East Texas A&M University

Public · Moderately Selective · TX

Photo: Michael Barera (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationTX · South

SettingRural

Undergrads9,912

Student:faculty17:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate28.5%

6-yr grad rate42.8%

Drop-out rate42.8%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$10k

Out-of-state tuition$22k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity60.9%

Gender diversity59.6%

International1.1%

Identity—

Overview

East Texas A&M, in Commerce, Texas, was recently renamed from Texas A&M University-Commerce as part of a system-wide rebranding, but its identity remains rooted in a long history as a teachers college — one of the founding threads of Texas public education, dating back over a century as East Texas Normal College. It serves many first-generation and rural students from a small-town setting a manageable drive from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Academics

Education remains a core historical strength given the university's teachers-college origins, with a long track record of producing classroom teachers across northeast Texas, alongside solid, practically oriented programs in agriculture and business geared toward regional career paths rather than research placement. Graduate programs in counseling and educational administration extend that same teacher-education legacy into school leadership and counseling roles across the state.

Campus & student life

Commerce is a small Texas town built around the university, giving campus a close-knit, small-town feel while still being within driving distance of Dallas-area internships, jobs, and entertainment for students who want access to a larger city without living in one. Lions athletics compete in NCAA Division II, giving campus a modest, community-scale game-day culture rather than a big-college-sports atmosphere.

Getting in

Admission is accessible and credentials-based, reflecting the university's mission of serving first-generation and rural students across northeast Texas rather than screening through an elaborate holistic process. Many students arrive as transfers from regional community colleges, and the university has long positioned itself as a dependable, accessible option for students whose local high schools send relatively few graduates to more selective four-year schools.

After graduation

Education graduates have long moved directly into Texas classrooms, particularly across northeast Texas and Dallas-area school districts, and agriculture and business graduates tend toward regional employers rather than national placement. The counseling and educational-administration graduate programs likewise feed directly into Texas school districts' leadership pipelines, extending the university's classroom reputation into principals' offices and counseling departments across the region.

Worth knowing

The recent name change from Texas A&M University-Commerce to East Texas A&M reflects a rebranding within the Texas A&M System, not a change in mission — the teachers-college heritage and regional focus remain intact, and the school's roots as East Texas Normal College go back to the turn of the twentieth century, among the institutions that later educated figures like longtime U.S. House Speaker Sam Rayburn.

etamu.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate92.2%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 910–1150 · ACT 18–24

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying