Am I on track for Texas A&M University?

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ajwilliams96

5-Year Member
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Dec 24, 2011
Messages
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Am I on track for acceptance to Texas A&M University looking at my first two years of high school? Here is a list of things I have done in my freshman and sophomore years of high school:

Freshman Year

Academics

- Two Honors Courses (Chemistry Honors and Geometry Honors)
- Two Electives (Multimedia Design and Concert Band)
- Maximum Number of Credits
- Community Service Honors (50+ Community Service Hours)
- GPA - 2.957
- Chemistry Honors (usually taken by strong juniors): C+
- Geometry Honors (usually taken by strong freshmen or sophomores): C-
- World Civilizations: A-
- English I: B
- Spanish I: B-
- Multimedia Design: A
- Concert Band: A+ (counted as half of a course)

Extracurricular

- Elected Ninth Grade Class Council Officer
- Volunteer at the Children's Section of a local library
- Judge in the Elementary School Science Fair
- Performed in the School Spring Drama Production
- Member of a Church Youth Group
- Host at a School Open House
- Wrote and Acted for two different short plays in the Instant Drama Festival (less than 24 hours to write lines and less than 12 hours to learn lines)
- Member of the Chess Team
- Summer Volunteer at a hospital


Sophomore Year (so far)

Academics

- Two Honors Courses (Biology Honors and Algebra II Honors)
- One AP Course (World History AP)
- Two Electives (Computer Science and Concert Band)
- Maximum Number of Credits
- Community Service Honors (50+ Community Service Hours)
- GPA - ?
- Biology Honors: B
- Algebra II Honors: B-
- World History AP: B-
- English II: B+
- Spanish II: B-
- Computer Science: B+
- Concert Band: A+ (counted as half of a course)
- PSAT - 184 (without prior preparation)
- PLAN - 22 (without prior preparation)

Extracurricular

- Elected Executive Council Secretary (Highest Student Council Position Available to a Sophomore)
- Elected Tenth Grade Class Council Officer (served until elected Executive Council Secretary)
- Member of the Cross Country team
- Member of the Swim team
- Member of the Tennis team
- Volunteering at the Children's Section of a local library
- Performed in the Fall and Spring Drama Productions
- Member of the Set Construction/Technical Crews for the Fall and Spring Drama Productions
- Member of a Church Youth Group
- Founding Member of a Junior State of America chapter (Appointed to the position of Chapter Secretary & Director of Debate for next year)
- Appointed to lead the chapter at the JSA Spring State Conference
- Model United Nations delegate
- Wrote and Acted for two different short plays in the Instant Drama Festival (less than 24 hours to write lines and less than 12 hours to learn lines)
- Staff Writer for the School Newspaper
- Staff Writer for the School Literary Magazine
- Member of the Community Service Board
- Member of the Future Business Leaders of America chapter
- Founding Officer of the 30 Hour Famine Chapter
- Member of the Chess Club
- Host at School Open Houses and School Orientation
- Vice President of the Sports Writing Club
- Teen Leadership Summer Volunteer at a hospital

Thank you for your time.
 
Are you a Texas resident or from out-of-state? It has a very high amount of in-state students (over 90% of the student body). There is a relatively higher percentage of out-of-state students within the Corps of Cadets. I assume you are interested in that since you are asking this on the ROTC forum.

Your extracurriculars are outstanding. But your current GPA is a bit low for the average student who is admitted to A&M. The average SAT score for admitted students is over 1200 (M & R portions only), and about 80% are in the top 25% of their graduating high school classes.

Do your very best to pull in as many A's as you can the semesters left through your junior year and prepare very well for the SAT. Also, be sure to attend several campus events (Spend the Night with the Corps, Aggie Saturday, etc.) to show that you have true interest in attending A&M and that it's not just a check mark on your college app list. There are spaces on the A&M application to mark attendance at these events.
 
Impossible to say for certain what your chances are, but you'll have to work hard. IIRC, Texas law requires publicly funded colleges (including A&M) to have something like 90% of their students be from within the state (don't quote me on that). Texas A&M currently has 96% instate students.

