Good question! MPE for ETAM students is mainly Pre-Calculus and Algebra. Having 22 correct out of 32 to 36 questions will allow students take M151 in the fall, below 22 students will take M150. Rule is the same for ETAM College Station, Galveston, McAllen and TEAB (Schedule A). The idea of MPE is allowing less advantage students from small rural area without AP Calculus in their high school to catch up from a more solid foundation of M150.
First half of M151 class is simply repeating Pre-Calculus, so to get 16 in a M151 but passing MPE is illogical, and points to the likely fact that student cheated on the virtual MPE.
I’m not really sure what A&M is supposed to do about any of this cheating stuff…. It always sucks when kids are disadvantaged but it’s not A&M’s job to go on a witch hunt looking for cheaters…
Yes unfortunately picking waitlist always delay the decisions.
To admissions, their end goal is for students complete the NSC process, so for students picking “Blinn only or TEAB” will almost secure that NSC acceptance. Those having “waitlist” appears to have other backup options (as they can wait).
The trickery of the options is attributed to both sides, it may sound like admissions trick the students. On the other hand, that also speaks applicants’ lack of understanding of Blinn options before making their choices.
Misunderstanding Blinn is probably more of a fact (if you talk to an admission director) because Blinn has been evolved to a different offer not the same from its original idea. Blinn nowadays have so much advantages some fully admitted College Station students learned that in NSC even ask if they can go that route because of the tuition savings.
Waitlist is a batch processing. Each major already have a target admitted total so admission will process waitlist at a time when they are ready to close and see how many offer still available. They don’t likely re-review the application third time so waitlist itself is a queue. Hence the result to the student will be exactly as stated, get Blinn, full admission or PSA.
For those picking waitlist and still waiting, now is the time to have a Plan B (if TAMU is the goal) . For engineering, applying Engineering Academy at Brenham (priority deadline March 1st). For non-engineering, go for Blinn Bryan is the easy choice of Plan B. Once a student have Plan B in place, just relax and wait for admission decision.
TAMU (even UT), has a consistent “student turnover” rate. It is ironic when hearing the term “turnover” but in reality, that translates to “rooting out the high school cheaters and letting good students transfer in and taking over the spot in sophomore or junior year”. Re-admission process is in place for those dropped out with non-academic reasons but that constitutes to very small percentage.
TAMU process 5K to 6K undergraduate transfer applications each year. Admit about 3000, and the enrollment rate is super high (90%). You can tell the “replenishment” process is in place to root out high school cheaters and replace with the good students missing the freshmen round.
The ones who drop out aren’t just HS cheaters. People cheat in college and in life. Greek organizations keep old test banks. Is that cheating or laziness on the professor’s part?
The one with the 16 in 151 probably took 150 in the fall.
@FriscoDad , 90% is pretty high but good for the kids that are serious and wish to transfer. Wish there was a way to weed out the cheaters from the get go so deserving kids can get in.
Agree. But in this case the score of 16 (and quite a number of students with less than 40) was in M151 class this past Fall.
I can’t speak for all majors, but for STEM it is hard to cheat in Junior and Senior years as the grades for many critical classes are no longer merely from tests. Even with tests they are mostly free response and professors can change parameters easily.
From my work experience, those graduated top 25% in UT, TAMU and UTD are very solid performers and I haven’t seen a single one fails introductory period at first job. Summa cum laude from TAMU and UT performs identically as prestigious college (MIT, Caltech, Stanford) graduates.
Regarding a backup plan… You would recommend Blinn Bryan (just straight up Blinn community college, not TEAM) over PSA at another campus for 1 year? What are the advantages of each of those approaches if you don’t mind my asking?
If offer PSA, depends on majors, sometimes PTA (another program with guarantee transfer but more restrictive) is better, but PSA/PTA are post-decision options.
For pre-decision plans (Plan B), Blinn Bryan (for non-engineering) or Engineering Academy at Blinn allows students to stay in College Station, financially (if student is not from Bryan county) it may not be very sound. If student is from Dallas, he or she can enroll at DCC. But for students really want TAMU and have friends in TAMU, Blinn Bryan is a very good option. Blinn CC has the highest transfer success rate.
Blinn in Bryan (Brazos county) and rellis campus (also in Bryan) are great choices for straight transfer. Especially if you’re coming into college with 12 or more Dual credit and a strong gpa with that DC. Living in Aggieland whether at Tamu or blinn is the same cost (of living off campus). They can still get the going away college feel. They’ll have friends, more than likely at main campus, and Northgate is open to everyone lol. If you don’t know what that is… message me Lolol.
Once you have 24 graded credits (dual plus one full semester) you can apply for straight transfer into summer or fall.
Ah so it was in the fall. I still think people with scores of 16 to 40 didn’t necessarily cheat on the MPE. My nephew barely missed the cutoff and had to take 150 in the fall. If he’d barely passed the MPE, he might’ve failed his first 151 test.
What GPA constitutes top quarter? My company recently hired a business grad from one of those three schools who had a 3.5 and he mostly played online poker. Capable but didn’t know Excel and was quite lazy.
@ChristiR93 i think it’s important to mention that while Blinn Junior College - Bryan campus & RELLIS campus- is located in Brazos County, only those whose permanent address is in Washington County qualify for the in-district rate. Many don’t know that, assume since they’re living in B/CS they’ll get the cheaper rate. Nope.
This is especially important for those that take online summer classes, while at being enrolled at A&M. SHOP AROUND…Blinn is pricey and there are WAY cheaper (and easier) schools around the state.
Just my PSA
Great advice! My older son recently did the Blinn Bryan route and was a straight transfer. He is a full-time Aggie now and SO happy! So many paths and if you truly have your heart set on Texas A&M, there is a way.
My kids also came from 6A very competitive HS, tons of merit scholars and over 1000 in the class. To even be in the top quarter is very challenging even with all A’s in high level courses… A fews year ago they started allowing kids to opt out of their class rank on their transcript if they were out of the top 10. TAMU and other colleges would have to assign you a rank, and most would likely land in the Top Quarter for their ranking. There is such a huge difference between districts that it puts a lot of really smart kids at a disadvantage when it comes to rank, although rank is just one piece if you are in review and not auto admit.
@aggie1995 , I agree. competition is super high with review admit kids than auto. With auto , you can be top 10% without having a single AP , EC and can still get in. Although in the long run , kids who take advance classes in HS benefit even if they are not top 10. Studying for AP exams prepares them for college.
Great point. Even my kids (Brazos county) had out of district price. But it’s not anywhere close to what people may think of like out of state pricing.
True. But paying outrageous Blinn prices for a basic summer school class, WinterMester or MayMester makes no sense. My Aggie took a 10 day MayMester online via Texarkana JC last summer for $300. She found cheaper, but the dates didn’t work out. Definitely pays to shop around, especially for summer school (and during the school year, too, if it’s an online class).
@Piknight - Hmmm… if someone is top 11%, 3.99GPA, SAT 1050 (taken 5 times) OR someone is top 30%, 3.5GPA, SAT 1350. I wonder who might be cheating? That’s how A&M can help. BUT, preferably, in needs to start with high schools. Colleges can help by eliminating rank altogether(I know the top 10% isn’t their call) - or making by rank much less important.
