To be clear, classes are not the same as credits. You don’t need to take a specified number of classes, you just need to earn the required number of credits.
Students who can earn credits through AP, CLEP, dual-credit, etc. will not have to take as many classes as students who don’t earn those credits. Even 15 hours of earned credits can mean that you only need to take 4 classes most semesters instead of 5.
It’s generally good to have a couple of easy non-technical electives during your first year to help boost your GPA for ETAM. Once you’re past ETAM and into a specific engineering discipline, having fewer classes might make life a bit easier.
Do you know where we can see list of what clep credits A&M accepts? I found a list of tests they offer for credit but wasn’t sure if that is all they accept?
Has anybody received a decision on Engineering Honors? Is it a rolling admission process or a specific date when notifications are sent? If rolling, how long after submission is normal to receive a decision?
Does anybody have a feel for how many engineering slots are available in the regular decision? Like others here, my son applied before the EA deadline but didn’t hear anything (other than the web post). He’s an in-state applicant just outside of the top 10% at his competitive private school. He thought his 31 ACT and heavy ECs would help him, but apparently not. Should he consider a different major? Thanks in advance for any insight.
Most of engineering decisions are in Jan through Feb.
Those admitted before winter break are mostly auto with proven Calculus skills. Be sure to research offers via TEAB/McAllen/Galveston as those are also considered admitted and go through the same ETAM.
Do high school students need some kind of internship to have a competitive edge for engineering? If so, this seems like it would be hard to find for a student who lives in a rural area.
I remembered in NSC they said ECs played a very minor (2-3%) role in admission decision. At times only used for tie-breaking situation. Rank, scores and course strength contributed to over 96% of admission cases. So they jokingly reminded admitted students to tell their younger brothers and sisters to spend more time studying.
“Internship” is an overused word in the last decade as high school students can hardly contribute much in real business worlds. In many cases, these are just “volunteering” so admission is not considering them seriously. ECs are more of a reflection of character showing students have a healthy mental state and social behavior.
Getting in might not be as hard if you have great grades and a respectable SAT. The harder part is staying in; that will be the hurdle; it is a hard program, I speak from experience…
Has anyone gotten accepted into the honors engineering program yet? I’ve heard of a few but only ones who are national merit finalist. And do they send an email to notify whether or not you get in to the student or just post on Howdy portal?
I haven’t heard of anyone other than the NMF receiving notifications. During our engineering honors briefing we recently attended, the presenter said that their deadline is May 1st, but she believes they will have all the decision notifications out my mid-April or sooner.
@FriscoDad and others - Seeking thoughts/advice for son:
admitted Sept 2023 for engineering
homeschooled, classified as top 10%, OOS
1490 SAT, 34 ACT, 4.0 unweighted, AP Chem A+/4, AP Calc AB A+/5, took AP Phys Mechanics A/AP this spring, taking AP Calc BC A/AP this spring, taking AP Phys E&M A/AP this spring; he took several other non-STEM AP’s with similar results
pretty heavy EC (robotics) and work (10-15 hours/week) schedule
doing the Corps, non-commission track
has borderline severe dyslexia & dysgraphia; main accommodation is +50% time but only needs/uses +10-25% (SAT, ACT, AP exams, already pre-approved at TAMU)
Given the difficulty of engineering & especially adding on the Corps, he is considering 12-15 hours/semester rather than the “normal” load of 15-17; part of the way of accomplishing that and still graduating in 4-4.5 years (in our minds) is to use some AP & dual credit hours for non-eng classes, and take some summer classes. Questions:
Do dual credit grades from non-TAMU affiliates count toward ETAM GPA? If so, are they looked at as “lesser than” during a holistic ETAM review? Example: our homeschool curriculum has DC through Southeastern U in Florida, and they have a composition class that would be equivalent to Eng 103/104, according to Howdy.
I seek input into the contrasting options of (1) taking AP credit for a non-eng class, thereby taking less hours freshman year, thereby being able to concentrate more energy on the (arguably) harder eng-centric course load versus (2) not taking the AP credit and instead taking that class at TAMU, for purposes of arguably boosting GPA, but with the downside that it will add another class and take more study time that may distract from concentrating on eng classes
While 3.75 is the threshold for auto entry to a major, is there a GPA below that to aim for to be relatively safe for holistic ETAM? son is NOT interested in computer science, but mechanical, civil and materials science; I know mechanical is competitive but I see a lot of holistic admits there the last round of ETAM
