Good point!
It is…for some reason I thought it was political science. That’s great!!!
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In Texas, a pair of recent studies has ignited a debate over the benefits of dual credit. One, by the University of Texas system, found that dual credit students had higher GPAs than students who came in without college credits, and were three times as likely to graduate in four years.
The other, commissioned by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, found that dual credit increased the odds of graduating for traditionally advantaged students only; for lower income students, it actually hurt their chances of completing college.
One surprising finding in the system’s study was that dual credit did not reduce borrowing for the majority of participants. While students surveyed by the researchers cited “saving time and money” as a major motivator for taking dual credit courses, only those who entered college with 60 or more credits— the number required for an associate’s degree—saw any significant reduction in student loan debt.
Texas, like 28 other states, requires its public colleges to accept dual enrollment credit with no added restrictions.But in Texas, at least, colleges don’t have to count the credits toward the major. That means that many students must take additional classes—and incur additional debt—to graduate.
I guess I should say that what we were told at new student conference is that philosophy majors score the highest on lsat. Then I think it was English then econ.
As far as AP vs DC, My daughter has taken a combination of AP and dual credit courses. The AP courses haven’t been any more rigorous than the the dual credit courses. Some DC she took at the community college campus in the summer and then provided the transcript to her high school for dual credit. Some DC she took at her high school campus during the regular school year. She’s received 5’s and 4’s on her AP exams and A’s in her community college classes.
A lot of interesting info in the article. I take issue with two statements in it.
“In Texas and elsewhere, instructors have complained that they’re being pressured to lower their standards to keep pass rates high” This may be true at some schools but I don’t think it is a fair generalization. I teach at a community college. The message from above is clear. The high school students enrolled are held to the same standard. I don’t even know who is in high school until the end of the semester when I turn in grades online because the system asks for the number grade at that time for any high school students whereas everyone else gets just a letter grade. We have an ECHS on our community college campus. The ECHS students enroll in the regular college class with traditional college students at our campus for my subject. They have dedicated classrooms and teachers in their building on campus for other subjects. I know ECHS teachers and they teach the same curriculum and grade to the same standard as the college.
“while professors have said students who took core courses in high school are struggling in upper-level classes.” This may just be a perception and bias because Professors don’t actually know where students took their core courses. I have no idea where my students took classes before or after mine. We don’t look at students academic records. We just know them in the context of our class. Admissions staff look at student records. Professors don’t. Also yes there are C students in ECHS’s and DC classes just like there are in regular HS classes, AP classes, community college, and university classes. These students are going to struggle in upper level classes regardless of where they took lower division classes. There are a range of abilities and performances amongst all types of students: DC students, AP students, community college students, and university students.
Also a popular trend I have heard about is some public university students take a few of the harder classes at the community college instead of at their university not because it is less rigorous but because the learning conditions are better. Smaller class size, etc. So they learn the material better and get a better grade as a result. This is also why some students go to community college first then transfer. Tuition is less and the class size is smaller. Learning conditions can be better for lower division classes. I’ve heard Blinn TEAM students comment this is one thing they love about being a Blinn student.
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@martinezcs , not generalizing all kids that take DC classes but from personal experience, I can tell you that attending two community colleges and taking classes with a 4.0 GPA did not prepare me for some 4 year college classes ( I graduated with a (3.9) from college so no, it was not that I did not try. The way syllabus were designed and graded were completely different in a 4 year University. As for the summer and mini-mester classes, how much can a student learn and master Math skills from doing crash course in 4 weeks and doing upper level classes in a 4 year college? Yes, some kids will excel with limited guidance but a vast majority of them will need time to learn.
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Another benefit of dual enrollment courses I see is they are not counted in the excess hours count in Texas, if they are taken while in high school. I homeschooled my youngest and she will have significant college credits before entering a university. Dual enrollment gave her the opportunity to explore different courses at the college level & helped her decide she wants to focus on engineering. We also consulted with an engineering advisor so we would know the courses she should definitely wait to take or retake at TAMU. She will probably repeat some higher level math courses just to be confident she learns everything TAMU expects, but continues taking all the math she can now because she she doesn’t want a semester without it. We are fully aware every course she has taken may not count towards her degree, but most can. Plus she can retake any class at TAMU without the excess hour penalty. Hopefully taking the more rigorous courses and learning to navigate the college system level will be beneficial to her at TAMU.
