BRYAN, Texas — The best of both worlds – that’s how a Blinn college student describes the dual enrollment opportunity with Texas A&M’s engineering program.
Cooper Bennett is in his third semester of dual enrollment between Blinn College and Texas A&M’s Engineering program.
He’s also part of the Corp of Cadets at Texas A&M.
“It’s definitely challenging but it also prepares students for leadership challenges and prepare them physically and emotionally to go out and tackle the leadership challenges of the future,” said Bennett.
Bennett currently has a 4.0 GPA in his program and received a scholarship in high school to attend a college of his choice for the Naval ROTC.
“As of right now, I have an NROTC scholarship so after college, I’m going to commission as a second lieutenant of the United States Marine Corps,” said Bennett.
Christopher Marrs is the executive dean at the Blinn RELLIS Campus.
He says the dual enrollment program is for students to seamlessly transition to Texas A&M.
“Every student is different as far as their level of preparedness for a university or a community college,” said Marrs. “I think that really Blinn helps out with is they help students with that transition into a degree of their choice over at Texas A&M.
Marrs says the dual enrollment programs help students complete their core classes first, giving more students opportunities.
“It’s a great pathway,” said Marrs. “It really expands opportunities that end up with the same result at Texas A&M with a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M, but it brings in a larger pool of students because you can funnel them in from Blinn College as well as Texas A&M."
While Marrs serves as executive dean, he also mentors Bennett through a mentorship program as he was a Naval Aviator for 20 years with the U.S. Navy.
Bennett says if you are considering a dual enrollment program, to go for it.
“It’s a bit off-putting at first because you didn’t get fully accepted at Texas A&M, I’d say it’s definitely an advantage over students fully at A&M, if not looked down upon, until you’re actually here and try it out,” says Bennett.
As Bennett graduates and commissions as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corp, he is looking into aviation.