Howdy Ags. I currently have an Aggie Senior (Mays Business) and Freshman (Environmental Design). My high school son (a senior, who will take a full gap year-and-a-half, like his brothers, to work and save $ for tuition) just took his very first ACT. His composite was 30 with a Reading of 35 and Math of 29. I want him to take it at least once more. He's frustrated because he knows he qualifies for an academic admit to the University. I told him that holistic review for engineering was more competitive.
I recognize that there will be many other factors besides just his ACT. But I don't have any hard data to shoot for in giving him a benchmark for what's considered a "safe" ACT score (and math subscore) for engineering.
I called the department, hoping there was historic data from the past 1-3 years or so. Again, I know there's no auto-admit for engineering, but I'm assuming someone somewhere has date that demonstrates a median or mean ACT or SAT score for the students who survived holistic review and were actually admitted.
I'm coming up empty-handed.
Regarding other factors...my son is an Eagle Scout. Twice peer-elected senior patrol leader, loads of volunteer hours, had a work internship last summer in the engineering wing of my husband's company. He's a homeschooling student, so they don't ever get labeled "top 10%". My experience with my previous sons is that they were labeled top 25% automatically as homeschoolers. He's a fantastic writer, so I think he'll knock the essay out of the park. And of course we'll make sure he clicks "send" on his application the minute it opens up so applying late won't be an issue.
Sooo...anyone have recent information that details the trend for ACT composite and math subscore trends in students accepted to engineering? Thank you, and Gig 'em!

Apply EARLY before Department slots fill. If they land a spot, they will need a 3.25 GPA Frosh year to retain it. If slots are full in C.E., ME, BME, etc and they are taken as a general Engineering student, I believe they need a 3.5 GPA Frosh year. Be prepared for weed out. Good luck!

DukeMu said:

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Apply EARLY before Department slots fill. If they land a spot, they will need a 3.25 GPA Frosh year to retain it. If slots are full in C.E., ME, BME, etc and they are taken as a general Engineering student, I believe they need a 3.5 GPA Frosh year. Be prepared for weed out. Good luck!

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WTF?

This is the last year for Academic Admit, so you may want to take that into consideration as far as waiting to apply in later years.

I'm not posting to dispute Duke's statement because I may be misinterpreting it, I can however share with the OP some of the things I learned observing my son gain admission to EN up to new student conference this week.

All engineering students that are admitted will take a common first year curriculum before ETAM (entry to a major) process where they will be placed in their major after they have achieved the requite coursework (2 maths, 2 sciences, and 2 EN courses ALL at TAMU). This process will occur at the end of their freshman year or a semester later depending on where they start in math. The 3.5 GPA admission number is to automatically advance into their preferred major in the ETAM process, others with a >2.0 GPA will be admitted to a major under holistic review. That is NOT the answer to your question, that's my attempt to add depth to the 3.5 number Duke threw out.

Going back to the original question about admission - I can tell you that somewhere along the way I heard an academic advisor tell my son that he average ACT for students admitted TO MAJOR THOUGH ETAM for the prior year was 30. If TAMUadmissions comes along and disputes that, then I am wrong and disregard this. The advisor did not have the ACT score data for incoming freshmen available to them, only the generic data (again) for the prior class that had made their way through the ETAM process. So that was the average ACT for students that had been admitted to school a year prior, survived their freshman year at A&M, met the requirements, and made their way into a major. Using that number, I think your son is in the ballpark on ACT score.

My son had comparable extra-curricular activities, with the main difference being he was in a public school class & a very high class rank. We were dug in for the long wait on acceptance to the EN program, but A&M cut that short and admitted him very early in the fall - which was a big relief. I don't know how the homeschool experience and disappearance of the Academic Admit will factor into your son's admission... but all other things seem to be in line with a couple successful admissions I've observed in the recent term.

Good luck.

If you (he) have the time and $$, consider taking it one more time to boost the math. His score is fine, but the Engineering students have around a 30 as Centerpole90 posted and if you look a little closer at the students admitted to Engineering from Fall of 2018 (so entering as freshman that fall) close to 800 of them scored in the 30+ range.

Engineering has some detailed information at https://engineering.tamu.edu/academics/entry-to-a-major/index.html regarding how they decide entry to a major.

ETAM uses a priority method that places students in the highest rank major possible based on your academic performance, content in your ETAM application, and the program's capacity. If you maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 after completing required courses for entry to a major, you're guaranteed a spot in your first choice major. If you decide that your highest rank major is not a good match, you can pursue a change of curriculum to a different major within the College of Engineering or the university. All majors are open for applications during each entry-to-a-major cycle.

TAMUAdmissions said:

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ETAM uses a priority method that places students in the highest rank major possible based on your academic performance, content in your ETAM application, and the program's capacity. If you maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 after completing required courses for entry to a major, you're guaranteed a spot in your first choice major. If you decide that your highest rank major is not a good match, you can pursue a change of curriculum to a different major within the College of Engineering or the university. All majors are open for applications during each entry-to-a-major cycle.

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Two things to clarify/add:

1) The departments (not the college) decide who gets into their major(s) under the ETAM holistic review (the departments have to take all the 3.5 auto-admits to major.) A good thing for students to do is to talk to advisors in the departments about what their department is looking for in holistic review. Different departments do ETAM differently.

2) It has become quite hard to do a change of curriculum into some (but not all) departments in the College of Engineering. Ideally a student will pay attention to the material on the departments presented during freshman year, so he/she makes the right choice for him/herself, and doesn't have to do change of curriculum.

Got one attempting to transfer in Engineering this Fall.

I have a junior that aspires to do EN, so just getting started looking into the process. I see a lot of posts on this board discussing ACT scores and not as many about the SAT. Is the ACT the "preferred" test to take for EN, or should he take both?

Both the ACT and SAT are fine. Some students do better on one than on the other. That would be a reason to try both.