Last night, I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Chris Reed, VP of Enrollment Management here in College Station. Below are the notes I took from his session, along with additional comments.
By the Numbers: Admission Stats
Here is the breakdown of the most recent application cycle:
He did express that the vast majority of students who apply to Texas A&M are offered some form of pathway to TAMU, including the PSA Option. He harped on how transfer-friendly they are and how explicit they are about their expectations for getting to TAMU. Very few students do not receive the PSA offer, and if they do, it's because they believe they are not a good academic fit.
In my opinion, his views on admissions are dramatically different from those of many of our peer institutions, and I now understand them better after learning about his background. Mr. Reed comes from a small town, Uvalde, and is actually a product of a community college and the transfer process. He is very much about setting students up for success and creating pathways for those who want to be Aggies.
While most schools have adopted Early Action, which I think he was confused with Early Decision, they have no plans to move toward that process. In my opinion, if they did adopt it, they would find themselves with more complete applications earlier and getting decisions out faster. He mentioned that about half of the applications are submitted between Thanksgiving and December 1st.
Furthermore, most schools have moved to "admit by major," while TAMU is predominantly admitting by application, which means they're reviewing how successful you will be in college, except for engineering. For engineering students, they want to make sure their math skills are strong enough to endure the first year math courses. Most of our peer institutions have long since moved to this "admit by major" model, which has given rise to the "pointy" and "angular" student-development models. He is a firm believer that students need time to make their major/career choices, which, at a school as large as TAMU, is still possible given the size of our admission classes.
Overall, it was an informative session and provided good information for those applying to Texas A&M. However, I did think some of the advice he gave would not have worked for students aiming for more selective institutions.
He conducted about a 45-minute Q&A session, so there was lots more. Feel free to ask additional questions, and I'll answer any questions that he may have addressed in his session.
By the Numbers: Admission Stats
Here is the breakdown of the most recent application cycle:
- Total Applications: ~83,000
- Completed Applications: 68,000 (82% Apps Completed)
- Admitted: ~30,000 (44% of Completed Apps Admitted)
- Target Enrollment: ~12,000 seats (Expecting 40% yield rate)
- (Includes: Main Campus, Blinn TEAM/TEAB, Galveston, and Gateway)
- Average GPA: 4.26
- Class Rank: 76% of admits are in the top 25% of their graduating class. Approximately 55% of the admitted students are in the top 10%
- Average Volunteer Hours: 120
- Apply Early: Aim for September 15th. Don't wait for the deadline.
- The Essay Matters: Use it to show "Grit." If you don't know what to write about, write about how you've taught yourself things and can handle the rigors of Aggieland.
- Take the Test: Submit your SAT/ACT scores. It can ONLY help. They have two scoring metrics (with and without test), and they take the higher Academic score of the two.
- Engage: Meet with recruiters. Show them you want to be there.
- The Waitlist: If you get waitlisted, be aggressive. The mindset should be: "I want everything," from their list of options.
- Engineering: Out-of-state/non-top 10% applicants are averaging a 1400 SAT.
- Mays Business School: Fills 70% of seats early; the remaining spots are filled based on "Best Fit."
- Residency: Texas A&M does not factor residency into the admissions decision.
- Homeschool: Just keep it simple: They just need a solid, clear Transcript. Take advantage of their test scores for admissions (1290 SAT = top 10%)
He did express that the vast majority of students who apply to Texas A&M are offered some form of pathway to TAMU, including the PSA Option. He harped on how transfer-friendly they are and how explicit they are about their expectations for getting to TAMU. Very few students do not receive the PSA offer, and if they do, it's because they believe they are not a good academic fit.
In my opinion, his views on admissions are dramatically different from those of many of our peer institutions, and I now understand them better after learning about his background. Mr. Reed comes from a small town, Uvalde, and is actually a product of a community college and the transfer process. He is very much about setting students up for success and creating pathways for those who want to be Aggies.
While most schools have adopted Early Action, which I think he was confused with Early Decision, they have no plans to move toward that process. In my opinion, if they did adopt it, they would find themselves with more complete applications earlier and getting decisions out faster. He mentioned that about half of the applications are submitted between Thanksgiving and December 1st.
Furthermore, most schools have moved to "admit by major," while TAMU is predominantly admitting by application, which means they're reviewing how successful you will be in college, except for engineering. For engineering students, they want to make sure their math skills are strong enough to endure the first year math courses. Most of our peer institutions have long since moved to this "admit by major" model, which has given rise to the "pointy" and "angular" student-development models. He is a firm believer that students need time to make their major/career choices, which, at a school as large as TAMU, is still possible given the size of our admission classes.
Overall, it was an informative session and provided good information for those applying to Texas A&M. However, I did think some of the advice he gave would not have worked for students aiming for more selective institutions.
He conducted about a 45-minute Q&A session, so there was lots more. Feel free to ask additional questions, and I'll answer any questions that he may have addressed in his session.
