You shouldn't really worry about your classes too too much. As long as you pay attention, don't skip, and know when to lock in, you'll be ok.

edit: so i actually found the syllabi... but does anyone have any insights on these classes?? 🥹

• chem 1413 (honors gen chem 1) - Bill Eugene Acree Jr
• chem 1430 (gen chem 1 lab) - John Paul Nimmo II
• english 1315 (writing about literature 1) - Anne Catherine Schoolfield
• math 1710 (calc 1) - Benjamin Aaron Schwaighofer
• mtse 1100 (discover how and why materials matter) - Rick F Reidy III

also if anyone has had these classes, any insights are welcome (and much appreciated)!!

Let's say, theoretically, someone makes internationals for an olympiad (IMO, IPhO, IBO, IOI, IOAA, etc...) and the dates overlap with classes. Can they still attend even if the competition is over the total number of leaves they have for the semester? Or does TAMS restrict it?

Hello, I have a question, after taking AP Precalculus in high school I have subsequently been placed in precalculus for my first semester at TAMS, after reading emails and general FAQ regarding AP scores on the TAMS website it appears a 5 on the AP Precalculus exam will not be considered at all to move up my math placement. I would just like to confirm if this is true, and if so is there any other way I could accelerate my math learning as I was hoping to acquire knowledge beyond math 1720 at TAMS. I am currently on the general math and science track and an incoming junior.

Interesting to see a video from the early beginnings of TAMS. This video is from 1991. Some stuff about Bruce Hall still applies (~2:45-3:00) marks in the made up background song lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWBdKA-4Na8

Can you do it? Ig you’ll represent your home high school, but just curious on if you can do it in the first place.

Do 15 academic points continue to apply during the school year?

Whos on waitlist? Send stats if u want.

I heard if you have a 4.0 at TAMS your basically gauranteed for UT. Is this true?

I've been waitlisted for a solid month at this point. Has anyone been through the same and when does admissions end?

Dows anyone know what are the most popular and least popular tracks at TAMS? Or are all tracks equally filled out?

I heard that TAMS has a limit of 14 schools you can apply to and that they force a balanced list of reach/target/safety.

For current or former TAMS students:

1. Is this still true?
2. How strictly is the reach/target/safety balance enforced?
3. What did your own college list look like (roughly how many reaches, targets, and safeties)?
4. Did you feel the 14-school limit helped or hurt your admissions outcomes?

Hi! Does anyone who attends Baylor College of Medicine and went instate for undergraduate know if TAMS credits were considered as college credits ? It says that they don't accept any dual credit or AP. I am currently at UT Austin where my credits transfered. I'm wondering if I would need to retake any classes. Thanks!

I was on the TAMS website when I saw that summer orientation is June 5-6 which is literally tomorrow and I'm still on the waitlist. They said they will keep the waitlist till the end of June but I'm pretty sure you have to attend orientation or else you're cooked...

Does anyone know if people who are waitlisted and get accepted after placements get another date for their placement tests?

Hello,

Can anyone who has done this or is currently doing it chime in on how to navigate the college application process with only 3 years of HS? Does entering TAMS after freshman year help or hurt a college application, given this person has one year less experience and EC than the regular 4-year HS experience (2 regular HS + 2 years of TAMS)

So which ones do I actually have to do? After I complete some of the tasks, nothing happens and they still say initiated. The orientation task in my holds doesn't make sense as I am not an incoming freshman to UNT and we have a separate orientation.

do you guys know if we can do research and compete in science fairs for ISEF qualification with a partner from another school specifically Frisco ISD

Assuming I have no background in CS how difficult is CSCE 1030? I want to do the data science track.

if pre-med is something i wanna pursue in the future which pathway is recommended? i noticed the public health track has only biology courses first year and doesn’t have chem until the second, is there a reason for this difference/does it make a difference in learning? what are the pros and cons of doing one instead of the other? i heard that doing gen math & sci offers a lot more freedom in electives, so is it possible to do gen math/sci track and take public health electives? i also noticed that there aren’t physics courses in the public health track, does this impact anything later on (i.e. college requirements)? on the tams webpage it also says that in the second semester there are courses only offered online, for anyone who has taken them what are your experiences? thank you!!

