A few years back this info was shared to show admission criteria. It is a summary (line C7 of ??) of what was officially published by tamu, before test optional. As you can see, 'Rigor of classes" is very important, and like frisco dad said, tamu uses SRAR to calculate Rigor. The big question is…does tamu take into account what AP/DC classes each HS offers? For example, if a students HS only offers 1 AP class and they take it, how are they compared to another student who goes to a hs that offers 10 AP classes and they only take 3?
(2019-2020) Relative importance of each of the following academic and nonacademic factors in first-time, firstyear, degree-seeking (freshman) admission decisions.
Very Important
Rigor of secondary school record
Class Rank
Academic GPA
Standardized Test Scores
Extracurricular Activities
Talent/Ability
Important
Application Essay
First Generation
Geographical Residence
State Residency
Volunteer work
Work Experience
Considered
LORs
Character/personal qualities
Level of applicant’s interest
Not Considered
Interview
Religious affiliation
Racial/ethnic status
We were told by our college counselors that colleges (this is not TAMU specific) look at what you take relative to what your school offers and that they have AO that are region specific that know the schools very well so someone from district A with very little to no AP courses won’t be penalized for not taking classes that aren’t available to them. Of course in reality, who really knows if this is truly practiced.
Knowing what I know now about the admission criteria, I don’t think that colleges like UT or TAMU are consistent or transparent. For example, a student who is top 10 but has no volunteer hours, does not play any varsity sports , is not part of any club, is not an NHS, does not have stellar test scores gets auto admit at TAMU simply by being top 10 but a kid who did a little bit of everything in HS , has decent grades and in the real world considered “holistic” and is top 12% does not even know if he is going to make the cut.
Yes, I see what you are saying. Its too bad rank could not be just another very important criteria, when considering someones total application. I guess auto admits save admissions lots of work because they dont have to go over the application as carefully as the review apps, imho
Although 6% at UT will get in the door but not necessary in the department you choose so these kids end up going to their “safe” school which for most of them is TAMU
@ALN you definitely run in a different circle, because most do not consider A&M a ‘safety’ school. And yes, many that get into UT, aren’t given their intended/chosen major.
Yes maybe not for all but I am talking about the 8 or so kids that I know personally that did not get into their intended major at UT or got capped last Friday and immediately accepted full admit at TAMU. I know it is a small sample but enough to conclude that for most in our area , if not UT , it is TAMU.
I go to lunch and come back to almost 30 posts. Y’all are chatty today.
DC at my kiddos school was considered on level. Had to get a 100% to get 4.0 which still decreased GPA. Craziness, but it’s whatever. TAMU knows the schools and knows what’s offered.
As for AP, never accept until you must. NSC is great and while parents don’t sit and speak with advisors, Advisors do address parents in a forum on day 2.
So interesting how DC/AP policies differ across the state. In our school district (Lewisville ISD), DC & AP both have the same weight/multiplier: 1.2, while Honors classes have a multiplier of 1.15 and on level/regular classes are 1.1.
Only weighted numerical GPA core subject classes, foreign language and academic decathlon classes are used to calculate class rank.
You don’t have to take the AP test if you don’t want to. DC classes are taught both on the high school campus by teachers certified by the partnering community college or at the community college campus itself. My eldest (who got PSA from TAMU last year) is at Texas Tech and came in with 21 credits between DC & AP tests. He had pretty much all his GenEd covered and is now almost done with all lower level requirements for his major. This semester he’s qualified as a sophomore and will almost be a junior at the start of next fall.
With my 11th grade twins, Thing 1 is mostly taking DC like my eldest did, with a few AP (he’s top 5%) and will end up at an instate Public, which one though remains to be seen lol …thing 2 is sticking with all AP for every core subject and some AP electives (like Psych) as he is looking more at the private/lac’s in Texas. He’s still going to apply to TAMU though…he’s in top 6%, so auto admit as well.
I’m enjoying this down time before the madness of college apps season starts again. I’m sure I will be pretty active in the Class of 2027 thread .
Just to piggyback about advisors and parents, there is no day 2 for Engineering parents. It’s just the students. At least that’s how it was at NSC 2021.
@ctxg2019 in 2019 Business Honors had a day 2 Meet & Greet session for parents, while students were in advising, but regular Mays parents didn’t have anything. I think most don’t offer something on day 2 for parents.
@NDTA96 day 1 is jam packed for all parents & students.
Day 2 is major specific. Most parents, sessions or not, will hang out in or around the building where their student is. When they break for lunch, parents go eat with their kid, discuss what advisor said, help them get ready for registration, which starts right after lunch.
My engineering nephew and mom had things both days this past summer. There are major related break out sessions.
For Econ (when my son was at NSC), we met with advisors and our students for a small group chat. Then students went with advisors and parents stayed for some q&A.
Every major is different. Engineering used to take MPE on Day 2, but now they do it ahead of time.
@Lavalocks19 no, NSC is the same for everyone, regardless of the admitted major.
TEAM is considered full admission.
Day 1 is all day sessions for parents & students
Day 2 is major specific. Students meet with advisors and register for classes.
@Friscodad My son got full admission last week and his best friend got Blinn team options last week. They want to room together, when do you think those selecting blinn only will hear back?
If your son’s friend select “Blinn only”, decision should be earlier (likely this week?)
The immediate change should see Howdy portal->Manage Application change the program code to BAC-TEAM. Even though it may still show status “under review”, Financial portal may start showing “You are in good academic standing”. Likely 7 tabs will come in next few days, then AIS in another few days.
Some TEABs (engineering at Blinn not the same as Blinn Team) have 7 tabs today and waiting for AIS to finalize.
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