One main difference is that this student applied to Business/Finance while you applied to Aeronautical Engineering. Purdue Aero is currently ranked #3 in the nation, and as such is flooded with too many excellent applicants than it can accept. Even if all freshmen students start as FYE, i would think Purdue takes note of how many prospective students they admit for each program.
Congratulations on your acceptance to TAMU Engineering! You can be successful wherever you choose to go 
For future Applications:
The portal astrology I posted earlier was 100% ACCURATE! Here it is below:
Can access link + see cancel button: Admitted
Cannot access link + see cancel button: Deferred
Cannot access link and cannot see cancel button: Rejected
She is fortunate to have several good choices already from EA. She wants to do wildlife science and is accepted to Auburn, Clemson, U Georgia and Texas A&M, among others (with scholarships at most). Purdue is right up there now, so it will be a hard decision. But Iām obviously not complaining.
Deferred - OOS/Engineering/1510 SAT/ 96 GPA
Accepted for Pharmaceutical Sciences! OOS 3.72 UW 4.08 Weighted
Purdue wants people at Indy. Itās nowhere close to the WLAF experience so visit if you are even remotely considering it.
Son accepted FYE (ME) + Honors but no merit. 1520 SAT, 3.9UW/4.4W Math through Calc 3. AP Phys C + AP Chem. Some related professional certifications. 15hrs/wk EC not related to major.
Yes, DS26 has been offered entry into the Lilly Scholars program. Would love any insights, wisdom, and advice that you can share about the program and the internship opportunities.
Son has similar stats and math/science progression as yours. Admitted FYE OOS with $10K/year Presidential Merit, but no word on Honors, so assuming he wasnāt accepted. I am seeing a lot of this online, either Merit or Honors, but only a few get both. Not sure what the criteria are for either.
DD accepted to Honors, no merit 
(the first college out of 6 decisions that didnāt give any merit). ACT 36, 4.36W, 14 AP. OOS. Major - Applied Math.
Purdue is stingy with merit. Only 10% of students are offered merit. They have focused much more on keeping tuition frozen for everyone.
Similarly Honors is 10% of the class.
Can someone give a light on this: is there even higher acceptance rate for deferred students in the regular pool, Iām wondering what more applications from my HS in RD would mean. Deferred, international FYE, 1470 SAT w solid inter awards and essays.
Thanks!
I have never seen Purdue break out those numbers. Best of luck to you in RD!
Do you think major is factored into condition for merit? Applied CS and havenāt heard of any merit scholarships for CS.
Yes, intended major matters for both merit and honors.
For instance, Proflight. They typically give merit to incentivise people to come to their school, which means āthis applicant is hard to replaceā. For a program as tight as Proflight, they donāt need to give merit because there are SO MANY applicants. I donāt think Iāve heard of a single accepted proflight candidate with a merit scholarship
Can you apply for Purdue Honors at the end of your first year? What are the benefits of being accepted to the honors college? I didnāt apply to the honors college 
Yes you can apply after your freshman year.
You can read more about the honors program, the curriculum, and the benefits in the link below.
S26 got admit today to Mitch Daniels SoB for Finance major.
Stats: 3.7UW 4.1W GPA (9 APs, 3 DE etc), 1490 SAT (750 Math), OOS, Decent ECs,ā¦
Need to find out how is Mitch Daniels compared to Smeal wrt placement for non top 10% students. Also at Purdue what is the difference btw Quantitative Business Economics vs Finance majors?
DS got into Purdue Honors college for Aviation with Aviation Management as major. Though he wanted to get pro flight as his major. Does anyone know if he can get pro flight upon admission.