We took the A&M tour Feb. 2 and met with the advisors. At that time they told us that all the full admits were done and the best we could hope for is TEAM, Gateway or possibly nothing at all. So when my son was accepted into TEAM we were ecstatic. It has been stressful and it was a relief to finally know. My heart goes out to those that haven’t heard.
How many gateway acceptances to they give out as opposed to team?
@52AG82 it really does feel like a slap. I’ve spent the past few weeks expressing to my daughter how fierce the competition is, so I do think that had to sting a little for her. My oldest daughter graduated HS in 2017. Seemed like everyone and their brother from her school got into TAMU. I wasn’t paying as much attention to how any of the process or criteria to get in was going as my oldest already knew she’d be going for the dental hygiene program at Blinn, but the sheer volume of her classmates that wound up at TAMU be it full, Gateway or TEAM led me to think it wasn’t this competitive. It really wasn’t on my radar as my younger daughter was completely undecided on anything. Especially with all of the fuss of getting her sister off to Blinn that was our focus. Last year class of 2018 many students from our school also went to A&M. With so many of the kids from my area attending I definitely didn’t anticipate it to be this rough. Some amazing students are being passed up. That said, I do realize clearly not everyone can get in. I just don’t understand what could’ve set some of these students I just referenced apart enough to have been some of the first at her school to get full admission. I hate sounding like I’m not happy for them, really it’s envy, but it’s hard not to take it as a gut punch at the same time.
@nervoustamumommy and @52AG82. Ya’ll need to chill. No one knows the stats of everyone that gets accepted. It’s just as possible with low scores they had excellent letters of recommendation, great essays and great community service. Either way, no news is good news as far as I am concerned. Don’t let sour grapes on those who get admitted get the best of you. Congratulate them and know that if your kids are as smart and hard working as you say they are then they will flourish wherever they go. There are other schools, and I’d even argue that to transfer in to TAMU as a transfer in spring and or summer is likely far less competitive than to try and get in as a fall freshman admit. The only guaranteed admit is top 10%. We have good backup plans with acceptance to LSU with in-state tuition and SFA. We are holding out for TAMU but we also know some scholarships we have applied for and waiting on are in state only as well. Here’s to hoping for another round of full admit and TEAMS in the coming days.
@UTmom2020 She won’t have a major but she can work towards on by following the course sheet for the major she wants to apply to. Also, she can apply after 1 year if she has the required courses complete, instead of two.
Only certain majors, that have Admissions Agreements, have guaranteed acceptance into a specific major.
The basic requirements of TEAM include completion of 45 credit hours at Blinn College and 15 credit hours at Texas A&M during the two-year program. Students who complete the academic requirements transition into degree-granting majors through a change of curriculum process (no external application is required), but entering students are not guaranteed entry to a particular college or major in advance. (Entry into many academic majors is competitive based on criteria such as grade point average and prerequisite course completion.) It is possible to transition into some academic majors in less than two years.
It’s all right here on their webpage. Be sure to read the FAQ
http://blinnteam.tamu.edu/
Does A&M typically release decisions on Sundays? Cause I’m still waiting ;/
@Hypnopooper with all due respect, I think you must’ve misread my comment. Of course I’m happy for them. A couple are very close family friends. I was simply pointing out that with the competition, I’m shocked that they’re considering some of the lower test scores/ranks with so many applicants. We have an excellent backup plan. I actually don’t like that they seem to focus so much on scores and rank as every student and situation is different, and numbers don’t give enough of an idea of the whole person. There are many kids I know (I work with high school students all day for a living) who don’t have the top test scores and maybe second quartile who are far more prepared for the pressures and changes that come with going off to college than some of the higher rank/high test scores that I work with. I think there are plenty of those who may have been, or will be admitted, but if I can trust what I’m reading in these forums, it seems to not be the norm. Have a great night.
Back from our quick CS run. She loved it as much as ever but we spent the time in the car facing that she may not get to attend. She has a great attitude and says she will end up where she is supposed to. We drove to Rellis which is further than we expected. She has great other offers with scholarships so it will work out.
So, plot change…our son very bashfully admitted to us last night that he’s really loving the forensic science class he’s taking this year and may want to major in that instead of business or minor in business. Sooo, hmmm. I’ve been looking at schools with a forensic science major. I’m a CJ grad from SHSU, so I asked him about there but he really hated the campus when we visited before(it’s hard to love). He said A&M has a program so we looked and WOW! I think that may be the winner! So, now I’m made of questions:
- Do we change his major on admissions or does it matter at this point?
- I would love for him to take some of the more difficult science/math courses at a community college(smaller class size). Has anyone gotten admitted through PTA?
- Would he have a better chance if he applied to Blinn, got in and then transfer?
Just when you think you have it all planned out. None of the schools he’s gotten into have this program.
@3TXBoys We went to A&M last weekend for Aggieland Saturday and my daughter attended a session on Forensics. You are right about the difficult science/math courses. When she gets home from volunteering, I would love to share some information she received.
For those of you still waiting, hang in there. I also attended a session on Blinn Team and realize I’m just reiterating what @Thelma2 @AggieMomhelp and others have so helpfully told us. The speaker said there truly was not sufficient space this year due to so many highly qualified applicants. He said that Team offers are well-earned and that this is the most competitive year in A&M history. These kids are really among an elite application class.
