Valedictorian fights Texas to change admission policy, then enrolls at A&M

May 23, 2017
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Meet Madison Mau, valedictorian of Fayetteville High in Fayetteville, Texas (Population: 258). Her story is a fascinating one, which you should read in full in the Texas Tribune.

Madison Mau (@madi_mau)
For years, she dreamed of attending the University of Texas, and did everything in her power to make that happen — earned perfect grades throughout high school, finished #1 in her class, was elected class president, student council president and National Honor Society president, and participated in as many other extracurriculars as humanly possible.

So when the time came to apply to Texas (which will hereafter be referred to affectionately as t.u.), she hoped that would be enough.

Unfortunately, it wasn't.

[t.u.] is required to by law to admit any student in the top 7 percent of his or her high school class. With only 10 students in Mau's graduating class, it was mathematically impossible for her to be in the top 7 percent.

On top of that, her school was so small that it didn't offer any AP courses, which obviously didn't help her case. So she did what many people do when they feel like they've been treated unfairly: she fought.

After a brief moment of despair, Mau, 18, decided not to accept [t.u.'s] denial. With the help of her parents, she made phone calls, wrote letters and implored her local legislators for help. She argued that it was unfair to turn her down because of her small school.

In February, [t.u.] took the unusual step of reversing its admissions decision for Mau and nine other small-school valedictorians.

Victory!

But it doesn't end there.

During the time she was fighting to get t.u.'s decision reversed, she explored other options.

She toured a couple more universities and researched the medical school acceptance rates of other pre-med programs. After some soul-searching, she reconsidered where she truly belonged.

And the story ends with the best (and most ironic) line of all.

She’ll be attending Texas A&M this fall.

Welcome to Aggieland, Madison!
Discussion from...

Valedictorian fights Texas to change admission policy, then enrolls at A&M

281,302 Views | 28 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by Lungblood
Unemployed
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AG
You're a day late.

https://texags.com/forums/12/topics/2855763
chipotle
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germans
Ragoo
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who cares? can this be moved to academic board?
Stewade
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RealTalk said:

You're a day late.

https://texags.com/forums/12/topics/2855763
dsimpson4
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Only at t.u. would being #1 in your class not equate to being in the top 7% or higher. Technically she was in the top 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10% of her class
Geralt of Rivia
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S
Ragoo said:

who cares? can this be moved to academic board?
Yeah, because the GB is soooooooo busy these days

The Collective
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Yea, I don't get the math here....
NoahAg
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Quote:

On top of that, her school was so small that it didn't offer any AP courses, which obviously didn't help her case. So she did what many people do when they feel like they've been treated unfairly: she fought.
So how did her course load compare to students at larger schools with 300, 500, or 1,000 in a class? Was she more qualified or deserving than the 40th ranked student in a class of 500 (top 8%)? What were her test scores?

I don't see what was "unfair" here.
Beer Baron
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Sounds like she goes to a really sheety school. I went to a 1A school the same size as hers and we had a couple AP classes in the late 90's. Now that school offers even more AP credit in a webinar format. Plus, I think there were options through our local junior college. I find it hard to believe she couldn't have done more. My suspicion is she knew she was valedictorian and was just banking on that to get around the rule. I also don't see why we keep trumpeting this as some sort of "haha, suck it sips!" kind of thing when we're essentially drawing from their discard pile here. If we'd rejected her and she suddenly really wanted to be at tech we'd all be laughing.
Rusty GCS
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It's not us taking from their discard pile.

She was accepted by tu, so not in the discard pile. Also, the point is that tu tried to deny a student that deserves enrollment at our state schools. Let them "discard" all the small town kids with great leadership and local involvement they want. We'll gladly take them and help mold them into the future leaders of tomorrow like we have been doing for generations.

Beer Baron
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She was accepted* by tu.
Rusty GCS
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I was laid* last night


Who cares if you get shot down before finally succeeding? You're either in on the first day of school or you're not. Same goes for recruiting. Who cares that Manziel was told no by Sherman for months? He eventually was offered.

The last guy accepted into medical school can still become a Dr.
Lungblood
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Rusty GCS said:

I was laid* last night


Who cares if you get shot down before finally succeeding? You're either in on the first day of school or you're not. Same goes for recruiting. Who cares that Manziel was told no by Sherman for months? He eventually was offered.

The last guy accepted into medical school can still become a Dr.
Boom... lawyered.
Stewade
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Beer Baron said:

I find it hard to believe she couldn't have done more. My suspicion is she knew she was valedictorian and was just banking on that to get around the rule.
Feel free to suspect that, but that's a pretty cynical perspective IMO. She was more than just the valedictorian, anyways - made perfect grades, was elected president of several organizations and participated in a ton of extracurriculars. That doesn't sound like someone just banking on the top 7% rule to me.
Beer Baron
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I'm sure she's great and will make a fine Ag. It's just as someone from a very similar school I have a hard time seeing the unfair treatment she suffered here. One of the biggest criticisms of the Top 10/7% rules is that people from sub-par schools get in automatically while very qualified kids from top schools don't.
powerbelly
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Stewade said:

Beer Baron said:

I find it hard to believe she couldn't have done more. My suspicion is she knew she was valedictorian and was just banking on that to get around the rule.
Feel free to suspect that, but that's a pretty cynical perspective IMO. She was more than just the valedictorian, anyways - made perfect grades, was elected president of several organizations and participated in a ton of extracurriculars. That doesn't sound like someone just banking on the top 7% rule to me.
She was one of ten students, I'm sure they all had a whole list of activities and leadership roles if they wanted.
Rusty GCS
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funny how that works that only the top 10% want those roles
Stewade
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powerbelly51 said:

She was one of ten students, I'm sure they all had a whole list of activities and leadership roles if they wanted.
Sure, but there's only one student body president, one student council president and one National Honor Society president at a school...and she was all of them.

Even if she ran un-opposed in every single race, she was still willing to do it (likely in hopes of making a difference at her school, learning leadership skills and/or helping her cause of being admitted into a good college).
Atreides Ornithopter
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she didn't get an auto-admit ACT/SAT score? fail
powerbelly
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Brennus said:

she didn't get an auto-admit ACT/SAT score? fail
There is a reason she wasn't initially admitted to tu.
MAT
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What are the auto-admit ACT/SAT scores for t. u. & A&M?
Lungblood
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Upon further review, we definitely need Madison at Texas A&M... WE deserve it.
Ignatius_of_Silesia
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I hope someone tells her that she's going to want to wear something more comfortable than stiletto heels her first day of class.
Lungblood
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Ignac said:

I hope someone tells her that she's going to want to wear something more comfortable than stiletto heels her first day of class.


Terrible virgin post. Boo.
Ignatius_of_Silesia
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I'm guessing I'm not going to like you very much.
Ignatius_of_Silesia
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Why would you want to see a man in his mid-forties tits? What the Hell kind of weirdos hang out on this board?
Geralt of Rivia
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S
Weirdos that want to see tits. Now post them
Lungblood
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I bet he's got a purty mouth.
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