@Thelma2 But it would seem that PSA is similar. You are supposed to be taking core classes there for a full year. My daughter will have 24 credits when she graduates in June. 4-As, 1-B and 2-Cs (government not her thing!). So I’d think she’d be in the same boat. I’m calling Tarleton in a few min and I’ll update on the PSA thread when I get answers there.
Received PSA but my son wants to go with his plan B, Baylor.
@aggieXdos I would think her best choice is to do cc and apply for fall after getting her gpa up to over a 3.0. Look at degree transfer requirements.
My son also got the PSA offer and decided this morning that he will be going to OU. Good luck everybody. It was really nice to have a place to vent and commiserate with other parents through this very stressful time.
Side bar, i wonder how many students would decline admission thru other pathways (gateway blinn full admits)… would that affect being put on a waitlist? Now that aTm is our backup pending college visits, want to see how that mixes things up.
Would love to connect with parents who are thinking UARK might be the choice for them. Pm me. They have parents Facebook pages too
Anyone else have PSA in AIS but “In review” for howdy? I thought howdy updated first.
Hello, I’ve been a lurker here since my daughter started the application process last year. She received the PSA offer last night. We are also surprised and disappointed in TAMU’s (as well as UT’s) admissions process/decisions. This past year has definitely been a rollercoaster ride in which we are more than ready to get off!
While I understand that the top 10% rule is legally mandated by the legislature, I think it’s time to make major changes to the rule. With Texas’ population exploding, two public flagship universities are simply not enough to provide the quality education and college experience that well qualified students are seeking, choosing and should have access to. My daughter definitely wants the full 4 year experience of belonging, learning, and participating in one college community starting as a freshman.
The addition of well funded, research tier flagship universities would provide more choices for the growing number of the student population. Another option would be for Texas to invest in and pour quality resources to existing state universities, thus increasing their national rankings/reputation closer to TAMU and UT. Just putting in my 2 cents!
My daughter’s stats:
Applied: 10/18/17
Major: 1)Kinesiology 2)Health with the goal of becoming a physical therapist
GPA: 3.8 UW/ 4.5 W
ACT: 27
Rank: Top 35% in a competitive school/district
AP classes: 4 total (she picked and chose ones that applied to her career interest and major, wanting to focus on putting her efforts into learning and excelling these subjects)
EC’s: Pre-professional ballet student in a performing company (20 hours/week), substitute dance teacher, peer buddy to a developmentally disabled teen, >100 volunteer hours.
Organizations: NHS, HOSA, no time for more.
It’s futile to speculate why she didn’t gain full admit but she has been accepted to comparable universities such as Baylor and University of Pittsburgh, with scholarships. She did click on “accept” PSA last night to see which campuses she qualified for and all were indicated on the page. She won’t be enrolling, however, as Baylor and Pitt have amazing health programs and want her as a full admit!
Best of luck to all!
@Florine2013 I’m shocked she didn’t at least get team. 2nd qtr probably hurt her but wow she sounds extremely well rounded and knows what she wants! She’s going to excel wherever she goes! Thanks for sharing!! And your 2 cents are spot on in my opinion.
I would add to what @Florine2013 and others said here. I would like to see money and other types of student recgnitions made and provided to the non flagship system schools to lure good students to them. These schools should be allowed to develop their own niches and become effectively coequal in their respective specialties. Only by making and offering special recognition categories for students would this happen. We need to explicitly recognize more types of student strengths than rank or scores.
Our Daughter received PSA last night, slept on it, and made the decision to return to her first love, University of Arkansas.
Thank you all and best wishes in your decisions!
I really appreciate the goal of holistic admissions. But the “top” schools are bursting at the seams. We need to find a way for students to be distributed more and with self-respect, for everyone’s benefit.
@Florine2013 My husband and I went to Pitt! Good luck to your daughter. We enjoyed our time there.
@aflorine2013 University of Houston, Texas Tech, UT-Dallas, University of North Texas are Carnegie Tier 1 Research Universities with very generous admissions policies. People need to view them as the very reputable, excellent, educational institutions that they are. The traditional 4 year college experience, football teams and all, is alive and kicking at several of those schools too. There is no reason not to view them as Texas flagships too!
USNWR Rank (not that this is the ultimate ranking system by any means, lol!):
UT #56
TAMU #69
UT-Dallas #145
Texas Tech # 176
U of H #192
University of Alabama #110
U of Arkansas #131
University of Arizona #136
Ole Miss #145
Oklahoma State University #156
@aggieXdos The difference in Blinn Team and PSA is that BT requires co enrollment with the Junior College, there are limited classes they can offer a student who already has credit for the basics and not the upper classes for a major, that should be taken at A&M. Limited to 5 hours a semester at CStat, (most take one 3 hour course and a 1 hr “spare tire” class, in case they have to drop the 3 hr class, they are technically still enrolled at A&M) they must have at least 3 classes (9 hours) to take at Blinn per semester.
PSA is not offered at any community colleges but at a 4 year universities and a student can take classes towards their major if their major is offered at the system institution and the DC/AP hours can be applied there. If a desired major is not offered at a PSA school, then a student has the choice to take classes that could apply to their chosen major if there were some in common or consider other choices if it doesn’t make sense to accept the PSA.
I look forward to hearing what information comes from Tarleton.
I have read a few articles lately about the curse of DC/AP and how it hurts some students, yet high schools are pushing them more and more. The counselors at our high school were absolutely awful in guiding kids about college unless you actually took a particular class. Most competitive students didn’t take that class because their schedules were full of required classes and double blocking their sport or fine art. The turn over rate at our school was exceedingly high. As a parent, when it came to my eldest applying for fall 2014, it was an eye opener since my day for fall 1985. I will say, that my first two off to college were a whole lot easier than A&M. This site was not as busy for my youngest and there were 3 who were instrumental in helping navigate it all. And that is why I stayed around. To pay it forward to the next bunch.
@mamma3g people declining their offers does not open up spots. A&M has a system for offering more admissions than they know will be accepted. This came back to bite them a little last year, as 100 more applicants accepted admissions into Mays than they counted on and things were a bit stretched.
@AnimalLover445 If PSA is on your AIS, that is your admission decision and what Howdy is showing, unfortunately, has no bearing.
My son also got PSA last night. His plan from the beginning was that he wanted to be in College Station no matter what. Even though he got accepted at Texas Tech, UTSA and Texas State, he just really had his heart set on A&M. So, we rented an apartment and signed a lease in College Station in January. He said no matter the outcome, he was going to make to A&M through any path he could make. So, he is going to go to Blinn for a year and then transfer in. He is very disappointed that he didn’t get in, but knows that as long as he keeps his grades up, that he will eventually get there. Good luck to everyone!
He sounds like he will be just fine @CulinaryMom22 Look into the PTA program and see if it is something he want to do. It is auto admission to A&M http://admissions.tamu.edu/PTA
Ugh, I can’t believe how hard it is for kids to get into UT or A&M now. I agree that the state needs at least one more flagship university. Don’t see how that can happen, though. 
Just out of curiosity if students have a lot of DC hours why not just do one semester at Blinn and transfer in the spring. I am considering offering this option to my daughter. Sitting out a semester is not in her plan. She is graduating from high school a year early, so I offered the option to travel for a few weeks in Europe in the fall and apply as a transfer in the spring and she had no interest. She is planning to continue through a PhD, so she just wants to get it all started.