<p>My middle son was accepted ED to VT Engineering back in December. The lack of communication from VT is deafening. Our oldest son was accepted ED to another engineering college a few years ago, and there was a lot of information sent to us. My middle son continues to get more personal letters and more information from other schools that have already accepted him rather than from VT who has accepted him ED. </p>
<p>Higher Education is a business, and I fully understand that. But if I ran my business like this, I'd no longer be in business. Is anybody else getting this feeling? Can some of the current VT students/parents please tell us if this lack of communication gets any better? Currently, we're not feeling the love. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, your son should start getting more email communication about housing, meal plans, etc. later in the spring. They have to get the students’ mid year reports and ED admits had until Jan.15 to actually accept their placement. It may be once the regular decision applicants hear about their decisions or it may be sooner, I can’t remember the exact dates. He can start signing up for orientation times beginning Feb. 1st I believe and if he wants to apply to one of the RLC programs, he can do that now. (All of that info should have been in the paperwork that came after he received his ED notice) </p>
<p>I’ve had one to go through almost 5 years there, and one, like yours, that is on her way. We have had no problem with communication from VT. For a big school I think they do things pretty well regarding keeping parents and students informed. </p>
<p>I’m not quite sure what you are desiring in terms of “personal letters” from them. For me, I would rather them not spend unnecessary money on postage for things like that and save it for better uses like scholarships, research funding or keeping tuition down. I “feel the love” if I think they are saving me $$! :)</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son on his ED acceptance! I also feel communication from Virginia Tech has been fine (I have a senior in engineering). You may still be getting “personal letters” from other schools because they don’t know you have an ED acceptance and are still courting you. </p>
<p>Like KandKsMom, I’m glad they’re saving the postage. More and more info is being communicated online, by email and by social media all the time. Virginia Tech has a daily email (Monday through Friday) with news you can sign up for if you haven’t already . Virginia Tech The Daily Email. You can also follow on Facebook, twitter,etc. Good luck to your son at Virginia Tech!</p>
<p>Your son received his notification of acceptance just prior to the December graduation and winter shutdown. With the exception of Housing, most of the departments were either closed or operating on a reduced schedule until Jan 22 when classes resumed.</p>
<p>In addition to the communications mentioned in the responses by KandKsmom and Sevmom, if your son becomes part of the Galileo community, you will receive an approximately monthly newsletter from one of the Engineering faculty. There also is a Parent E-Newsletter that is sent via e-mail monthly.</p>
<p>About the time that the RD acceptance notices are released, your son will see an increase in the number of e-mails. There will be invitations to the Spring Open House and Hokie Camp and your son will need to register for Freshman Orientation. There are numerous communications regarding housing. </p>
<p>Right now, your son should be confirming that his HS submitted his final first semester grades. When my son was a senior, his grades were due in late January. </p>
<p>Congratulations to you and your son on his early decision acceptance to the College of Engineering!</p>
<p>THanks for your congrats & responses KandKsmom, sevmom and VTAlumandMom. That’s quite a few Moms. My son is extremely excited to get started with VT and college. His older brother is an engineering major at another school and spent the Christmas break studying for next semester. He knows there is a lot of work coming his way.</p>
<p>We talked to our future Hokie son about the VT communication issue last night at dinner. He hasn’t received any follow up emails from VT at all. Zero, zip, zilch. I’ve “liked” the VT engineering facebook site to see what is going on campus. VT used to be one of my customers for 8 years, so I’m very familiar with their systems, campus, community and events. I have not been on the other side of the fence (as VT’s customer). We visited many schools with our middle son, and we knew VT was always at the top of his list. I’ve visited just about every college on the East coast & Mid-West for business or with my oldest son as a recruited athlete. You may of may not believe this but in our experience there are many other schools that VT competes with that do a better job of communicating. My son is going to VT because that is where he wanted to go. He did not hesitate with his decision. </p>
<p>In summary, here’s been our VT experience: we found out by total accident that VT changed the online Admission ED date. We were NOT notifed of this date change via email or postage mail. We logged onto the Admissions Early Decisions portal to find out if he was accepted. We immediately paid a $400 deposit and received a brochure package of general information (3-4 weeks later) which did quench our thirst for information at the time. My son told us there has not been any further emails. The fact that the school did not communicate the ED admisions ED date has not sat well with us, and we wonder if the school has some communication challenges. Nonetheless, he is waiting patiently for more information and instructions.</p>