Check out this link for more profile information. http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/search/servlet/createpdf?collegeId=397&app=CollegeSearch

I was accepted to Texas A&M, and I'm out of state, so it's definitely do-able. Something you may be interested in is that A&M will automatically admit you if you meet certain requirements. Check out this page from their website for more info. http://admissions.tamu.edu/freshmen/gettingin/waysAdmitted/academic.aspx
 
DS was wait listed for Texas A&M last year, he had straight As for 5 years Eagle Scout, Boys State, Acted in 6 Operas and fenced for 3 years and so many many extra stuff, too many too many to count....hard school for out of state to get into....are you in Scouts? He got many offers just because his Eagle scouts put him over the top. He applied because of Army ROTC wanted him to put down his school list. Good luck.
 
As the posters said there are a number of factors which make acceptance into TAMU more of challenge than it used to be. You should be in contact with the Corps to make certain that TAMU and the Corps know that you are interested. You can find a link to the Corps at www.tamu.edu and you can also contact the general admissions office through that site. If possible you should try to visit TAMU and perhaps take advantage of one of their different programs to visit the Corps. You have to get into TAMU before you can join the Corps. However, there are different ways to the top of the mountain. If you are offered the BLINN Team program, you take some classes at Blinn College (a community college) and some at TAMU. There is a bus that takes you from the TAMU campus to the nearby Blinn campus. If at the end of a year and half or two years you have a certain Grade Point Average you are guaranteed admission into TAMU as a 'full time' student. As a 'Blinner" in the Corps you live in the Corps dorms and do all of the things that 'full' TAMU Corps members do.

Another way to the top of the mountain is to apply to the Galveston campus, the Texas Maritime Academy at TAMU-Galveston. You would, or probably should, apply to both TAMU and TAMUG, this happens all the time, though you do pay for the two application fees. If you go to TAMUG you live in a Corps setting and take classes at TAMUG. If you have a 2.5 average you are guaranteed admission as a sophomore to TAMU's main campus at College Station. Once at the College Station campus you do one semester as a "FISH" and then can either stay in that squadron or go to a different unit. There are advantages and disadvantages to both the Blinn Team (you can't apply for it, it is something the University offers on its own) or the TAMUG route. TAMUG only has Naval ROTC but you can transfer to a different ROTC unit if you then attend TAMU's main campus. From what I've learned with our daughter, TAMU likes to see interest in the instititution, so you should visit if possible. The link to the Corps at the TAMU site above has additional links to contact Corps members - you should use that link and contact. Best of luck. You can always PM me if you have questions.
 
Applicants qualify for automatic academic admission, if:

they are ranked in the top quarter of their graduating class, and

achieve a combined SAT Math and SAT Critical Reading score of at least 1300 with a test score of at least 600 in each of these components; or achieve a composite ACT score of at least 30 with a test score of at least 27 in ACT Math and ACT English. Students must take the writing component of the SAT and/or ACT in order for the test score to be considered.
that's your best bet. if you made that psat score without studying, take the ACT and SAT tests early, figure out which one you like more, take some prep classes, and those scores are definitely reachable. best of luck on your admission as a Fighting Texas Aggie!
 
You might be trying too many extracurriculars. The sports and leadership positions are the most important of those. Could you get higher grades and test scores by shifting some time? Good luck...
 
Right now Texas A&M along with all other state funded schools in Texas (UT and Tech) is required by state law to admit all Texans in the top 10% of their class, or who have a 30 ACT composite with at least a 27 in the English and Math Sections and are top 25% of their class regardless of homestate.

I have a cousin who was just accepted for the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2016. His class with have ~8250 in it out of 32000 applicants. Of these ~6000 are auto admits. So realistically while it would seem that it is 1/4 students are being accepted, the non auto admits were fighting 26000 other people for 2250 slots, which makes those slots rarer than a Service Academy nomination.

If you are out of state and decide to become a member of the Corps of Cadets, you will receive an instate tuition waiver as long as you can pass the Corps PT height weight standards.

If you come in with a scholarship you will obviously be set for a contract. However my class is the first to experience the drawdown's effect on numbers. The three classes ahead of us were all told they could pick up a contract if they wanted to on the first day of their MSI class. The Class of 2015 was told that there were 18 to 25 slots for the 250 non contracted MSI's.

For now, study, study, study, and may God be with you if you pursue an Engineering Degree at Texas A&M.(Your emphasis on NROTC makes this likely)
 
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