@TxSker The auto admit process for engineers lasted for the first 85% of applicants. The remaining 15% of spots were judged holistically. They were top 10% in a large high school, not even low top 10%. High top 10%, around 4%. I don’t remember their total SAT’s but I think they where in the range of 1650-1950.
https://engineering.tamu.edu/media/35043/college-stats-engineering-new-students.pdf
This website only goes to 2009 but it seems as if the average was around a 660 in 2009. His overall ACT was really good and probably puts him really close I think. I just believe if it was a little closer he would be much more competitive.