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I understand. Keep in mind the course is the exact same whether it is 16 week, 8 week, or 5 week. I teach each time frame and the course is identical. The only thing I change is the due dates. Students take 5 or 6 courses over the course of 16 weeks and spend less time per week per course and are focusing on more classes at the same time. Students double time it in the 8 week sections but take less classes at the same time. They usually take 3 sections the first 8 weeks and then 2 or 3 sections the 2nd 8 week classes. Students take 1 or 2 courses in the 5 week summer classes and come for twice as long each day for twice as many days per week and focus on only that class or maybe a second class. More condensed vs more spread out. But that is the only difference. Heck my husband got his MBA from A&M in all 7 week sections two classes at a time, back to back, year round, in less than 18 months. I did my two years at CC like I mentionned, then transferred to university. For my major I only had to take college algebra and brief calculus. I had taken them both at community college and was done with math. 
My husband got his BS in mechanical engineering. He did all his lower division courses at community college and all his upper division courses at university. It worked fine for him. Different things work for different people. Community college has a place and is useful for some people in some circumstances.
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I respectfully disagree. Years ago premeds found out that taking the harder premed requisite courses (think OChem for example) at CC yielded higher grades and thus higher GPAs. The courses were less rigorous and easier but premeds didn’t care. They just wanted the higher grades. Med schools took note as these students did not fare as well on the MCAT or in medical school, and that is why medical schools now say no premed reqs can be taken at CC.
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Gotcha I guess I was thinking more calculus and physics for psychology or business majors, etc rather than Organic chemistry for premed students prepping for medical school.
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Any news on today on acceptances? Do we think they will wait until 4 ish?
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@tinaw47 , I hope we hear something this week. I was wondering if any review admits have heard back.
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Based on timelines from previous years (listed above) it seems like this week might be when the engineering review w/high scores admit decisions come out. But it also looks like it may be running a week behind. And there was a teaser from A&M admissions last week that hasn’t come to light yet. My house is a pressure cooker right now 
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@tinaw47 , so is mine. My son is pretty stressed 
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I’ve heard of students taking humanities courses at CC, especially during the first summer, because the grades at Big State U are often curved in those classes with a B-C average and in large lecture halls.
Regarding DC, the issue that I hear from university administration is that many students are taught by high school teachers. @martinezcs your experience sounds great because HS students are mixed in with CC students. I remember taking a history class at Angelina College during HS and thinking it was much harder than an Honors American History in HS. Then again, I wasn’t in APUSH and testing with a 4 or 5. A question some colleges have is whether a 4 in APUSH is equivalent to a passing grade in a ECHS DC course taught by a high school teacher. By the way, no offense meant to the HS teacher and it may have changed but my HS physics teacher only had two physics courses in college while the CC physics professor had a PhD in physics.
Also, for anyone who knows, do ECHS students join the local regular HS for any extracurriculars like band, sports, yearbook, or do they do their own? I read that 25% of Lufkin’s overall high school student population does ECHS. These are relatively new programs but I’m curious how they’ve left the regular HS. Maybe it’s a bit easier to get top 10% from Lufkin HS now. I see that ECHS is prevalent in TX in many cities close to a CC. Fascinating development and apparently has helped many graduate from college and believe they are college material.
+++++++++++++++++++
Don’t fret about the decision timing. Maybe one needs a safety school decision to help alleviate some anxiety but I get that A&M is many HS seniors’ dream school and a great value.
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Just to lessen the wait anxiety, decisions don’t come out in the afternoon unless you already have the 6 tabs in Howdy. Tabs come early morning (7:00am ish). Then the official word can come in at any time on AIS or Howdy.
So if you don’t have the 6 tabs yet, no need to continue to look throughout the day. That won’t stop you lol, but just letting you know.
