coolmanvette75

iTrader: (2)

hey guys. as a junior in high school, ive been seriously looking at colleges. i want to have a major in mechanical engineering and hopefully score a job in the future in the automotive engineering field. i have read and have been told by many people that texas a&m is one of the best places to go. i have always wanted to live in texas, so i was really excited to hear this.

for anyone on here who goes there, how do you like it? i hear the campus is beautiful and is located in a wonderful country area. also for anyone who knows about the engineering aspect, is their program as good as people make it out to be? also, as a freshman, would i be able to bring the camaro to texas and have a place to park/keep it?

also, is there anything i should know that will make my application stand out to texas a&m aside from the normal things colleges look for? i have a 3.6gpa and im on route to a good SAT score (got a 1640 on the pre-SAT, which is harder than the real thing).

after searching, ive also seen that there is a pretty good amount of car guys there. that really makes me excited and happy that i wouldnt be alone in that aspect.

i really appreciate any help that i can get, and look foward to the texas experience when i visit this summer

~Matt

LS1Aggie09

iTrader: (25)

its an excellent school but you might want to consider the major Manufacturing & Mechanical Engineering Technology. a lot of car oriented people switch to this major after being in ME a couple years and find out what MMET is all about. it is part of the ETID (engineering technology/industrial distribution) division of the Dwight College of Engineering.

I just graduated with that degree in Dec of 09. The aggie network is AMAZING unlike any other. There are several others on this board that are recent graduates of the same degree. If you have any questions, PM me. I started ME and switched to MMET.

I can give you some info on a good backup plan if you really want to go to A&M but dont get accepeted right off the bat. (its what I did and still knocked out my basic engineering courses)

Our local car club website is BCSStreet.com/forums and there is also TAMSCC.org (Texas A&M Sports Car Club that has access to the old WWII base there for car events but they are a different kind of crowd from bcsstreet). Theres plenty of parking. The town doubles in size when school is in session. Be careful if you like to party at all until you turn 21 because the police there have nothing else to do but bust college kids and generate city revenue! There are some other problems but nothing like most towns and cities...its a safe area.

PM me for any additional info.

-Karl
Class of 09 - Gig'em!

coolmanvette75

iTrader: (2)

thanks for the info and im going to look into that major you are talking about.

also i forgot to ask, how are the cops with the cars? do they bust your ***** for loud exhausts and other stupid **** like they do here in jersey?

and how far is the local drag strip. where i am, its 10 mins away, but i know im not going to be that fortunate. i am happy though, the the texas mile is only like an hour and a half away.

onspeed

iTrader: (3)

University of Texas.

Although to be honest, I'm not sure I'd attend a public university if I had to pay out of state tuition.

retardedpenguin

iTrader: (2)

I grew up there and around 10 years ago everyone(even girls) had some sort of bad *** Mustang, Camaro, civic etc and cops didn't mess with them. I have no clue how it is now but it's a fun town because it's all kids. Definitely a cool town but I was young so I can't tell you much.

LoudmouthWS6

iTrader: (3)

CS cops are DICKS, not just about cars but about everything. I lived there for 3 years with one of the loudest exhaust in town , I never had a problem from CSPD about that but Im sure some people might say other wise lol

LS1Aggie09

iTrader: (25)

Cops are cops just like anywhere, there are some good and some bad. The closest dragstrip 1/4 mile is an hour near Sealy. The 1/8 is about 20 minutes near Navasota.

coolmanvette75

iTrader: (2)

i priced out a&m and it came out to just shy of 20k a year including room and board. thats didnt seem that bad.

also another thing that came to mind just now, how would i go about getting a texas license and plates for the car? or would i have to keep my NJ stuff.

BizZzatch350

iTrader: (33)

Considering what some public schools cost in the NE, all things considered out of state in Texas isn't that bad. Texas A&M is a great school, I went to U of H here in Houston which also has a lot of solid programs and Tier 1. One advantage of going to school in Houston is a lot big companies in your back yard.

coolmanvette75

iTrader: (2)

yup you got it. everything is so expensive here, especially here in NJ. Texas out of state is only a few grand more, plus the school is a lot better and there are a lot more opportunities in texas than new jersey

retardedpenguin

iTrader: (2)

Thought they closed the one near navasota, I heard people would just race on it anyways. I grew up in Anderson Texas.

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

My dad and uncles are all alumni from A&M, they loved it. I went to Tarleton State (second largest University in the A&M University system, woot!) and I'd go to college station a lot for Fraternity business. There are a lot of nice cars in the area, but like others have said be careful around the cops. All-in-all it's a very typical college town. As for getting everything transferred to Texas (license, car, etc), my cousin did that we he came to Texas for college and it wasn't bad. I can as him if you want, or I can see if he can chime in...he's usually lurking around on Tech as well.

coolmanvette75

iTrader: (2)

my only concern was that my dad brought up that a dorm isnt a perminant address and that you might not be able to get a license/plates with a non perminant address. if thats a problem then i have an uncle in san antonio and i could just use his address as my address. i just dont want to be paying new jersey insurance rates while in texas, where i can get insurance a lot cheaper.

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

Now that you mention it, my cousin used my parent's house as his permanent address for all that paperwork. Since you have an uncle who already lives in Texas you should be ok, just make sure it's ok with him if you use his address for your official mailing address.

coolmanvette75

iTrader: (2)

yea im going to talk to him about it before i do any paper work if im accepted. he's a cool guy though so i think he will be ok with it.

the only thing that sucks about getting texas plates is that i know ill fail inspection. by the time i get out there, the emmisions **** will be long gone, along with the stock engine...

onspeed

iTrader: (3)

Closer to 30k. Out of state tuition is 12k per semester, for 12+hours. Then room/board or rent.

Some schools waive out of state tuition under certain circumstances... might want to check on that. I know OU does.

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

Nah, you'll be fine. Does your car throw codes? I know that for most inspection stations they don't even do a visual for cats anymore, they just make sure the exhaust exits from the rear and then check for codes. If yours doesn't throw any you should be golden. If you have extra dark tint or something, just roll your windows down and remove the little breaker type fuse so they won't roll up and tell the inspector the motors are broken and you usually park your car in a garage. Also, when you get into town and meet up with the other car guys, they'll point you towards a friendly inspection station.

Chaos07

My cuzin goes to school there. the town is nice and the Girls ******* AMAZING!!! He is going to school for civil engineering and the times ive been there wow ive seen girls atleast 8's 9's n 10's. That school though its all about tradition and its really a good school though.

coolmanvette75

iTrader: (2)

right now the car throws a code for the o2 sensor, but its an OBD1 lt1 car. here in jersey all they do is the sniffer. doesnt matter if any lights are on. by the time i get out there in a year and a half, most likely the car will have a built 383, so idk how thats gonna pass. lol

and yea i heard the girls are slammin. definitley a plus there. everything is bigger in texas right

DONAIMIAN

iTrader: (18)

Guess I'll be the negative one. I cant wait to get out of this damn town. The first thing you will notice is every hill jack redneck and his toothless cousin in a diesel (probably a dodge) and the 1/4 mile of black smoke behind them. Nobody in this town can drive to save their life. Only thing to do here is eat, drink (heavily) and shop... and the shopping sucks.

As for the school, A&M is great, but the campus is constantly under construction. Since I've been here there have been constantly at least 6 different construction sites going on at once. Around campus bikers pedal around like they have a bumper on their *** and the parking situation is absolutely ridiculous.