screens in order to grab one seat that might pop up, in the midst of course exams and Final Exams. My kid was so frustrated last night. At 10:30p, he was starving but was too afraid to go eat, in case that elusive spot popped up. He got out of class at 6:30ish and having had three classes that day, he had missed all of the math 152 openings that happened while he was in classes. I texted him as soon as another mom texted me that her kid had just gotten in 152, so he logged on in class and missed it!!!
He usually goes to the gym daily because it relieves stress for him and he felt he could not even do that yesterday, so his stress level is really elevated. Thankfully, he has only Math 151 today. He is going to ask his prof if he can be put in their 152 class, which will mean he will have to change physics, because all of their sections conflict. I would rather him keep his physics prof and keep waiting on Math to fit in.
@Axonta we have friend at U of Washington, he couldn’t get into ANY of his engineering courses for two registration periods (they’re on the quarter system - 3 enrollments per school year, 1 summer session). Finally his OOS parents called to complain & he got into them the 3rd enrollment session. It is a problem at many big schools.
@lee6666 when, during the spring semester, do freshmen register for Fall classes and how do they know what to register for if they don’t find out until Summer, what engineering major they are accepted to.
Oh, and son just texted me, literally seconds ago, as he got out of class at 12:20, that there has still been no movement as regards to openings in 152. While I was typing my response, he interrupted with a text that he GOT INTO MATH 152. Professor TBA. Time fits with classes he has already, so he doesn’t have to move anything. He said 80 spots opened at once and were full in less than 20 seconds. If y’all emailed the Dean, do it again cuz a lot of kids in 151 today were still without 152.
@Thelma2, Last year, freshman going through the ETAM process were told to register for the major they ANTICIPATED getting into. Registration was held in April. Still, they didn’t find out major decisions until July. Luckily, 90% got their first choice majors. Those who didn’t were advised to contact their advisors to work on a new schedule for their accepted major.
I’ve been following this topic with great interest since my son is strongly considering A&M for engineering in the fall 2017. I was curious if any of you knew whether being in Engineering Honors fixes the problem of getting the classes you needed? My son was told he would be able to enroll early and get any class he needed, was wondering if that indeed was the case?
@pbleigh, Yes, it does help. My son is also in the EHP and he does benefit from early registration. Still, he has come across closed classes, or classes being cancelled last minute. You will find honors sections for some of the core freshman courses like MATH 151 and ENGR 111/112. If closed, Paula Wade, who heads the EHP, can often work forces into those sections for eligible students.
pbleigh – yes, my daughter is also in the engineering Honors program (now a junior) and it does help! She registered for classes I think three weeks ahead and was able to get all her classes, although she did get assigned an early registration time and had to get up really early in the morning. She also has two minors so scheduling and advising can be tricky and her advisor has been helpful.
@pbleigh, definitely helps. Being in University Honors and Engineering Honors you get an early registration time. My son had no problems getting his Freshman classes.
However there is definitely an issue if you have later registration times. A&M needs to open more classes so students don’t have to go through this stress. Some classes like ENGL 210 have just 3 sections for CHEN - 35 spots each and all closed now. ENGL department has a no force policy. Technical writing is a required class. Most engineering majors can choose from 7 sections, but CHEN has 3. Just 3 for all CHEN majors? They need to open more spots.
UT has a wait list system for closed classes and you usually get in (no need to refresh registration pages a million times). A&M has no wait list and some departments have started new no force policies.
@lee6666 I haven’t reached out to Dr. Banks because I don’t think one parent expressing concern will help. Surely Dr. Banks is already aware of problems with registration & not enough openings for students (in both core courses & courses in their engineering disciplines).
I think more & more depts at Texas A&M are implementing a “no force” policy. A waitlist like UT has would be helpful. However, an automatic waitlist system would only work if there are enough sections in courses to meet demand for most students. And that doesn’t seem to be the case at Texas A&M.
As I mentioned in prior comment, the Business Dept prioritizes the waitlist for Business Minor courses that are full. When openings come up, last-semester seniors who need the course to graduate will have highest priority. I assume Business advisors will enroll students (according to their priority guidelines) when openings become available.
@carachel2 You’re not the only Aggie grad with children looking at schools that are OOS &/or much smaller than Texas A&M.
One of my friends is an A&M grad, but steered his son to Purdue because it’s a smaller school. Career opportunities (summer internships, full-semester internships, & permanent jobs) are amazing. My friend’s Purdue son was offered an internship after his freshman year, & he didn’t yet have 3.2 GPA required for admission to mechanical engr. He’s in his 4th year at Purdue, and will need 5 years to graduate. He’s already had two summer internships and two full-semester internships.
I know of one A&M engineering student who had summer internships after his freshman & sophomore years. He’s an exceptional student with 4.0 GPA. Many average students at A&M (GPA 3.0) can’t get summer internships. Several of my friends have children graduating from Texas A&M with engineering & engr technology degrees in Dec & May, and they don’t have job prospects yet. My Aggie friend with a Purdue son thinks job prospects are much better there because: 1) Purdue’s has an outstanding reputation with companies and 2) many non-petroleum companies recruit at Purdue.
