Stats for non-auto admits at A&M?

15,878 Views | 31 Replies | Last: 4 mo ago by Tabasco
Buck Turgidson
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I find that stats like average SAT score for an entire entering freshman class at A&M are not helpful because they presumably include a large number of auto admits. The auto admits don't have to worry about the SAT and I would guess many that graduated from bad high schools may have subpar test scores. What's really relevant to new applicants is what kind of numbers they need if they are OUTSIDE the top 10%. What kind of SAT scores are competitive for those 11%+ kids? Does A&M publish stats for non-auto admits only?
AggieKeith15
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I'm not an admissions expert. My approximate guess:

Top 11-15% requires an SAT score around 1270+
Top 16-20% requires an SAT score around 1290+
Top 21-30% requires an SAT score around 1320+
Top 31-40% requires an SAT score around 1360+
Top 41-50% requires an SAT score around 1420+
An SAT Score around 1450 will get accepted into non-business and non-engineering majors regardless of class rank (unless the essays or other parts of the application are terrible)

An admissions expert will of course say there are a number of factors that goes into the holistic applicant review process (essays, extracurricular, etc.), but the SAT scores and class rank will heavily determine whether an applicant is accepted or not. The above numbers are a gut approximation, but I think are reasonably accurate give or take 10-20 points (+/-).

If an applicant does not get accepted, but wants to be an Aggie, my suggestion is to go to community college for 24 credits (about a year's worth of credits) and transfer into the university. Before registering for community college courses, they should review the transfer credit equivalency page to ensure the credits will transfer (and only transferable credits can be applied to the 24 hour minimum).

Link to the course transfer equivalency can be found here: https://howdy.tamu.edu/uPortal/p/tce-ui.ctf1/max/render.uP

ETA: There used to be an auto admit policy for top 25% students with a score of 1300 or greater, but it seems that it's no longer in effect now (I would be shocked though if the numbers have changed significantly for accepting students with similar stats, even if the criteria is not publicly shared/guaranteed).
AggieKeith15
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Also, if a student has a bad class rank because they went to a competitive school, but at the same time has a high SAT score (>1350), then it might be preferable to apply to other top universities. These types of students fair well at top 20-30 schools, but for whatever reason may get overlooked by TAMU or Sip.

Other posters on here can attest to this.
Buck Turgidson
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My kids attend a private school in which 100% of the graduates go to college. The top 10% is typically only 6-9 kids and the upper 50% are fully qualified for A&M. I have one son looking at more selective schools and one that should be smack in the middle of the A&M target market.

I will say their school is overwhelmingly A&M families, and the school has had a 70% success rate getting kids into A&M. The college guidance folks there seem to know how to get non auto-admits into A&M.
moore5663
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My daughter got her acceptance today for the class of 2028 (Mays Business School). She goes to a medium sized private school in Ft. Worth and we estimate she is in the top 15% of her class (they don't publish beyond the top 10%). Her GPA is about 4.1 on a 4.0 scale and she had a 29 on the ACT. We thought that may put her on the fence, but we were surprised she got her letter today. Hope that helps with the barometer.
KatyAggie2000
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AggieKeith15 said:

I'm not an admissions expert. My approximate guess:

Top 11-15% requires an SAT score around 1270+
Top 16-20% requires an SAT score around 1290+
Top 21-30% requires an SAT score around 1320+
Top 31-40% requires an SAT score around 1360+
Top 41-50% requires an SAT score around 1420+
An SAT Score around 1450 will get accepted into non-business and non-engineering majors regardless of class rank (unless the essays or other parts of the application are terrible)

An admissions expert will of course say there are a number of factors that goes into the holistic applicant review process (essays, extracurricular, etc.), but the SAT scores and class rank will heavily determine whether an applicant is accepted or not. The above numbers are a gut approximation, but I think are reasonably accurate give or take 10-20 points (+/-).

If an applicant does not get accepted, but wants to be an Aggie, my suggestion is to go to community college for 24 credits (about a year's worth of credits) and transfer into the university. Before registering for community college courses, they should review the transfer credit equivalency page to ensure the credits will transfer (and only transferable credits can be applied to the 24 hour minimum).

Link to the course transfer equivalency can be found here: https://howdy.tamu.edu/uPortal/p/tce-ui.ctf1/max/render.uP

ETA: There used to be an auto admit policy for top 25% students with a score of 1300 or greater, but it seems that it's no longer in effect now (I would be shocked though if the numbers have changed significantly for accepting students with similar stats, even if the criteria is not publicly shared/guaranteed).


