Buck Turgidson said:
Let's get a list going and hope the admissions people see this thread.
To start with:
1. Test optional in 2026 is just embarrassing.
Completely agree
2. No SAT super scoring is a mistake - it makes our average SAT look low compared to the many other universities that take super scores.
Completely agree
3. Not having an Early Decision option is a mistake that harms yield.
Not a fan of ED as it favors students who don't have to worry about funding, esp at public schools. That said it may be fighting against the tide as it isn't going anywhere.
4. ETAM discourages certain applicants that are set on a specific engineering discipline.
ETAM itself is not so bad but it needs an overhaul. More exceptions such as acceptance to Eng Honors or GPA/SAT etc. Also they need to add in an "intent" in applications and factor that in with admissions. Since "intent" is not considered you end up with an unbalanced class instead of considering that 80% of kids want 5 Majors. Hate seeing kids who want to study Mech E get 3 Semesters in and have to scramble to major in whatever is left and they didn't realize how competitive it would be. It also is a big negative that students feel they need to retake Sr year to protect their GPA which feels like a waste of time and money but the risk is just too high otherwise due to ETAM. That also blows the curve for other students.
5. I get conflicting info on whether the university tracks demonstrated interest, but that should definitely be considered in admissions.
There are some state law issues to consider here.
6. Shrink the top 10% to top 5%. If we can't eliminate the 10% rule, we can reduce its impact.
Best solution is to get rid of it. Next best is to shrink it. If we are stuck with it we need to do what Texas does and say auto only gets you in Liberal Arts and every other major you have to be accepted separately. Or at least make Mays have a separate admission like Engineering and probably same with the Sciences.
7. Get rid of the lingering DEI efforts that have been renamed or otherwise hidden from view.
We have made progress here but always more to do.
8. Carefully review and maybe reduce the number of students coming from China. Why are we training our hostile competition?
This is happening because of H-1 reform and other issues.
I commented on your thoughts above. I'm a big advocate of the Georgia Tech admissions calendar:
In State EA Deadline Oct 15, Results mid Dec. Thus all In State find our sooner and have an advantage in admissions vs OOS.
OOS EA Deadline Nov 1, Results late Jan. Results are AFTER RA Admissions closes so they know at least how many they have to compare with and general quality of RA. It's harder for OOS but at least they find out soon with EA and it gives the school the benefit of knowing their total pool before making decisions
RA Deadline Jan 1, Results in March. You have to be really good to get RA admit to GT.
Our Financial Aid needs massive reform as well. It's basically National Merit or Corps and most of it goes by means testing. We are losing droves of great students because of this. My son's school used to have 20 or so of the T10% go to A&M, now it is low single digits and mainly folks with strong Aggie ties. Other schools are either higher ranked or throw lots of money at them. It's why my son is at NC State on a full ride in spite of his Aggie brother, both Aggie parents, and Grandad who was a Yell Leader. We also need to be realistic that most kids who are accepted at A&M also are accepted at Texas at that level and to someone with no dog in that fight they are picking Texas 9/10 if the money is the same. It wouldn't take much for us to peel off a lot of those kids.
We do a horrible job of recruiting top students. My son got far more stuff from Harvard and Yale than A&M as a Top 5% kid from a top Texas HS. It became a joke after a while. A&M had to work really hard at losing him and making him feel like they couldn't care less if he came. All of the efforts are towards First Gen and lower income students, Engineering Academies for lower ranked students, and National Merit (which really doesn't get much of a scholarship either).
Our admissions and financial aid offices barely know the literature on the web. I swear I talked to half a dozen during my son's process and I knew more than any of them and often was telling them their own policies. That was often after waiting forever to finally get someone to talk to. Lots of enthusiasm and little knowledge. I remember going to GT and walking in and getting someone immediately and they quickly grasped everything I was asking about and offered suggestion after suggestion. Same with most other places we visited and contacted. Texas sucks at this too btw. They make it all too clear that they have plenty of applicants and couldn't care less about you. We should want the best students in Texas to come to A&M and realize that those students have a LOT of options.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Ronald Reagan
