I'm not here to advocate for ETAM. I went through the process myself; while I did get my first-choice major, I honestly felt like I was pretty close to having to choose something else.
But there's a perspective missing from this thread: ETAM actually gives many students a shot at TAMU Engineering who otherwise wouldn't get in at all. Instead of being outright rejected (or, in some cases, effectively rejected by timing), they're given the chance to compete for a major.
For example:
Student A applies to both TAMU and UT. (They're in the top 6%great grades, but not a National Merit type of SAT/ACT score.)
UT: Applies for CS and Electrical Engineering. Gets denied for both. They get general admission, but by the time the engineering review is over, the remaining majors aren't really desirable. Effectively, that's a denial from the engineering school.
TAMU: Applies for Engineering, gets in, and goes through ETAM. Maybe they realize they aren't competitive for CS or EE, but can choose an adjacent major where they are competitive and still end up with a great engineering career.
I get that a lot of parents here have kids who got into Texas or even Ivy-adjacent schools, and are frustrated that TAMU's process is different.
A lot of ETAM is political, the state has pushed for higher engineering enrollment, and TAMU uses ETAM to distribute students across "engineering" majors, keeping the flagship majors (EE, CS, ME, CE, etc.) more selective to prevent degree inflation. But it also helps kids who, maybe due to poor guidance, would have only applied to the most competitive majors (and gotten flat out turned away as in the UT example), find another good path in engineering.
I remember in the late 2010s, an admissions rep visited our class and said that, without ETAM, our engineering class size would be half of what it is. Whether we like it or not, ETAM does give more students a real chance at earning an engineering degree who otherwise would have been turned away, as is the case at UT. If you go to any college confidential page you see stellar kids being denied from UT, if we didn't have an ETAM or an expansionist system, you'd find the same things in these threads instead of ETAM bashing.
One last thing, it surprises me that such stellar students are so worried about a little competition. Haven't these same students excelled at schools where half the class goes to Texas-tier universities? If you can do well in competitive majors at UT or similar schools, you can do well at TAMU, too. Life involves some risks, and in my experience, most strong students end up with their first-choice major anyway.
To end, don't we as Aggies pride ourselves for being tough? For being gritty? For being competitive and giving people a fair shake? That we aren't like UT? I'm not saying ETAM should stay but it's not the boogieman people make it out to be.
(I realize this opinion might not be popular, but maybe someone will find it helpful.)