A pretty important question most people are asking is whether TAMS is good for college admissions. The results are mixed.

Observed takeways:

• TAMS kids get into UT Austin and Texas A&M major at a much higher rate than most high schools (counterintuitive!)
• TAMS kids get special programs (honors, full-ride scholarships, pre-professional programs) at a competitive rate. (I would estimate moderately above average)
• TAMS kids get accepted into T20 schools at an equal or slightly lower rate, adjusted for merit (read more to understand what do I mean by this?)
• Most TAMS kids start off undergrad with one year of credit.
• (Complication) TAMS kids are sometimes not the strongest "top tier" students from public high school, more often they are "second tier" students. However, many TAMS students are subsequently able to strengthen their application once at TAMS.
• Overall, most TAMS students get into a college suitably excellent for their major.

Trends:

• The "typical" student comes from a competitive public high school at a competitive rank (top 15% or higher)
• The "typical" student comes from a moderately resourced family, providing guidance and light assistance for ECs / college admissions
• The "typical" TAMS student comes from a similar family background to the "typical" public HS student

Data:

For TAMS matriculation data, see this spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EeMBNzPN5MBviy57hgcuNX2i03tYmv0zdY5iaSVF2no/edit?gid=1736049513#gid=1736049513

For your particular high school, you can probably use yearbooks or senior pamphlets, outgoing senior events (senior day, senior sunset, etc), and social media (e.g Instagram).

Analysis:

We will examine the TAMS Class of 2026's matriculation data.

Texas state school outcomes: 25.6% committed to UT Austin and 16.9% committed to Texas A&M. Anecdotally, around 40-45% of the TAMS class gets in to UT Austin and chooses not to go for various reasons (better school, major/culture fit, financial obstacles). By contrast, 95%+ of the class gets into Texas A&M. (Note that National Merit winners do not have to do ETAM and are also eligible for the Brown Scholar's program - TAMS has 24 National Merit Semifinalists.)

"Elite" outcomes: ~40 commits, # of acceptances unknown. Anecdotally, "elite" acceptance outcomes are concentrated around a cohort of exceptionally high achieving TAMS students. Essentially, it's "zero, one, or everything". My best guess is around ~50 students get into one or more such "elite" programs, and around ~70 or so such acceptances are offered to the whole TAMS class.

This count of 40 includes T20 colleges as well as programs that are similarly selective, including UT Honors Programs, Texas A&M Brown Scholars / E2EnMed, BS/MD programs. Note that by major and by individual the "top 20" will vary.

How does it stack up against competitive public high schools?

The school I went to had a particular Gifted & Talented cohort of around 60 students (10% of the entire graduating class). Using the same methodology, there were 16 such "elite outcomes". Notably, where the most common ("plurality") school in TAMS is UT Austin, the plurality school among this cohort is Texas A&M. Schools frequently represented here were Cornell, CMU, Rice.

By an anecdotal rough estimate, this cohort had around the half of the "elite" commitments from the entire school, placing my old public high school around 30-40 such "elite" outcome commitments. Meaning: the top few % of TAMS is comparable to the top few % in a competitive public high school, but the median is stronger.

An interesting note: Feeder effects played a role for certain colleges. Anecdotally, around 15-20 students were offered acceptance into Rice University from my old high school (3-4) from TAMS. This appears to be due a particular yield phenomenon where everyone offered acceptance to Rice last year committed. As far as I know, no other highly selective university offered so many acceptances to students.

Another interesting note: TAMS students applying CS almost universally did not get T20s (we had 2). Several students got into Georgia Tech, and a strong leading cohort got into UT Austin, but college admissions for TAMS heavily biases against CS for some reason. This trend was less notable at public high school.

(One may conversely argue that TAMS is a feeder school into UT Austin, but as one can see in the TAMS College Committment spreadsheet, this is a common and predictable trend.)

