At a recent A&M application workshop my son was told something about Engineering admissions that I'd never heard before, and it has him confused about what to list as his major on his application.

He's not top 10%, closer to 15%, but he has a 1520 on the SAT. The guy we talked to at the workshop said that his concern for my son is that he's probably borderline (especially getting in his application 6+ weeks after it opened) for getting into main campus engineering, but that they would likely offer him admission to the McAllen campus if he didn't get accepted to TAMUCS engineering.

And that if he did get offered McAllen, then his only options would be to accept or reject that offer, that he wouldn't be able to go with his second choice major at that point. So he'd be stuck going to class in McAllen for a year if he wanted into A&M.

Does this sound right? The guy who told us this wasn't an engineering advisor which is why I want a second opinion.

If that's the only option, then we're looking at listing a first choice of something that would be conducive to transferring into Engineering from another major, maybe BIMS?

I'm sure there's subtleties each year, but for what it's worth, my daughter applied in mid September last year. She was just outside of the top 10% at a competitive high school. Had an SAT in the 1300s and was accepted in engineering at College Station. That said, it took them until the first week of February for the decision.

As an aside, with a 1520 SAT score, your son could VERY likely get merit scholarships at other good engineering schools out of state...probably making tuition comparable to, or below, A&M's. Mine ended up going that route as the "decision delay" really turned her off.

I'm not an admissions professional, but I am a bit of a nerd about admissions at the graduate school level.

Your son can get into better schools than TAMU with that SAT score. He is in the median range for MIT, just as an example.

My hypothesis - he will get into Look no problem. However, he shouldn't sweat it if he doesn't. I'd apply to Rice, Sip, GA Tech, and a few reach schools in CA and Boston if I were him.

Also, consider Cornell, Duke, UVA, Michigan, Carnegie Mellon. All great schools that he is positioned well to get into.

Congratulations to your son's accomplishments. He's obviously very bright, make sure he doesn't stress too much. He's already setup to do awesome things in life!

Personally I think the SAT/class ranking should get him in . Part of A&M's 25x25 plan is accomplished by letting more kids in at CS campus. High sat score seems like low risk take when you are wanting to grow your school.

My kid has slightly lower stats and the people at Avant think she'll get in. However, she has worked hard on filling out the rest of her application with good stuff.

Apply to other schools or out of state.

Getting his major of choice is more important than getting into your university of choice in my opinion. Apply to a bunch of schools and go the best one that gives you your major. Do well and then transfer if you think you can get into a more preferred school.

Undergrad engineering at the big public schools is similar. He can transfer to A&M after a year or two and his grades are good.

Very high SAT, he can crush it in college engineering if he applies himself and transfer into A&M later or go to grad school anywhere he wants.

What's more important for engineering students to be successful after graduation is not the university, it's their extracurriculars. If he does undergrad extra curricular a Formula or Baja SAE, rocket clubs or other engineering club where they build something, plus undergraduate research and or internships. Just keep a good GPA too and he'll be able to transfer or got to grad school anywhere, or get a job anywhere.

DTP02 said:

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At a recent A&M application workshop my son was told something about Engineering admissions that I'd never heard before, and it has him confused about what to list as his major on his application.

He's not top 10%, closer to 15%, but he has a 1520 on the SAT. The guy we talked to at the workshop said that his concern for my son is that he's probably borderline (especially getting in his application 6+ weeks after it opened) for getting into main campus engineering, but that they would likely offer him admission to the McAllen campus if he didn't get accepted to TAMUCS engineering.

And that if he did get offered McAllen, then his only options would be to accept or reject that offer, that he wouldn't be able to go with his second choice major at that point. So he'd be stuck going to class in McAllen for a year if he wanted into A&M.

Does this sound right? The guy who told us this wasn't an engineering advisor which is why I want a second opinion.

If that's the only option, then we're looking at listing a first choice of something that would be conducive to transferring into Engineering from another major, maybe BIMS?

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First, I think it is almost criminal how these TAMU advisors give such advice and unnecessarily create a sense of worry and anxiety within these families. It's pretty well known within our circles of independent college consultants that TAMU advisors are not well thought of, and that many of them either give bad advice or unnecessarily create a sense of panic with the students. However, the College of Engineering has an Early Action deadline, meaning they will consider all students equally until that deadline.

Secondly, with college admissions, your consideration for admission is based on the quality of the applicant. If you're a top-notch applicant who scores out among the top 25%, it doesn't matter when you submit your application; you will be admitted into TAMU. Talented students always trump those with lesser stats.

As for your student, I don't know any other stats, but a 1520 should draw a lot of consideration from admissions. So unless there are other red flags (i.e., B and C's on the transcript, low academic rigor, or weak ECs), your student should receive some strong consideration for admission and I would recommend listing Engineering as your major of choice.