The reason is this https://www.statesman.com/news/20181224/us-census-texas-again-leads-in-population-growth and and https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/tx/PST045217
"About half of the rise in population came from births, with the other half coming from people moving to the state, a trend in Texas since 2010 " . As an active and contributing Engineering TAMU alum with 3 top performing (>top 15%) I am really disappointed that tits looking increasingly likely that they will not be able to get in there. tu and A&M are simply not large enough for the number of applicants in TX let alone from outside states. IMO what A&M has been lagging at is creating a significant second major campus akin to what tu has with UTSA, UTA, and UTD (UTD is harder to get into than UT austin btw). So my eldest (daughter) has been accepted elsewhere and with an academic scholarship and we’ll take that since we seem in an endless “in review” status. For my sons sure we will apply but its frisbee - we’ll now be seriously looking at major out of state but nearby schools who will be overjoyed to have our kids and money (OSU, OU, UArkansas, Miss State, Univ Miss, Tulsa etc)
BTW has anyone heard when the review will be complete and we all have a yes/no? seems that would be common courtesy.
Where there is a will, there is a way. Don’t let ANYONE take away your dream of becoming an Aggie. Make your own path.
This is just a thought, not sure if things can work this way or not, BUT if you/your student isn’t offered something along the lines of Blinn-TEAM, what about enrolling in Blinn CC …and… can they enroll in one class as a part-time TAMU student and make their “own” Blinn-team ish program? I don’t know if that is possible, maybe not for Fall Semester, but perhaps by Spring Semester? Then they need to REALLY focus, study hard and apply to transfer to full TAMU asap.
They could still live the Aggie life in Aggieland.
And also as others have mentioned, the PSA program works well and is a way to Aggieland.
The PTA program is also a possibility. We know someone who is doing a PTA program at Blinn CC and is on track to be a full Aggie next Fall.
Hang in there, keep the faith. It isn’t where you start that is important, it is where you finish. It is worth it in the long run when you earn that TAMU diploma, the Aggie Gold ring and the backing of the incredible Aggie network when looking for a job.
Thanks for encouragement and apologies for being sour. The link someone posted to here https://dars.tamu.edu/Student/files/Apply-Admit-Enroll-Sum-All-Fa18-incl-Galveston.aspx (thanks!) is very interesting because it shows that almost half that are offered admission do not enroll (!). That tells us that another option is like you say - do a year or two elsewhere and then apply as transfer in. Now the danger there is that you will need to watch to make sure the course credits are transferable if you are not in a PSA/TEAM thing. I forgot to mention Stephen F. Austin is also nearby and quite nice. Just frustrated like many other posters. Best of luck to all!
So the general consensus is that there are no more full admits being given now, due to an abundance of applicants this year. Now we can only receive other offers such as TEAM, PTA, Gateway, etc?
Disregard please, I don’t think we’ll know for sure yet, Just hang in there!
@3TXkids I’m not trying to be rude but I’m pretty sure that UT is harder to get into than UTD. The acceptance rate for UT is 39% while UTD is 61%. As for your question, when I called their office, the admissions counselor had told me that they would try to give yes/no before march 1st. Honestly, I thought they would release some this past Friday but I guess not…
@3TXkids I could not agree more with your sentiment about the depth developed and developing in the UT system relative to depth in the A&M system. UTD, for example, was founded in the 1960’s by a three Texas Instruments co-founders and only later became a part of the UT system and then a four-year school. I deeply admire their vision. As we can see, it takes decades to build up a university. That required timeline is what is worrying me about the A&M system.
Does anyone know if all engineering offers are complete and done or are there still more to come? And are all decisions going to be done by next week I suppose since its the end? Im really starting to loose hope.
I am not as familiar with UTSA, but UTA in my area is also becoming quite large, and some of their departments are very well known. If the population continues to increase, the A&M system will need to develop more depth throughout. I always wish I could see their strategic planning.
@3TXkids - UTD is not harder to get into than UT. It’s average test scores, however, are higher than TAMU’s test scores and very close to UT’s. So UTD does have a much higher academic threshold than UTA, UTSA, TTU, UH, SFA, SHSU etc. But it’s not like they are turning people with good scores away like UT and TAMU are now doing. Basically if you have the grades/test scores you are in. But they do reject students who do not have strong academics. Lower than a 1220 and 26 puts you on the bubble. And their strategic plans calls for raising the standards even higher. They want the mid range scores to be 1250-1440 and 27-33 in the next 5 years (up from the current 1230-1420 and 26-32).
While their test scores are higher than TAMU - 11% of their freshmen last year were from the bottom half of their classes. For TAMU that number was just 2%.
UTD does not participate in UT’s CAP program. It is also a Tier 1 research university.
It has made HUGE steps in the past 10 years to become a true college experience. They have built dorms and a dinning hall. I guess before 2009 they did not have on campus residence halls. Now about 5000 students live on campus - that’s about the same number as live on campus at SFA. And SFA requires you live on campus your first two years, UTD does not. There are now nearly 30,000 students at UTD. It has grown annually by nearly 8 percent since 2009. In 2000 they had 7800 undergraduates. Now there are over 17,000.
I would strongly recommend students check out UTD. Not having D1 sports is a huge negative for some folks, but for others that is not a factor. If you have not been to the school since their 30+ million dollar campus redesign you should check it out.
UTD is my daughter’s in state back up. Granted I was expecting it to feel like a commuter campus and I had low expectations - I was very pleasantly surprised when we toured it. It felt larger than I was expecting but not too large.