How hard to maintain a 3.5 GPA for the first year as General Engineering?

@AmberZhu123

I think the chart you are looking at for computer science is a profile for holistic review students. Everyone who gets a 3.5 GPA and above is automatically admitted. Kids who have a GPA below 3.5 go into holistic review. The holistic review students admitted to CS in spring 2017 had cumulative GPAs ranging from 2.59 - 3.48. The kids who had GPAs of 3.5 to 4.0 are not included in that profile.

https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/entry-to-a-major/resources/analysis-spring-2017-admission-cycle/cpsc.html