Lastly, those external engineering programs that TAMU has created are NOT attractive options to suitors, and they are not doing well for those living outside those regions. Unfortunately, they are pushing those options onto other candidates to attract students into those programs. I would not recommend those programs, knowing full well there are plenty of alternatives out there that are much better.

Thanks for the info and input!

Causation vs. correlation. Getting a 1520 doesn't get you into Rice or MIT, but kids that get into those type schools usually have high SATs. You really need a impressive complete resume to be considered at an elite school.

True, but it's also a game of numbers. You have to apply to many reach schools to give yourself a chance at getting accepted into one (or several) of them.

Another Doug said:

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Causation vs. correlation. Getting a 1520 doesn't get you into Rice or MIT, but kids that get into those type schools usually have high SATs. You really need a impressive complete resume to be considered at an elite school.

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This. A 1520 gets you in the conversation but those places (esp MIT) could fill their entire class with kids with that score or higher. At some point though it's about having the score above the bar and then really it's all about the rest of the resume. They don't want kids who have a 4.0 and a 1550 but no social life and EC. They would rather take a kid with a 1500 that maybe even got a B or two taking the hardest classes they could and a robust extracurricular background, especially if it complements what they want to major in. They like research and internships as well.

1520 should easily get him into engineering by itself. I wouldn't trust anything that advisor told you.

Interesting discussions. I see no reason why the OP's son should not have been admitted to the main campus. 1520 on SAT is huge. As a former grad with multiple engineering degrees from TAMU plus others I found that it is about effort. In my group at TAMU it was damn hard and competitive.The freshman year weaned out those who could not stand the rigor.

congrats

Houstonag said:

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Interesting discussions. I see no reason why the OP's son should not have been admitted to the main campus. 1520 on SAT is huge. As a former grad with multiple engineering degrees from TAMU plus others I found that it is about effort. In my group at TAMU it was damn hard and competitive.The freshman year weaned out those who could not stand the rigor.

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I think it's pretty universal among engineering programs that 30-50% drop out by Jr year.

With a 1520 on the SAT it's going to be up to him to set priorities and apply themselves. He shouldn't have any trouble if he has good study habits.

Another Doug said:

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Causation vs. correlation. Getting a 1520 doesn't get you into Rice or MIT, but kids that get into those type schools usually have high SATs. You really need a impressive complete resume to be considered at an elite school.

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This.

And university of Californias no longer considers SAT/Act. Test obsolete.

AggieDruggist89 said:

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Another Doug said:

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Causation vs. correlation. Getting a 1520 doesn't get you into Rice or MIT, but kids that get into those type schools usually have high SATs. You really need a impressive complete resume to be considered at an elite school.

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This.

And university of Californias no longer considers SAT/Act. Test obsolete.

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The SAT is not obsolete, California universities dropped it because it makes it harder to legally discriminate against Asian kids.

MGS said:

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AggieDruggist89 said:

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Another Doug said:

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Causation vs. correlation. Getting a 1520 doesn't get you into Rice or MIT, but kids that get into those type schools usually have high SATs. You really need a impressive complete resume to be considered at an elite school.

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This.

And university of Californias no longer considers SAT/Act. Test obsolete.

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The SAT is not obsolete, California universities dropped it because it makes it harder to legally discriminate against Asian kids.

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Test obsolete is the new phrase they're using to say they will not consider Test scores. I'm not saying SAT/ACT is obsolete. My son is applying this year and his score is 1570, Weighted GPA 4.8, unweighted 4.0, #1 in his class and we are expecting denials from all reach schools. Especially Berkeley and UCLA.

Because my son will score very poorly on their new criteria "Adversity Score" because he's not a migrant farm workers kid who had to pick strawberries.

AggieDruggist89 said:

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MGS said:

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AggieDruggist89 said:

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Another Doug said:

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Causation vs. correlation. Getting a 1520 doesn't get you into Rice or MIT, but kids that get into those type schools usually have high SATs. You really need a impressive complete resume to be considered at an elite school.

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This.

And university of Californias no longer considers SAT/Act. Test obsolete.

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The SAT is not obsolete, California universities dropped it because it makes it harder to legally discriminate against Asian kids.

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Test obsolete is the new phrase they're using to say they will not consider Test scores. I'm not saying SAT/ACT is obsolete. My son is applying this year and his score is 1570, Weighted GPA 4.8, unweighted 4.0, #1 in his class and we are expecting denials from all reach schools. Especially Berkeley and UCLA.

Because my son will score very poorly on their new criteria "Adversity Score" because he's not a migrant farm workers kid who had to pick strawberries.

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Please let us know how your son does. My guess is he will very likely get into one or both of UCLA/Cal-Berkely with the stats shared.

