@trinley @mrsqster are correct. Many PSA students find that they love their PSA schools and stay. Others discover that college is not for them and do something else with their life. It helps A&M by allowing a number of students to “learn how to do college” in another location. And, yes, it might seem like our students are having to prove themselves again but that’s kind of how life is- we all have to prove ourselves time after time. The upside is that our students don’t have to reapply and wonder if they will get in a second time. They know that the outcome is in their own hands. If they do what they agree to do (take classes from a specific list and keep a 3.0), they are sure that they will have an opportunity to be an Aggie.
@Thelma2 , the one thing this link doesn’t tell us is the cost for Gateway. Based on another TAMU costing page, I’m guessing it’s somewhere around $4000 for the 5 week, Summer session II, which includes tuition, room, meal plan and books, give or take a few hundred dollars. Is that accurate?
https://tap.tamu.edu/gateway/
@alstro may also be correct. Neither of my sons were applying to Mays, so they were automatically placed in their major of choice. It is my understanding that Mays and most of A&M’s engineering programs are very difficult to get into. I know that even a change of major of current A&M students into these programs is a very difficult process and not guaranteed. Good luck to all of you who are still waiting. Please don’t consider any offer you receive as the final outcome, if it is not what you want to hear. There are a multitude of ways to ultimately become an Aggie.
To the whole prove themselves again point… trust me, dual and AP credit shows you can probably handle the rigor… but freshman year is so much more than school. It’s a whole new world and the transition is tough on most. All of the pathways tamu provides us is to help our students succeed. I don’t feel like it’s a slap in the face. My daughter got psa. Chose an oos school for her first year and it was the best thing ever. Once she transferred to tamu, she kicked butt.
@libbyshims My oldest majored in Sport Management. My younger son is a Wildlife Sciences major.
@libbyshims you can also find links to the schools that participate in PSA on the PSA website
Is anyone’s application still in review?
Yes
Yes, a lot are still in review I believe.
Still in review 
Has anyone emailed admission to see if there is only PSA and denials left? or are they still saying there are full admissions, Blinn and Gateway still to be handed out.
Some interesting information on TAMU’s freshman retention rate at this link:
https://accountability.tamu.edu/All-Metrics/Mixed-Metrics/Student-Retention-and-Graduation
Looks like around 90% return for sophomore year.
A friend of mine had a daughter who called admissions and was told all TEAM and full were given out but not gateway. However I also heard of 2 full admits this week (just heard of never spoke to them directly). So at this point I feel like there is no solid concrete information and we will have to just wait and see what answer we get this week as March 1 is approaching. Although I think everyone should keep an open mind, realistically I think mainly PSA is left with the exception of a few other offers.
@IT22379 On any given day you will get a variety of answers to this question. There are a lot of people still in review. Hardly anyone in our area has heard anything yet, and we are in a major metropolitan area. I am choosing to believe there is no way all the people waiting are PSA or denials. If they were they would just do a mass update in the system and be done with it. They claim they are aiming for March 1st, but could go into early March. The stress is very real and dragging on all of us, but we are choosing to look at it as they are still trying to find a spot for my daughter. So no news is good news. I don’t think they would wait to send denials if they know they are going to deny you. Hang in there!
In the meantime check into all your other options. There truly are so many ways to get there. It may not look the same as you planned, but the end is still the same.
Just wondering if anyone out there is like us. We do not bleed maroon. My daughter is not a Ill do anything to be an Aggie type of girl. It was a college that she liked when we visited period.
@mrsqster
My daughter was the same way. We’re not an Aggie family. We visited TAMU after visiting UNT and she loved TAMU. Didn’t want to apply anywhere else. I made her visit a couple of other schools, Baylor and Texas Tech. She loved Tech but not the drive (5 hours of misery). Baylor had been sending her a ton of paperwork and brochures and calling). After visiting there, we all fell in love. She had a big decision to make. We still haven’t heard from TAMU and Baylor accerher in October. We put down that deposit and they have been wonderful still, calling and keeping in touch.
Another mom on the forum back when said something about they want their kid to go where they are wanted. I totally get that.
Curious question…why?
@TMImomof2 “Today at 7:18 am: Because by taking 10% as auto admits a lot of those go to terrible schools so a top student gets like a 1000 or lower on the SAT. They aren’t actually qualified to go to college so drop out in the first year. . . . . . Thats why this system is garbage and the fact they are embracing it even for next year boggles m mind.”
Spot on. The system is garbage. And truly mind boggling, mind bending.
I don’t believe the data I’ve seen supports this notion now, but it seems to me that this garbage system will over a period of time “dumb down” (or make flat) the quality of the entering freshman class at A&M. As high quality students from top 20 rated HS’s in Texas are supplanted by applicants from “less resourced” secondary school systems (lower college readiness), anecdotally and logically one would think that the quality of entering class will go down. Perhaps this is resolved by the “weed out” / drop out due to lack of preparedness that we know occurs after year 1 or 2?
Mind bending indeed. I’ve been trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to explain what is going on with this garbage system to various other interested parties (re: grandparents for example), and the universal response is “Really?”. The concept seems to belie common sense so they generally have a hard time grasping the concept . . . . .
What’s a real shame is how many students Texas is losing as a result of this.
.
With only two “respected” public schools (UT and A&M), we’re losing plenty of very qualified students to nearby out-of-state schools as a result of said qualified students finding it “beneath them” to attend the other available 4-year public Texas universities…
It’s a shame too, because schools like Texas Tech and UTA have made some pretty stunning improvements in recent years, but they just can’t seem to shake their old reputations of being “lesser” to their competitors.
We don’t bleed maroon- but we went on a lot of college visits: she’s the second kid, and saw some with her older sister:
Visited: Princeton, Villanova, Drexel, Carnegie Mellon… then SMU, TAMU, U of Dallas, UT Dallas… then U Utah, Embry Riddle, and previously: UCLA, USC, Cal, UCSD, SLO and Pomona, Harvey Mudd (we live in So Cal)
And guess what: she liked TAMU the best.
She would be our first Aggie. We are OOS.
She loved the campus, loved the people, found them friendly and kind, loves the school spirit, loved both the Engineering and Viz programs, and generally felt at home there.
At this point not fully committed, but 99% sure she will attend.
TAMU is a special place, truly.
So a lot of you know my son’s stats and although we are still waiting for TAMU to make a decision. TTU got his school transcripts yesterday and was already admitted this morning. Super Exited about it about it but still crossing fingers on TAMU.