Texas A&M guarantees admission to top 10% ( again, not to major tho). Historically strong engineering school.
Oops, up to 70k undergrads now. Should hit 80k.
There is a lot of land.
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USNWR lists the Fall 2022 undergraduate enrollment so that was the number I was using.
For Texas A& M, you’re guaranteed your major if you’re in the top 10% and have submitted your application early. A&M admits on a first come first serve basis, not really holistic for top 10% students.
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It’s a good thing there is a whole lot of land…
That is different from what it says at Apply Now | Texas A&M University Engineering .
And then there is secondary admission to various engineering majors. Getting into CS without a 3.75 college GPA is very unlikely.
Yes. Engineering is handled differently since everyon has to complete first year general engineering before applying for their major. However, if you’re top 10% applying for General Engineering, you will be admitted. If you check this table, all top 10% who applied were admitted.
https://abpa.tamu.edu/accountability-metrics/student-metrics/applied-admitted-enrolled
Are UT Austin and the UC universities affordable for low and middle income families? I’m guessing the cost of living in Texas is somewhat lower than California, but I don’t really know. So just to simplify the question, are those public universities realistically in reach without parental borrowing for families making 75K per year or under? I think borrowing within the federal limits for students is probably to be expected, but the first question about accessibility is one of affordability.
The state of California is actually quite generous in providing need-based aid to low and middle income families.
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That is fantastic! I am glad to hear it. It is not the case in all states. I have been wondering for awhile because finances for the UCs are usually only mentioned here when OOS students are reminded of costs, but I had no idea what the financial pressures (or not) were for in state Californians. I’m on the other coast and my children’s friends who applying to colleges in those states are usually applying to reaches: Berkeley, UCLA, occasionally UT Austin, and private colleges (Pomona, Occidental, Scripps, Claremont Mckenna, Rice, maybe Stanford) so I’ve found this whole discussion fascinating but completely foreign.
NPC results for in-state students living on campus with married parents with the specified income and no assets:
| School | NPC for $30k | NPC for $70k |
|---|---|---|
| UT Austin liberal arts | 11357 | 19894 |
| UT Austin engineering | 12894 | 19894 |
| UC Berkeley | 8450 | 12398 |
| UC Merced | 8500-9500 | 12448-13448 |
For out-of-state students, none of the above show any financial aid other than possible Pell grant. I.e. expect to pay out-of-state list price or something approximating that, regardless of financials (uncommon merit scholarships excepted).
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Interactive Map - The Institute for College Access & Success can give you some idea of how much student loan debt students in each state (and each college in a state if you click on a state) have, which can be a rough indicator of the affordability and financial aid of the colleges in the state.
It is not too surprising that states like UT, NM, CA, and NV are on the low end of student loan debt, while NH, PA, RI, and CT are on the high end of student loan debt.
The California net prices for families making 30K-70K (which you say includes housing?) are truly amazing compared the in state net price for our public universities. Even the UT Austin NPC for $70k is somewhat better. I am finally understanding why posters often suggest that an instate university will be a students least expensive option. For my daughters, our flagship’s estimated cost has been more expensive than the private colleges that they considered --so much so that it was not even worth applying.
Yes, those are the NPC net price results including living on campus costs (for in-state students). You can try various scenarios yourself if you want:
https://onestop.utexas.edu/managing-costs/cost-tuition-rates/cost-of-attendance/net-price-calculator/
https://saservices.berkeley.edu/calculator
http://finaidcalc.ucmerced.edu/
Ah, I must be mistaken then. This was the ‘common wisdom’ when my son was in high school there, but we moved to CA before he applied so didn’t get personal experience. Also, perhaps we were just focused on UT Austin only.
My summary of UC’s admission process is not very positive and I may be echo’ing the sentiments of few CC members. UCs don’t consider SAT anymore. GPA might not seem to matter as well because a student with lower GPA got admitted at UCB while students with a higher GPA got rejected. Students with higher GPA also had good ECs that include COSMOS and paper publication. I wish the admission process is more objective. Wholistic admission process is a blackbox and no one knows what are the metrics that are measured. What is the incentive for a student who works hard in HS?
Just apply to CSUs, whose admission is primarily by a GPA-based formula, although each campus may add bonus points for local area residency, some measure of rigor, etc…
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GPA matters, but this is pretty much at the heart of holistic admissions. GPA is not looked at in a vacuum (school context, personal challenged and limitations, and other factors are considered in evaluating GPA) and it is not viewed in isolation (it is not rack and stack).
Sure you do because they publish this information. Gumbymom has posted it many times. Each campus weighs each factor differently, however, which is why a student may be accepted at one campus but not another.
Yes, for those who don’t like holistic admissions, this is an excellent solution. We are so fortunate in California to have these great options.
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When students and families compare admission results at UCs with other students at their high school (or other students listing admission results online), typically you are not seeing all of the detail in the other students’ applications such as their PIQs, EC descriptions, exact courses taken throughout high school and grades for each course, courses taken outside the high school such as community college or pre-college courses, etc… So it can be difficult to compare. Perhaps if you read the whole application you might see why a student might have been admitted.
Honestly, I think a large part of the problem is that the UC decisions come so late in the admissions season. When students and families are surprised by UC results, by the time they receive these results it’s too late to start applying to many OOS flagships that might otherwise be attractive picks.
But if students can identify and apply to them earlier in the season, there are many strong OOS flagships out there that offer merit to CA students with high GPA and can mitigate the uncertainty of applying to the UCs. That’s how our family handled it.
This is a good strategy. Also, some CSUs have rolling admissions, so you can have at least one affordable acceptance in your pocket by the time the UC decisions come out.
Just to reiterate the 13 areas of the application review:
The 13 Factors of Comprehensive Review for the UC system are…
- Grade-point average
- Performance in and number of courses beyond minimum a-g requirements
- UC-approved honors courses and advanced courses
- Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) – CA residents only
- Quality of senior-year program of study
- Academic opportunities in California high schools
- Outstanding performance in one or more academic subject areas
- Achievements in special projects
- Improvement in academic performance
- Special talents, achievements and awards
- Participation in educational preparation programs
- Academic accomplishment in light of life experiences
- Geographic location
Note: No single factor determines admission, as your application is evaluated holistically.
These are the 13 criteria that UC readers use to determine whether you are admitted or not.
Again, you cannot compare different applicants just based on their stats and information posted since you do not see the quality of the EC’s or PIQ’s and the other factors considered such as how they compare in context of their HS. You cannot make assumption’s about a lower GPA admit. They may have had only 3 AP classes available to them and maximized their rigor by taking these 3 classes.
You do not know the full story about each applicant so you cannot make any judgements.
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