That's probably fairly accurate. Son was 11% at Katy and had a 1300 SAT. He got into Mays a few weeks ago.
aggie93
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Major has a very real impact as well. Engineering and Mays are very different than some of the other Majors. I know many stories of the kid who was accepted for Liberal Arts or Ag or Architecture and their "smart friends" were rejected as they had applied to Engineering or Mays.

I also recommend to anyone that is on the fence whatsoever to apply to Galveston. If you aren't regular Admit or Blinn/Gateway Team it's definitely the way to go. Apply there separately and have a reason to want to go there and you can simply switch Majors after Freshman year up at CS without having to apply to the University itself. In the meantime you get to go to a small campus of 2500 or so and get preferred seats for Aggie Football. Largest class on campus is about 75 but most are around 25 and the Profs tend to speak English and care.


Another Doug
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My kids so far...

#1: ~top 25% in CSISD, 1540, NMF, got into the Liberal Arts major she applied to with a good scholarship (didn't go)

#2: ~top 20% in CSISD, 1500, got into Engineering, considering it
Buck Turgidson
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Another Doug said:

My kids so far...

#1: ~top 25% in CSISD, 1540, NMF, got into the Liberal Arts major she applied to with a good scholarship (didn't go)

#2: ~top 20% in CSISD, 1500, got into Engineering, considering it
What other schools are they considering? With 1500+ scores, I would think you'd look at some pretty competitive schools like Rice or Vandy unless the tuition was a barrier.
Another Doug
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Buck Turgidson said:

Another Doug said:

My kids so far...

#1: ~top 25% in CSISD, 1540, NMF, got into the Liberal Arts major she applied to with a good scholarship (didn't go)

#2: ~top 20% in CSISD, 1500, got into Engineering, considering it
What other schools are they considering? With 1500+ scores, I would think you'd look at some pretty competitive schools like Rice or Vandy unless the tuition was a barrier.
#1 took the full ride+ to UTD, good school with ton of smart kids. Currently in year 3, one internship under her belt and already on masters fast track. She choose that over Georgia, Miami (OH), and A&M

#2 is applying to a ton of places and a bunch its too early to hear back, right now she's accepted to A&M (no scholarship yet), Colorado School of Mines (good enough scholarship to consider), UH (free tuition), Ole Miss (free tuition). A&M and School of Mines are in lead right now. Waiting on Texas, CU Boulder, and a few non-ivy highly ranked privates (not 100% but something like UChicago, Tulane, Case Western, Duke?).
jt3116
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I wish I had some of this information last year. My oldest had the unfortunate circumstance of us moving between his junior and senior year. His old school was a fairly competitive private. His GPA was a 3.75 on 4.0 scale. He moved to a public school that uses a 6.0 scale. The private school uses a percentage bump system for Honors and AP classes. The transcript however doesn't provide the grade with the bump. It's the raw score. Also some of his Honors classes at the private school are considered regular at the new school. Bottom line, my son went from top 25% at his competitive school to top 50% at a public school. Then we couldn't use naviance with either school because he left one school and had no record in the new school. The constant phone calls and emails didn't help. We had to apply to A&M the old school way. My son did OK on the SAT. He had a 1320, various clubs, service hours and a 4 year Varsity letterman for golf. He had opportunities for collegiate golf, but didn't want to go that route. He applied to A&M as a communications major. We heard it would increase his chances for admission. He was accepted to Clemson, Auburn, Oklahoma and a lot of small schools. A&M is where he wanted to be. He got PSA. It was a disappointment. We toured 3 schools and ultimately he chose Tarleton. He tried to change his major and they said it would kick him out of PSA. Now he's forced to take classes that won't apply to his major, since he had 30 hours of dual credit coming in. Four weeks ago he made the decision to not attend A&M. He changed his major to digital marketing (its actually Business marketing with a communications minor for the time being). He signed a lease for Fall 2024, he's made some great friends, it's a very friendly campus (like old A&M), a good size (14k) and he'll graduate in 3 years. Plus he finished his last final today, will have a 4.0 this semester and is a finalist for a digital marketing internship with a fortune 500 co. this summer. A Tarleton grad is part of the decision making so fingers crossed.

