I am in Houston. U of H is more of a commuter college. TAMU is not.
I think itâs safe to say that this is likely an⊠exceptional experience, and atypical of a pool of highly ambitious high school students. If theyâre ambition drives them to lie, connive and cheat, itâs a shame that their actions didnât have a holistic end game. Most kids to aspire to the academic top (in high school) do so because either they (or their parents) want them to get the âbestâ college offers. They probably know (or certainly should know) that grades arenât the only puzzle piece.
At my sonâs school (big, affluent, suburban, mostly white with a large Asian population, so, it meets the CC standard of âcompetitiveâ, ha!), the Top 10% are, undoubtedly, ambitious. But, they also have to meet state requirements for both graduation, and at a minimum, the distinguished level of achievement. That means that they have to take some unweighted classes like the communications class mandated for Freshman year, and PE (or athletics). And, because itâs a school with many students, itâs very difficult to have a schedule of âAll APsâ prior to senior year, where you donât necessarily have to have a full schedule. Still, for some kids like my own, mostly AP classes are the only options available. If your kid started in advanced English/LA, mathematics, foreign language, etc⊠classes in elementary and middle school, there isnât another path to go other than AP/IB/Honors advanced classes. Perhaps, thatâs the effect that youâre seeing at your sonâs school?
The junior class at my sonâs school is just shy of 800 strong. My son is in the Top 10%⊠Heâs in the Top 5% (and much closer to the 1% than the 5%). Heâll be a 4 year Varsity athlete in 2 sports (at one point, it was 3 sports). He volunteers, he participates in ECs and honor societies. To my knowledge, heâs no grade grubber, and he definitely is no cheater. He puts a lot of effort into his school work, and he studies and prepares. He has to, because heâs an athlete, and when he misses school for athletic and academic events, he has to turn in his work, and takes tests or quizzes ahead of time. Heâs a pretty typical kid, with a wide range of peers and interests. I can say, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he has had a very typical (with the exception of one sport) high school experience. He hangs out with friends, some of which are also high academic achievers, and some who are decidedly not. If heâs up âstudying all nightâ, I can absolutely promise you that he is on Facetime with some girl, and theyâre âstudyingâ together, LOL!!!
I mention above that our school has a significant population of Asian (mostly Indian and Chinese) students. There are some cultural nuances that play into academic expectations, certainly. But, Iâve found that the Asian students (and their parents) are just as dedicated to turning out a well-rounded kid as the white and other minority parents.
All this to say-- I think that your mileage may vary with school populations, but a whole population of academically ambitious students who are totally blind (along with their parents) to holistic review nuances. That is extraordinary in an of itself. I wouldnât worry too much about the Top 10% in general. I think your experience is just strangely atypical of ambitious high schoolers.
Wow @nomatter - It sounds like your son and my daughter go to the same school. Itâs technically a majority minority school (51%/49%) because of the higher that state average Asian population.
At her school there are kids that are VERY focused on rank from the moment they start high school (actually Junior High) - but not to the exclusion of extra curricular activities. At our school you can GPA exempt many of the classes you take for a second, third, or forth year (like band). The first year you canât exempt because it counts toward a required PE or Fine Arts credit. There is a whole system of knowing what to exempt.
My daughter would NEVER take an AP class in the summer - because you would not take the AP Test until the spring. She did not trust herself to retain the material enough. But there are kids that maximize their weighted GPA by taking AP classes in summer school.
Itâs all about balance and what one values. My daughter would never consider playing a sport. But Model UN - where you have to craft position papers etc - is fun to her.
I donât buy into the argument that the because kids are only choosing classes that help their GPA that they are somehow less well rounded. We all value things to a different degree - and those kids are placing more of a value on class rank and GPA than my daughter does. Neither is right or wrong.
At the end of the day, we found that in Texas, to go to a top tier school, Class Rank is king with GPA driving it. Of course, SAT/ACT figure in but without scores that qualify for academic admit then that doesnât matter either. All the other things these kids do to help them be more âcompetitiveâ (ECâs, volunteer, etc.) didnât help at all for most. So maybe the Asian families have it right??? I donât think it should be that way but clearly it is.
We are at peace with it and happy to have a well rounded and adjusted daughter but it is a good thing for kids coming up in HS to understand the dynamics to better set expectations and broaden their target school choices.
For those going the Blinn route I would recommend digging into the Blinn course catalog and crossing it with TAMU equivalents. We are finding that with all the AP/DC that she has we are having a hard time finding relevant classes to fill her schedule for one year. I think we are close to having it nailed down but I was surprised how difficult it would be. She will likely only take 12 hours her second semester simply because there are no classes.
So questionâŠdo you think sending a nice small thank you to the TAMU advisor would be considered a bribe? That would not be the intent at all we are just grateful for all her help in navigating the âplanâ. I donât want to go to jail or anythingâŠLOL! But it actually a serious questionâŠwe would like to send something but donât want it to be viewed as inappropriate.
@aggiedreamin I wouldnât send âsomethingâ but an email or note from your student would be okay and a kind gesture.
@AggieMomhelp maybe will just send a hand written note. She has already emailed many times (maybe too manyâŠLOL).
@BlueBayouAZ and @nomatter I think easily our 3 kids could go to the same school, be friends.
My daughter also attends a large public school (800ish in her graduating class), and Caucasian is the minority. My daughter is Top 4%, having played basketball and been in FFA 4 years (which requires an FFA class every year). She has double early release this year, too.
She didnât âplay the gpa gameâ, never took a class during the summer or online during the year. She was also in National Charity League, volunteering over 500 hours. Yes, she has studied a LOT during high school, but because thatâs who she is.
