Texas A&M ETAM placement rates by major show which engineering majors are actually hard to get at Texas A&M. Every eligible General Engineering student gets offered some major through Entry to a Major (ETAM) -- the question is whether it's the one you ranked first. In the Spring 2026 cycle, 72.9% got their first choice. But that average hides a wide spread: mechanical engineering placed just 55.9% of the students who ranked it first, while computer science placed 100%.
New to ETAM? Start with how to get into Texas A&M engineering and Texas A&M ETAM explained.
ETAM first-choice placement rate by major, Spring 2026
These are students who applied in spring 2026 to enter a major in fall 2026. The rate is the number placed in a major through automatic entry or holistic review, divided by the eligible students who ranked that major first. Majors with fewer than 30 first-choice applicants are left out.
| Major | Ranked it first | Placed in it | First-choice rate | Via automatic entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanical Engineering | 682 | 381 | 55.9% | 266 |
| Aerospace Engineering | 279 | 172 | 61.6% | 93 |
| Electrical Engineering | 563 | 356 | 63.2% | 204 |
| Nuclear Engineering | 97 | 66 | 68.0% | 23 |
| Civil Engineering | 233 | 165 | 70.8% | 31 |
| Chemical Engineering | 250 | 192 | 76.8% | 83 |
| Architectural Engineering | 33 | 26 | 78.8% | 2 |
| Manufacturing & Mechanical Engineering Technology | 33 | 26 | 78.8% | 4 |
| Industrial Engineering | 140 | 118 | 84.3% | 13 |
| Materials Science & Engineering | 47 | 40 | 85.1% | 10 |
| Biomedical Engineering | 109 | 96 | 88.1% | 28 |
| Computer Engineering | 165 | 156 | 94.5% | 59 |
| Multidisciplinary Engineering Technology | 38 | 37 | 97.4% | 1 |
| Computer Science | 221 | 221 | 100% | 86 |
| Industrial Distribution | 74 | 74 | 100% | 5 |
| Petroleum Engineering | 68 | 68 | 100% | 7 |
What the numbers say
- Mechanical is the bottleneck. It drew the most first-choice applicants by far (682) and placed the smallest share. And 266 of its 381 first-choice placements went to automatic-entry students with a 3.75+ GPA or National Merit status -- only 115 came through holistic review.
- Aerospace and electrical are close behind. In both, more than half of first-choice placements came through automatic entry.
- Computer science (100%) and computer engineering (94.5%) placed nearly everyone who ranked them first this cycle -- a notable contrast with how competitive CS is at many other schools (see is computer science harder to get into?).
- A 100% rate isn't the same as easy. Students self-select, so a major only some people rank first can place all of them. Capacity also shifts from cycle to cycle.
First-choice placement over time
| ETAM cycle | Eligible applicants | First choice | First or second choice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2026 | 3,130 | 72.9% | 86.3% |
| Calendar year 2025 | 3,874 | 75.2% | 85.5% |
| Calendar year 2024 | 4,229 | 70.1% | 85.5% |
| Calendar year 2023 | 3,987 | 69.8% | 82.1% |
Every eligible applicant was offered a major in all four cycles. Overall, about 7 in 10 get their first choice and roughly 85% their first or second.
What this means for you
- If you want mechanical, aerospace, or electrical, aim for automatic entry. A 3.75+ GPA is the only way to guarantee those seats. The rules are in Texas A&M ETAM explained.
- Rank a realistic second and third choice. In Spring 2026, 420 students landed their second choice and 348 their third or lower.
- Don't read one cycle as permanent. Check the next ETAM summary before you rank.
- Comparing with UT Austin? UT decides engineering majors at admission and doesn't publish a Cockrell admit rate -- see UT Austin vs. Texas A&M engineering admission.
- Transferring in instead? Aerospace sets a 3.75 minimum transfer GPA, and mechanical and electrical 3.5 -- see Texas A&M engineering transfer GPA requirements.