More wondering than an actual question...

My wife and I are both Aggies and would love for our kids to have the opportunity to attend TAMU if they so choose. They are still young so not worried about GPAs or test scores at this point. I'm just curious and hoping to learn from others mistakes or experiences.

Parents - What would you do differently from an academics stand point? Our kids will attend a good public HS or we could opt to go the private HS route. Do you think there is an advantage or does it come down to grades either way? Is there anything you wish you would have done prior to HS?

TAMUAdmissions - What jumps out at you? Assuming they want to go to TAMU and have the grades and test scores, what separates them if they happen to miss out on the top 7% or so. I'm assuming top 10% won't be enough when the time rolls around. Do you consider things like legacy at all?

Just curious in general... we have friends with older kids and continue to hear how hard it is to get accepted and assume that will not get any better.

Thanks in advance.

Go to public school and get in top 10%. I went to a competitive private school and was right at 50% and got lucky getting in. Met so many kids at my high school that were great applicants and act scores from 27-32 that got denied. Same kids could have gone to public school and gotten top 10% easy. Not near as much competition.

I went to a small private school, so maybe I can give some advice. Talk to whatever private school your kids would attend. Because my school was very competitive (my 4.03 GPA put me at 26% in my class had they actually ranked) and small, they did not rank past top 10%. Because they didn't rank past top 10%, A&M holistically looked at my application and assigned me a quartile based off my application (I got top quarter assigned). With top 25% plus >30 ACT and/or >1300 SAT, I was automatically admitted. While this turned out to be a guaranteed admission opportunity, it was continent on very good test scores. So if you go the private school route, likely test scores would play a bigger factor in admissions, whereas at public school it is probably easier to just hit that top 10% or 7%. So in the end, depends on how Private HS ranks, confidence in test score ability v confidence in performance at public HS.

Your logic unfortunately isn't supported by the data. It's easier said then done. My wife went to public school and I went to an extremely difficult private high school.

It's amazing how many people that go to extremely challenging private schools where the top 15% only go to Ivy's don't score a 30 or 1300. It's as if the intellect of the other students should be rewarded when the test scores don't back up the rhetoric.

We look for well-rounded students. We evaluate class rank (not specifically GPA), test scores and everything else submitted with your application - outside activities, leadership, employment, the essays, etc. Texas A&M University is no longer allowed to consider legacy. That was stopped a number of years ago. http://admissions.tamu.edu/freshman/admitted gives details on how we admit freshmen. You also can call an admissions counselor at 979-458-0950.

As an Aggie / Aggie parent ( youngest just admitted) let me emphasize admissions' reply especially regarding review applicants.

GPA is NOT CONSIDERED. CLASS RANK. is used for that component. If your child's school does not rank, A&M will assign a quarter based on GPA data from the school. Regardless of what your school counselor says, they do not consider how prestigious your HS is, how many dual classes it offers, AP scores, NMS etc.
The assigned rank is generally accurate however not overly generous. Child 2 had a higher GPA from same high school as older sibling. Child 1 was ranked in Q1 when school still ranked. HS no longer ranks and younger child placed in Q2 by A&M.
I was told more than once - A&M does not evaluate the HS transcript. They do not look at honors or AP or Dual. They assume if the high school thinks it is important, then the GPA will be weighted and it will show in rank.
It is virtually impossible to be admitted below top half rank regardless of school. Very difficult outside top quarter. Clearly 27% much better than 48%.

If your child is a very close, but near miss of top 10% or academic admit ( either due to not Q1 or not quite 1300 / 30 test scores), do not assume anything. Holistic review is exactly that - holistic. List all activities, & have your child take the essays very seriously.
My family's experience is 2 kids admitted. Neither top 10%, neither academic admit. Test scores within A&M's middle 50%. Very well written essays from the heart, no professional writers or editors. English teacher read each once and suggested a few punctuation and clarity suggestions.
They provided clear and complete ECs, but no extra resume. One recommendation per child from someone who knew them multiple years and saw their character and could speak to their dedication in ECs over a lengthy period of time.
I think the biggest mistake students and parents make is thinking it's all grades and test scores in review and many of the rejections I believe involve not recognizing the importance of the other half of the application in review. These are the parents who point out how much higher their rejected child's GPA was or higher their test scores were than an admitted student. Often that is all they presented to admissions.

It is possible for "regular" academically prepared kids with strong applications to be admitted. I have 2.

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the feedback.

As I mentioned before, we are a long way from all of this just don't want to look back and think if this or that. While we would love for them to go to A&M the biggest thing is they have the opportunity to go anywhere they choose.

All good stuff. Thanks again.

Being involved in Leadership and 4H helped both my boys.