She is extremely well rounded, and yes, that DID make a difference. She was accepted to TAMU Business Honors is early November, and they specifically mentioned her grades and volunteering made her just what they were looking for-well rounded. Sheâs also a National Merit Commended Scholar-something she studied for and did well on her own.
Please stop lumping all Top 10% kids into one category. At our school, they are the kids who swim varsity, head of Robotics team, FBLA and Key Club Officers, Senior Class Officers, band drum major, and yes, even members of FFA. They are the cream of the crop, the true class leaders, who have worked super hard to get where they areâŠthey deserve their rank.
UT and A&M admission guidelines and standards arenât a secret. Google, take an official tour, easy enough to see what scores they require for admission. Legacy at A&M hasnât counted since 2004, and Iâd be surprised if it does at UT. There are MANY amazing public and private schools in the state of Texas. Kids need to realistically start thinking about college when they start 9th grade. If they want to attend UT or A&M, they need to know the admissions guidelines, and start planning accordingly. Having a âreachâ school to apply to is fine, but counselors and parents are setting their kids up to fail, when they only apply to one school, knowing they donât have the grades/scores to get in automatically.
I couldnât be prouder of my incredibly hard working, focused, WELL ROUNDED, athletic, Top 10% daughter. She didnât cheat to get where she isâŠshe worked hard. It is nice to see all her hard work finally paying off, and she canât wait to be at Texas A&M in the fall!
nomatter:
âHolistic review nuancesâ . do not matter if you are in the top 10% and want to attend a University that is required by law to accept you. SAT and ACT do not matter. Leadership does not matter. These kids know this. That is what has changed since the Top 10 law was implemented.
House Bill 588-Top 10% rule- was passed in 1997. It isnât new. Admission Requirements and guidelines are readily accessible to all applicants, at any school. Thats whatâs great about the state of Texas-we have so many great universities to chose from-highly competitive to average and many in between + a variety of price ranges.
SAT/ACT, leadership, extra curricular activities definitely matter-for scholarships, getting into desired majors and honors programs, letters of recommendation, internships, etc.
Our son was offered PSA this year. We have shed tears LOL and yes, schools matterâŠBUT, he is accepting PSA and WILL be in CS Fall 20. Its their journey⊠our egoâs get in the way but there is a plan and we will continue to support his goals! GIg Em!
We all have different opinions and experiences. I taught AP HS history for 13 years in the 80-90âs, then saw 3 children and 2 foster kids through HS and the college admissions process. You would think I would be an expert but honestly every year was different, just as this year has been out of the ordinary in many ways. As I have stated before, the reason I donât like the Top 10% rule is that it takes admissions out of the hands of the university. While the rule was passed to increase âdiversityâ, it actually seems to have had the opposite effect in certain areas. My oldest son is a TA at A&M and said he is often the only non-Asian/Indian face in the classroom. Black, white, Hispanic students are few in the sections he is assigned. I donât think the âdiversityâ argument can necessarily be made anymore.
@BarbieK If your son is a TA he is a grad student, right? If so the 10 percent rule has nothing to do with graduate school admissions. And graduate programs usually have more international students.
Fall 2018 ethnicity breakdown at TAMU
Asian - 7.5%
Hispanic - 21.3%
Black 3.5%
White 55.8%
Multi racial excluding black - 2.4%
Whatever you may think - according the TAMUâs own data - the campus does not have a huge Asian population. So while we may all have different opinions and experiences - the data that TAMU is required to report by federal law is pretty clear. Heck - my daughterâs HS is around 20-percent Asian. Frankly, most of my daughterâs friends are at least academic admits to TAMU and Asian. None of them applied to TAMU, and couldnât believe my daughter was. UT and UTD seem to be much more of a draw.
And the percent of white students has remained pretty constant since 2014. But the percentage of hispanic students has climbed significantly. The black and hispanic enrollment percentage has more than doubled since 2003.
This article worth the read - https://www.texastribune.org/2016/06/19/m-student-diversity-increasing-without-affirmative/
@BlueBayouAZ agree-my daughters non-Caucasian friends (Chinese, Japanese, Indian, middle eastern, etc) are all applying to UT, Rice, StanfordâŠnone looking at A&M.
TAâs usually teach/assist in undergraduate classes - in his area anyway.
My appeal went through and I was offered full admissions today !!!
@brichey: WHOOP!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!
I am so happy for you! Thanks for sharing with us!
Please re-post your stats and info about the transcript issue so that anyone interested in your experience wonât have to track down the info. Also, please include date applied, date of first offer, date of appeal, date when you received full offer!
You are going to LOVE being an Aggie in AGGIELAND!! WHOOOOOP! 
Date applied: 9/26
Date of first offer: 2/25 (PSA)
Date of appeal: 3/01
Date of appeal offer: 04/02
Stats:
Review admit
Major: Computer Science
Class rank: 57/338
SAT: 1210 (donât remember subscores)
ACT: 27 ( donât remember subscores)
My school messed up my transcripts when I first moved to the new school that I am at and that was my basis for appealing. I got a letter from my counselor explaining the mistake and I also gave them my new transcripts. I also had to explain how they got the wrong transcripts in the first place.
I would also like to add that my sister appealed as well for the same reason and she was accepted today as well.
Her stats:
Review admit
Major: forensic science
Class rank: 86/338
SAT: 1180
ACT: 26
Congrats @brichey and THANK YOU for sharing your experience with everyone. You had the different and compelling information that it takes to win an appeal. Great job presenting your case.