Does anyone have insights as to how many students get into their first or second choice engineering major (AE or ME in case of our son) after the first year - in terms of # admits that were automatic with 3.75 or better and # of admits that were granted their choice via holistic.

Our son would have to take the Blinn Academy path to start with - and because both schools don't publish any results it makes me believe that very few get their first or second choice major if they don't achieve 3.75 in the first year.

Just how bad is it that they have to mask this information?

Here you go! Just search "tamu etam results spring 2024"

Thanks HuttoAg27!! Really great info.

As noted in my post - our son would have to go through one of the Academy routes (9 community schools plus Blinn) to take his first-year engineering courses to be eligible to transfer into one of the engineering degree plans via on-campus at CS.

These numbers probably just lump the Academy students in with those who were admitted to CS campus. I'm also curious how the Academy kids fair vs those who are already accepted onto the main campus.

I know it's probably not that helpful to hear, but the best advice I can give on getting into Mechanical or Aerospace is to get a 3.75 or higher. They are both very competitive, as only about 30% of first choice applicants that are not auto admits get in. I'm not sure about any statistics for the academy students, sorry. I know etam is a really stressful process.

I just finished the TEAB program, which involves taking some classes at TAMU while taking your math and science classes at Blinn. In my experience, my classes were slightly easier than the Tamu version, easing my transition to college. I believe that the statistics above include the Academy students as well. The one thing I did like about it was if I screwed up in my academy classes it would not affect my Tamu gpa.

Thanks Clrichardson

I think our son's path would be a little different - it would be Blinn Academy where he would be living on-campus at Blinn and taking all of his classes there. It does seem like the math/science classes are TAMU (taught onsite at Blinn) - so maybe your comment would still be true...if he doesn't make an A in English or History...it doesn't matter as much as not making the grades in math/science.

I'll try to confirm that with Blinn.

The best advice I would give is to be very conservative in Freshman classes and to prepare over the Summer. One of the worst things many kids do is not take any classes the Summer before Freshman year. Why? Many students are already checked out about now in their Senior year of HS and then if they don't take any classes over the Summer they have to re-adjust to an academic mindset. Then if they just take the "next" Math or Science class they are begging for trouble.

GPA is so important early on. It sets up ETAM. It sets up scholarships. It sets up organizations and research you can be a part of. Most of all it sets a tone for the remaining time in school. If you get off to a strong start it is so much easier to maintain it because you have the confidence built up, you have made the adjustment to college, and you have more time to research classes and profs and what would be the best chance for success as you sign up for them.

BTW, I'm not saying your kid should be taking a heavy Summer course load. For instance my son is going to take an online Python course and is thinking of taking Organic Chemistry (not for credit) in Community College (he wants to do BME and already took AP Chem). No pressure around either to perform but he will need to study and stay in the groove but not be overwhelmed so he can still relax and enjoy the Summer.

My elder son was a Non STEM major and was not strong in Math so he took his 2 Math classes in CC one after the other in Summer School after Senior year online, he was a good student in HS but not even Top 25%.. It was a bit of a slog at times for him but he got to start off at A&M with all of his Math done before stepping foot on campus and was able to take a lighter load with classes he was more interested in and ended up getting a 4.0. He's kept that up and is set to graduate with that same GPA as his confidence grew and he got so many opportunities from his grades that it really motivated him to work even harder. He has loved being seen as "the smart kid" which he really didn't feel like he was in High School.

It's so much more valuable to start off strong even if it is slower out of the gate vs worrying about maybe having to take an extra Semester at the end. GPA is such a driver of opportunities and it's much better to add an extra class or 2 after you have a couple Semesters of work under your belt than trying to push hard right out of the gate. Have a strong respect and even a bit of fear about the difficulty of college coursework and the adjustment to college itself. Much better to realize it was easier than you thought than the reverse. A rough start can take half of the options off the table before you really even knew what you wanted to do.

I would absolutely agree with doing some work over the summer, especially if your son has little experience in coding. The coding class you take as a freshman is not an intro course like they say it is.

I would consider doing core classes over the summer because they are cheap and easy to do over the summer and as far as I know they would not count towards your gpa for etam.

Good input bmet. He is accepted into Oklahoma State - who has a dual ME/AE degree path he is interested in. I think it's just been hard for him to let go of the desire to go to A&M - even though his only option is the Academy route that he isn't that excited about. We hope/think he is coming around to the facts that OSU is better fit. We loved it there when we visited with him and have secretly hoped that it would be where he ended up.

my son and I visited Oklahoma State today. He will likely get into A&M engineering but he really loved Oklahoma State which actually kind of surprised me. He likes the smaller town, smaller school, more intimate feel of the engineering school at OSU and being able to be admitted into the major of his choice. Really likes the dual EE/CE degree option too plus he can get a lot of scholarships at OSU.

He's just a junior so we haven't done an official college visit to A&M although he's been there quite a few times. He may still go to A&M but imo finding the best fit and getting the major they want is the most important thing.

Auburn is another one to check into. Has a good engineering program, guaranteed major, good merit scholarships, and a very similar conservative student body and school/town size to what A&M was in the late 80s-early 90s

My son is currently a senior that did the blinn academy route. Best path possible from my perspective. He got his first choice (mechanical) with no issues or waiting.

He did not have a 3.75. I think it was around a 3.5.

I think one of the things that is overstated is the "ME/AE or bust" mindset.

You can see from the chart above that the Multidisciplinary Engineering majors are not put as top choices by a lot of students. At times they can have very similar courses, and sometimes be much more effective at preparing one for the world after college.

For example, I graduated with a degree in MMET (Manufacturing & Mechanical Engineering). I would say that the classes I took actually better prepared me for a career in industry than some of my peers in ME. I had smaller class sizes, similar material covered but (at least in the case of MMET) a more hands-on approach. For example, after the standard Calculus 1 & 2 that all ETAM students take, MMET diverged and spent more time learning about quality assurance/risk analysis statistics while I had friends suffering through Calculus 3&4, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra etc.
In the 5 years I've been in the industry outside of school, I can count on one hand how many times I've had to take a derivative, while I am able to do more pertinent math that my coworkers never learned.

Have your kids pull up the degree plan for each degree they're interested in and actually look through the names/descriptions of the classes. They might find out they're a lot more interested in "Product Design/Solid Modeling" & "Manufacturing Automation and Robotics" (MMET) Than they would be "Heat Transfer" & "Dynamics & Vibrations" (ME).

You can still get hired as a Mechanical Engineer with an MMET degree (speaking from experience here).