I don't think I've ever seen that statistic. Also curious about what % of gateway students successfully move on to become regular A&M students.

According to THIS it's about 90% of Blinn Team students convert to being A&M students. I can't find anything for Gateway that is reliable but it is likely similar or higher.

Those programs target kids from excellent HS's that get screwed by the Top 10% rule but typically have lots of APs, Dual Credit, and good SAT scores that typically are well prepared for college. I know many kids that have done both and I don't know of anyone who didn't get in, though I'm sure it happens.

They almost certainly are more successful than regular admits percentage wise because those include a lot of Top 10% kids from underperforming HS's that otherwise aren't well prepared for college and are often not used to being away from home or the academic rigor of being in a Chemistry class with 400 people and a prof that barely speaks English.

It's basically a backdoor way that A&M can try to boost 1st Gen and Diversity stats while placating kids from strong HS's that can't get direct admission to A&M (many related to alumni). It's all a shell game.

It seems the school over the years has come up with a few ways to deal with the top 10 percent rule. This is certainly one area where they sidestep the rule by bringing along students in these ancillary programs that should have qualified for fully admitted spots initially, but lost out to someone from a smaller, less qualified high school. Once the kids that should never have been there in the first place weed themselves out after one or two semesters, the kids from these programs fill in and take their rightful spot.

They do this in the engineering program too. They admit a ton of kids, then weed them out with the ETAM process at the end of the freshman year. The qualified students move on to majors of their choice by making a minimum GPA of 3.75, while they push down most the rest to the "technology" degrees.

This is what happens when you have a terrible policy, and then nothing but a series of band aids to try and undo it. Just admit students based on merit and proven ability.

Likely higher than Top 10% kids lasting to their junior year

My son didn't get full admit, he got TEAB for engineering. He graduated in exactly 4 years with little or no transfer credits or summer school with a BS Mechanical Engineering this past spring.

He will be starting his masters in mechanical engineering at A&M in the fall.