And this is exactly why my son isn't even applying to A&M. Other very good SEC schools want you to and help you succeed in your chosen major once you get accepted into school in the engineering program. Since he wants to do mechanical or aerospace, why take that chance at A&M. Plenty of other good schools out there without the arrogance of A&M.

pocketrockets06 said:

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The NCSU data you mention doesn't seem much different than the ETAM numbers posted. 74% first choice at TAMU vs 85% at NCSU? Does 10% change the stress level or desirability that much? Maybe it does but I'm also thinking TAMU is a better degree than NCSU in most fields also.

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That's a very misleading stat though. NCSU has students declare an intent prior to acceptance so their first choice is truly their first choice and they do planning as a University to make sure they have enough spaces in those majors. They are very rigorous in who they accept into Engineering and which major to try and ensure a high rate of success. Students can also re-apply for CODA (their version of ETAM) and they have people who specifically work with those students to do everything they can to help come up with a plan for them to be able to get into the degree they desired. The only way a student doesn't get there is if they are truly struggling or just not putting in the effort.

A&M has a separate acceptance for Engineering but a lot of folks also come through the Engineering academies. They don't consider specialty at all and assume that people will naturally fall into the proportions they have available when obviously that isn't remotely the case as most people who want to be Engineering majors focus on the primary specialties (CS, Comp Eng/EE, Mech E, BME, Aero). Freshman know they have to make a 3.75 to get into those majors or have a really strong resume to have a chance and the school is clear about that. Thus it is a waste of time for a kid with a 3.0 to even bother for the most part and they don't list them as a choice even though often one of those majors were their first and often second or third choices originally.

It's a terrible and irresponsible practice by the school and I don't know of any other school in the country that does it this way to such an extreme (and I have looked). I want A&M to be successful. We aren't going to succeed though operating in a vacuum where we ignore what other schools do. We will continue to lose out on talent with other options and we will continue to have stories of students who have invested tens of thousands of dollars at A&M and then are forced to choose in majoring in different specialties than they intended or transferring to a new school. ETAM as a concept isn't terrible but the execution of it is and the way they are manipulating statistics to act as though a significant portion of students aren't able to remain in the major they intended isn't a big deal is not helping.