TAMU is going to holistic acceptance for engineering next year, so the date on the application won’t be as important as prior years but it will become more competetive. Also, TAMU does not accept directly into your discipline of engineering. You have to apply late in your first year and there are no guarantees. Also, UTD’s stats for engineering are actually higher than TAMUs. They do get significantly less applications, so that would be helpful. Keep trying to raise your scores. Maybe take the ACT and try to score in the 30’s.