My son will be fine. He's happy and that's what matters the most. He would have made an incredible Aggie and he'll always be a supporter. It just unfortunate.
reineraggie09
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I have been living under a rock. Class of '09 here and I remember there being automatic admit for SAT 1300+. I guess that isn't the case anymore?
DannyDuberstein
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There was a stretch where 1250-1300ish + top quartile class ranking was auto. That went away with the 2020 or 2021 admits. No more autos other than top 10% anymore
reineraggie09
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Thanks for the clarification.
AgGrad99
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I wish we had Stats for kids who got into Blinn Team or the summer GPA option.

My son would take one of those in a heartbeat. Curious where he stacks up.
Buck Turgidson
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DannyDuberstein said:

There was a stretch where 1250-1300ish + top quartile class ranking was auto. That went away with the 2020 or 2021 admits. No more autos other than top 10% anymore
Does anybody know why there is no similar auto admit category like that? If things have simply gotten more competitive, why not raise the standards rather than abandon the auto admit category completely?
double b
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Because it's more difficult from an enrollment management perspective. Before, Architecture, Mays and Engineering were almost completely full with top 10 percent and academic admits.
aggie93
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A fundamental problem is Texas graduates about 350,000 just in Public High Schools every year. That means around 35,000 are Top 10% and around 20,000 are Top 6%. We just have too many kids in the state to have those rules at this point.

We should do something more like Georgia does. Special cycle for In State Students and mandated levels of admission for In State to give them an advantage but all admissions are holistic.

It's lunacy to compare the Top 100 or so Texas HS's with the bottom 50% of those high schools with over 3,200 public HS's (much less Private).

I mean my youngest goes to a top rated big 6A HS and as a Junior he is taking 5 AP Classes (including Calculus, Physics, and Biology) and averaged a 96 last Semester and dropped from Top 4% to Top 5%. 4.0 Unweighted, 5.32 Weighted. He's going to be just fine obviously but there are so many really bright kids on the outside looking in for Top 6/10%. It's only getting worse too. My son was "Double Pace" as he will be through AP Calc BC in HS and now they have about a dozen kids that are Triple Pace and 4 kids that are Quadruple Pace meaning so they will be in Diff Eq at ACC as Seniors. A big part of that is also areas with significant Asian populations who work in tech. The level of competition just gets crazier and crazier. Then you put a kid like that in college in the same class with a kid from a HS where they are Top 10% but barely college ready and never taken an AP class.
Kool
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aggie93 said:

A fundamental problem is Texas graduates about 350,000 just in Public High Schools every year. That means around 35,000 are Top 10% and around 20,000 are Top 6%. We just have too many kids in the state to have those rules at this point.

We should do something more like Georgia does. Special cycle for In State Students and mandated levels of admission for In State to give them an advantage but all admissions are holistic.

It's lunacy to compare the Top 100 or so Texas HS's with the bottom 50% of those high schools with over 3,200 public HS's (much less Private).

I mean my youngest goes to a top rated big 6A HS and as a Junior he is taking 5 AP Classes (including Calculus, Physics, and Biology) and averaged a 96 last Semester and dropped from Top 4% to Top 5%. 4.0 Unweighted, 5.32 Weighted. He's going to be just fine obviously but there are so many really bright kids on the outside looking in for Top 6/10%. It's only getting worse too. My son was "Double Pace" as he will be through AP Calc BC in HS and now they have about a dozen kids that are Triple Pace and 4 kids that are Quadruple Pace meaning so they will be in Diff Eq at ACC as Seniors. A big part of that is also areas with significant Asian populations who work in tech. The level of competition just gets crazier and crazier. Then you put a kid like that in college in the same class with a kid from a HS where they are Top 10% but barely college ready and never taken an AP class.
The same arguments you make hold true in Georgia. UGA could fill their classes every year with nothing but north Atlanta high performing public and private high school kids. Every year I hear crazy stories about kids with great scores and class rank who are denied admission into the state's flagship university. This year it was a kid who is his 6A school's National Honor Society President (I'm sure that means his class rank is high) who had a 35 ACT (I cannot verify if single score or Superscore) who didn't get into UGA. His Mom is a friend of one of my employees. It seems to me that there should be some sort of auto admit based on a score or a class rank - make it really high like top 3% of either - rather than a purely "holistic" admissions. Just an opinion. There is no perfect system out there.
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aggie93
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Kool said:

aggie93 said:

A fundamental problem is Texas graduates about 350,000 just in Public High Schools every year. That means around 35,000 are Top 10% and around 20,000 are Top 6%. We just have too many kids in the state to have those rules at this point.