<p>We’re looking forward to becoming part of the Galileo community and receiving the monthly news letter from the faculty. I did see on Facebook that now is the time to apply for merit scholarships…he did not receive an email about that news which irritates me. We’ll be looking forward tot he Spring Open House and HokieCamp. Based on your notes, I will give VT the benefit of the doubt that information is forthcoming. Thanks.</p>
<p>Shouldn’t the communication from all those other colleges and universities be dropping rapidly to zero as your son notifies him that he has been accepted elsewhere under an Early Decision agreement?</p>
<p>Our experience (RD, not ED) a couple of years ago was that there was wide variation in post-admission communication among universities. Indeed, I think one reason our daughter chose the university we’d all thought was her safety over the one we’d all thought she was destined for was that the former safety wrote or called her every week or so, and the former favorite was as uncommunicative as you’re describing VT to be. I totally get why you’re frustrated–maybe even dismayed–but I am sure there will be more communication from VT in the spring, when there’s actually more business to attend to.</p>
<p>Hi,fenwaysouth,Thanks for checking back in.Glad to hear your son is still excited to start at VT despite your irritation with communications. You said your son is still getting stuff from other schools he has acceptances from. Didn’t he have to let them know he was accepted ED and withraw his other applications?
Older son did ED to UVa years ago when they still had ED. Don’t remember tons of communication from them either. In fact, I remember them specifically dissuading ED kids from even coming to their admitted students days (Days on the Lawn) to decrease the large number of people attending. That seemed kind of strange so glad your son can go to the Spring Open House . Have fun!</p>
<p>Sikorsky,Just saw your post. Glad your daughter found the right school for her. Schools continue to email,call because they are still trying to get you. Older son continued to get tons of stuff from other schools long after he had accepted his school ED. I actually found that kind of funny (and somewhat annoying) . Some families probably would not like a school calling and emailing frequently while they were trying to make a decision about where to attend. We really were not swayed by the frequency of communication from a school. Hope you and your family have a great 4 years at Virginia Tech,fenwaysouth!</p>
<p>Have you tried contacting the admissions office? Perhaps they do not have the correct email address. Although financial aid and scholarships are handled by their own department and not admissions, I would think that the information is readily available on the website.</p>
<p>I don’t really think there is much to share right now. However, in either case, I think you should just call them and let them know your concern instead of being unhappy in the meantime.</p>
<p>Oh, I get that. I suppose I wasn’t clear, but I was referring specifically to those “personal letters…from other schools that have already accepted him,” in fenwaysouth’s original post. I understand he’s likely to keep receiving mail from colleges and universities through the spring, but once he notifies the colleges he’s applied to that he’s been admitted ED to VT, the mail from those colleges should stop. Shouldn’t it?</p>
<p>Yes,Sikorsky, We crossposted about that. I had the same question. Why is he still even getting stuff from other schools he was accepted to if he let them know he was bound by his VT ED acceptance? And if h did let these other schools know and they are STILL sending him stuff, that’s a whole other type of communications snafu.</p>
<p>fenwaysouth “In summary, here’s been our VT experience: we found out by total accident that VT changed the online Admission ED date. We were NOT notifed of this date change via email or postage mail. We logged onto the Admissions Early Decisions portal to find out if he was accepted. We immediately paid a $400 deposit and received a brochure package of general information (3-4 weeks later) which did quench our thirst for information at the time. My son told us there has not been any further emails. The fact that the school did not communicate the ED admisions ED date has not sat well with us, and we wonder if the school has some communication challenges. Nonetheless, he is waiting patiently for more information and instructions.”</p>
<p>Are you referring to VT providing ED admission decisions a couple of days early? Who is irritated by the level of communication - you or your son? I’m wondering whether you are a type-A personality and letting your thirst for information run wild. I’m not knocking you as I’ll readily admit that I’m the same way. I’ve gotten over it though since I’m on son #2 going to Tech. </p>
<p>In my experience, all of the information that VT sends you (now or later) is readily available on their website. The one knock I have on VT.edu is that it’s truly a WEB and I’m still finding new pages of information. But, if you want to quench your thirst you can explore all the nooks and crannies of the Engineering websites.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t see why the answer to this question matters. Presumably, a significant number of fenwaysouth’s dollars will soon be heading to Blacksburg, even if fenwaysouth is not. I don’t think it would be unreasonable for fenwaysouth to expect to be kept in the loop.</p>