All three of my children were review admits to A&M (within the past 10 years). They went to a very competitive high school where making the top 10 percent was extremely difficult, and we knew that would be a challenge. We felt the academic background they would receive would be worth the tradeoff.

But if you aren't in the Top 10 percent, you need a well-rounded application. That means participation in band, athletics, StuCo, school newspaper or yearbook, National Honor Society and other clubs and organizations. Plus leadership positions in those clubs and volunteer activities. Maybe even a part-time job.

Lots of kids who apply to A&M participate in church activities, so just being part of a youth group isn't enough to stand out.

The difficult part can be getting your kids to remember their contributions and capture them all in the application. For example, you don't have to be a team captain or president of a club to hold a leadership role. Sometimes leadership is demonstrated when a sponsor or coach picks a student for a particular job or task that requires responsibility.

Then, you need to work really hard on your essays. Most kids don't take these seriously enough, and they write a bunch of boilerplate stuff that doesn't explain who they are and why they want to attend A&M. In my opinion, those essays need to be written specifically for A&M and should clearly reference the student's desire to be an Aggie.

As other posters said, I think recommendation letters are a good way of letting Admissions know some of the unique qualities that your student offers. I wouldn't send the generic ones that teachers crank out; I would make sure each letter provides a unique insight into what would make your student a great choice for A&M.

Two other points: I would apply as early as possible -- like the first week after applications are accepted. And I would be very careful about the major you select. That's the biggest mistake I see among friends whose kids did not get accepted to A&M -- they chose majors that were either very popular among Top 10 students or that didn't match the students' strengths, i.e. someone with an average math SAT score who tries to get into engineering.

For review admits, getting into A&M is not easy (but not impossble). It just requires a complete effort that begins freshmen year of high school, and a lot of time and attention on the application.

You should be aware that the College of Engineering is planning to switch to 100% holistic review starting in the Fall of 2017. So, they will no longer automatically admit students under 'Top 10%' and 'academic admit' rules. You can still be admitted to the TAMU under these rules, just not the College of Engineering.

https://engineering.tamu.edu/easa/areas/recruitment/fall-2017-admissions

I totally agree with EclipseAg on the A&M specific essays and generally regarding major selection. A&M states again and again that they admit without consideration of major, unlike many other schools. While I think admissions wishes for this to be true, admission decisions are done by humans and if the College of Engineering is full before they read your child's application, anecdotal evidence shows the tie will go to the student who is passionate about (fill in the blank non-Engr, non-Business), especially if that college / major never fills. Major CAN impact the decision also if the application is not consistent. It is important that essays as well as most of ECs (clubs, summer camps, jobs, volunteer hours) relate to your child's stated interests, and preferred major at A&M. Keep in mind, this year admissions probably read 100,000 essays (if they read zero of the auto admits).
(I don't mean to imply that your child should not write about character values or have activities like band if they want to be a vet... your child should just present a clear unique picture)

Sent the oldest to private school. 4.32GPA. He did not finish in the top 10% of his class. He had a 31 ACT. He got accepted to A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, Texas State, Lamar, Georgia, LSU, & Pepperdine. tu put him on a waiting list. He will be attending classes at Texas A&M in the fall of 2016.

Maybe if we had sent Noah to public school he would graduate top 10% and get accepted to ut(his first choice of schools because his grandmother is a sip). Wife and I wanted our sons to have a Christian education though. I think things worked out fine!!!

TAMUadmissions - What year did legacy stop counting? Just curious as my oldest had a section for other TAMU grads when she applied.

And good for folks speaking up for the public schools. There are also some competitive public high schools. My oldest was not top 25% even with over a 4.0.

Legacy was removed during Gates.

GPA is a worthless factor across schools. It's amazing the % of students at a SINGLE school that have over a 4.0. When the top 20-25% are 4.0+ students, it is grade inflation.

When I was in admissions, the school you attended did play a factor into the decision making process. We said it didn't, but that wasn't the truth, If you had a student from ESD, Oakhill, Hockaday, St Stephens, St Marys Hall, Strake Jesuit, Dallas Jesuit, St. Johns, etc, they were given the benefit of the doubt at every pass. I don't know off the top of my head, but there were some private schools that you could be in the bottom half of the class and still get in on review without a great application.

The old "My kid goes to a private competitive high school that the top 10% all go to Ivy league schools so my child would have easily been in the top 10% at their public school" is misnomer and an easy avenue to discredit the accomplishments of other students.

Hi I am waiting for admission decision, and I noticed on my AIS major changed to BlinnTEAM. I cant find anything else that has changed on my Howdy. I also haven't received any emails.Does this mean I am accepted to the BlinnTEAM program? Thanks for any info.