We should do something more like Georgia does. Special cycle for In State Students and mandated levels of admission for In State to give them an advantage but all admissions are holistic.

It's lunacy to compare the Top 100 or so Texas HS's with the bottom 50% of those high schools with over 3,200 public HS's (much less Private).

I mean my youngest goes to a top rated big 6A HS and as a Junior he is taking 5 AP Classes (including Calculus, Physics, and Biology) and averaged a 96 last Semester and dropped from Top 4% to Top 5%. 4.0 Unweighted, 5.32 Weighted. He's going to be just fine obviously but there are so many really bright kids on the outside looking in for Top 6/10%. It's only getting worse too. My son was "Double Pace" as he will be through AP Calc BC in HS and now they have about a dozen kids that are Triple Pace and 4 kids that are Quadruple Pace meaning so they will be in Diff Eq at ACC as Seniors. A big part of that is also areas with significant Asian populations who work in tech. The level of competition just gets crazier and crazier. Then you put a kid like that in college in the same class with a kid from a HS where they are Top 10% but barely college ready and never taken an AP class.
The same arguments you make hold true in Georgia. UGA could fill their classes every year with nothing but north Atlanta high performing public and private high school kids. Every year I hear crazy stories about kids with great scores and class rank who are denied admission into the state's flagship university. This year it was a kid who is his 6A school's National Honor Society President (I'm sure that means his class rank is high) who had a 35 ACT (I cannot verify if single score or Superscore) who didn't get into UGA. His Mom is a friend of one of my employees. It seems to me that there should be some sort of auto admit based on a score or a class rank - make it really high like top 3% of either - rather than a purely "holistic" admissions. Just an opinion. There is no perfect system out there.
Don't disagree with that at all, in the end it comes down to pick your poison.

That said my preference would be to emphasize the kids most academically qualified first and foremost and then look at other circumstances. Class rank just isn't a good indicator of success. Just know of so many circumstances on both ends without context of the quality of the school.

"Holistic" is such a tricky word. I do think you need to look at a broader picture but the emphasis should certainly be on academic prowess first, second, and third. The more it is a standardized evaluation the better such as AP Test scores and SAT/ACT. Can't be just that of course but everyone has to take the same tests so it is apples to apples.
AgGrad99
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Quote:

Class rank just isn't a good indicator of success.
Could not agree with you more.

Unless every high school is the same, it's really useless. Heck, if you just graduated from Marlin last year, you'd be top 10%.

My son has friends at other HS's and his GPAs (4.0 / 5.0)are better, at a harder school, with more AP/Adv classes. But they are top 10, or very close. While he's not close.

Sucks, but it is what it is. Looking back, I wish we'd have considered transferring him to a different HS.
Another Doug
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In state Class rank should play a factor at public universities. If tax payers are subsidizing these universities, these universities should be accessible by tax payers (and their kids) from all school districts. Having a threshold that guarantees acceptance is a simple way to accomplish this.
AgGrad99
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All things being equal, I agree. Problem is, all things are not equal.

But like I said, it is what it is.....
Kool
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Another Doug said:

In state Class rank should play a factor at public universities. If tax payers are subsidizing these universities, these universities should be accessible by tax payers (and their kids) from all school districts. Having a threshold that guarantees acceptance is a simple way to accomplish this.
Your point is well taken. But kids who attend very competitive schools, both public and private, also have parents who pay taxes. Going to a more competitive school puts them at a disadvantage for auto admission. In truth, I much prefer the system Texas has to what we have in Georgia, with no auto-admits outside of valedictorian and salutatorian (I have a son whose school doesn't even provide class rank, so that's not even possible for his school). I just think there should probably be a second auto admit for kids with extremely high test scores. That would ease some of the burden and anxiety on these kids attending highly competitive schools. And it would be a goal that any kid anywhere in the state could aim for.

I've been to a ton of Admissions presentations this last year. There is definitely a degree of what I would call "social engineering" that these schools are trying to do, as evidenced by the stats they give in their presentations and on their websites. I, for one, don't care how many kids of x, y, or z skin color you have, or how many are first generation. I'd rather see numbers of AP classes taken and test scores of incoming students (as well as GPAs (which I personally find to be very variable as do others here)) and then stats on how many graduating students attend grad school, average starting salaries upon graduation, etc. But that's just me.