<p>LOL x 2!!! There is no question, I’m more irritated, and my wife is even more irritated than my son. He is a high school student with life experiences of a…high school student. He doesn’t get irritated by much. </p>
<p>We are parents doing our best to guide our kids, but no make decisions for them. We’ve done a pretty decent job with my middle son going to VT engineering and my oldest at an Ivy engineering school. I guess when you are paying what we are paying for tuition for two college students, I’d like to know where the money goes and the opportunities available to them. I don’t think that is too much to ask. My oldesst son’s school does an excellent job of keeping us updated, and everything has moved to the web. It is quite possible that VT is in that same process and I just don’t know where all this information is…they certainly have not told us…yet. I’ve been assured there is a treasure trove of information. So far, the communication has been little, and I’ve given you examples. I’m going to give VT the benefit of the doubt that it will be coming.</p>
<p>Va Tech starts providing more communication starting mid to late February, then really ramps it up after the regular admissions are offered. I understand your frustration as I was in the same place 2 years ago. I did search and find lots of data on the website, etc. since I couldn’t wait. Feel free to e-mail if you have any specific questions and I will tell you what I know. Hang in there.</p>
<p>Sorry the ED notification issue has been such a source of irritation to you. I believe they did announce on the admissions website and on the admissions facebook page on December 7th that decisons would be posted online on the 12th at 5pm. It is not uncommon to release online prior to the stated deadline (December 15th so that postal mail gets to you by that date). December 15th would be the latest date you should have expected an answer. Not sure what other info you feel you need at this point but if there is something specific you are wanting more info about, there may be someone here who can answer your questions/concerns(including bboop42 who offered help) . As others have said, more info should be forthcoming , especially once the regular decisions come out. Hope you get the info you are looking for soon .</p>
<p>We have gotten a lot of timely information from a couple of VT communications sources, The Hokie Parent Newsletter and the daily VT email. Here is the link to sign up for that if you would like to:
For the ENewsletter:</p>
<p>Please don’t hesitate to contact them with your concerns. We haven’t had to contact them much over the years, but when we have, we have found them to be very quick to respond to emailed questions about most things, and are always very kind and helpful (even when talking to a very naive, newbie parent like me a five years ago!).</p>
<p>Initially, the hard part for me was not knowing what my son received in his emails in terms of deadlines, etc. I wanted to be sure that he was doing what he needed to do and not screw up dates for when he needed to have things done. But I quickly came to realize that it was different than high school and he needed to “be on the stick”, not me. I think Tech tries to balance out what the parents need to know through the web and connections like those above and yet make the students take ownership of what they need to do by contacting them directly through their emails. I consider it a small miracle that my kid (who I love to death, but organized? on top of things? omg, nooooo) never had an issue with not finding out stuff he needed. Truly, that fact in itself should make somebody up there proud! </p>
<p>This isn’t to say,the Hokie Nation machine isn’t without its missteps, fenwaysouth. Make sure you have your son stay on top of his scheduling and class selection for his major. Each semester. chuy (an engineering alum) has spoken on here before about some advisors not knowing what the sequencing should be and/or what needs to be taken. And if your guy goes abroad and wants to know about financial aid transfers or other study abroad type questions, they need some work in that area, too. A friend of mine added numerous grey hairs dealing with that office when her daughter wanted to spend a semester in Europe. </p>
<p>I really hope you all enjoy the next few months getting to know the school and what it has to offer. He is going to be so happy in the coming months and you will be thrilled to see how much he loves his school! Best of luck to you as his last semester of high school flies by!</p>
<p>Thanks for posting the actual links to the newsletter and daily email,KandKsmom. It is funny how these kids actually do grow and mature having to navigate all the info out there-the class schedules, housing lottery, football and basketball lotteries,etc. But somehow they make it through. As KandKsmom said, the important thing is that your son stays on top of things. I can’t believe my son is graduating in May. I’m going to my first basketball game next week. Saw a football game last year. The time has really gone by quickly. It has been a great four years and I wish the same for you and your son,fenwaysouth.</p>
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