Yes, congratulations!!! The rest on AIS will update during the next 2 days, usually. You can probably apply for on campus housing since it is not full yet.

Thanks for the information! I have one more question, is it possible to be upgraded from Blinn TEAM to full normal admission?

Note the statement at the bottom of AIS that the major can change as a normal part of the process. AIS will clearly list the decision at the top of the page once the decision is made. Blinn TEAM is one of several programs A&M chooses to offer to select freshmen applicants. The decision posted to AIS is the offer we are prepared to give you.

when will I receive my admission email? I have accepted my Blinn TEAM admission, but have still not recieved an email with my student ID so I can register for housing.

Austin,
Go to your Howdy account, "Applicant" option in the pull down menu. and find the Housing section. You can navigate to the Housing portal from there.

Your student ID is your UIN number. It's on your AIS by your name under My App Status. My son just received Blinn TEAM as well and applied for housing a few days ago! Congratulations on becoming an Aggie!

TAMUAdmissions, I asked this question on another thread, too. Not sure which, if either, you might be monitoring, but thanks for any reply.

- please, what can you tell me about the criteria used to determine that an applicant gets an offer of Blinn Team, Gateway or PSA? I've called the Office of Admissions and asked this question and was basically told, "Don't ask to pull back the curtain on the Great and Powerful Oz." From the outside attempting to look in - and knowing students who fall into each of the three categories - it all appears very random and very secretive.

I'd love to know this as well. I'm in the education field and I know three kids with very similar test scores, GPA/ranks/extra curriculars. I am privy to their information. One got in through regular admission, one was offered Blinn and the other is waiting to hear. If I was looking at them in a 'blind resume' way, I couldn't have distinguished them apart. The one offered Blinn team actually had a higher GPA. It would be interesting to know if there is a rubric or formula.

We evaluate class rank (not specifically GPA), test scores and everything else submitted with your application - outside activities, leadership, employment, the essays, etc. Every student is different. As part of a holistic review, we consider all the above factors. We also consider how much space is left for each type of offer and which program we believe offers the greatest chance of student success.

Not trying to be a smart a$$, but isn't the admissions rate now just under 70%? That suggests that maybe most of the people on this thread don't need to sweat the details. Just go to a high school that the kid is comfortable at. Chances are he/she will be accepted.

The numbers I heard - piecing together conversations with two different admissions counselors yesterday - were north of 40,000 applicants for 10,000 spots. Not vouching for the accuracy of those numbers, but if it is anywhere close, I don't know how that converts to a 70 percent admissions rate.

BTW - thanks for taking time to respond, TAMUAdmissions.

Well, yield figures into it also. These numbers are fictitious, but say 40,000 apps, 28,000 admits and 10,000 spots in the classs. That assumes of the 28,000 admits, 18k go elsewhere. I know that's unlikely but just illustrating that yield has to be accounted for. I think our historic yield has been reasonably high as many kids know for sure that A&M is their first choice.

If you take the fall 0f 2015 it was around 60%, it YouTake gateway and Blinn out it drops into the 50's. Supposedly this year over 42000 applicants. Lots of top 15% kids with 1300 plus SAT, 28 ACT getting Blinn Team.

It seems to be a tough year. My son with 30 ACT, 1360 SAT but 2nd Quarter class rank didn't even receive Blinn Team and was offered PSA. 2 years ago, my older son with similar class rank and 26 ACT was offered full admission.

A lot of kids with 1300 + Sat scores and top 25 % received Blinn Team offers. My son was top 12% 1340 SAT and received Blinn Team offer.

It's a completely arbitrary process. That is why admissions wont be more transparent with the admit criteria. They hide behind the term holistic. Shame really. My wife and I are both legacy and are disappointed with the process. In football terms, A&M needs more Ryan Swopes and fewer Kyle Allens.

Wow! That is making me lose confidence in any offer. Those are excellent qualifications.

Yeah, holistic review allows for randomness for sure. I know two kids with full admits that don't have the stats of some of the applicants listed in previous posts. Crazy

FriscoAggieFan said:

---

It's a completely arbitrary process. That is why admissions wont be more transparent with the admit criteria. They hide behind the term holistic. Shame really. My wife and I are both legacy and are disappointed with the process. In football terms, A&M needs more Ryan Swopes and fewer Kyle Allens.

---

Thanks. First straightforward response I've seen on the subject. Disappointment is exactly the term I would use for the situation under our roof. And it is a damn shame. To a certain extent - a great extent, perhaps - the University's hands are tied by the legislative mandate of the 10 percent rule. But that and other factors are turning away a lot of Swope-like legacy types. Damn shame.