Again, there is no perfect system, but I think the auto admits could be tweaked in a way that would be very positive.
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AgLaw02
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AggieKeith15 said:

I'm not an admissions expert. My approximate guess:

Top 11-15% requires an SAT score around 1270+
Top 16-20% requires an SAT score around 1290+
Top 21-30% requires an SAT score around 1320+
Top 31-40% requires an SAT score around 1360+
Top 41-50% requires an SAT score around 1420+
An SAT Score around 1450 will get accepted into non-business and non-engineering majors regardless of class rank (unless the essays or other parts of the application are terrible)


Anyone want to venture a guess where these numbers sit for engineering applicants?

It's easy to go online and see stats for A&M admissions, but I haven't found a source for what GPA/ class rank and SAT/ACT are needed for engineering admission.

Painter98
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Looking for info about top 10% and class rank for homeschooled students. My student is a rising HS junior (so no SAT/ACT yet). We have gone to the admissions presentation at A&M to start gathering info since we are homeschoolers, and figure that the process may be a challenge. The state passed HB 3993 in May '23. The A&M website states, "home-schooled students in the state may be eligible for Top 10% admission based on their assigned rank, determined by official SAT/ACT scores." The admissions officer who gave the presentation said they require a 1460 on the SAT for a homeschooled student to qualify for top 10%. That seems high to me. I would think there might be a range, and that it might change a bit from year to year. Would just like to figure out how they get to this number.
aggie93
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Painter98 said:

Looking for info about top 10% and class rank for homeschooled students. My student is a rising HS junior (so no SAT/ACT yet). We have gone to the admissions presentation at A&M to start gathering info since we are homeschoolers, and figure that the process may be a challenge. The state passed HB 3993 in May '23. The A&M website states, "home-schooled students in the state may be eligible for Top 10% admission based on their assigned rank, determined by official SAT/ACT scores." The admissions officer who gave the presentation said they require a 1460 on the SAT for a homeschooled student to qualify for top 10%. That seems high to me. I would think there might be a range, and that it might change a bit from year to year. Would just like to figure out how they get to this number.

For perspective my sons high school had many kids with 1500 plus who weren't Top 10%. Honestly that system probably encourages some kids to homeschool if they are in an Uber competitive high school where you have to take all APs and get high As to have a shot.

Meanwhile a kid from the Valley of one of the many mediocre to terrible school districts in Texas barely has 10 percent that are minimally college ready. Everyone loses because the kid from the good school goes OOS typically with a nice scholarship while the kid from the Valley gets crushed because they are woefully unprepared for Freshman STEM classes with 300 kids and a prof they don't understand. At least a quarter of those students also have already taken that level class in high school and are there for the Easy A go protect them with ETAM. We don't even have a way to qualify out of ETAM to prevent this so you have kids who got 5s on Calc BC taking 151 even though they don't want to but are foolish not to.

It's a dumb system we have created.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

Ronald Reagan
1Aggie99
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No clue as a whole but our kiddo just finish year 1 and ETAM'd in automatically after spring. He was top 11-12%ish and had a 29-30 ACT (if memory serves me correctly) with a super score of 33-34. TAMU does not super score.

He got TEAB and all worked out great. Class registration is a little wonky after ETAM but he'll have to get that straight next month.

It goes fast... just looking at it last night and he only has 82 required hours left counting HS credits. Process is a bit of a juggle and frustrating at times but try to enjoy it.
Tabasco
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Senior daughter is at 10.1% and wants to go to A&M (Psychology). Sat only 1180. I think her high school does recalc in January (so she might move it top 10). She is applying early admit. How would that work with A&M app if she makes top 10% after fall semester?
springtxag
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This exact situation happened to one of the girls on my daughter's dance team last year. She was one or two spots from top 10% after Junior year and then climbed up several spots to get in the top 10% after Fall semester of Senior year. She sent a letter along with her new transcript and was told it's too late for auto admit. She ultimately got in but not until after spring break. By then she was so frustrated with the delay from A&M she had decided to go elsewhere.
aggie93
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springtxag said:

This exact situation happened to one of the girls on my daughter's dance team last year. She was one or two spots from top 10% after Junior year and then climbed up several spots to get in the top 10% after Fall semester of Senior year. She sent a letter along with her new transcript and was told it's too late for auto admit. She ultimately got in but not until after spring break. By then she was so frustrated with the delay from A&M she had decided to go elsewhere.
I have heard similar stories from many. It's staggering how A&M does so little to try and recruit students who are highly qualified and what they put them through.
Tabasco
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Damn, that's just ridiculous.
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