In fact, I'd like to think he'd get accepted to 50%-75% of ivy league schools as well. Assuming he has solid essays and extracurriculars listed, of course.

Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and Yale are probably the only schools he has less than or near 50% odds I would imagine.

Thank you, I will provide update.
We are taking a different approach with son versus daughter who went to a large state school to a T14 law school. We learned that kids can get drowned out in a large campus which of course I also felt as a student at Texas A&M. So son is also focusing on liberal arts colleges.

I'd actually love to see him at Washington & Lee in Lexington VA or One of the Pomona Colleges.

AggieDruggist89 said:

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Thank you, I will provide update.
We are taking a different approach with son versus daughter who went to a large state school to a T14 law school. We learned that kids can get drowned out in a large campus which of course I also felt as a student at Texas A&M. So son is also focusing on liberal arts colleges.

I'd actually love to see him at Washington & Lee in Lexington VA or One of the Pomona Colleges.

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Did you look at Washington & Lee and one of the Pomonas?

My son is probably looking at similar schools as your son is looking at. His school doesn't do class rank, so I am not sure where he is. He has made a few B's (mostly out of carelessness, unfortunately), but he should be in the top 1-2%. He has excellent test scores. I also fear that his skin color and his adversity score will hold him back. He just had an alumni interview for Georgetown a couple of weeks ago. The interviewer had a minor in Women and Genders studies there, and she was a minority working for a large corporation in San Francisco. I thought she would nail him on some DEI question. He said the hardest question she asked him was, "Tell me about a struggle you have had to overcome in your life and how you managed it." He said it took him a while to think of something, which I found amusing.

We looked at Washington and Lee, but my son thought the campus and town were just too small. It is in an absolutely beautiful setting. We went to USC (because they give National Merit kids a 50% tuition break) and UCLA. Of those three, he's only applying to USC. He strangely said that, because UCLA won't likely give him any tuition break or money to go there, he isn't interested. I couldn't believe it, but I definitely support that. I think he would hate Berkeley with the Leftism there.

Keep us posted on your son's thought processes and his offers. I hope my son is ready for this, but he and I have heard way too many stories of very qualified Caucasian and Asian kids getting turned down by places they are well prepared for.

Were In a very similar situation. We will get no need based financial aid from UC. I work in Virginia and own a house but my home is in CA. So we visited most campuses in East coast and CA. Right now son has safety net schools with major scholarships worked out. And he's not completed rest of his applications yet. It's going to be a long 6 months til April.

I live hour and half from W&L and I work with some alumnis. They love the school. Hour and half to UVA and 3 hours to William and Mary. All schools my son is applying to.

AggieDruggist89 said:

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Were In a very similar situation. We will get no need based financial aid from UC. I work in Virginia and own a house but my home is in CA. So we visited most campuses in East coast and CA. Right now son has safety net schools with major scholarships worked out. And he's not completed rest of his applications yet. It's going to be a long 6 months til April.

I live hour and half from W&L and I work with some alumnis. They love the school. Hour and half to UVA and 3 hours to William and Mary. All schools my son is applying to.

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Great stuff. During Spring Break I took my son, much to his chagrin, on a "Virginia swing" to see W&L, UVA, and William and Mary. On his own, before we even saw it, he said, "Oh no, William and Mary won't do!" I was proud of his musical knowledge. After seeing the campus, he had the same impression. He just didn't want to go to school next to the equivalent of a bunch of old peoples' Disney. He liked W&L, but it seemed small to him and he thought there wasn't enough happening in the town. I thought the area was beautiful. He loved UVA (what's not to love), but of course it's tough to get into and expensive for out-of-state kids. We won't qualify for any need based money, either. Going to have lots of interesting discussions ahead. Still have maybe 6 applications to go before the bad news starts to come in.

College admissions are so ridiculous these days

No idea how I got in to engineering if kids like this are struggling to get in or being told not good odds from advisors

Houstonag said:

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Interesting discussions. I see no reason why the OP's son should not have been admitted to the main campus. 1520 on SAT is huge. As a former grad with multiple engineering degrees from TAMU plus others I found that it is about effort. In my group at TAMU it was damn hard and competitive.The freshman year weaned out those who could not stand the rigor.

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This is so true, all effort.

My roommate and I both graduated with 3.9+ GPAs from Mechanical and Chemical Engineering and had nowhere close to a 1500+. Went to a large competitive high school and weren't top 10% either. Guessing today we would have no shot of getting in based on this thread.

My son was rejected with the good test scores and lots of extracurriculars but was outside the top 10%. 32 ACT, I think, which is equivalent to 1400 something SAT. Not as good as the OP, but significantly better than the A&M average. The strange thing is that he was actively recruited by okie state and got a pretty selective scholarship there. He is not very diverse, so maybe it's not that strange, I don't know.