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They do not get to do the EC’s at the other high schools in the district. They typically have an individual interest period where they can pursue an EC interest like intramural sports and clubs but not Band or UIL Sports and they volunteer and pursue other EC’s outside of school too.
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Howdy from a mom of a Class of 2025’er. I thought I’d post to give y’all some advice about how to manage through the most stressful time of your and your kids lives…WAITING TO HEAR FROM A&M.
Like you, I was in the same boat as y’all. My daughter applied on day 4 of the app being open in August. She is a 3rd generation Aggie. Her grandpa(my father in law), father, his sister and myself are all Aggies. My daughter wants to be a vet, so she applied to other schools as well. She heard right away from Tech, Oklahoma State and Texas State. Soon she heard from Colorado State and Oregon State. Oregon State was the last school she heard from before getting a decision from Texas and A&M. This was in December. We live in Austin, and the only reason she applied to tu was to appease her dad…lol. It was absolutely nerve wracking. She heard from Texas in January, then the scholarships from other schools started to roll in. Lots of pressure from the other schools to commit to them was coming in. When the child decided what her second choice school was, we went ahead and put down the housing deposit there. I felt awful, but it was necessary to ensure that her plan b would work out. At this point(mid Feb), my daughter was ready to accept a PSA offer to either Corpus or Tarleton. She wanted to be an Aggie no matter what…and who cares about the deposit Mom and Dad spent.
I think it was at the END of February, we heard from A&M that she had been offered a Gateway admission. Gateway is a summer program where you come and spend 5 weeks on campus for summer semester II. If you get a 2.0, you get into A&M for the fall. We celebrated and we were VERY relieved that she got this type of offer. She did GREAT for her Gateway offer and is now on campus loving life.
There are things that you guys need to keep in perspective.
- Don’t stress in front of your kid. Be there to support them, but come here to stress. Your stress impacts them.
- Be realistic with your expectations. I say this because A&M admissions have a very hard job to do, and if last year is any indication, there will be lots of applications that come through.
- Be open minded. If you are offered a chance to go to Galveston or McAllen, DO IT. Ask yourself what’s more important, being an Aggie or being on College Station?
- Don’t let the tabs fool you. Last year, there were several kids who got 6 tabs who were wait listed, only to have the tabs go away when they were taken off the list and placed PSA.
- TAKE THE PSA ROUTE. If you want to be an Aggie, this is a GREAT way to do it.
- A&M is hard. Know how competitive your kid’s high school is. My daughter’s chemistry class and biology class went from being full to having about 60 percent of the kids in there. Why? Because classes are hard. Your kid might be in the top 2 percent of their high school, but the days of getting easy A’s are over at A&M.
- C’s are OK. Be realistic in the fact that your kid who did awesome in high school might not do so awesome in college. AND THAT IS OK.
Good luck y’all! I wish you the best. And GIG’EM AGGIES!!!
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Great insight! Thank you for sharing. Totally remember you from the last cycle! Glad Gateway worked out for her… I love that program offer over any other.
Couple of things I want to clear up or clarify…
Noone is taking anyone’s spot. So it is yours and yours alone. TAMU doesn’t fill spots. They use a formula to make a certain number of offers, knowing they’ll yield a much smaller acceptance/enrollment. Now with the waitlist making its way back into the offers, towards February, they will move people around as needed. We have seen people get Blinn Team in January and then offered full admission in March. So I do agree no one should string tamu along if they know they aren’t going to attend, but truly make your own decision when you are ready.
PSA route is okay, but also just as easy to apply direclty to your major after completing 24 graded credits (12 after high school). No need to wait if you don’t want to OR if you already have a lot of credit and or want to go to Blinn and be in Aggieland as a freshman.
I do recall the 6 tabs happening one cycle accidentally in Feb/Mar time frame and being pulled back same day and students offered PSA, but that has only happened once in my 6 plus years of monitoring these admission cycles. Right now, in the Fall, I promise you, if you get 6 tabs, you will be accepted.
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@ChristiR93 , Christy, my son received an email indicating that he is eligible to apply for the Honors program. I am so confused, do we need to apply separately for the Honors ? Any advise would be very helpful to this confused first time very confused parent
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