Another friend of mine has an engineering degree from Texas A&M. His son is a HS senior who visited A&M, but crossed it off his list. He’s considering OOS & smaller universities like Rice. He’s very bright & will most likely qualify for Honors at any university he attends.
It seems like Texas A&M is a much better university for Honors students because of priority registration. Non-honors students struggle to get the courses they need to graduate on time. I’ve heard that A&M Engineering admissions is becoming more selective. Perhaps they should admit a lot fewer students & limit admissions to only Honors-level students.
CollegeMom789 - I absolutely agree that some students are better suited to a smaller learning environment and, when my children were applying to “engineering schools” I encouraged them to apply to all sizes of schools until they were able to determine what would be a good fit for them – It is a very individual choice. Having lived as a family in Indianapolis, both of mine really liked many aspects of Purdue and were accepted. All good choices!
However, the Engineering Career Fair at Texas A&M is known as the largest in the nation, always with a wait-list for companies who want to attend. Because it has a large, well-education student body, it was also named one of the top four universities where companies want to recruit (WSJ). The 450+ companies at the engineering career fairs are incredibly varied with global companies traveling from all over the nation to attend. My kids were in different engineering majors with different GPAs (yes, both above a 3.0 but not a 4.0) and they both got multiple offers for summer internships, even after freshman year. If a student has a 4.0 and can’t get a summer internship, I am going to go out on a limb and say there are probably other factors at play which have nothing to do with Texas A&M and their engineering program. As far as full-time employment, of all of my daughter and her friends who graduated in the last 12 months with Mechanical, Civil, Computer Science and Chemical engineering degrees (and not Honors!) , all but one is working and gainfully employed. Interestingly, probably 75% are working for a company where they interned during one of two summer prior to graduation. I would absolutely agree that registering for classes can be super stressful and there are problems that should be addressed but the career opportunities and the Career Fair and the famous Aggie Network is not one of them.
As frustrating as the registration process was for my son, and through him, me, I do not doubt the quality of the degree he is earning and that A&M is still a highly respected university. He will likely experience more frustrations over the course of his college career. Though my elder two at 2 other universities have not experienced registration problems, there have been other frustrations in their turn. The universities they attend are not small schools (38K).
In lamenting this current annoyance and inconvenience to a family member the other night to gain his perspective, I learn that every college has its issues, problems, and struggles to some degree. He is a professor at Washington University in St. Louis and has been a tenured professor at two other universities. Each university has had its problems and many times,professors,and staff are just as frustrated with those aspects of university life but it in no way diminished the prestige and quality of education of those universities.
@NETarrantMom Thank you for your encouragement about Texas A&M’s career opportunities, their largest-in-nation Engineering Career Fair, and the famous Aggie Network. Like you, I recommended that my son look at universities of all sizes (12K, 20K, 30+K, and Texas A&M). Once admitted to A&M, he knew he wanted to be an Aggie!
@Thelma2 I agree that Texas A&M is a very highly respected university and that all universities have some issues. The registration issues at A&M are quite an obstacle though. My son qualified for Honors at two other universities, and almost qualified for Honors at a third school. He most likely would have done better at a smaller university with priority enrollment (to get all the courses he needs, better profs, & better schedules). A friend whose son graduated from Texas A&M several years ago told me their engineering program is too competitive for non-Honors students to thrive in. Her son entered A&M with a lot of dual credit/AP hours, and still needed 5.5 years (plus summer courses) to graduate.
I’m still looking for an advice about academic probation. My son had a 3.1 GPA until last spring. He was very sick entire semester…should have taken medical withdrawal in March instead of deferring his surgery until right after finals ended.
The advisor who resigned abruptly in Nov told him she’d lift enrollment block & help him as soon as final fall semester grades are posted on Dec 19. New advisor said it will “take a while to review terms of probation” and that his registration block might not be lifted by Jan 2, when enrollment opens again.
My Aggie has met all terms of probation except grades. We’ve already deferred family vacation so he’ll be home on Jan 2 to enroll. Now it looks like he will have to enroll (using his smartphone) while we’re on vacation…on whatever day his advisor has time & decides to lift the block. According to A&M website, staff holiday is Dec 23-30. I don’t understand why the advisor won’t have time to lift the block between noon 12/19 (when grades are posted) and 12/22 (last staff day for 2016). Last day of finals is 12/14. Most students will leave CS, unless they’re graduating on 12/16 or 12/17.
I’d appreciate insight from other Aggie parents. If your student (or one of their friends) has been on academic probation, please comment or send me a private message. Most Aggie moms I know have students who are “average” (not Honors, but haven’t been on probation).
When problems escalate, and the student has already tried to solve the problem without a good solution - time for parents to call. Let your Aggie know & get their approval, then proceed by calling the advisor & if no luck, the department head. Be sure to start off saying your student has tried to resolve this… that is the preferred method of handling issues. I’ve had good luck getting firm answers when I had to intervene - only a couple of times total - not necessarily what I wanted to hear, but at least a definite answer. Sounds like that is what you need to continue with your family plans, that’s what I would do - good luck!