@Jessica_R, the definition of a “solid” or “safe” SAT score for a holistic review applicant is debatable.
As @FriscoDad has stressed many times every year, the median/mean SAT score reports (see recent and 2021) are skewed due to auto-admits not trying hard and lowering the average. For holistic applicants to be competitive, they need to aim higher, like 1350-1400+, to be “safe.”
The human part of the review is verifying the high school transcript and rank for auto-admit.
Completely agree. I definitely didn’t mean solid to be the equivalent of safe in my post. I meant “solid” in my son’s case as in I know it’s a decent/good/solid score as far as SAT goes, but may not be amazing/great/safe to get a quick holistic review in his favor for TAMU. The intention of my wishful thinking is that the rest of his attributes collectively are great so that perhaps even if his test score doesn’t help him (as test optional), it doesn’t hurt him either. 
“Test optional” is a touchy topic in previous years’ threads.
The official stance is that test scores “can only help you but not hurt you”, but I personally believe it sets the wrong expectation in some people.
Here’s an illustration. You’re playing a race car video game. You’re driving fast and not making any unforced errors. You’re currently in 4th place. Three other cars ahead of you are really good and you can’t quite catch up to them. Suddenly, cars begin to pass by you. Next thing you know, you’re now in 9th place. What happened? Probably those other cars drove over some “power ups” and got a big boost. You were going as fast as you can, didn’t hit walls or cars, but you didn’t take advantage of every power-up. So you got left behind in the dust.
Those driving game “power ups” are like submitting strong test scores. You not driving over “power ups” technically didn’t “hurt” you (i.e. your speed didn’t decrease; you were still at constant speed), but others who did drive over “power ups” did “help” themselves (i.e. increased their speeds), so they surpassed you. And then you’re left out.
I hope this makes sense and helps someone. There’s still time to improve test scores and submit them. That’s my perspective and 2 cents.
Same can be said tho that if you submit score that is below all the power ups, you’ll still be passed by.
The whole test optional debate makes no sense to me. Why people get mad if others with test scores that are solid pass others by who either submitted or didn’t submit is crazy to me.
So what exactly is the debate on test optional? Whether they help or hurt? or just people not liking that those with higher scores are getting in?
I also see a lot of debate about the auto-admit law.
Throwing out a question to anyone who knows the answer.
For the common app for Texas A&M in the supplemental essay section, is the second question on “Tell us about the person who has most impacted your life and why” required? Or can we choose to do the optional covid supplemental question instead of that question?
Thanks!
Everything I have seen show it as being required so I wouldn’t skip it.
My son applied last week via Common App. He is applying to Mays Business school but the only option to choose for Major was something generic like “Business”. He selected it, even though his desired major is MIS (Management Information Systems).
Does anyone know how much this matters? Not sure why there weren’t options to choose from other Business majors (like accounting, etc).
Should he select the “Change Major” button in AIS now? Would that give him the option to pick MIS? Or does it not matter until he’s (hopefully) accepted into Mays, then they can select specific business major?
Thanks!
All undergraduates select generic “business” as their major. They don’t select their specific field until 1-2 years into general business. So, he did it correctly, no need to change it!
All incoming Mays students are BUAD.
Mays requires taking the ‘Big 5’ before declaring their major-which is normally end of sophomore/start of junior year. Mays wants to expose all undergrads to the major choices, and you’d be shocked at how many change their minds…especially after taking Acct.
Highly suggest taking a Mays tour, reading thru the Mays website.
To add onto the other replies… please know that it’s not a competitive thing like engineering to get a certain degree in business. You just don’t declare until you have met their requirements. If someone is going in with a lot of college credit, they’ll do it sooner than later but most are in their sophomore year.
This is one of the aspects I really like about Mays, that they take the core classes and then get to decide after the first year.
Thanks all, I appreciate the insight!
Good analogy on test optional. Heres another one…
Think of test optional as attempting extra credit on a test. If one attempts extra credit and does poorly, it doesnt affect their grade, but if one does well on the extra credit, it helps their grade. Since there are a LIMITED number of holistic spots available and if most/many holistic apps are now attempting extra credit (submitting test scores) and doing well, an applicant who doesnt submit a good score has quite a challenge because, honestly, all these holistic apps have great rigor, passion, ECs, etc.
The question becomes what is considered a “good” test score, one that helps a persons application? Four years ago when my son was holistic, tamu_admissions on Txags actually provided that number (1250). Then again, that was four years ago.
Please please please - holistic apps - retake/take the act/sat. You dont want to regret it later
My son just received a certificate from the National Hispanic Recognition Program for academic excellence. He knew that he had submitted for the program but it was not awarded at the time of application so he did not indicate it anywhere on his application. He just uploaded the certificate into AIS but does he need to do anything else?
@ched03 unless it has changed, as of last year, TAMU no longer offers $ for National Hispanic Recognition. I would have your son contact A&M Financial Aid office to verify.
But it is quite an achievement, so I’d definitely have him update AIS with the certificate.
Congrats on the accomplishment. Well done!
Adding our timeline to help anyone else.
Auto-admit applying to Business
Common app submitted 8/1
Downloaded 8/8
AIS access 8/9
SRAR linked 8/9 (Friday)
Green checks and 7 tabs in Howdy 8/12 (Monday)
Current status: App still “in review” so not yet officially official!
My son’s Government teacher just shared this with the class yesterday. It looks like we may have another interesting year with the FAFSA. It will open up on October 1st but not to everyone. Read this article from the Department of Education for all of the details.