So no email update to check the portal if something is added? That’s what seems to happen at most schools.
@Hobbd an email will usually come-stating specifics of the award (who the donor is, amount, etc) but it almost always appears in Howdy first.
Student needs to get into the habit of checking often.
As far as scholarships…most award/scholarships will require some kind of thank you. This won’t take place until after school starts. Some may require attendance at a dinner/reception, departmental usually require a hand written thank you-submitted to the advisor as proof-while others are submitted to a specific building on campus.
It is SUPER important to keep track of things. My Aggie forwarded me her award/scholarship emails, and I kept them in a binder. Most had the fine print at the bottom, how/when/where to submit thank you’s.
Failure to submit thank you’s-if required-will cause student to lose that scholarship (if it’s a 4 year).
*They will get one notification once school has started, about what to do. But it is up to the student to complete…no one at A&M will hound them, and zero grace given if they don’t follow the rules/guidelines.
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Thanks so much! That is very helpful information, and I think I will adopt the binder idea or something like it. I am on my DS all the time about writing thank you notes anyway, so this will just reinforce the importance of writing them (if he gets any).
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Checked today and DS had the Opportunity Scholarship. $1,000 for the first year. Every little bit helps!
@Hobbd that’s great! Only a 1 year award…but still great!
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My DS tried this email address and still no response. I know they are likely very busy, but I figured since he has put effort into reaching out several times over the last few weeks, he would at least receive a response of some sort. I made sure all of his emails were very respectful and cordial as well. I guess I feel like if they have a Contact button, then they should at least respond within a couple of weeks. A brief email only takes a couple of minutes. Anyway, I guess this means that there is still hope that he could be interviewed. Thanks again for your help, and I will keep you posted.
Since your child is NMSF, he should have been awarded President’s Endowed Scholarship of $4k/year.
This will make him eligible for in-state tuition waiver. Waiver is automatic. No paperwork needed. This will bring his tuition down to in-state tuition (something like $12k/year). Once he becomes NMF ( this week), he will also get [National Merit Recognition Award of $7k/year.
So as per my understanding ( My child is going through this), your child should have In-state tution waiver and $11k/year which basically.makes tuition almost free.
This has been my understanding based on various communication that I have had with TAMU.
Try emailing them at aggieonestop@tamu.edu. They have been very responsive.
Good Evening, Yes, that is my understanding as well, and he did receive a 1 year Opportunity Scholarship for $1000 so his tuition would be covered for his first year.
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Did he receive $3k/year of President Endowed Scholarship? Both together will make it $4k and illegible for In-state waiver
@Aafat and @Hobbd some scholarships don’t ‘count’ towards in-state tuition…pretty sure an Opportunity doesn’t.
Let me dig around…
An Opportunity Scholarship isn’t considered a ‘competitive academic scholarship’. Contact AggieOneStop to double check.
But @Hobbd his NMSF will get him to in-state rate.
Hi Everyone. Back with some not so great news. After DS and I were misled—intentionally or not—by an Admissions Officer to believe that his application was sent over to the Brown Foundation for consideration, we found out that it was never sent over from the Brown Foundation themselves. And When DS asked about this and explained the situation, a different AO responded and basically defended the former AO. No apology or any admission that they could have communicated better. This AO put it off on the scholarship office, as if they couldn’t have contacted the scholarship office to find out or sent DS to the scholarship office to find out way back in December when we first started reaching out about it. DS loved A and M and it is still one of the top ones on his list, but he did say that if they are treating me like this now, will they do the same if I enroll. A simple apology would have gone a long way. And the apology is not for not sending his application over to the Brown Foundation to be considered. The apology would be for misleading us. Also, I would recommend not using the Contact Button on the Brown Foundation site. Instead use the email address that was suggested to me above. My Contact Button messages were not accepted. Thanks to everyone on this board and maybe DS will end up at A & M still, but there is more of a concern now of whether he will be treated like a number or a student.
Thanks. Yea that’s right. I was just saying that he would have an extra 1k for first year so that would help with the rest of tuition not covered by National Merit scholarships. He did find out he was a Finalist on Friday.
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Oh @Hobbd i HATE to hear this.
I only know about Brown from friends that are Brown Scholars. So the application isn’t sent directly to the Brown Foundation, TAMU must send it?
A&M is huge, and gets bigger every year. The key-I think-to success at A&M (good advising, smaller/better classes & profs) is getting in major specific Honors programs , or Brown Scholar, Century Scholar.
University Honors is a BUST…don’t even apply
Honestly, I’d follow 
and go where your student has been woo’d.
I have email from TAMU which says
President’s Endowed Scholarship and the National Merit Recognition Award are considered “eligible scholarships” to determine the eligibility of non-residents (students who are not residents of Texas) for the non-resident tuition waiver.
Yes, PES is indeed a competitive academic scholarship, an Opportunity Award is not.
TAMU no longer gives for National Recognition.
Are talking about NM Scholar or National Recognition?
Thanks for the response and for the advice. I think my DS is starting to contemplate the realities of being at such a big school. Cons as well as the pros. And definitely agree about being in one of the programs you mentioned. DS is auto admit to Engineering Honors so he would be able to be in that. He already applied to University Honors. Thanks for the tip on that program. Why would you say it has been a bust?
@Hobbd definitely do one or the other, but NOT both UH and Eng HNR. Eng HNR FOR SURE!!
UH is hokey, requires a lot of fluff & busy work, no advisors in UH, and it requires living in UH dorms-can’t pick room or roomie-freshman year. There seems to be a mass exodus after year 1 in UH, and every year pretty much any upperclassman who has a 3.0 is sent a blank email to apply. No other HNR program solicits applicants
Major/college specific HNR programs only…at A&M.
No one will be in awe or impressed, by someone in UH.
Gotcha. Thanks! I think Engineering Honors would be his preference anyway if he end up at A & M. After not even being sent over to be considered for Brown, he’s feeling a little less love from A & M. Still their engineering program is top tier and better than either in state option. The in state options are good, solid programs, but don’t have the resources and reputation of A & M. So we will see.
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