Points of Discussion:

Speculative Rationale:

• TAMS is heavily biased towards high-achieving kids from the DFW metroplex, but the "cream of the crop" from these schools often have less motivation to attend TAMS because they are already excellent. The financial obstacle is a turndown. Conversely, those who have less family/educational resources and are eligible to receive financial aid (these are correlated) are more likely to want to attend. Additionally, students who are "second tier" - high-achieving, but not quite premier - may be more willing to attend in hopes of getting more opportunities, GPA forgiveness, etc.
  • How does this affect college admissions? It may affect the "level of talent" in the underlying populations. I have noted that the median for TAMS students is higher than competitive public schools. This may be because TAMS draws in students who are meritorious enough to get into UT Austin, but not, say, HYPSM. Furthermore, opportunities, growth, and college counseling at TAMS allows people to build stronger applications, as expounded below.
• TAMS is more egalitarian with opportunities. If you want to get research, you can (70% of students). If you want to get a 3.9+ GPA, you can (~50%). If you want to become a club executive, you can (~50%).
  • With holistic, rather than comparative, review (TAMS has no rank and no "peer" schools), this brings up the perception of the median. Similarly, the "average" TAMS student can actually take advantage of these opportunities that may not be available to as many people outside of the top students in public HS.
• TAMS has dedicated college counseling. Does this help people get into state schools at a higher rate? I'm not sure it does, or why that would be the case, as opposed to T20s.
  • Note that TAMS has a limit of 14 schools and forces a balanced Reach/Target/Safety list. This may allow "lucky" kids who "shotgun" at public high schools to get acceptance from highly selective programs, and may limit TAMS students' chances. Alternatively, it allows TAMS students to refine their individual applications for selective state schools further.
• On paper one would expect TAMS to have a higher acceptance rate for T20s but a lower one for UT Austin, due to TAMS not ranking. For some reason, this isn't the case. I believe that because many TAMS students have a very high GPA (30% have a 4.0!), they stand out in holistic review in lieu of a rank.
  • Many students from public high schools pass the initial review into the university but are not offered their major. Because all TAMS admits gained acceptance through holistic review, major selectivity ceases to be a limitation. This may explain relatively high yield rates.
• Similarly, one would expect TAMS students to achieve at higher rates, not average or lower, for T20s. Why is the observed trend the case? No clue. I suspect that it's due to comparative components of holistic review within the school - i.e, fairly meritorious students are compared to a few peers who are outstandingly excellent and ultimately rejected from "class-shaping" universities. This calculation doesn't factor in as much at state flagship schools, which may account for advantageous admissions at schools like UT Austin, Purdue, or Georgia Tech, but lead to diminished admissions at schools like Ivies.
  • Putting all factors together, I'd summarize TAMS College Admissions as follows: The median student becomes more excellent, but their merit is adjusted for at top colleges. I believe that many students at TAMS who have the intellectual and interpersonal caliber to succeed at excellent instutitions didn't get "elite" outcomes compared to peers who might have weaker profiles at top public high schools because the competition within TAMS is fierce. For universities that don't compare this, though, admissions is optimistic.

Limitations:

• The biggest limitation here is data quality. I have high quality data for TAMS matriculation and the GT cohort at my old school, but limited quality for acceptances and offers, especially within the entire graduating class (600+) of my old public high school.
• Lack of controls or consistent baseline population is also a significant issue. I've listed some assumptions that, somewhat hold true, but I don't have true GPA/rank controls nor account for SES variations. Broadly, these students in general are competent and high-achieving, but I have no way to control for variations that may influence college outcomes.
  • Note that college admissions, on the individual level, is not meritocratic.
• I compared one high school, and it's not from the DFW metroplex. If you can offer your perspective from schools like Coppell, Flower Mound, or Plano West, this would be a great alternative pool of data.

if i take the mechanical and energy engineering or mechanical engineering technology track at tams and would like to go to ut austin or a&m, would i start as a third yr student and how long would i need to go to university after tams?

when i was comparing the course requirements at tams and the mechanical engineering course at ut austin and a&m, i noticed that most engineering courses didn't transfer or were not required for my major. also the course requirements at tams shows that i need to take 3 english classes while i only need 2 for college, is this mandatory for tams?

is calculus and chemistry placement test it easy? any materials that i can study?

hi guys im going to tams but i really really want dr iaia as prof because my best friend loves dr iaia and says hes an easy grader so i really want him as my prof.