Her first choice major at College Station was BIMS, then Neurology. She wants to be in the neurology field and even though she’s been saying that for years, we know there is a good chance she will change her mind to something else after she starts college. Our main criteria is that she goes to a school where if she does change directions, she can still succeed and not need to switch to another university to get a great education. I went to Purdue and changed majors 4x before graduating, so that’s important to me.
During all of the tours and visits we tried to get her to focus on which school/campus/vibe “felt” the best to her. As her mom I looked for places where I felt she could find a support system and thrive in and out of the classroom, because her anxiety and mental health really impact her school performance.
We live just outside of San Antonio and that campus is too close to home. I don’t think they have dorms either, and I want her to have that experience too.
ACT median for holistic is 31. SAT is 1380. It was 28/1320 just three years ago. Texas population growth may be one of the main reasons for the increase.
Median is mid-point, not average. So can be lower or higher. But median is a better guideline than mean.
Last two years, admission seemed to start looking heavily on course strength on engineering which is no coincidence as TAMU try to reach the goal “25 by 25”. TAMU historically lost a lot of engineering students (low retention rate) due to tough classes so the only way to reach that goal is to increase retention rate (not recruiting more students). And to increase retention rate, it starts from admission. They now tend to admit engineering students with higher survival rate than just rank and scores.
That said, even though rank and scores are still top two factors, encouraging your students not to afraid of tough classes is important. For engineering, having Calculus AP scores (not just taking the classes) by 11th grade will soon to be the norm.
From an education POV my husband thought UTD was the best option for her for pre-med, but it seemed like a lot of people live off campus / don’t stay on the weekends. Also, the dorms were awesome (from my daughter’s POV) but because each person gets their own “bedroom” we know if she gets anxious/depressed she will likely lock herself in there and not work through it. In an open dorm setting, she will be more likely to talk to people and stay busy.
Thank you so much. Thankfully, he’s not interested in either engineering or Mays. Aiming for Construction Science (like his sis) or Arts & Sciences (Economics) or Ag Business (Financial Planning or Real Estate). Honestly - he has no clue what he wants to do with his life. He just wants to go to TAMU and be in the Corps. He’s open to Blinn, TEAM, Gateway, PAT… But my fear is he’ll go to OU b/c they give you two years to decide on a major. Sigh. But for now - I’m hoping TAMU. He’s practicing his ACT. Think he’ll be ok on all sections except Reading, which is really hard for him.
It is difficult to be a parent these days. Even more difficult to be a kid.
My daughter is an Animal Science major and was also given a PSA. She met with a TAMU Animal Science advisor and it was recommended that she transfer rather than do PSA. A&M does not want you change majors once you accept PSA. She completed her required transfer courses, and was accepted as a transfer a month after she applied.
From the PSA FAQ…
What if my major does not participate in PSA (i.e., Business)?
The PSA was designed for students who are interested in a participating major. We never recommend using the PSA to be admitted to TAMU with the intention of switching to the major you really want.
Since your student still have time, he can have more than one try to get better scores. There was someone took SAT 4 times in this discussion earlier to reach 1480. Getting a better score is the easiest thing a student can do to increase chance.
For STEM still encourage your students taking related AP classes.
This is smart. Thank you. I do think he’ll have to take it a few times. He’s just not a great standardized test taker.
I think it is important for him to have a realistic expectation; so, if he can’t get the high scores, it may soften the blow if he doesn’t get admitted. And I’m more convinced than ever that he needs to submit scores. The Test Optional route seems fraught with uncertainty.
And he’s taking a nice full load of APs and honors classes. He’ll take Calculus his senior year and end with maybe 9 AP classes total. Captain of the XC team, lots of ECs, has shown interest (2 overnights with the Corps, lots of visits to BCS, etc.) But his sister was a stronger applicant, and we were sweating it with her, so I’m nervous. This year’s cycle has been brutal as I’ve watched from the sidelines.
Your advice is always spot on and much appreciated.
I went with my second major bioenvironmental science. It was a super easy process moving over to TAMU. I met many PSA students at Corpus, and we all moved over to TAMU together. Some of us actually live together! I would definitely recommend PSA. I loved my two semesters in Corpus, and to get to be an Aggie at the end of it was just amazing!
Wow! Thank you (my mom will love reading this!) i was so bummed about PSA, and I just didn’t realize how great my time in Corpus would be. The move to TAMU, and that process was soooo easy. I love being an Aggie, and just want other kids to know there is a pathway, and a pretty good one!
Back again guys, I am stressed out. My button for the change major is gone but only 5 tabs. I selected mays first and communications BA as my second. I know mays doesn’t do PSA but communications does. Does that mean my major would be communications on PSA? What if I decided to change to mays after transferring, would it be hard?
@jpoz you won’t be able to change majors to Mays, if going PSA route.
You’ll need to see which PSA schools you are offered, then see which one(s) offer Communication major, and follow that track. You may or may not be offered a campus that has Comm major.
My son got PSA for engineering last night. How can we tell which system schools he was offered? He wants to look at corpus but not sure if how to tell if corpus is an option for him. Also PSA for engineering follows the requirements for freshman engineering at CS correct? So if he chooses corpus and they put him in multidisciplinary engineering he will still do ETAM at CS correct? We are so confused
I thought the same thing! There’s a parent on the PSA/PTA parent Facebook page saying a PSA student has been accepted into Mays. I’m not sure of stats or anything, and first time I’ve seen that. Many PSA students, and I guess regular applicants, choose economics as a second major. Economics is offered under PSA, so that’s what the business majors take when doing the program.
Now, I’ve seen PSA students transfer to other majors once at Tamu just by filling out the request in Howdy. But I have never seen a transfer into Mays, until this parent saying it.
You have to accept the PSA offer to see the schools, which doesn’t mean you are obligated to do the program. PSA students in engineering majors don’t do ETAM. They are assured of their major once at TAMU — and that is true as two of my PSA friends in engineering didn’t have to ETAM and got their majors at TAMU.
@52AG82@jpoz I have a question about this, in theory.
If a student takes a PSA offer for COMM, then completes that and transfers into A&M after their year. Let’s presume they got a 4.0. Then, at A&M in their Soph year, they also pulled a 4.0. I know a transfer into Mays is very difficult, but would they be eligible in theory?
